Happy Friday! Well blogging didn’t quite go as planned this week, but I am totally fine with it. I thought I would sit down each evening and recap the month, my reading year, my blogging year, and some goals for next year. What was I thinking?? I didn’t do any of that! I did have a great week and I am here to share some favorites with you now.

Favorite 1: WASHINGTON, DC!! For Luke’s 5th grade graduation present we gave him a tour of the Capitol and some time in DC. We were able to get a tour this week and it was great! I contacted our senator and we were able to get into the Senate gallery. They weren’t in session but it was really cool to see where the action happens.










The last time Luke went to the Museum of Natural History, he didn’t get up to the gems. Luke asked to see the Hope diamond while we were in DC so we went after the Capitol tour. Well, we were there with EVERYONE! It was so hot and crowded that we left after a quick peek at the diamond. Luckily we are close enough that we can go back again soon.

The boys hadn’t been to the Lincoln Memorial so we walked over there. The weather wasn’t too cold and the sun was lovely.



We also took the kids’ picture in front of the Washington Monument. Luke was sad to not be three bricks tall yet, but he did grow a whole bicep in 5 years.




When we visit Washington, DC, I always feel so fortunate to live so close to our nation’s capital. Even though it’s December, I am planning our summer and there are some DC trips and on our list.

Favorite 2: FAMILY!! We celebrated with Jeff’s siblings and parents on Christmas Eve morning.



We celebrated with Jeff’s parents and sister on Christmas evening.

We celebrated with my parents on Tuesday.

It was great to spend some quality time with all of them!
Favorite 3: BASKETBALL!! Jeff has coached Jack’s basketball team since he was in third grade. They are playing in their annual holiday basketball tournament for the last time this week.

Here they are in their first holiday tournament in 3rd grade! Sweet buddies!!

Favorite 4: TIME!! I love this week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I try to keep some time for relaxing and being home together. It has been great to play games, laugh, relax, and watch some tv. I don’t have many pictures because we are just enjoying this time together!

I go back to work on Tuesday so I am ready to enjoy a long weekend. I like to have inside Christmas totally put away before I go back to work so I’ll be working on that this weekend. I have a system for putting Christmas away in our house. I walk around and gather everything on our dining room table. It sits there overnight so I can make sure I don’t miss anything. Then I pack it all up and back to the attic it goes.
I hope you have a fabulous weekend and a wonderful start to the new year! Have a great weekend full of sunshine and books!

The DC trip looks great…so fun to go this time of the year. I love all the family pics and the one of you reading to the kids is precious. We got home from kc yesterday so I’m hoping to enjoy my decorations a couple more days but I have the same system 😂everything sits on the kitchen table to a day to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Have a great weekend!
That DC trip looks fabulous!! I’ve always wanted to go but the few times I’ve looked into planning I was so overwhelmed about where to stay and how to get around that I gave up. LOL. I used to pack up all my decorations using the exact same system!! This year I’m trying something a tiny bit different and packing up each room/floor of the house all in the same totes/bins so I can label them by area which I’m hoping will let me decorate a bit more leisurely next year rather than trying to get the whole house cleaned all at once (but I am really nervous about forgetting something out and missing it in my sweep).
So glad you got to the Capital- such an amazing city- we would go back in a heartbeat!