#famjam

[sunstonespells]

Such a long, busy week! Monday, we picked up the girls from their mom's, and my mom and Aunt Sharon came over to celebrate Christmas with us, I made dinner and the girls had hot chocolate. Tuesday baked cookies and played games and did science experiments until the girls went to their mom's for Christmas eve. Johnny and I stayed up all night wrapping presents and getting everything set for Christmas day. Wednesday we did Christmas at home with the fam. Thursday we tried to recover a little bit and explore all of the new toys and games everyone got, and Friday we all went rock climbing. Yesterday, we drove to the eastern shore to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family, and today we went out for lunch with Johnny's mom and are now, once again, going climbing! Not to mention spending time planning for MAGFest, and catching up with far-away family on the phone. We're definitely exhausted, but also energized! Now onto putting away holiday decorations and welcoming in the new year.

[sunstonespells]

johnny and i are getting sick, but we spent the morning cleaning the house, the girls come home tomorrow, and while we now can't go rock climbing because we've got the ick upon us, we're still gonna have a good week. we're doing christmas with my mom and aunt tomorrow, then the girls spend christmas eve with their mom's family and come back to us on christmas afternoon, and next weekend we're doing christmas with my mom's family. we get a ravens game on christmas day, and we should still be able to go climbing later on this week. i just need my body to cooperate!!

[sunstonespells]

kids are so funny. yesterday, my 3-year-old step-daughter kept calling my one-year-old son "the mayor", going up to him in his stroller in the grocery store and saying, "nice to meet you, mayor," and shaking his hand. she told a woman near the checkout, "this is the mayor. he's a crazy mayor." i did confirm with her after that she had no idea what a mayor is, and she can't remember where she got this concept from.

[sunstonespells]

yesterday was a nice day. johnny was off and he got up before me and made waffles for the kids, and made them some paper airplanes to play with. the kids got fussy so i got up and joined them and played with the baby. johnny and i hung out and relaxed for a little bit. we played some games, i played mancala with mai lee and bananagrams with johnny. we took the kids grocery shopping. we came home and hung out for a bit. runa took a nap, and mai lee helped johnny make dinner (panko breaded chicken, roasted broccoli with onions, buttery noodles, corn on the cob). i got runa up from her nap and she cuddled with me on the day bed while they finished cooking. johnny's mom came home to watch the baby and we took the girls bowling for two hours and then played arcade games with them until it was time to come home and get them ready for bed. johnny and i watched the new episodes of outlander, which is his favorite show.

i haven't been blogging or really logging any of my days for a long time, and i miss writing and having a space to look back on memories, so i'm trying to do this here more. i used to document every thought in my head and now i often feel like i'm floating cause i don't tack down any of my experiences with words.

[sunstonespells]

i've been working on tracing my ancestry and building my family tree. i've managed to trace back to my fifth great-grandparents on my mom's side and to trace most of that side back to their immigrations from germany. i connected with a cousin who lives in tennessee. i've been able to find a lot of final resting places including cemeteries and grave plots, so maybe in the fall i can get to baltimore and visit a few of them.

[sunstonespells]

my sunshine ☀️

[djtilt]

🎄𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗠𝗔𝗦🎁⭐️ . It's been 3 yrs since we got to come together like this as a family. And my family ain't small lol. . Thankful, blessed + grateful I could spend another Christmas with those I love + that's the best part of the Holidays.❤️ . Time is precious, so spend it with those you love the most. . 𝙈𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙨 + 𝙃𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚! 𝙎𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀. ❤️ . . #christmas #holidays #familyfirst #famjam #blessed https://www.instagram.com/p/CmsE1EKJZOX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kimberlyalford]