back to normal, for now...

so the boys and chip and julie left this morning after such a wonderful visit. the toys are put back into storage, the fingerprints are cleaned off the windows, the high chair and monitors and all the trappings of little ones are safely stowed until their next visit, which can't come soon enough for me or my parents. all that's left is the sniffly cold the boys had and passed around to all of us, and some adorable photos from the last week.

we'd had the MN cousins out yesterday (my aunts brought some deadly delish cookies and homebaked breads!) and matthew was entranced by his cousins rosie, hugh, frances and evelyn, and even though 1/3rd of the snow melted since our big snowfall and the other 2/3rds of it turned to ice, a good time was had by those sledding and sliding around on the ice. this morning, before packing, chip and julie put skates on matthew for the first time, and he took to it immediately. that kid can do anything.

michael and i had some good bonding time while his big brother was out skating and sledding. that kid can fall asleep in about 4 minutes. after his bottle and cereal, i sat down with him in the darkened room and rocked for a little bit, he laid his head on my shoulder and sighed a BIG baby sigh, scratched at my hair and my collar for about 3 minutes, and then was out. soooo sweet.

after taking them to the st. paul airport, we stopped off at the mall to do shopping for my christmas present from my folks, some new duds. spent only a few bux but updated the winter wardrobe in a much needed way. i realized it was the first time i stepped into a mall in about 4 months and the 1 hour trip was totally enough for me. chip and julie ended up landing in missouri before we even got home!

when we got home, my dad and i watched the vikings and subsequent other football games, yelling at the poor coaching and refereeing decisions as they were made. i napped because i'd gone to an 11 o'clock showing of 'let the right one in,' a swedish vampire movie, where i ran into the guys from Love in October, the ones I did the music video for! they are moving to chicago on monday, so that was crazy.

so now we get another round of making meals as a family, telling stories that get better with age, and opening presents chosen to make the recepient laugh or cry. betsy and her husband david and their pooch berkley are on their way from chicago, their plan to be here in time to watch the bears game today did not pan out, so instead they will be here 12 hours after the originally planned. which is fine with us, because we needed that time to recoup after hurricane michael and hurricane matthew left town. but i wouldn't have missed their visit for anything. not all the krumkake in the world!