2012: That Little Dash There In Between

2012 Schuster Family (full length) vimeo.com

For as long as I can remember (or last back to my High School days) I've always loved country music.  Of course it's fun to sing along with and dance and drink to.  But I love it most for its simplicity and strength in messaging.  Celebrating the every day - or any day.  

It's most fitting that this post and our family's 2012 photo slide show* are set to country songs.  Because I don't have anything super big to report about the past 12 months, yet it feels like we've lived so much.  I watch the slideshow and can remember the moments when all of those photos were taken.  They are current enough that I can remember the words Max & Otto spoke. I can remember the expressions and sounds Wren was making.  The love (and frustration) that Joe and I were feeling during these little moments is so real still.  

But I know that I won't always be able to remember this level of detail.  And when I've forgotten the specifics of these memories, I know the song "Time Is Love" will bring back a rush of emotion.  Even though Joe wouldn't consider himself a country music fan, he likes this song too.  It speaks directly to both of us, as we're grounded in many of the same beliefs.  We work really well together and both prioritize time together as a family.  We see the greatness in ordinary moments.  

"There's two dates in time

that they'll carve on your stone

And everyone knows what they mean

What's more important is the time that is known

In that little dash there in between"

{Pushing Up Daisies; Garth Brooks}

If a dash is really just a short line.  And a line is just a lot of dots strung together.  Then the part of the dash that was made by us in 2012 was just billions of every day dots.

And 2012 was a year of trying my best to live in the moment on whichever one in a billion dots I happen to be standing upon at the present time.  Arguably, this "living in the moment" is a basic act of survival many days, rather than by consciously choosing to "live in the moment."   Doesn't matter.  It's nice.  

I can safely say it's been a really good year since I'm sad to see it go.  

As I look to 2013 I've tried to keep my resolutions simple and strong, too.

• With Joe:  Monthly time together without kids.  My new babysitter is going to think I'm crazy, because I'm tempted to pick the days for the coming year right now!
• With the kids:  More 1:1 time with each of them.  They are great together, but I don't want to miss out on the little things that I only really see when I'm spending time individually with them.
• Fitness Promiscuous: Running a little less means I'm biking, rowing, Barre-ing, CrossFitting, etc. a little more! Mix it up!
• Family Vacation:  Since Wren was born we haven't taken a "real" (flight, beach, warm-weather, etc) family vacation.  I've already bought Wren's new swimsuit for the year.  Next up, booking flights (pretty sure the swim suit shopping is more fun than the flight will be:)

Wishing everyone billions of every day dots to enjoy in the New Year!

* No idea how to get this family video embedded into my blog.  It ended up being WAY too big and won't upload, so I saved it on Vimeo and published on Facebook because I couldn't figure the blog thing out.  I guess I should have made it 20 photos rather than 200+ plus, but I couldn't bear to edit it down any further.  When I want to get a quick review of 2012 I'll pull up this video and take a walk down memory lane.  

Schuster Christmas 2012

From the look of our house on the 26th, it's clear that Christmas was a lot fun!  After the last guest had left on Christmas night, Joe and I turned a blind eye to the mess surrounding us and plopped onto the couch.  The next morning, after returning home from dropping the kids at school, and in the bright winter sunlight, our house resembled it's look following a couple wild NYE parties pre-kids.  Dirty and disheveled.  Mostly from toys and wrapping paper, though, which are definitely easier to clean up than confetti and champagne.

We had such a fun time hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - and now we are worn out! As I always say, the photos I have are not that great, but you'll get to see a bit of our Holiday through them.  Given our focus on keeping up with the kid's excitement and hosting, photos were even more limited this year.

A BIG thank you to Diane & John who always host a wonderful Christmas Eve at their house, but took a break from it this year to ensure Diane continues to heal.  Due to a bad accident back in October, Diane, as a pedestrian, was hit by a car and unfortunately broke her back.  Thankfully she is not critically injured.  We were happy to host them and the rest of our families for this year's Christmas celebrations.  

Otto, Grace, Lyla & Max

 Grams & Wren

Me and my little girl.  XOXO.

Max, Wren & Otto

Gifts A Plenty 

Anyone who knows my family knows that we love to give gifts at Christmas.  We wrap everything, too, joking that the gift we wrapped cost less than the wrapping paper itself.  And we open gifts on Christmas morning, unwrapping each gift individually. This works really, really well for adults and when the quantity of gifts is within reason.  See where I'm going with this...Grams and Auntie Jamie were wild for Christmas and went wild buying wonderful gifts.  So unwrapping took us all day.  

Had it only been Max in the room we could have been done very quickly because that almost 5 year old boy of mine is FAST.  He knows how to rip and tear and LOVES presents this year.  My almost 3 year old got a computer from Santa 1st thing when he woke up and didn't want to be bothered with opening any other presents.  

Wren was hit and miss.  Sometimes she ripped paper, sometimes she chewed boxes, sometimes she played with a new toy.  Mostly she was having fun snuggling in the new canopy (see below) from Santa.

But somehow (with much help from Max) we managed to work our way through hundreds of gifts.  We were all absolutely spoiled. Max's favorite gift was his pirate ship from Grams and remote control car from Aunt Liz.  A close second to Otto's favorite computer were all of the kitchen appliances from Auntie Jamie.  Wren loved a new little "thumbkin" game from Auntie Cristy, Uncle Sean & cousin Lily (seriously, this is going to be my 1st Birthday go-to gift of choice).

I received so many wonderful presents.  There were surprises from everyone, which was such fun!  Not to name names, but Joe outdid himself with such thoughtful gifts.  First (but really it happened to be the last gift I opened), he got me a new sewing machine.  In hindsight I have no idea how I didn't figure out that it was a sewing machine when I (1) saw the wrapped box a week ago, (2) placed it under the tree, (3) sewed numerous things on my old, smoking machine over the past couple weeks or (4) lifted the box again to unwrap it.  I pretty much burnt out the motor on my previous machine while sewing a ton (over half a miles worth!!!) of ruffled crepe paper streamers for Wren's birthday.  My machine started smoking and emitting a burnt smell.  I gave it a break for a month and have been using it sparingly since.  What a treat!  I know it's going to run so smoothly and quietly.  Cannot wait to break it in.  Must create my "to-sew" list for the coming year.  

Joe also surprised me with a canvas painting from an artist we saw displayed at the boy's school.  A pretty, colorful painting to brighten our house when all the Christmas decorations come down.  

He also remembered that I wanted a Faribault Woolen Mills throw blanket for ensuring our living room stays cozy after the tree comes down, too.  

And best gift of all...Joe and I are taking a day to ourselves while all the kids are in daycare tomorrow.  It's been way, way, way too long.  

Overflow parking.  Another tree with gifts under it.  I put up about five trees around my house, and each one of them ended up having gifts placed beneath it.

Crafty Christmas

What would a Holiday be without some crafty projects and gift-making?  At the beginning of December I asked the boys what they wanted to make for their cousins and Max said Pinatas.  Festive and original!  I suggested we turn them into santa pinatas...

Every year Joe and I get the kids a Christmas tree ornament, but this year I didn't come across any "must have" ones that felt like each of the kids.  But while I was fabric shopping with the boys for decorating their rooms, we came across fabric with different Christmas illustrations on it.  Max saw it and said I could cut out the pictures and sew them like little pillow ornaments.  And so we have a snowman for Otto, Santa for Max and a penguin for Wren...

Max and I had fun painting the insides of glass ball ornaments.  Here's one we made for Grams (and Max is staring at a new toy he just unwrapped, totally uninterested in the ornament:)

And then there's a little baby doll cradle that Joe and I worked to refurbish for Wren.  It was intended for her 1st Birthday, but we didn't have it done in time.  Two months later, we've finished the sanding off of a Cabbage Patch Kids sticker, painting and screwing the pieces back together.  Now for me to sew Wren's dolls a little memory quilt made from the scraps of Wren's clothes from her memory quilt...

Even Santa got into the DIY mode and made the kids a tent/canopy/fort that hangs from the ceiling.  

The Pickle

For another year or so the hunt to find the pickle ornament is a one man race.  Max against himself.  Otto and Wren were not interested (I even purposefully put the pickle right at Wren's height, next to her favorite ornament on the tree to try and stage a win for the underdog).  

After several minutes of searching (the camping lights Grams gave the kids came in handy to illuminate the part of the tree Max was inspecting) and some hints, Max found the pickle and got a prize of another hand-made ornament by me.   

Oh Otto

Oh how I love Otto and his singing and guitar playing.  He was practicing Christmas Eve morning and then delighted us all by breaking into a little "Twinkle Twinkle" riff as Christmas Eve was coming to a close.  So sweet and sincere.

One more thing about Otto.  He was my one who woke for a few days at 5am leading into Christmas, and, sleepily asking upon waking, if Santa had come yet or if it was Christmas yet.  And then, after hearing my response, would lament that it was toooooo loooong until Santa and Christmas.  When I finally picked him up from school on Christmas Eve (cursed blessing....a few hours of (jewish) school on Christmas Eve morning so I could get the house in order) and he asked "Are we going to Christmas now?"  I joyfully told him "Yes, we are going to Christmas now" (just as soon as we swing by the Doctor to get some meds prescribed for your strep throat). 

 

Christmas Card

It's been three or four years since I've done a family photo Christmas card.  I've been trying to do something a little different that captures our Holiday spirit for the year, including a silhouette while I was pregnant, hand print and finger print cards, etc.  This year I thought of sharing some of our family traditions - longstanding and newer.  Wanted to add this image to the post since this blog is essentially my scrapbook and I'm sure I'll misplace the extra copies of the card in a pile someplace...

Home Sweet Holiday Home

I love how cozy homes become at Christmas.  The tree with all the lights and decorations. Colorful presents.  Candles (albeit it fake flickers for the time being).  A fireplace (I wish).  

I'm not usually much of a knick-knack person, so I love the Holidays and all the extra decorations that come with December.  Somehow they're all similarly themed and work together.  And they definitely make our house more warm and inviting.

This year Joe and I decided to go for it and get a couch that both of us had been eyeing for a couple years now.  The new sectional fits and fills out our living room so much better.  It's big and easily fits our whole family on it.  All the kids love it.  I've quickly discovered that snuggling in the corner with the pillows for story time is even better than in the boy's beds. 

After getting the couch we decided we needed a new "entertainment cabinet."  Joe built the white console table under the TV, and after the Holidays he'll add a floor to ceiling bookcase to the console (on the left side of the TV).  It's been nearly a dozen years in our little house and I finally like how our living room has come together.  2013 Resolution:  Don't wait so long to find what decor I love and get mine and Joe's "master" bedroom pulled together.  

Here's a little photo tour of some of the Holiday decorations around our house.  If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by.  We're hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and would love you to join us for some cheer & beer! 

Our living room.  For years I wanted live greenery hung in our windows.  So glad Costco carried wreaths and garland (& the tree) - they all help bring the outdoors inside!

Living room and the cabinet (3/4ths complete) that Joe is building for a console table and bookcase.

I'd say the kids have been good.  But I think saying "The Aunties have been very good to the kids" might be even more accurate.

Oh!  This is a new cubby shelf that I ordered to hang about our little desk and chair.  I'm struggling with the "merchandising" of things in it.  And Otto rearranges the knick-knacks in the cubbies daily, so it's always a surprise as to what layout I'll find.  BUT Mom, I think this is where we can all store our coffee cups over the Holidays!  Everyone can pick their mug and when it's not in use, just put it in a cubby.  It will free up some counter space in the kitchen.

We don't have a chimney or a mantel or anything else high enough to keep the kids from tugging on our stockings, so we decided to hang them on the closet door in the playroom.  Joe and the kids hung these while I was in NYC with my girl friends.  After he sent me a picture I noticed how they are not evenly spaced across the entire closet.  There's clearly enough room on the right for one more stocking.  I mentioned if he was subtly hinting at wanting to add a 6th stocking someday.  (Keep in mind this was on day three of him watching all three kids solo).  His return text cleared up any confusion I may have had!

I had these stockings knitted by a lady I work with for our family.  My Grandma Chevalier had knit everyone in her family (her children and us kids) their own stocking from this pattern before she passed away. I wanted to have the same stockings for my family and used my Grandma's pattern for them.

This is a wooden silhouette tree that Joe had made for Otto's nursery.  We've since moved it into our playroom.  And I "strung" lights around the outline of it.  It looks totally cool!  Probably will keep this tree lit well beyond Christmas.

Back to my comment about fixing up mine and Joe's bedroom in 2013.  Above is what I'm dealing with...  A terrible off-putting blue color that I picked out and Joe painted onto the walls a year or two ago.  It's got to go.  And decor needs to happen. Until then, I do have my Hot Cocoa duvet on and little Christmas stockings hung on the bed frame.  

Our Home Sweet Holiday Home

P.S. Wren's Take On Gingerboy Decorating

While hanging out with Wren today she asked that I add a post-script to yesterday's Gingerbread Boy Decorating comments.  

While she happily enjoyed chewing on one of the boy's arms for most of the activity, she also remembers this sequence of events...

Holiday Happenings

Thought I'd share some updates of our December through pictures and commentary. 

This really is the most wonderful time of the year!  

I'll work on getting a picture with all three of the kids by the tree. Please remind me!

 Our trip to the Christmas Tree Farm.  Umm, Tree Trailer.  At none other than Costco.  

It was windy and cold.  

We needed to pick up a few gallons of milk.  

We get 2% cash back.  

Pretty sure we won't actually cut our own tree down again until all kids can dress themselves in winter layers.

Our 1st ornament.  I believe I was scrubbing sap off my hands while this ornament must have been carefully placed on our tree by one of the boys.  I walked out to the living room, saw it and just smiled.  It's since been removed - a boy's gotta build - but replaced by plenty of other just as perfect ornaments!

While I was putting up some of the last tree decorations, Max wanted to try his hand at putting garland on this little grapevine tree. Instead of wrapping it around the tree like I was doing on our big tree, he kind of looped it in a lot of bows on the top of it.  I loved how original it was.  

And, quite frankly, was glad there was one less strand of garland for me to put on our tree.  Decorating took a couple weeks from start to finish (and I'm just talking about the tree.  Our house decorating continues...)

I loved sliding on snowy and icy streets when I was a bit younger (and less apt to fall from 5'10" above ground and hurt my shoulder).  A few weeks back we had a light dusting of snow when I was picking the boys up from school and they loved it as well.  Their sheer thrill was fun to hear as they enjoyed sliding.

Decorating giant gingerbread boys.  Otto used a modest amount of decorations (probably because every time he picked up a candy he decided to eat it right then and there instead of putting it on his gingerbread boy).   

 Max loaded his boy up with plenty of frosting and candy.  Wren happily chewed the arm of one of the boys while her brothers decorated.

Snow Pants!  I LOVE snow pants on little kids.  Or more specifically, the way little kids walk while wearing snow pants.  And the complete and utter exhaustion that follows after little kids walk in snow pants outside in piles of snow.

Wren loved the huge blizzard we got in mid-December.  

Of course the boys did as well.  This year's igloo was built incredibly fast given our 12+ inches of snow one Saturday, and a table that I had left in our back yard.   

A shipment of presents - the 1st wrapped presents the boys saw this year.  They had so much fun opening the box of gifts from Aunt Cristy, Uncle Sean & cousin Lily, and even more fun placing them under the tree. 

 And still more fun removing them from under the tree and seeing how high of a pile they could make.  Any way you stack it, presents are fun!

 Wren enjoying looking at the ornaments.  She's actually been doing pretty good not tearing the tree apart.  I love this picture - she started babbling to this start ornament, which happens to be one with beads spelling "SUMMER" on it that my mom made for me when I was in grade school.  

I have yellow felt.  I have letter beads.  I have thread.  I have a needle.  I have every intent to make the same ornaments for Max, Otto & Wren.  Hopefully in time for this Christmas.

 The Holidazzle Parade.

This past Sunday we were the Schuster family about town.  After naps we decided to make it to the Children's Museum in St Paul for the last hour of Target Free 3rd Sundays.  It worked out so well - much less busy then, than showing up at 9am when they 1st opened.  

Following the museum we figured that since we were all already loaded in the car, and had to pass through Minneapolis to get home, that we'd hit up the Holidazzle.  After some dinner at Noodles we headed to Nicollet Mall and made it to the parade in perfect timing.  

It was so much fun.  All three of the kids loved the sparkling lights.  Joe and I truly got to experience Christmas through their eyes.

November Called. They Want Their 'Stache Back.

Have you looked at a calendar recently?  

Oddly enough I have, with great jealousy, as I watch the boys pluck their little chocolate candy from behind the cardboard door.  It's December.

Which means November, and more significantly, Movember, was here and is now gone.  

But Joe's mustache isn't.  

This is the first year Joe grew a mustache in support of Movember, a cause dedicated to raising awareness for men's health, specifically prostate and testicular cancer.  Personally, I think the idea of Movember is one of the best ideas ever.  So visual, so male, so social.  

Here are a few photos of Joe's mustache throughout the month.  Personally, since he was going for it, I thought he should have grown a handlebar or biker mustache.  Maybe next November...because I'm not a fan of the 'stache and would prefer to wait a year until it returns.  A little all-over stubble, even including a beard, would be OK every now and then.  But just a mustache is just not for me.  

Day 5-ish

The kids had noticeable 'stache burn on their cheeks from Joe's kisses.  Otto commented "Ouch! Too prickly."

Thanksgiving Day

I Heart NY

I think I said this on our last girl's trip to New York City, and I know I said it this past weekend while there for this year's Christmas trip.  I wish I had worn my Garmin to track miles walked as well as ground covered (including all our back-tracking).  From Harlem in the North to Coney Island in the South, we covered a lot of the City! 

Greta, Katie, Marie and I left Minneapolis early Friday morning arriving in time to have three full days in New York.  We make a special attempt to do and see a lot of the Holiday attractions; including markets, displays, caroling and more.  

Unfortunately I have less than mediocre photos from this trip.  We literally would leave our hotel room bright and early in the morning and return home way, way, waaaayyy past my bedtime each night.  My phone (& only camera I brought with) petered out long before I did each day, usually by 3pm, leaving me with spotty photo coverage of our adventures.  

The following photos give you a glimpse into the first few hours following our arrival into NYC.  Usually this "huddle" would take place in our hotel room, but since ours wasn't ready yet, we made ourselves at home at the hotel's business center.  Which is quite fitting, because this portion (& only this portion) of the trip is when we get down to serious business.  We're reviewing our boards on Pinterest to refresh our memories of everything we pinned that we want to do and see.  We're plotting coordinates on our Manhattan maps.  Identifying "must do" activities and "if we stumble upon it" sights.  Discussing the best way to cover all the ground we want to cover in order to limit back-tracking and ensure leisurely enjoyment once we've got a general framework in place for all we want to do. 

Phones are out.  Computers started up.  Color coding pens and Sharpies at the ready. 

Pretty sure we were scaring some guests away.  And still the hotel couldn't make our room available to us.  So we wrapped up the "Planning" portion of our weekend, checked our luggage with the bellman and headed out into one of the greatest cities in the USA.

Soho & The Village

We spent our first afternoon of the trip in Soho, tooling around and going in and out of cute shops and cafes. There’s an overabundance of neighborhood haute spots. All warm and cozy. To borrow from a Gotham magazine review, many of these spots are the intersection of socializing and sanctuary. We enjoyed a long, late lunch. And shopping at the Land of Nod and Etsy pop-up shops. Then a latte at the Antique Garage. Due to a minor snafu (pregnancy brain related - Greta, not me), we wound up navigating ourselves to the Land of Nod a couple times instead of a different store. No harm or foul…everything’s in walking distance so we rerouted ourselves and Katie made sure we were following the blue dot (the one on the Maps app) for the rest of our trip.

Brooklyn

We’ve been to NYC several times for our Christmas vacation, but have never made it to Brooklyn. This year we decided it was a new part of the city we wanted to explore, particularly because we had each found a handful of Christmas attractions in that neck of the skyscrapers.

First up were the Christmas light displays in the Dyker Heights neighborhood; a community situated pretty darn close to Coney Island. In advance of our trip, Marie had watched a TV show highlighting the extravagance of the lights and the competition different houses and streets go to in order to outdo one another.

After an hour or so of walking around Dyker Heights, we navigated our way back to the Subway, managed a few public transportation transfers and found ourselves in the too cool for yule neighborhood of Williamsburg. Another mile-long walk and we were entering the Brooklyn Night Bazaar.

The Bazarre was lauded as a Holiday artisan and craft fair; hipster style. As Greta read the description to us she asked us to imagine Seth, playing the trend reporter from SNL, reading it in his uber trendy mockery style. It lived up to its billing.

The entrance to the event was through a loading dock. Immediately after ducking our way through the heavy plastic walk-in cooler doors, we cased out the joint. A huge industrial warehouse that was part rave, part quilting bee, part Puma after hours athlete event. Miles of glow in the dark rope was draped from the ceiling. House beats blared throughout the concrete showroom. Hands held countless cans of PRB 24oz alongside locally sourced and braised short rib tacos. Doe eyed 20-somethings with messy buns high atop their heads sat knitting too trendy tops not far from a dozen ping pong tables and indoor soccer competitions taking place. Next to all of that sport, and precariously too close to the locally sourced food, were two dozen port-o-potties. Right there inside Hipster Holiday Bazzare. No wonder there was a stench that turned all of our apetites off from the food vendors.

After a half hour of meandering through the stalls (both bathroom stalls and craft stalls:), we decided to get some much needed fresh air and head back toward some cafes we saw near the Subway.

Two Door Tavern. If I took the time to retroactively research, I’m sure I’d find plenty of good press about this place. I’m so happy Marie boldly declared this was where we should have dinner, because I would have led the group astray to a smaller café with a whole lot of on-trend grains but a lot less charm. At Two Door Tavern, every fixture had a beautiful patina and heft infrequently found in today’s reproductions. The food was savory. The fire a bit too smoky at one point (smoke rises and we found ourselves in the loft, next to the wood fireplace that burned to smoking embers and nearly asphyxiated us all).  Despite the minor smoke-out incident, Two Door Tavern was perfect.  A warm and cozy bar with delicious food to relax and hang out at after a very busy and long day of travel and touristing.


Our second day was spent enjoying Midtown.  We were up early and in line at TKTS getting a good deal on theatre tickets for that night.  We strolled the window displays on 5th/Madison/Park Avenues.  We stopped for good food and drinks.  We made our way to ABC Carpet & Home, Union Square Market, the High Line and Chelsea Market.  Enjoyed some dinner.  Then we trekked back North to the Time Warner Building for a musical light display.  Grabbed snacks at Whole Foods and headed to our off-Broadway show.  Of course stopping by Rockefeller Center before making our way back to our hotel.

Gorgeous holiday greenery at Union Square Market 

Festive Carolers at Union Square 

 Rockfeller Center Christmas Tree

Mid-day latte

All our walking and sight-seeing meant we needed to STRETCH at the theatre before seeing Avenue Q.  Ave Q did not disappoint. I'd been wanting to see it for years and it was such a fun show.  Talented puppeteers and actors, those ones!

The City & Central Park

Our last full day in the City we walked some more, including most of Midtown again and all of Central Park.  We made it to two different Christmas "lighting" ceremonies that night.  

Holiday lighting ceremony at Charles Dana Discovery Center on the north side of Central Park

Central Park at Harlem

Empire State Building

Morning bagels as we headed out

The Brick Church Caroling & Park Ave Tree Lighting is what started it all. Or at least keeps it going. Years ago, maybe even before I had my 1st baby, Greta, Katie and myself took a trip to New York City with the intent to see and do all things Holiday in the city. Our last night during that trip we “pretended” we were residents of the Upper East Side and attended the Brick Church congregation’s caroling and tree lighting ceremony. The setting so magical and dreamy. The furs and Chanel No. 5 so prevalent. This event has become a cornerstone of our Holiday get-a-way.

This year we met a totally stereotypical bi-coastal local. Or as Greta dubbed her, Grandma Barbie. Long blonde hair down her back, she flies in from LA to attend the Upper East Side event every year – she wouldn’t miss it! She was full of Christmas cheer, as well as knowledge about the history of the event. She saw a news reporter and promptly inquired if the reporter thought enough people knew the full story of why the Brick Church caroling began so many years ago. The reporter replied she did believe she knew the history…but asked Grandma Barbie if she wouldn’t mind being interviewed to share more. 

Would she mind?! Grandma Barbie was hoping she’d ask!  Here she is smiling for the cameras...

Aside from the few rain drops (55 degrees in NYC in December!), the Brick Church delivered Holiday cheer in abundance. As I sit typing this post on the flight home to Minneapolis, I am filled with the spirit of Christmas and can’t wait to put the finishing touches on my decorations at home, crank the carols and start the countdown to Christmas vacation!



Home Sweet Holiday Home

Throughout our time away, each of us commented how great technology is. While we were totally disconnected from the stresses and responsibilities of our lives back home, our husbands and kids had the opportunity to feel included in our adventures in the City (I fully acknowledge that us ladies def got the better deal on this one). Greta introduced us all to the Photo Circle app and it’s awesome. Basically it’s a real-time digital photo album. We were all added to the “NYC Christmas 2012” circle, including our hubbies, and we could all add images, view them and comment on them. Nate, Greta’s husband, said “It kind of feels like I’m on the trip with you.”

Joe was continually texting photos and videos of what he and the kids were making back in Minneapolis. And Nate had his own Photo Circle going with Greta to share the MANY adventures he and Tillie were experiencing during their Dad & Daughter weekend!

I'm home, and it's the Holidays!