It's almost time to change the calendar to February (best month, my birthday month, woohoo!) and what a relief that things are about to slow down a little bit. We've had trips, sports, dinners, and gatherings basically non-stop since Thanksgiving and I am WIPED OUT. All good things, good times, good memories—I'm just ready for a good break.

We started off this month with some 9:00pm NYE shenanigans and then headed straight to bed. It was totally my speed.

A few days later we left the kiddos home with Mimi & Papa so we (and by we I mean Russ) could drink beers and watch the Warriors play. Thank you Sara for making it happen! The girls were sad to be left out, but helped bake a cake because "it will be good luck for Steph Curry."

The next week we practiced like crazy to help Grace prepare for her talent show tryout. She chose to sing "Sunday Night Football" by Carrie Underwood, and she made it into the show!

Next it was time to start sorting through the snow and ski gear. Our trip to Tahoe was still 1.5 weeks away, but I have learned I need to start prepping WAY ahead to make sure everyone has boots, jackets, gloves, etc. that fit properly. Nothing like shopping for new snow gear once you're up in the mountains, where everything costs 2x as much. The girls were stoked about the new snow jackets I found on sale this year:

Megan won't be left out, even if she has to wear Amy's jacket...

A few days later, Grace discovered that she FINALLY had her first loose tooth. She has been forlorn all school year—the only first grader in her class who has not yet lost a tooth. So, she made sure to announce her happy news to the entire world:

More on teeth later. On our one (and only) free Saturday this month, I took Grace and Amy on a girls date to Walnut Creek for lunch and painting at Color Me Mine. They were very serious and focused!

No school or work on Monday meant a family day! We lounged around and then went to the bowling alley. Bowling with little kids is straight comedy, thank goodness for bumpers. Grace said "it's much easier to bowl on the Wii." Doh.

Later that week, Grace and Amy played hooky with their Auntie Sara and Mimi for a quick trip to Disneyland. Pure magic, so happy for them!

Mommy and Megan had a few quiet days to ourselves while they were away. She is the sweetest.

When you have a bunch of kids, Saturdays = sports and activities. We're coming to terms with the fact that our weekends will not be "ours" for the next 18 years or so. The big girls are playing YMCA basketball this winter for the first time. Amy just loved it!

After basketball, we loaded up the car and drove up to South Lake Tahoe. The drive was a breeze (unlike our drive home on Sunday, ugh). After dinner that evening, Grandma Cici helped Grace wiggle out that loose tooth! Thank goodness for Cici because I canNOT handle loose teeth at ALL. Grace was literally bouncing off the walls of the hotel room.

The next morning, Russ took Grace and Amy up the gondola for some bunny slope action with help from Cici and Grandpa. (Notice the hole in Grace's mouth!)

Meg and I checked out the view at the observation deck, went tubing, and drank hot cocoa.

We drove home that night after a PAINFUL crawl out of South Lake on Highway 50. I took this screenshot to show our progress after two hours of driving.

The day after a ski trip is all about laundry and chilling out. The kids played a LOT of Wii that day and were pretty happy about it.

After the kids went to bed that night, all of a sudden I heard Grace thundering down the hallway, announcing that she had pulled out ANOTHER tooth! Are you getting a sense of her excitement yet.....

So yesterday, at the end of this blur of a month, I caught Amy reading to Megan. I am blown away that my four year-old is already starting to read! She has always been our little bookworm. This quiet scene yesterday made me just exhale and think, wow, let's do more of this.

I'm happy about all the fun we packed into the last few weeks, but HOORAY for some slower, quieter days to come!