Friends,
How was your start into the new year? Our’s has been slow; in fact it came to a full stop. Remember the party I was planning? Ha, well it never happened. After preparing, cleaning, and shopping, our kids started getting sick one by one. Consequently the people we invited opted out to not be exposed to our germs. I can’t blame them. So we had a quiet night with our visiting friends, the Hollands, eating a lovely dinner and watching two movies.
The flu hit us all pretty hard. It’s been 4 years since I have been this sick. But I must say, I am thankful for the timing. I’m glad it didn’t mess up our Christmas, and I am glad we are getting it out of the way before school starts.
So on to the new year. What are your hopes and dreams? Mine are decluttering the house, doing some home-improvements, but most of all having more adventures and traveling more, and visiting more with with our families. Tentative plans are meeting up with my sister and her crew over spring break in Phoenix. This year marks our 20th anniversary, so we are hoping to do something special for that. I’m also hoping we will have family visiting us. How about you, any fun trips planned for this year? Or a fun stay-cation?
I really hope to be back to my regular posting schedule next week. Thank you all for your patience!
Stay healthy,
Sofija

Image found via Pinterest

Friends,

I apologize for keeping an erratic posting schedule this week. This last week was filled with music, concerts,  late nights (really late), great conversations, friends coming and going. And now reality has hit me hard. It is less than a week till Christmas! I am so not ready, and I dread going shopping so close to Christmas.

One of my favorite moments this past week is pictured above. Graig and Graciana Holland were practicing with our friend Jon for a show. I am not a musical person; I tried and failed at the recorder and gave up right then and there. I cannot sing either. But I really appreciate other people who are musical. And when they  play at my house it is the best.

So that is what I will remember this next week amidst all the shopping, packing (for Finn as he will be spending Christmas with his cousin), cleaning, and wrapping.

I hope your week and preparations are going well.

See you back here soon,

Sofija

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our house endures a lot of fighting and bickering. We are not the mild and meek sort; and with six kids spending every day together, we go through lots of conflict resolutions. So it is extra sweet when this happens… Have a lovely day,

Sofija

All pictures taken by Esther Burton

 

Friends,

Last week we went to see the Nutcracker, had our St. Nikolaus celebration, baked cookies, and bought our tree yesterday. I thought Christmas preparations were coming along pretty smoothly…until I realized this morning that we have company coming on Wednesday and our guest bathroom drain is clogged. Has been clogged for a while now. But I failed to mention it to the husband until this morning. Which makes husband very unhappy and added a whole lot of stress to our week. I hate when I forget these minor details…

Does this happen to you? One day you feel like your life is going pretty well, and the next day it all turns into an uncontrollable mess? The clogged drain is not the only thing on my to do list this week: I got the house to clean, children to teach (I promised my 12 year old to help her study for her semester test which takes hours), I’m doing extra laundry because somebody had an accident, the list goes on. On days like this I am so grateful that I have two older children who can really help with cleaning and cooking.

What do you do when life gets crazy? I alternate between focusing just on the things that absolutely have to get done, and being so frazzled that I waste time on non-essentials. I really hope I can pull of the being focused part this week. If you don’t hear from me the next few days, you know why…

Have a wonderful week you guys, may it go smoother than mine!

-Sofija

 

 

 

 

Have you ever been on a night hike? Would you try it?

I went on my first one last night with my friend Judy. We borrowed my husband’s bike lights (he goes mountain biking at night), so we could see very well. And we went on a hike we had done lots of times before. I wasn’t about to get lost at night. I have to admit we were a little spooked out by the thought of meeting a mountain lion (which we didn’t). But other than that it was so much fun and adventurous. We had a great view of the city lights down below. My I phone picture above doesn’t do it justice, but you get the idea. This morning it is snowing in New Mexico. Now I’m thinking I would like to try a night hike in the snow next…

Have a great day,

Sofija