You know those days that, despite the camera roll full of lovely photos you’re left with at the end of the day, were just sort of a disaster? That was our last day of 2017. My gosh. Now in all fairness, our kids are sick. Like really sick. And have been since our house cleared out after Christmas. Grae’s got a terrible cough and a sore throat and in addition to the cough, Sam’s super congested, has been experiencing some laboured breathing, and hasn’t been sleeping well. In short, they’re both miserable.
Now, our day was off to a rough start after a ridiculously early wake-up from Sam (we’re talking in the 3 a.m. range) and our girl waking up on the wrong side of the bed, and we had already cancelled having Brad’s family over for our annual NYE fondue night, but then a delayed flight meant also cancelling the big family farm walk we’d planned in place of the fondue too. Oh, add to that the fact Sam only napped for 57 minutes when he *desperately* needed his usual 3 hours and Miss G basically hung off of me while making non-stop requests during those 57 minutes, and that was our day. Ugh.
But, you know… It is what it is. Our kids are sick and our New Year’s Eve wasn’t the happy, chilled out day filled with grandmas and grandpas and aunties and uncles that we’d hoped it would be, but oh well. There were lots of good moments sprinkled in between the whining and needing and grumpiness, and these photos are a reminder of that.
I know social media sometimes gets a bad rap for not being ‘real life’, but are we really going to pull out our phones and snap pictures when our kids are having a rough time? When our toddler is banging his head against the tile floor in frustration? When our big kids are storming off and slamming doors? When our spouse is feeling stressed about cancelling plans with his family because he knows how desperately they want to see our kids? Of course not. And thank goodness for that. Because in that moment, our kids probably need some love and someone to talk to and our spouse probably needs some space just to be.
All that to say, I’ll happily take the camera roll full of fun memories. Of course we take the lessons that come from the hard times along with us too, but when I look back on New Year’s Eve 2017, I’m going to be remembering the epic morning dance party we had in the playroom, the joy balloons and play dough brought about, and the delicious fondue we ended the day off with.
Roll on, 2018.
this year’s celebration play dough
nye celebration kits {a yearly tradition!}
balloons!
cinnamon swirl pancakes for breakfast
dance party!
they have the BEST moves
outdoor time in the form of snow shovelling
a total hit
fondue preppin’
baby in a basket
round one – cheese fondue
cheers!
last #gracenandsam photo of the year
my little nursling
round 2: chocolate fondue
loads of dark chocolate right before bed… what could go wrong?
Happy New Year, all.
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Happy New Year! Ha, your New Year sounds like our Christmas… what a disaster, but let’s try and remember the good moments. We had sickness (the ugly kind) for two weeks, I’m actually relieved normal life has started again. Sickness is stressful! I look you up on Instagram regularly, but since I’m not on Instagram (yet) I can’t comment. I so appreciate your keeping it real in general. Congratulations on your new home. Having moved around (also internationally) with a family myself, I can’t believe we have now lived in the same house since 5 years! Every now and then that restlessness comes again and I can’t say we won’t move again, but it’s also wonderful to put down some roots. Wondering how long you’re going to stay in this home ;-). It’s the travel with kids and living international lives that first helped me find your blog! And now I get a glimpse into life in Canada. Thank you for sharing!