"Recovering," Nieman-Style

Seth spent the week in Ohio, catching up with old friends and stalking big bucks (I'll spare everyone the carcass photos, but he did get one and is butchering it as I type), so the three of us were left to our own devices. It was a wild, hilarious week, and included being late to basically everything; at least one cooking disaster (this was the homemade naan that simply would not rise);

a Christmas tree lighting featuring this seriously creepy snowman (which Ford absolutely insisted we wait in line to see);

and a long-overdue catchup with the World's Best (Former) Neighbors.

By the time Friday rolled around, it was all I could do to survive the work Christmas party (the first of many this season to which kids were- bizarrely and inconveniently- not invited), and Saturday Ford was delighted to wake up to football drills with Uncle Aaron, who had made an impromptu stop on a road trip.

Because the holidays are really and truly upon us, Saturday was gingerbread making with families from our neighborhood, made absolutely delightful by the fact that it was at Taste Buds Kitchen, which meant no setup, cleanup, or actual house assembly (my least favorite part). Basically all the Moms did was stand around and drink mimosas and snap cute photos of kids in aprons.

So now I'll never be able to go back to trying to get graham crackers to stick together with egg white paste.

I also took these funny outtakes of the kids because I had dressed them up in hopes of snapping a keeper for our later-than-usual Christmas card this year.

As you'll see when the cards finally do arrive, we did not nail it.

Nobody overdoes it like yours truly when Seth's not around to be the voice of reason, so after gingerbread house making the Moms insisted on taking 15 kids to lunch during normal human lunching hours on a busy shopping day, something I can wholeheartedly not recommend,

and then F+F and I raced back to Fayetteville for a birthday party at an arcade.

Which is basically my worst nightmare. Usually Seth handles arcade game and bumper car duty, and he was missed acutely when it was time for the latter.

We finished up the day- what else?- making Christmas cookies (thanks, Natalie) in our matching PJs (thanks, Lisa)

because we are leaving it all on the mat this holiday season.

There was even hot chocolate.

Seriously, is it St. Patrick's Day yet?

We "recovered" by cleaning the entire house (and by "we," I obviously mean "me." Finley was busy reminding Ford he was the little brother by chalking his hair with her favorite colors.)

 

For some reason I rewarded this behavior with a sushi date, where my big girl gobbled shrimp tempura rolls and didn't flinch at wasabi (while Ford and I had the veggie spring rolls, hold the veggies for Ford);

and a trip to the children's museum;

before crashing the Army Special Operations Aviation Christmas party, which was everything an Army kid's holiday celebration should be.

I don't know if it's my favorite photo of the week, but I snapped this one during one of my favorite moments: finally chilling in front of the fire tonight with a clean house, snuggly kids, and a Christmas special on. Cheers to an exhausting but fabulous time of the year!