December 26, 2023 - Tuesday


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CLEMENTINE!!! My sweet, beautiful, second-born child. I love her so much. She's a challenge for me, because she's got SO MANY feelings and a lot of them I just wish would go away, but at the same time, she's incredibly generous, loving, kind-hearted, and compassionate. All things that are difficult for me! I'm so grateful that she's my daughter. I didn't do a photo shoot with her today, like I have for the past few years. I'm hoping to do it tomorrow! I really need to get myself motivated when it comes to photography. I've let it slip so much this year. When I mentioned it to Hazel, she said that of course I haven't had as much time for photography, I've been homeschooling! And I think she does have a point. It's sad, but I think there's truth to that. I'm just busier during the days now. I love it, but it's harder in that way. 

Today felt very busy, but it wasn't too bad. Again, I was up before 7, busting my butt. I had to roll out the dough and make the cinnamon buns this morning, because the dough needed to be refrigerated overnight. They turned out fantastic, btw. But it was a ton of work. I made the frosting for the cakes and got them stacked and stored them for later, after realizing that the frosting I made was barely enough for the filling! I did laundry and cleaned and read for a bit, then we took all of the kids to see the new Willy Wonka movie. It was very good! We all liked it a lot. It's hard going to the movies with Ben, though, because he's just so high strung. Me and the kids do this all the time and we have a good rhythm. I trust them to behave properly and they always do, but he was freaking out every time one of them said a word in the theater, shushing them like an old lady. Like, chill out dude! We're good! 

We went to the PetSmart to look for fish for Jonas's tank he got for Christmas and the lady informed us that we would absolutely kill any fish we brought home today if the tank wasn't already set up and the water conditioned. So. We didn't buy any fish. We came home and set up the tank though, so we can go sometime this week! 

Me and Ben made dinner, I finished up the cake, and then we got ready to finally go on the night hike at Homestead. Until we realized that the rain had come early and we wouldn't be able to go out tonight. Instead, we got suited up and took a dip in the hot tub in the rain, which was fun for all of us. We ate cake and sang, then watched a movie. Ollie has been fighting us at bed time every night, but we had a good talk tonight and I'm really hoping that we can start moving past this phase. Because, honestly, I'm so freaking over it. 





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