what is new with you?

Just going through my camera roll from the last few weeks and here are the in-betweens! 

Remembering festive days at school is fun! Even if there was just one before they shut down before Christmas....At least David got to have a quick party in his class. The kids got their school pride beanies in and we combed David's hair to look like his uncle's circa 1998... Nera shenanigans and festive tshirts....  Dom got a Baby Yoda shirt from a friend and I am hard pressed to get it off of him! Same goes with the Alexis tee I got. Ew, David! My sister watched the boys while I took Letty to her orthodontist appointment and I returned with cookies for all! Then we had a fun night with friends! Dom and his nose and fun Instax film with Letty! Good skies and Christsmas trees in every room! The gym opened back up and I couldn't wait to take a BodyPump class! I was in the school a bunch of times, some recesses more freezing than others...Letty got a hockey game in and she scored and they won! I rewarded Dom and his stictch removal bravery with a slushee the size of his head, just like his Poppop did when he got them in! I had lunch with friends now that indoor dining opened back up... Dom got some badges at school and David got a new teacher yet again... third of the year! And Letty has to quarantine for a bit so it was just her and I at lunch for a hot minute.... What about you all? How are we handling this year so far?

new years day

We just started off our year with a great start. I mean, the best. I spent the day putting some Christmas things away here and there... The kids were all showered and ready to head over to my parents' house when Dom came upstairs from the basement quite upset, quickly followed by Letty insisting it wasn't her fault. He had been running and jumping and doing whatever it is Dom does down in the basement and fell into the ottoman. Which is padded but has a frame under the pad that he just happened to hit. And for lack of a better word the corner punctured the side of his nose.  A quick Facetime call to my paramedic brother later and Dom and I were off to get that remedied at Urgent Care. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long to be seen and told that yes, he did in fact need stitches. They tied him down real tight and I just had to hold his little hand as he kept going with a litany of "you're going to kill me" and "I'm going to die" and "it hurts it hurts" and "are you done yet?" and "I don't like this!" I'm sure you can imagine how fun that was for everyone in the room. I'll spare you the "before" photo...

The rest of the day was a blur but we did head to my parents' where my mom had cooked quite the spread. I literally have zero photos from New Year's Day other than these involving Dom's poor nose...It always takes me a bit to calm down after traumatic things like this... but I'd say after two nights I was able to sleep without waking up and recalling the entire affair. Good news is that when they took the stitches out five days later he laid there quite calmly and it was not nearly as upsetting. And the nose looks great!

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new years eve

I'm reaching way back here to a few weeks ago when we had a little New Year's Eve night with my family. My parents got a bunch of food from Wegman's for us so as far as entertaining goes it was quite simple on our end (thanks mom and dad!). We got the kids dressed up just to make it more "something" even if that was short lived on my boy's parts. The kids played and we all ate and then they changed into their festive pajamas one last time to watch the ball drop. Last year's ball that is. And then everyone went home. I couldn't quite bring myself to stay up till midnight, even as happy as I was to see 2020 go!

our final visit to hershey for the year

Christmas break was so not what they normally crack up to be in my opinion. Normally I am the frame of mind to just have the days so jammed packed there is little to no room for fighting or wrestling. This was not the case of course this year.... however I did get it into my mind to take the kids up to the Hershey Zoo and then run over to Hersheypark one more time before the end of the year. And we had friends join us! Letty's friend and Dom's friend and their mom went with us and man, going with other people to Hershey of a similar height restriction is just so great! And Lindsey is a major fun mom and does all the things. So. There is that. We got on so many rides and got some yummy snacks before we got too cold and headed on home! Till next year Hershey!

an olsen christmas

I think this is my final Christmas post and I am really sad about it. My house is almost devoid of all Christmas cheer and now the blog will follow suit. Sniff.

But back a bit we gathered with Matt's side of the family for one final Christmas celebration. Matt cooked quite the meal and we of course had more gifts! Including some sent up from his brother in Florida....

christmas day

My parents hosted Christmas dinner this year so we headed over there in the afternoon for more gifts and more food! We do a Secret Santa with all the aunts and uncles and cousins and then of course exchange gifts with my parent's.... so! Many! Gifts! We all take turns which I'm sure to some of you is highly annoying but it slows the chaos down and we actually get to make it last... because as with everything else it just goes so fast! 

And I ate waaaay too much food! 

So let us start off this photo dump with some of my little brother's artistic take on Christmas wrapping!

christmas morn

At the very bright (dark) and early hour of six am the kids were up and ready for some gift action! It lasted all of fifteen minutes but I think they got pretty spoiled. The kid's gifts this year were all pretty "small" size-wise so we also got them all a cornhole set that we thought they could play with in the basement for now. And of course for use all summer long outback so.... winner winner! 

christmas eve

Back in March I kept saying oh as long as COVID doesn't mess with my Christmas! And then here we are, it messing with my Christmas. My parent's big cocktail party - cancelled! Thankfully we were still able to get together with my immediate family as no one did anything or saw anyone leading up to the day... And we hosted! Everyone brought a bunch of apps and such and it was just a night of grazing for all. There was a lot of niece cuddles on my end which is always much appreciated...The kids changed into their pajamas and watched The Star which is just a really cute movie if you haven't seen it yet. We put out our reindeer food and tucked the kids into bed after reading The Night Before Christmas.... 

So it wasn't the same. And we missed seeing so many of our friends at the party... but we made the most out of it and kept some traditions alive! It's just over so fast you know??

annual cookie baking day at nonna’s

More! Cookies! We always get together at my parent's house and whip up a bunch of cookies for their annual Christmas Eve party and since that of course wasn't happening this year there was some talk of if we should even bother and I bet you know how I answered that question. Hell yes we still do it! We even got the boys involved this year! Who needs a party in order to have cookies! Ha!

It was such a loud and chaotic messy day but I think great memories (and cookies) were made!