2016 Cometh!

The bloggess posted this video on New Year's Eve and I fell in love with the song. And then I listened to it on repeat for the rest of the afternoon.

If I was a person who knew how to make slideshows I would totally make a 2015 slideshow to this song and cry while watching it. Because what a wonderful year it was. Full of milestones (our 10th anniversary, Claire starts Kindergarten, Cora leaves babyhood behind!), new ventures (Fike Swim Products!, I became a barre teacher!), adventures (Jamaica!, camping and hiking), and victories big and small (Fike Swim sells out twice!, I bring my first case (and it makes national headlines! and then I bring another one!), Landon's school, spelling bee, and swimming successes, Cora rocks a scooter, Claire rides on two wheels). And along with that came a ton of work (and fights about the ton of work), far too little sleep, and still so much love, laughter, and JOY I'm getting teary right now thinking of it. Everyone is healthy, the kids love each other so much... it's just a really lovely time in our young family's life right now and my biggest goal for 2016 is to soak up as much of it as possible.

Ending the boys' weekly run with a family race!

But back to NYE. I was super sick, so we almost didn't do our fancy grown-up dinner date at all, but James set it all up, even right by the fire so I could stay warm, and I figured the least I could do was roll out of bed with my box of Kleenex and enjoy it with him. I feel like the sneezing and nose blowing really added a romantic soundtrack to the whole affair.

I was bummed to feel so crappy during what is always my very favorite week of the whole year, but the kids had fun, I watched them have fun, and by the end I was even able to participate.

There were New Year's Day breakfast tacos and my last tray of homemade cinnamon rolls! Cora is SUPER pro-breakfast taco.

We played a lot of games and made animals out of clay.

Cora decided Monopoly was boring, but the big kids loved playing the "grown-up version" and I loved that Claire and I won!! I don't think I've ever beat James at Monopoly and I will savor the feeling forever.

Cora spent the whole time being doted on by her big siblings and I swear we're going to have to have an intervention with them at some point about setting limits and enforcing rules and no you can't just give Cora something after we tell her no, I don't care that she asked you and she's your "sweet baby" holy crap we are going to have a monster on our hands one of these days.

Speaking of Cora, she continues to rule her one-person scooter gang. She is hysterical on that thing and takes her riding VERY seriously.

"Hel-met, mama. HEL-MET! OUTSIDE!" she says anytime she thinks it's time to ride again, which is generally one minute after we came in from the time before.

I managed to teach barre on Saturday and it was a FABULOUS class full of new people and I was high from it for the rest of the day. I'm now planning a barre beginner workshop in February and am so excited! I wore my new top with my crazy rainbow pants and a friend who was in the class snapped a shot of me during our glute series. Work it!

Which is good because I drowned my sorrows at the end of my favorite week (and the fact that I missed half of it in a fog of congestion and infected sinuses) and my return to work and the real world and no snuggling in bed with James or going on midday walks with the kids (sob) in a big bowl of candy wish some fro yo at the bottom to hold it all together.

2016 will be good. We just made our reservations for our big Colorado/Utah spring break road trip and lots of other adventures lie ahead. I'm ruminating on goals for the year, but my biggest one is to continue focusing on gratitude and freezing the moments in between. The big stuff is awesome, but the moments in between- the countless evenings of making dinner with three kids at my feet (or above my feet, given that Cora was standing on top of the kitchen peninsula the other day), the lists and errands and endless to-do's... the good stuff is in there. Cora's yell-singing, Claire's need to hug/touch/hang on me at every opportunity, Landon wanting to tell me ALL the things while yelling things at Cora to make her laugh and squeal... there's a lot of joy in the chaos of the everyday and I want to grab it with both hands and SQUEEZE IT. These years are going by way too fast.