Hipworth House: Get Action.

"Get action. Be sane." Leave it to a PBS special at 9pm at night on Theodore Roosevelt to inspire. Do you know the history of Mr. Teddy Roosevelt? It is nothing less than remarkable. Aside from his well known political career, the man had a zeal for life I don't think many have today. After the unexpected death of his wife during birth of their child, followed by the death of his mother just hours later, ON THE SAME DAY, he decided to leave political life on the East Coast and became a rancher in the Badlands of California. After his conquest out there, he went back East only to be inspired to become President of the United States. I mean, talk about action. Talk about not letting life get you down. Here I am on my 5th cup of coffee at 9:30 and struggling to find the energy to wrestle Palmer out of his pajamas before our play date gets here. Not sure what happened to old Teddy R. after that (by the way he was only 26 at this point!!) because sleep deprivation kicked in and I was forced to retreat to my bedroom. Feeling far inferior as a human being than Mr. Roosevelt called us to be.

Then eerily, the following day as I was mindlessly flipping through Instagram (obviously Roosevelt's call to "get action" hadn't inspired that much...) I saw a post with a book titled "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown. The book titled after a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. Hmm...coincidence? Life telling me to get off my batookis? Well if nothing else I downloaded the book on my kindle. And now let's see if I can Dare Greatly and Get Action with a 2 year old and 5 month old riding along.

We did, however, dare greatly for the holidays as we traveled to Chicago to stay with Pete's parents. We then drove from Chicago to Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin Christmas Day for everyone to celebrate at Uncle Tom & Aunt Lindsay's house. It was full of Mr. Roosevelt's beloved action and left us feeling a great kind of tired.

The week started strong with a visit from baby cousins. Sean, Jr 10 months, Tripp 4.5 months, Emma 3.5 months

Christmas Night rainbow sherbet with May

We finally got to meet Poppy & her cheeks. Obsessed.

Tripp Martin & his sweet Dada

Lindsay's sister & her brand spanking new fiancee! He performed a surprise proposal that morning which made for an even higher level of Christmas excitement as we were all in on the secret. Check out her lifestyle blog Born Fancy for deets on the proposal (including her fabulous ring adorned with sapphire.) She works for Monique Lhuillier, used to be on Say Yes to the Dress and lives in NYC. Her blog is more than just a touch fancier than mine.

Palmer and his drill that he used to open everyone's presents. #1 of 3 he would receive. He still prefers the real deal.

Pete cannot resist a cheek of that caliber.

Palmer couldn't have been more excited to finally get back to his other Gra-Gra.

Nor could he have been more excited to receive cleaning supplies as a gift.

Baby Tripp just being Baby Tripp

Palmer & Lila jumping down Gra-Gra's basement stairs onto a giant bean bag.

Christmas Eve crew gathered for the gift exchange

May in true form with her Momma

A hippo necklace?! Hell yeah!

Staying up way, way past bedtime

We made it back to Florida in one piece and Santa graciously visited our house the next morning.

Rotating Mickey lollipop holder? Score!

I wish the boys would've been in these Christmas jammies the entire Christmas season. They wore them for all of two minutes while I tried to snap a Christmas card photo.

Pictures make scenes look so much sweeter. At this point in the "photo shoot" Palmer was totally ignoring me and Tripp was flailing about like a fish out of water. Not the preciousness I was looking to memorialize for our family.