This Week at the Brennans’

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Hello, hello! Here’s what happened at our house this past week:

Gordon and I saw the Rockettes one morning before he headed off to work! This is probably one of my favorite shows to see during the holidays and since my kids are serious grinches and didn’t want to come, we left them at school and went by ourselves. HA! We did end up bringing Porter along too, but he was happy as a clam, nursing for the first half of the show and silently watching the second half. I think most people see us coming with a baby and get worried, but Porter is generally a very content baby. As long as he has a clean bum and a full tummy, all is well.

Blake had a field trip last week and headed to some mansion out of the city. He learned about…something important I’m sure. I was trying to piece together what all he learned but all I got was a paper he drew on with a feather ink pen and the size of a cannon ball. (“It was *this* big mom and SO heavy!”) That boy has a memory like his mama, poor kid. Haha!

Gordon’s aunt and cousins came into town for Christmas and it was so lovely to see their happy smiling faces! We have friends in the city, but its always so nice to be able to share NYC with family. We met up with them for dinner at Maison Pickle (one of our favorite restaurants on the UWS) and then later in the week, we all got together and headed out to lunch. Since we live here, we have been able to explore a good chunk of the city and share our tasty finds with our visitors! New York is a busy, yet delicious town!

Gordon went on a bike ride with his brother John who also lives in the city and one of the visiting cousins while the rest of them came over to our apartment to snuggle the baby. It was a chilly day, so I was happy to stay home, though I really do love biking in the city.

I think I mentioned this last week, but we are almost done Christmas shopping! Yahoo! We just have a few stocking stuffers left to buy and then we are good to go. I bought the majority of the gifts at the beginning of November with the hope that my kids wouldn’t change their Christmas lists. So far so good, though we do have two weeks left. Haha!

I went out to a few stores, trying on clothes since I don’t seem to own anything that fits my ‘in between’ body and it is rough out there. The weight is coming off slowly, but the muscle loss is real! I have a lot of extra skin on my stomach which I’ve never had to deal with before but I suppose after four kids, I’m bound to have some proof that I was actually pregnant with them. We did get a Peloton bike a few weeks ago, rounding off our home gym which I am LOVING but I think I need to focus more on my core than anything else. Excited to see progress in the next few months as I slowly get back into pre-pregnancy shape!

Our kids are earning money through daily and Saturday chores and decided to do a Secret Santa for Christmas. Brooke thought it would be a good idea to open these gifts on Christmas eve, so at some point we will be going to Target or Walmart and splitting up to get gifts for each other. I think it should be a really fun experience and memory. Gosh, I love Christmas.

I signed Brooke and Blake up for more after school classes and have thought about signing Blake and Eddie up for some Karate classes. I feel like Blake would really enjoy Karate, but I worry that Eddie would use these learned skills to his advantage and karate chop his classmates for toys. That boy certainly keeps us on our toes. Ha!

Here’s what is coming up this next week:

We are going to Breakfast with Santa! Skipping school never seemed so fun except Brooke doesn’t want to go (grinch, I tell you!) so I think we’ll just bring our three boys and call it good.

I’m really wanting to do a hot chocolate stand with my kids to earn money for the giving machines. The giving machines are like vending machines that earn money for local and global causes. Clean water, school supplies, clothing, food, livestock and more. I think it would be good for my kids to actively participate in something outside of themselves. Plus buying stuff for others always makes you feel good, right? More info on the giving machines here.

I am hopefully going to be finishing up some blog work specifically for the holidays so we can focus on the wrapping and the baking! Wheee!

Brooke and Blake are participating in a nativity pageant this weekend! Brooke will be an angel (with a speaking roll!) and Blake will be a shepherd. Eddie is sitting out this year, but will probably be a shepherd next year 🙂

We also have tickets to the Polar Express! We are doing a ton of Christmas stuff this week, it seems.

And finally, we are throwing our ugly christmas sweater party this week! It took us a few years to make friends (but really have an apartment large enough to host) so we are thrilled to start this new tradition back up again. If you have any fun/silly reindeer game ideas, let me know!

Have a great week, friends 🙂

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