2014 in review

it's funny; i didn't send a christmas card letter / update with our cards this year because i felt like nothing noteworthy had happened to us. there were no new babies or moves for the wells family in 2014 -- we're still in the same sammamish house, still have two kids, still work the same jobs, didn't take an epic trip. but even though 2014 wasn't particularly noteworthy as far as life changes goes, there was still a lot of living going on! 

this was the year i finally decided to really quit my PR work (at least for the time being) instead of making myself crazy trying to straddle two worlds. b got a promotion at work (yay b!) and is now working strictly on european-made video games, which means he travels overseas every other month or so. husdon finally started walking, finally got teeth, and is doing a bunch of awesome stuff (playing catch, talking, playing make-believe with his toys). jack is in his second year of preschool and loving life -- he's obsessed with legos, his neighbor friends and reading books -- and it's amazing to watch him starting to learn to read and think about the world. he asks the best questions and i love watching his little brain at work. 

my life is crazy and chaotic and exhausting but i think this was the year i finally came to terms with all that -- yes it's insanity over here a lot, but this is just a phase. my life is pretty awesome, most of our dramatic moments are not emergencies, and i'm lucky to be home with my cute boys every day. i think i'm finally able (sort of) to roll with the punches, try to be patient, and keep a schedule and a calm, clean house for my family. it feels good to be a mama. 

can't wait to see what 2015 will bring us!

christmas fun

whew! this holiday season flew by. december was awesome...and packed.

we kicked off christmas festivities by picking out our first live tree at swansons nursery. (we've had a fake tree our whole marriage, which we bought with wedding gift cards from target for our first christmas:) i still prefer the fake tree but this was a super fun activity -- besides picking up our custom-fit tree, we got to see reindeer, a miniature christmas train, and santa! i wasn't sure what to expect with santa since jack has gone completely postal every time we've tried to put him on santa's lap, but both boys were all (timid) smiles for santa and we got a killer pic. nailed it!

we were also pretty proud to have a car big enough to carry a christmas tree this year (another marriage first):

we decorated that bad boy the first monday in december, one of our fave traditions. i absolutely love reminiscing over each ornament, remembering what it represents or where we got it -- and i looove seeing our tree all lit up against our big living room window. 

for even more december fun, grandma and grandpa came to visit us in december too! we had a blast showing them all of our favorite seattle christmas activities, like the boat parade. we also tried something new -- lunch at the rotating restaurant at the top of the space needle, which was SO fun. it was all decked out for christmas, the food was delish and it was way more fun that just walking around the freezing observation deck. i highly recommend!

after they left we still had time to squeeze in a few other traditions. the festival of the nativities in bellevue is always so amazing -- and this year kids got to dress up! jack, em and lexi were adorable. 

jack's preschool hosted a special winter art night where we made these cool mixed media snowman paintings. it was really fun to spend a couple hours with just me and my big boy. i love how his painting turned out and i plan to hang it on my wall every christmas. :) 

we had a sugar cookie decorating party one rainy afternoon. allie and jack love to put random eyeballs on their cookies. :) 

and then it was finally christmas! we got fast food for dinner on christmas eve and looked at christmas lights, then my mom read the boys christmas stories over facetime, we left cookies for santa and it was bedtime. b always says "jack will never go to sleep on christmas eve!" but without fail it's always the easiest bedtime of the year around here. :) he's out like a light when he knows santa won't come till we're asleep. 

santa brought jack a bike (which he has only rode one time to date...legos are apparently way more exciting) and hudson a rocking chair from opa wells. :) 

hudson felt pretty good about life with his new nikes (on over his footy pajamas, of course) and his pretzel goldfish. 

we spent most of the day covered in legos or video chatting with family, and i cooked a big ham dinner that night. it was a perfect christmas.