24 Books in 24 Days

We made it through each day in December counting down to Christmas Eve with a Harry Potter Advent Calendar. To spice things up a bit this holiday season, we added an Advent BOOK calendar and loved opening up a book each day! We added 24 books in 24 days to our own library, and so happy that our local book store Madison Street Books helped picked and wrapped each one!

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Our Family Book Advent Calendar

I have never been more excited for December to start. Each year we do various advent calendar (usually Lego) and thought this year we would spice it up with a Funko Pop Harry Potter Advent Calendar. But I still felt like something was missing. Then, one of my favorite local independent bookstores posted something on their IG feed. I was hooked. I just had to do it. And only two more sleeps before it begins!

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Social Distancing Party

These are crazy times. Normal life vs. Pandemic. How do we celebrate our milestones and still protect each other, our loved ones, and those at the highest risk of complications from COVID-19? Wanting to celebrate the end of high school and the departure for college, we had to get creative and host a social distancing graduation party. Since the next few months include holidays, and birthdays, we thought we would share our tips on what we learned and what we plan to do for the holidays.

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Pandemic Photo Shoot

These last few months have been weird. There’s school but it’s all online. We work (both essential workers) but once home we’ve nowhere to go. No after school activities. No concerts. No Booster meetings. No shopping. NO HAIRCUTS. Our governor gave the green light for social distancing photo shoots to take place and we (ok, I) jumped at the chance to document this weird time. You should, too. Here’s why…

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Class of 2020: Senior Year Quarantined

I had *really* high hopes for 2020. January did not start out how I had hoped and really planned for February to pick up the slack. Then March happened. Don’t even get me started on April. Finally, the gut-punch came this past week when the governor announced that students would not return to the classroom this year. This meant my oldest, Class of 2020, would not be returning to his high school as a student.

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Mystery Trip: Destination Revealed

After months of wondering, worrying, planning and packing the big day had finally arrived. Waking up early at 5:30 am, a few last minute packing adjustments and then the drive to O’Hare we were fiat the moment of truth. I have to say, walking into O’Hare with your suitcase and absolutely no idea where you are going is an odd feeling. But one white envelope held all the answers….now all we had to do was open it up.

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