2018 had its ups and downs. We celebrated births, weddings, a new school year and lost a member of our family. January - We sold our first house and downsized to a 900 sqft condo.  I was nervous about the closing throughout the holidays. Being self-employed makes getting a loan that much harder. Surprisingly everything went pretty smoothly and before you knew it we had a condo full of boxes.  February - Theodore Jeffrey came into the world. When Meadow came into the world we had no expectations of what parenthood was going to be all about. After Brooke brought our little guy into the world, I struggled a bit. Nearly a year later I can't believe I had any doubts. Theo's such a bundle of joy. March - We lost a great man due to a battle of lung cancer. My dad's health was deteriorating quickly after the holidays. We couldn't come and see him until after Brooke gave birth. We arrived just days before my dad would pass away. He crad...

Friday We were the first to arrive at the cottage for New Years weekend. We unloaded our stuff, turned on the heat and headed into town for dinner. Black Forest has new owners, which means it was about time to retry it out. They gave us a bin of toys to play with while we waited for our food. I just love the German bar vibe. No cheap wall paneling in site. I didn't realize my meal came with a giant chunk of meat. But it was a tasty giant chunk of meat hidden under layers fat. Yum. I got a tasty burger topped with sauerkraut and splurged on on a Spaten Optimator. They've got a great list of German and local beers. When we came a few years ago the previous owners had new German food on the menu.  I'm glad the new owners brought back the originality of the place back to life.

With Scott's family being 6 plus hours away we decided to stay a little closer this year and have Christmas with my family. Saturday When I woke up I was offered an omelet and Spam. I'd never ate Spam. I was afraid, but I persevered. It actually tastes a lot like canned corned beef in loaf form. I woke up not feeling so great and returned back to bed. So Theo, Meadow, Grandpa and I watched Christmas movies and played all day. At some point Meadow came back from her cousins with a "sleigh" that she'd built with Aunt Chelsea.  My dad pretended to be Santa and Meadow Rudolph. After laying around all day Blake eventually showed up. G.G. said she was making us lasagna. I didn't realize she meant the frozen variety. It was still good. Meadow found a giant boxing glove in the basement and proceeded to punch grandpa. Meadow asked to sleep in her sleigh. And she did for the rest of the Christmas weekend. ...