We are limping to the finish line here, folks. This week has been insane – tons of major schoolwork for the girls, a work trip to Minneapolis overnight for me, very cold weather, lots and lots of wrapping and preparing gifts, and very little sleep had by any of us. Thankfully tomorrow is the last day of school before break. YAY. We leave for CA on Sunday and I haven't done a THING to prepare. Oh well. We'll be on the plane, bags will be packed.

In other big news, we have a new member of our family: Tess the Tesla, who joined us last night. She's awesome but presents a big learning curve and lots of things to get used to. No gas is great! But it's like driving a huge iPhone – everything is digital and nothing about it is like my old car. It didn't come fully charged – a mistake on their end – but I managed to snag a spot in the garage this afternoon at work with a charging station so now she's up to 112 miles of charge. Heated seats (or BHs as Grampy calls them) are nice, and I warmed up M's seat before she got in the car tonight so that was fun. Oh, and you're supposed to name your car, so that's why she's named Tess.

Tonight A told me that one of the best emotions in the whole world, ahead even of her teacher using her work as an example in class, is when I laugh at something she says. That was so sweet. She is over the moon for Harry Styles and likes to sing his songs and watch videos of him.

A is applying for a trip abroad in Japan this summer. She turned in her application today. Competition is stiff, but how cool would that be? Also she tried out for Newsies this week. To say she's unenthused about the production would be an understatement.

Tonight we opened a chunk of presents since we're going to be gone all of Chanukah this year. Here's how it looked beforehand: