Hello and happy Monday! How was your weekend? I was unplugged for a lot of mine, hanging out not only with the birthday boy, but David’s best friend from college who came in town, too. We had a great time with him and his three adorable kids. Hailey and Kaitlyn loved getting to play the role of big sister/baby sitter. I loved getting to revisit the days of having younger kids, complete with making a dry pasta play station. I swear that was the only way I cooked dinner for years; having a bin of dry pasta, dried beans, some plastic bowls and measuring cups, and funnels.

We spent a lot of time playing outside and bouncing between basketball games. We’ve created quite the tradition of the girls and I baking David a birthday sweet. We’ve slowly made our way through some of his favorites over the years, from juicing key limes for a pie to hearty carrot cake. This year, we attempted another one of his favorites, Tres Leches cake. They learned to separate eggs and how to whip the whites to fold into the batter and y’all… this recipe was SO GOOD. We think it’s our new family favorite. Highly recommend!

Our friends headed home Sunday and we spent the day cleaning up the house, exercising, setting up for the week ahead, and bumming out. I took a nap snuggled with Finley during the rain and we all watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief in the evening. I’ve been at a bit of a loss for family movies lately. Any recommendations?

David had a rather low key birthday of homemade cake and homemade cards, but I hope he felt loved, because we sure love him so much. He’s our rock; our level-headed yet fun-loving head of our family. He makes us laugh and fixes all the things. He loves us so well! I’m looking forward to a year of adventures with my best friend and our crew of two (plus Finley). I’ve reflected lately on how important it is to have good people in our lives. I think it’s important to love hard on those people and tell them how much they mean to us and how much we appreciate them.

And so begins a new week! After dragging mentally most of last week, I’m hoping for a fresh energy for this one. Have you picked your top three for today yet? Here are mine:

1. Have an engaged homeschool day- chemistry, math, read aloud.
2. Go to the Verizon store to get my phone fixed.
3. Create image for and set up my Amazon Live for the week.

Sending you some positive and energetic energy for this January Monday! <3