getting back into the flow

so, i had the best intentions of blogging and posting pictures from our trip to china and hong kong soon after our return, but getting back into the flow of things, especially with it being so close to christmas, was challenging. now that things have settled down a bit, i finally feel like i can (and should) get back onto this old thing and share a bit of what's been happening on the home front. in a few words, not much! december and january flew by. we had a relaxing and meaningful celebration of christmas with my cousin and her family, and my sister and her boyfriend and boyfriend's family. it was nice to have the house full of people sharing a meal, singing carols, opening gifts, and making another great christmas memory for the years to come. we scaled back quite a bit this year with our gift-giving to the kids. it was really, really nice. it was a bit odd at first because they opened their present from us (one each) and that was it. but in the end, and now looking back on it, it was freeing not to have so much "stuff" to deal with after the holidays. it felt a lot less overwhelming. of course, they still had gifts from grandparents and aunties and uncles to open. :)

a new sushi place called mizu sushi opened up in our city so allan and i checked it out last month. it's one of those places where the sushi runs on a conveyor belt throughout the restaurant and you grab what you want as it goes by in front of you. then, they tally the plates according to color to calculate your tab. it was okay. it was nice not to have to wait for your food, but we quickly realized that almost everything was a california roll. they just added things to the top to change it into a different type of roll. for that, we just made our own cali rolls at home, and they were scrumptious.

homeschooling has been the most challenging this year, mainly because both of the girls are no longer napping so i have the two of them to contend with as i try to school lucas. next year will be a new experience as well, since our plan is to start homeschooling emma in kindergarten. you can start praying for me now! i think the most challenging part of homeschooling is the parenting aspect that comes along with it. you can't get away from it. you play both the mom role and the teacher role, which i think is not as true in a traditional classroom setting. (teachers out there can correct me if i'm wrong here.) and all the interruptions of having a three- and four-year old running around you while you try to teach can get exhausting. this may all sound very discouraging, and i admit i've felt that way this year, but a phrase allan and i heard recently got me recharged again. we were reminded that the days with our kids are long, but the years are short. how very true. lucas is turning 7 this month, which means half of his home-time with us is almost gone! in another ten years or so, he'll be off to college and out of our home. thinking on that makes me realize how precious these years are with my kids. and seeing how quickly our little elise (our baby!) is growing is confirmation that time is passing by faster than we notice on a daily basis. sniff. to all my young mom friends, enjoy your days with your kids though they may feel long...for the years are incredibly short! (lucas is reading to the girls as i blog this, bless his little heart!)