Hey all! We’re almost caught up to real time! Woohooo! Hope you all have a wonderful NYE!

November 19th we started the morning out by going to Church. Quinn has stopped crying when we drop her off to go to the nursery which is a great sign that she’s adjusting. She always seems to be having so much fun when we go back to pick her up after service.

PS. One of our greatest toddler purchases was this Buckle Me coat. It’s safe to wear in the car, so you don’t have to take the jacket on and off for car trips.

Quinn was ready for a nap as soon as we got home. She woke up midway through her nap and seemed ready to get up. I brought her downstairs with me, and she ended up falling asleep again while we watched the Browns play. Moose snoozed on me too. I loved every second!

That afternoon, I went to Luca West for a surprise 30th bday party for my longest best friend, Melissa! It was so much fun and the food was delicious. I love her friends and family too, so it was a real treat to see everyone!

The atmosphere of the restaurant was so classy and romantic; I’d love to bring DJ back there for a date night.

After singing happy birthday and enjoying some cake, I went with Melissa and Michael to a nearby friends’ house. It was a blast! DJ held down the fort at home and encouraged me to enjoy the night out. We are in such an easier stage of parenthood right now. I couldn’t have dreamed of doing something like that a year ago!

Just had to share this stunning sunrise from November 20th.

November 22nd we left for TX for Thanksgiving!

November 28th started a week of chilly temperatures, frost and snow.

I tried to find any activities I could to get us out of the house that week! There’s a ninja zone not too far away we gave a go. Quinn loved it!

Here’s Quinn jamming to some Techno Christmas!! Miss Personality.

The week was filled with lots of hide-and-go-seek with Moose, waving to the school bus passing, playing with Dino nuggets (and maybe eating a few), and making a rock band out of pots and pans. I also cooked up some cozy meals like this beef stew and turkey bolognese. I probably don’t even need to say where I got the recipes from!

On a Black Friday deal (also doubling as Christmas/bday present), I got a set of Caraway cooking and bakeware. This stuff ain’t cheap but it’s WORTH EVERY PENNY! I’m truly obsessed. It’s entirely nontoxic, but still non-stick, and just the GOAT of cookware.

November 30th I dropped Quinn off at daycare for a couple hours so I could reset the house. I rotate her toys once or twice a month to keep things interesting.

I try to do something new with her nugget every time I do an overhaul too.

December 2nd we saw Santa. Sweet girl wasn’t thrilled! But everyone has to have one crying pic, right?! It’s tradition!

That afternoon we took Moose to the old trail we used to frequent almost daily! He had a ball being off leash.

We decided to have a pizza night! Athena’s has become our go-to.

Anything we didn’t finish,I just froze for later. Deej thinks I go a bit overboard on freezing things, but hey if it freezes well, why not?!

Sometimes you just need to talk on a pizza phone. Or two pizza phones. I can hear the old adage of “don’t play with your food” screaming at us, but come on, pizza phones!!

Gigi dropped off this super cute Advent calendar for Quinn that evening. The drawers all light up too. So cute!

The evening of December 3rd we went to the Akron Zoo Lights!

December 4th I made the creamy avocado bacon pasta. I’ve made this for Quinn in the past, and she downed multiple servings. This time she wouldn’t touch it. DJ and I enjoyed it though! And then I freezed the rest.

December 6th we received this awesome Disney themed advent calendar from my friend Sara in CA for Quinnie. Each day has a different Disney book, which means it’s reusable too!

On a walk that day I saw Will Ferrel lying on the sidewalk 🤷🏼‍♀️.

That evening, we had a celebration for Marie and her husband Jorge for their recent marriage. All the people at this celebration are clients of theirs for the dogs she and Jorge watch/board. They are the best and easy to celebrate! They are so good to Moose, and so much part of our “village” that we call them Moose’s Aunt Marie and Uncle Jorge. It was fun to meet the other owners too! Marie lovingly calls Moose a hall monitor because of the way he stands and watches over the other dogs..,.So I introduced myself as “Moose the Hall Monitor’s Mom”. 😄

Exhibit A

Quinn also apparently loves Mexican food. She could not get enough!

Someone even brought a cake for us all to share ❤️.

December 8th I had my first overnight away from Quinn. I went to Rachel’s to have dinner, bake cookies and chat the night away! She made these Grinch glasses which I thought were just too cute.

We ordered from Sitto’s. It was extremely good- I said it gave Aladdin’s a run for its money!

As nice as it was to have a night to be “off duty”, I missed my fam like heck. I wanted to be home for when Quinn woke up, so I zoomed back around 530 AM. I made pancakes to start off a lovely weekend.

Our tree came in a bit late, but we got it up December 9th. We ordered a “most realistic” tree from Balsam Hill on a Black Friday deal. It’s made with less PVC than classic Christmas trees, which made me feel a bit better about having it in our home years to come.

Also, we discovered the Elf Pets Christmas series on Netflix; it’s adorable! Quinn loves the Elf on the Shelf one and the Fox one. She squeals every time the fox tail lights up the sky.

First time putting ornaments on the tree 💕.

That evening I made rotisserie chicken pot pie biscuits. This was easily another favorite from Feeding Littles!

December 10th we had a lovely time celebrating multiple birthdays in the family!

December 12th Quinn and I went to another Ninja class meeting up with a mom and her son I met at the library. Look at me making mom friends! We stopped by Seven Grains after. It’s a nice grocery store, with healthy finds. I picked up a few premade meals, but we weren’t fans. Probably will stick to going there strictly for groceries!

For part of Quinn’s teachers’ gifts at daycare, I printed out these templates from Etsy on December 13th. She loved doing the handprints, but I realized maybe I should have used a different color from red. 😆 Oh well! Lol.

December 14th, we enjoyed a chilly morning playing outside.

I had a doctor’s appt that afternoon, so my friend Lainey came by to watch Quinn. Then we just hung out and caught up for a couple hours! It was so nice.

I made a teriyaki steak and green bean dinner. This was not great. I messed up the sticky rice and the steak had lots of fat making it tough to chew. I have several notes to make it better next time!

December 16th was a doozy. I caught Quinn’s pink eye. I was bummed because I thought we’d all avoided catching it. I sanitized the house & washed our hands like crazy and only got it at the tail end of her course of abx. Darn! Actually as I’m writing this today, I am going to see an ophthalmologist next week because I don’t have my vision fully restored in my right eye. Yikes. Trying not to panic, but it was truly the worst case of pink eye I’ve ever had/seen, and I had an allergic reaction to the abx. You guys are probably so sick of reading about my overall minor health woes this year! It’s been a weird year on that front for sure. Like what is my deal lol.

To start the day, we went out and fed the ponies 🥰.

Then I made these construction paper tunnels for Quinn to have her cars maneuver.

We went to a nearby park after to burn some energy.

DJ took Quinn to The Rainforest at the Cleveland Zoo that afternoon. I got a lot of chores done around the house while they were gone which was nice.

For dinner, I made cod fish sticks, peas and mashed potatoes.

We then sat in the empty bathtub and painted with the edible fingerpaints. We made the best out of the day especially since I couldn’t leave the house with my eye.

December 18th Quinn went with me to HomeGoods to put together a gift for my secret Santa at work.

Then she helped me prep some dinner. P.S. After the new year I said we’d get serious about weaning the paci!

December 19th we woke up to some gorgeous fluffy snow.

We took full advantage!!

This girl’s first time in the snow!

She loved it and loved the sledding! I’ve watched this video more times than I can count :

I’ll do a Christmas and New Years post next and we’ll be caught up!!

Happy New Years, friends! Thanks for following along with my little family’s adventures this year 🥰.

<3,

Mackenzie