December started off with Naomi having several cavities. It will take two appointments to get them all filled since they are on both sides of her mouth and the dentist doesn't like to numb both sides at once. She is super excited, NOT! She then found out that the volleyball game that night was postponed due to the other team having Covid. They still had practice so Naomi still got to play some volleyball.
The following picture is what it is like having teenagers in the house. I am almost certain it was Nick because that is the type of thing he loves to do. It made me laugh. When Steve and I first decided to have kids we knew there would never be a dull moment, and we were correct.
December 4th I went in for my annual exam with Dr. Moll. He said I was very healthy and "medically boring" which is a good thing. This is the year for the Cologuard test and a bone density scan, along with a mammogram which I have been putting off. Getting older vacuums (because we are teaching the kids not to say sucks! love it!)
December 8th as I was pulling into the parking lot Mr. Bauer signaled for me to call him. We had a teacher out with a possible Covid exposure and they couldn't find a substitute. I was to report to the classroom as soon as I could to cover the spot. YAY!! I really have been missing being with the kids. They are just so cute! I also got to fill in during the afternoon carpool. The teachers make even the most mundane tasks fun. We were dancing during carpool to make things a little more merry.
I just hung at school until it was time to head across the parking lot for Naomi's game. Steve was waiting for me at the door. It was a great game. Naomi got to play and she even got a kill point. She is loving volleyball and being part of the team. Below are some pictures from the game.
Because of Covid we are only allowed to stay for the JV game. Naomi had to work the varsity game so Steve and I took advantage of the extra time and went shopping for some Christmas gifts. Target is so much fun and always has new things. Our big discovery this time was the excellent supply of Mochi in different flavors. It is Naomi's new, favorite thing.
December 9th was really funny. I woke up in the morning thinking, "Well, this is it - the Big 50!" and then I realized that I was turning 51. I got a good laugh about that one. Who can blame me for wanted to forget about 2020?! At school I got to help with the spelling bee which was really fun. Back at home I got a surprise in the mail. It was just what everyone wants on their birthday - a Cologuard test!! Good times! I told you, getting old vacuums!
Steve and the kids did a great job of making sure I had a great day. We had clam chowder in bread bowls for dinner and key lime pie for desert. Nick gave me a gorgeous orchid he had gotten at work. Jeremy found me a weiner dog cup and Steve surprised me with a violin! I have wanted one for so long and I was so surprised. Naomi said she had never seen me get so excited over a gift before. I have been practicing a little every day and can honestly say that I remember a lot of what I learned way back when. I missed having a violin in my life!! I feel complete now.
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| Isn't she beautiful!?!! |
December 11th Nick ran in the Huntersville Holiday 5K. He was so excited to have an actual race to run instead of it being virtual. There is something about running with other people that makes it more fun. He crossed the finish line in 19 minutes 50 seconds.
December 12th Nick ran the Huntersville Holiday 10k. He didn't quite feel up to the half marathon, but said the 10k would be easy. He loves running. Naomi and I drove up with him that morning and cheered him on at the start line and then again when he was running down Highway 73. Of course we were at the finish line as well cheering him until the end.
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| Crossing the finish line. He was 2nd in his age group and 9th overall. |
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| He ended up with three medals - one for each of the races and a third for doing back to back races. |
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| His certificate for completing the 10k |
We hurried home after the race so Nick could shower and go to Delks with Steve, Jeremy and Naomi. I had an entire afternoon to myself at home. I did a little cleaning and played my violin. I wanted to have some time to get used to playing again before anyone could hear me. I played for two hours and fell in love all over again with an instrument I should never have given up.
That afternoon our new fridge was delivered. Since Steve is working for Lowes he was part of an annual employee discount on all appliances. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a fridge that better fit our family's needs. The other one was purchased in a hurry and was not our first choice. This new fridge is exactly what we wanted but had been WAAAAAY out of our budget at the time. This time there was one on the floor that had been returned because there was a small dent in the side so it had been marked down by half and then we got the employee discount on top of that. I know have a new and gorgeous fridge that is everything we all wanted.
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| There is room for everything and it has a fruit drawer and a veggie drawer and a meat and cheese drawer. The right-hand door has a mini door for frequently used items so you don't have to open the whole fridge to get what you need. |
Election update: Trump STILL won't concede his loss. He is demanding more recounts and is still in the process of suing several states. He claims there has been election fraud and is determined to find it. If there was fraud then we all need to know, but if there was not (and that is where all the evidence is leading) then he needs to graciously move on. It is sad to watch.
December 15th - Nick dead-lifted 315 pounds at the gym. He was super excited about it since it has been a goal of his this year. Way to go, Nick!
December 16th was a not so fun day. Cologuard in the morning - not fun but waaaay better than a colonoscopy. My credit card number was stolen and they tried repeatedly to by things online but my bank denied all the charges since they were so far out of my normal spending pattern. Way to go bank!! The worst part is they shut down my card as a result and I was without a card during Christmas and had to change a lot of online payments to another source and... it was a pain, but still glad the bank caught it from the first attempt.
December 18th was the last school day before the holiday break. That last week of school the teachers had been doing a "Do You Wanna Build Snowman" gift exchange. My secret snowman gave me a penguin mug and socks the first day, a scented candle the second day and a fuzzy penguin throw on the reveal day. Ms. Pirella knows me so well!!! I got Ms. Rogowski and had a great time picking out gifts for her. This gift exchange made the season more fun because I love buying things for other people.
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| Kathy Oneal does stained glass angels for her kids and she made me one. |
It was also a fun day because the kids all brought in their gifts for the teachers. There were several students with whom I got very close while in the classroom. Two in particular, twin sisters, remembered how much I loved the Biltmore and wanted to visit. They got me a Biltmore mug for my tea. I sent them a picture of me enjoying tea in my mug as a thank you for their thoughtful kindness.
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| Tea tastes better in a Biltmore mug. |
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| Another fun thing we all got was something Ms. Jones had organized. A few weeks earlier she had sent out a Google form for all of us to fill out with nice things we had to say about our coworkers. She printed out the responses and laminated them for each of us. She is so thoughtful that way. Mine is hanging behind my desk. |
Our PTO is amazing. They do a teacher gift drive every year and the parents give money instead of buying individual teacher gifts. The PTO then takes that money and divides it evenly amongst the staff and teachers and we all got a gift card to Target. LNC is THE BEST place to work and send your kids.
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| Ms. Jones and I picking up our PTO gifts. |
December 18th (later that same day) the boys went to Naomi's volleyball game since they were both not working and we only had two tickets. They had a great time and went out to dinner afterwards. Steve was at work so I had the house to myself again. Of course I played my violin.
While they were gone I had to do some car shuffling in order to get the truck in the garage. I pulled Nick's car into the street so I could get the truck in and when I went to pull the car back into the driveway it was really sluggish starting up. I turned the engine off, waited a moment and then tried to start it up again. It clicked but would not start. His battery had died. Thank goodness I was able to get the car back into the driveway!
December 19th we jump started Nick's car so that he and Steve could go get a new one. Thank goodness this all happened on a day Nick did not have to be to school at 6:30 a.m. That would have been a little traumatic and stressful. Naomi and I went out into the world to attempt to do some Christmas shopping. A lady in our congregation had reached out about needed help with providing several families with a Christmas this year. Naomi and I read the list of needed items and headed to Target to get as much as our budget would allow. It was fun picking things out, but I will admit that the store was a little bit in chaos mode. We were also looking for something for Naomi to give to Nick. We succeeded with getting items for the families, but came up with nothing for Nick. We couldn't find running pants long enough for Nick. After going to several stores we headed home, picked up Nick and went to Kohl's to have him pick out what he wanted. He needed to shop for both Jeremy and Naomi so it all worked out. We were officially done with Christmas shopping!!!
December 21st was a half day from home for school. I had several kids pop on my Zoom and ask questions. It was a busy day and went by quickly. Steve and I went to Naomi's volleyball game that evening and dropped off the Sub for Santa gifts before heading back to the school to pick up Naomi. This was also the night of the Christmas Star. For the first time in 800 years Saturn and Jupiter lined up to create a brighter star. It was really cool to watch the two planets get closer and closer until they finally became one for a few moments.
December 22nd I was in charge of the 8th grade digital citizenship class. I had spent weeks coming up with the lesson content and putting it together in a way that would hopefully engage and teach the 8th graders how to spot real vs fake on social media and in the news. I watched at the kids did several on-line activities and read the comments on the exit quiz to see how much they had learned. I would call it a success. I also got to help tutor a few kids with some last minute assignments.
I signed off of Zoom and drove Naomi to her volleyball game at West Lincoln High School. I wasn't able to watch her play because it was an away game and we were only allowed tickets to the home game, but she came out all excited about getting to play a lot this game and they won and it was fun and... We stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way home since it was an hour drive and we were both hungry. We got home with 20 minutes to spare before I had a Zoom with my sisters to surprise my parents with their Christmas gift. We got them a Roomba vacuum and they were very surprised. (Dad really loves watching it vacuum and will occasionally get in its way on purpose to watch it change direction. He said it is like having a pet).
December 23rd I got to have the other "fun" tests done to complete all the tests you get to have when you get older. The mammogram was nothing new (and just as uncomfortable), but the bone density scan was nice and relaxing. Hopefully everything comes back normal and I can remain "medically boring". My HDLs and LDLs are a little high so I will need to make some diet and exercise modifications, but my Cologuard came back negative. I will count that as a win.
The kids helped me deliver the trees I had made all our friends for Christmas during the day. When Steve got home that night we went to visit Kev and Jo and wish them a Merry Christmas.
December 24th I delivered more trees in the morning, helped Nick make some gourmet cookies he had found a recipe for. He had to make his own toffee, brown the butter for the dough, chop up a 70% chocolate bar and add espresso. They are going to be delicious! We have to wait 48 hours before baking them because they need the time in the freezer for all the flavors to gel. Plus the freezing makes the cookies more moist.
That afternoon I was able to watch the Ballet West production of The Nutcracker on the internet. That brought back memories of going to the ballet every Christmas and of taking dance lessons from Mr. Christensen himself. He was a choreography genius and his version of The Nutcracker is still my favorite.
That night we had our traditional Christmas cradles for dinner. Naomi helped me make them and they turned out gorgeous and yummy.
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| Christmas cradles all ready to eat. |
December 25th was a relaxing day. We were all up and ready to open presents by 9:30 - okay, so maybe we woke Jeremy up because we didn't want to wait any longer. We had sweet rolls and wassail for breakfast and spent the morning opening presents from each other. I didn't take very many pictures this year. I guess I took enough when the kids were little to even it out over the years. It was a nice and relaxing day.
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| Naomi wanted a big pillow for lounging in her bed or stuffed animals. How about both in one? |
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| Jeremy is carrying on the tradition of coming up with fun to and from names on our gift tags. |
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| The kids showing off their Utes hats from Uncle Sean and Aunt Bryn and kids. |
The highlight of December 26th was Nick FINALLY got to bake his chocolate espresso toffee cookies. They looked and smelled wonderful.
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| They are huge. Nick said that you can spread out the eating of the cookie all day long and it is just about right. |
Sunday, December 27th we had a seminary Zoom meeting to discuss the changes in the curriculum and requirements for the coming year. The one I am most excited about is that the seminary schedule will now completely match the Come Follow Me schedule which means that we can delve deeper into the doctrine and the meaning and discuss it together and teach each other in a more meaningful way. We won't feel so scattered in our scripture study. The other big change is that the reading requirement has changed to 75% reading with an emphasis on developing a daily habit of reading the scriptures. To tag along with that idea we are having the kids keep a daily reading journal where they write down things they learned or questions they want to research. They are encouraged to use the online manual to help answer questions or create questions to be answered. Hopefully this will give the kids more confidence in their personal scripture study.
New Year's Eve I went and had my hair done so I can start off the new year in style. I came home and with the help of the kids (since Steve was working) got the food ready. It is a tradition the kids love of getting to help prep the Chinese food for the night's festivities. This year we simplified everything with only doing two entrees (General Tso's Chicken and veggie stirfry) along with won tons, pot stickers and we tried making spring rolls this year. It was a success. We ate yummy food, played a new game (King's Corner) and stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop and to yell "JUMANJI" in hopes that we would get to exit the game we have been trapped in all year.
As I sit now and reflect on 2020 I would have to say that I am grateful for all the hard times and the changes. I have learned that I am resilient and capable of things I never thought I would have to tackle. We grew closer as a family because of all the time spent together. My faith is stronger than I thought as now I am even more responsible for my own spiritual growth. My kids are amazing and can adapt and adjust to the new that surrounds them. Nick took the disappointment of not being able to finish out his senior year of high school the way he had been planning. His graduation look a lot different than he could have ever imagined, but he took in in stride and made the best of it. Jeremy switched to an on-line format to finish up his last semester of his associates degree (which was not easy for him). Naomi didn't get to participate in all the fun events that signaled the end of her years in middle school. Steve is an amazing husband, father and provider. Losing his job of 18 years may just be the best thing about this year. It has been tough and heart-breaking and frustrating and scary, but we have learned that when we all focus on a common goal we can make great things happen. We have also learned that God knows what He is doing and we just need to be patient and trust Him. We have been given the gift of time to discover things about ourselves we would not have discovered without a 6-week quarantine. Will 2020 be remembered as the year that was super easy? Definitely not! Hopefully it will be remembered for the growth that happened and the people we grew into in spite of all the difficulty!
Goodbye 2020 and welcome 2021!
