Sugar, Sparkles, and Festive Holiday Bulldogs

Happy Holidays dear readers! Christmas has exploded in the Lag Liv household. Sugar and sparkles and absurdly large doll houses are everywhere.

I spent yesterday making sweet Chex mix (this year with the addition of green and red candy melt drizzles on top in lieu of the dreaded Santa hats), savory Chex mix (which, for the first time ever, went wrong and I had to throw out an entire huge gorgeous batch because everything was mushy and it was devastating), a double batch of homemade cinnamon rolls (new recipe this year!), and a double batch of my great grandma's sugar cookie dough. I canceled my Orangetheory workout midway through because I decided baking counted as my cardio.

We took Maggie on a walk in the middle so she could work off some of the sugar fumes.

Then I made dinner (this vegan lentil stew, which was great) and James and I spent 4 hours putting together this insane dollhouse I bought for Cora from my grandparents' Christmas money. Every year they very generously give each kid $100 and every year I try to pick out one big, substantive thing that the kids can know came from their great-grandparents. This year I got this ridiculous $300 5-foot tall dollhouse on sale for $99 at Target on Black Friday and I had to remind James at 11 p.m. that when faced with three options, he told me to get the big one.

Big one indeed.

At midnight we dragged it into our master bathroom and closed the door to hide it. We still had to assemble Claire's bike and the tiny doll furniture and we just could not.

But, at 10 a.m. when everything was assembled and we did the big unveiling of the great-grandparent gifts we were NOT dragging to our Colorado Christmas, it was a HUGE hit.

By far the most absurd thing we've ever brought into the house, but I'm kind of sad we never got the kids one of those ridiculous power wheel cars I always wanted growing up and Cora is 6 so if we were ever going to go full dollhouse, we needed to go for it now.

(Also Claire got a new bike - 24"! because her legs grew 2" in the last 6 months - and Landon a new scooter because we realized he probably needed an upgrade from the razor we bought him when he was 4 that he totally still rides around on, and a stack of new books, because I am a bargain shopper and Target had great sales this November.)

And 6 hours later, Cora is still playing with it, now with some fairies, two princess Barbies, four Spirit horses, a troll doll, and some big people kitchen food. Meanwhile, I pressed on to roll and bake the sugar cookies for decorating later tonight. And, when I pulled the pictures off my phone to make this post I discovered that one of my kids must have snapped a picture while I was doing it. Judging from the height, I'm guessing Cora?

I look so focused. And tall. 😂

My parents are on their way here, stopping for the night on their way up to Colorado to begin their Christmas stay in the mountains. But let's go back, way back, to the Sunday after Thanksgiving and before we left for Atlanta - back to when our Lag Liv family Christmas first kicked off

with matching pj's and double tree decorating.

This is Maggie's first Christmas and we're all taking it very seriously.

This year we attempted to decorate while watching The Santa Clause, but it quickly became obvious that no one could focus when tempted by a movie they've seen 15 times, so back to the Raffi Christmas album we went. We did the silver and gold living room tree first, and then the colorful family tree in the TV room. Cora, as always, took her ornament placement very seriously while Landon and Claire went more for speed than finesse.

I do so love having them sparkle in our house all month.

Then on Tuesday, the night before we left for Atlanta, I taught my barre class and then went straight to the TCU tree lighting, a now very important part of our holiday season. On my way to teach I'd dropped the kids off at friends' houses who took them to dinner and then met us there.

As always, I'm so grateful for my village. (James was coaching.)

There's always hot chocolate and cookies and the big tree and a great fireworks show and live band and this year, there was snow!

It's a good time. Then we jetted off to Atlanta and I came back to lots of work and testimony and meetings and 600 emails. Our office is still under renovation, so when I don't have to be present for a meeting, I'm working from home with this dedicated colleague.

Even when the hours are long and her head gets heavy, she's here. Offering love and steadfast support (and finding somewhere to rest her head).

I worked Sunday afternoon and Monday morning to prep my exhibits for Wednesday testimony and then my mom drove in to attend Landon's spelling bee Tuesday morning! It worked out great to send my exhibit list off to my paralegal and then take off the afternoon to spend time with her. At the clearance dillards of course. As always we had a blast trying on a thousand things, but at the end of the adventure, I walked our with a single pair of red suede heels for $12 and I love them dearly.

On Tuesday morning we were up early to wish our speller the best of luck and then meet him at school. I could tell he was a little nervous. He won at his elementary school last year, and then got a surprise 2nd at Districts, so he *really* wanted to win again and move on to Districts for another shot at the Area Bee. Last year's Districts winner (who went on to win the Area Bee and go to DC!) was in 8th grade so she's aged out now, but now he's in 6th grade with several elementary schools combined, so who knows. It was nerve-wracking and stressful, as the parent, to watch him handle how much the Bee had come to meant to him and how much he wanted to do well!

And then- after 17 rounds against an initial 22 competitors, he won the 6th grade Bee!

We were so thrilled for him. And now we get to study a whole new giant packet of thousands of words! I always wonder if we're the only parents who heavy-sigh every night when he asks us to quiz him on a few pages, but I promise we're mostly supportive.

Maggie, of course, would read him all the words for hours and hours if she could.

My mom headed home after the Bee for her own last day of teaching (both my parents are retired as of the end of this month!) and I went to the office to get my box of exhibits to bring home to review and craft my outline. I worked very late, and then at 1 a.m. when I was about to go to bed I remembered I needed to put together the PTA Middle School e-mail newsletter I am somehow in charge of doing that goes out every Wednesday morning, so I dragged myself back to the table to get that done and scheduled to send out in the morning. The night before I was up until midnight completing compliance videos I didn't know I needed to do for TCU. Gotta love how even when you do everything early- house decorated, Christmas cards out, all gifts bought and wrapped, teacher gifts ready, etc., something pops up to steal your sleep and sparkle. But everything got done and this is just why I try to do everything that matters to me nice and early, when I'm excited about it and nothing is in the way, because I'd hate for the things I love to feel like a chore.

And then I got a friends dinner out on Thursday and a fancy dinner date night with James on Friday (in my new red shoes!) and all is well.

Happiest holidays to you all and I hope you are able to do the things that bring you joy amidst all the holiday (or just work/life) craziness. And always know that Maggie wishes you the very jolliest of holidays, every day.

(And/or the soundest of holidays snoozes.)

Four Days for 65 Seconds in Atlanta

We're back from the U.S. Open in Atlanta and it was SUCH a great trip!

We flew out Wednesday afternoon after the most insane two days of work I've ever had at the SEC. And due to a paint/carpet remodel project, those days were done from my kitchen table, frantically answering emails and forwarded phone calls and completely ignoring my bulldog. On Tuesday I sat down at 7:25 a.m. in my pjs thinking I'd knock out a few emails and then get dressed and continue and at 4:30 p.m. when my friend dropped off my children I was unable to pick up because I couldn't move from my increasingly uncomfortable kitchen chair, I was still in those pj's having not moved in 9 hours. I no longer have the gluteal endurance for a day like that. I raced off to teach my barre class and then went to the always wonderful TCU tree lighting, something I will blog about later, but the set up is that I started packing at 10 p.m. that Tuesday night while intermittently fielding work emails on my phone.

But then we were on the plane and all was well, mostly because I didn't pay for in-flight WiFi (side note: Landon calls WiFi "weefee" and it is a delight each time he says it). We sat towards the back because the kids insist that they all sit together and a mid-B boarding number on Southwest makes that a little challenging. But there we were! En route to the U.S. Open!

We landed, journeyed 1,000 miles to get our rental car (yet somehow stayed within the Atlanta Airport), and drove to my aunt and uncle's house where a delicious dinner and 3 comfortable guest rooms were waiting for us. James and the kids went to bed quickly while my aunt and I stayed up way too late chatting, a theme of the weekend I'm feeling but not at all regretting now.

On Thursday morning James got up to shave and then head to the pool for a time trial. I knew he was done because I heard the girls exclaiming from a story above, "Mom! Mom! You've got to see daddy! He looks SO YOUNG! Like when you got MARRIED! MOM!!!"

My middle-aged self and this young thing I picked up

It really freaked them out. I kissed James good luck (he would be staying in a hotel downtown that night) and set out with my aunt to give her a tour of all my favorite things in Costco. A new one had recently opened up near them and friends had given James and me a tour when we joined and I still remember it (thanks Ozs!). I showed her all the things while the kids played in the Christmas aisles and then we got lunch in the food court. So, already the perfect vacation. Then my uncle came home from work and took us on a beautiful hike in their neighborhood.

We traveled by golf cart, which is a thing you do in Peachtree City.

Landon was allowed to drive and use the pedals, which was a nice preview for the Driver's Ed he'll be taking in 2.5 years.

We hiked along the stream that leads to the beautiful little lake my aunt and uncle's house looks out on.

It was a gorgeous day and of course my children immediately took off their shoes and socks to wade into the frigid water.

Along the way, Landon fell hard enough jumping among boulders that I thought he'd broken his hip; Cora fell in the freezing water; and Claire had her feelings hurt by something I don't remember that involved Landon. But overall, a successful hike! Capped off by burgers and hot dogs on the Big Green Egg and extremely tasty margaritas.

The next morning was Friday: the main event. We were up early and in our matching t-shirts to head to the Georgia Tech pool. Home of the 1996 Olympic Games and also where my cousin Alyssa went to college, we arrived right on time to watch the A flight compete: Ryan Lochte, Katie Ledecky, Lily King... Olympic gold medalists and World Record holders, it was just amazing. We also quickly became famous in our bright blue shirts and we never had to show our tickets each time we left the competition area to check out the lobby and swim shop.

My cousin arrived with her 11-month-old baby Lorelei. Upon spying the baby Landon immediately leapt over a row of seats in order to hold her.

We took a lunch break at the student union and it was great to walk in non-chlorinated air and see some of campus.

Then we were back in our seats and James was set to swim in about 30 minutes! We waved to him in the insanity of the warm-up pool and watched him stretch behind the blocks. We were so excited we were almost getting nervous. Friends and family were texting like crazy. The event was live-streamed on the USA Swimming website and friends and family were frozen, sitting in parking lots and at their desks ready to watch. Claire's 3rd grade teacher and choir teacher pulled it up on the classroom screen so the kids could cheer on "Claire's dad." Landon could barely stand it, he knew James's goal time and was deeply emotionally engaged in him reaching it. As my uncle kept repeating, "this is just so exciting!"

And it was. I've watched a lot of races and I've competed in some really big meets (including the 1998 U.S. Open where a young James also competed in the same event, though we wouldn't meet until 3 years later) and none of them compares to how I felt watching my husband step up to the blocks for his 100 breaststroke, with our three kids in front of me, so excited and nervous and thrilled to see him below.

He waved at us as he got ready to step up and our whole section cheered. Everyone is Team Dad.

They took off. He's in Lane 6.

He looked great- so strong and fast and you guys, my hands were shaking and I was tearing up. My aunt, uncle, cousin, and kids were screaming. It was just amazing.

He was 3rd at the turn and 5th at the finish.

He had just made the qualifying time (which required him going 0.01 off his lifetime best his regular 25-yard pool; the U.S. Open was swum in a 50-meter pool and I can't even tell you how different that is) but of course his goal was to drop more. He didn't and I know he was disappointed. But he was the oldest person entered in the meet and I was (and am!) still genuinely astounded he'd gone the time he did and being there was an incredible coup I still can't quite believe he pulled off.

It was such a special thing to see, made even more special by having extra family there to scream with me.

Still buzzed from the excitement of the race, we watched a few more heats and waited for James to change. We headed back home, now with James back in tow, where I cooked a big dinner in my aunt's kitchen and my kids made sure Lorelei understood all the features of her toys they kept trying to smother her with. My cousin stayed the night with the baby my children had now adopted and again, the ladies stayed up WAY too late chatting and drinking Poinsettias and it was marvelous.

Saturday was our last day and we woke up with plenty of time to play with Lorelei and ensure that 3 big kids were always available to assist her every need.

We decided to hike up Stone Mountain, something I hadn't done since I was little and James and the kids had never seen. We'd head straight to the airport from there so we packed up and hunted down an old harmonica Cora had adopted and then promptly lost.

Stone Mountain was great! I wasn't quite prepared for the vertical climb and am sore in very strange places today, but it was gorgeous outside with perfect cool weather and we worked up a SWEAT climbing up the largest exposed piece of granite in the world (did you know only 30% of it is exposed and the whole granite piece extends at least 7 more miles underground? I do!).

My cousin joined us for the climb up while my aunt and uncle took Lorelei on the sky tram. We huffed and puffed but maintained steady conversation the entire way anyway. Alyssa was my first cousin on my mom's side and was born when I was 8. The 8 years matters a lot less now.

The kids basically sprinted the whole way up and then collapsed when they reached the summit.

Then they found the only water puddle on the giant granite mountaintop and promptly jumped on rocks in it.

Lorelei had beaten us to the top but was still happen to pose for a picture with the slow pokes.

It was a great day and a GREAT trip.

I'm so thankful we were able to be there and that we had my aunt and uncle to be such gracious hosts who made our stay so comfortable and easy (and affordable!). I'm SO thankful that our kids got to see James compete at such a high level and for friends and family who love us and were watching with us from all over the country. And though we got home at 11 p.m. last night to a giant stack of boxes, a long to do list, and an overflowing work inbox, I'm just so profoundly grateful we were able to be there. Those 65 seconds of James's 100 breaststroke, and the cheers and love coming from our crew, are something I will simply never forget.