The last day of 2015

I did it!  With this post I wrote one more post for 2015 than I did in 2014. It's the first time ever that I beat the previous year- well except for 2009 vs 2008, but that is a completely unfair comparison considering I started blogging in mid-December.  

For the first time in probably more than a decade we are in Tucson for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  We've had such a nice time we didn't want to leave and go home to making our own meals and piles of laundry.

My brother is having a little party tomorrow for the new year so I made a dessert to bring along.  It's pretty much the only thing of value I did today- well except a lovely little visit with Elisa.

Rum Raisin Tiramisu!

Lady fingers and mascarpone from Trader Joe's

egg yolks and sugar

rum with orange juice and raisins

I'll add a little whipped cream on top tomorrow and this baby will be tasty.

I hope it's a spectacular way of ringing in the new year.

Sneak Peak

I don't have it in me to do a real post about any one of our days in Tucson for the holidays, but I am bound and determined to get two more posts done in 2015.  Here's a little sneak peak of what I'll be blogging about after we roll into 2016.

We went to Christmas Eve mass and had everyone over to my parent's house that night.

We got to meet my niece Bella for the first time.

We opened presents at my parent's house on Christmas morning, 

and then went to Michael's parent's house for more gifts and food.

There were family pictures on the 26th.

And a jumping castle at Nick's house.

Nick and I went to brunch at Ventana Canyon on the 27th and I ate my body weight in shrimp (which is not depicted here, but, whatever).

The 28th was the big day when Michael and I took Spencer to see Star Wars.

And the 29th was our 14th wedding anniversary.

I'm sure I will be blogging about New Year's Eve and New Year's Day too, but those haven't happened yet so I can't give you a sneak peak.  It's all very tricky and dependent on the space time continuum. 

Pre-Christmas

Eek!  I was going to be so good about blogging in this time between Christmas and New Years so that I could beat the number of posts I did in the previous year for the first time ever.  And here we are on the 29th and I haven't done a post for days.  I even pre-loaded these pictures to make it easier.

Last Monday, December 21st was the first day of break for me and the kids.  We had planned on going to Krispy Kreme and then the Museum of Natural History, but it turns out the museum is closed on Mondays, so we went to the park instead.

I was really proud of Elliott for all the climbing he did.  His confidence level and motor skills really have improved since doing physical therapy and occupational therapy.

Although it was postponed by a day we did do donuts and the museum on Tuesday the 22nd.  The whole point in going was to have snowman donuts, but they were out of them and they only had two Santa belt donuts left.  Every donut we had was disappointing.

Then we spent a long time at the museum.  We actually went to the museum, to lunch and then back to the museum.

We followed it up with a trip to see Dorothy (our former baby-sitter) since we hadn't seen her in a few months.

Wednesday the 23rd was spent packing and getting ready for Tucson.  We'll just have to wait and see what kind of posts I can throw together in the next two days about the holidays.

Winston Watch 2015- Part 2

Winston accidentally sampled some of Ginger's dog treats on Sunday, December 13.  He thought they were no bueno. 

On Monday the 14th he played a joke on the kids.  A joke involving green mustaches.

There was an epic battle between Winston, Peter Pan and the characters of Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Tuesday the 15th.

Winston hung a very festive banner for Elliott's birthday on Wednesday the 16th.

Winston and Snoopy were just chilling together on Thursday the 17th.

We were amused to find Winston in a spiderman mask hanging upside down on Friday the 18th.

Winston was once again spending some time with a Snoopy on Saturday the 19th.  This time he was part of the Snoopy phone.

There was some more mischief on Sunday the 20th.  Winston wrote his name in frosting on the toaster.

Winston was an adventurer on Monday the 21st.  He was blasting off to the moon.

We went out for donuts on Tuesday the 22nd and it looks like Winston wanted to partake as well.  He brought his own special donuts from the North Pole.

On Wednesday the 23rd Winston was strapped in the car with a bungee cord, ready for the trip to Tucson.

On Thursday the 24th Winston thought he was an angel and joined the nativity in full glory.

And finally, on Christmas morning, Winston was cozy and safe in a sleigh full of greenery, perfectly perched to watch the morning's festivities. He had two letters with him: 1) Spencer's letter from Santa with the words "fulfilled" and "delivered" stamped across the bottom and 2) a letter of farewell to the kids. 

Goodbye Winston!  We love you!  We'll miss you!