The fastest way to induce panic in a graphic designer who NEEDS their laptop is to leave the power cable two hours away at the lake. Which means the first half of this week has been a mad scramble to get a new power cord and get everything pulled together. I feel like I’ve fallen off the face of the Internet! So it’s good to be back here and I have so much to tell you about!

I took off most of last week from work stuff since Jude was out of school all week for Thanksgiving break and we filled the week with going to the movies, dinner with both of our families and then a trip out to the lake to bundle up in our jammies and hang out with friends.

However. The bummer about leaving after Thanksgiving lunch? No leftovers to munch on. 🙁

But the fun part of being at the lake? Walks down the boardwalk with these guys:

Here was my baby last year on this same week:

And my baby this year (OMG he is soooo big! Mr. 22 Months Old)

We spent the weekend taking long leisurely walks through the ‘hood and going to feed the chickens. They were so happy to see Archer waving handfuls of Corn Flakes (“1 for you, 12 for me”).

And we made enormous messes in the kitchen. I’m going to be so sad when Archer outgrows taking baths in this sink. Over the weekend we perfected the art of saying “Yes.” And by we, I really mean Archer. Learning how to nod his head yes as well as say it has kind of changed his world.

Archer of 1000 Faces.

Poor Jude was down for the count by Friday night after roaming the ‘hood with all his buddies. He came down with a bug and stayed in bed for 36 hours.

And we couldn’t let the Netflix Gilmore Girls reunion pass us by, so we binged on that all weekend long. Have you watched it yet? I have alllllll the thoughts on that ending!! Feel free to comment w/ spoilers in the comments below.

Internet, it was the first time in 5 years I haven’t been stressed out of my mind in preparation for the holiday season. I kind of miss the frenzy of prepping my shop for Christmas and pulling together the orders, etc. But I don’t miss the stress. I don’t miss the feeling of making everybody else’s Christmas amazing while my own family’s was put on the back burner. I’m already 75% done with my holiday shopping, and that hasn’t happened in I don’t know how long.   An affirmation again that I made the right decision.