A Ton of Fun in 2021: Week 48 Recap

The playroom downstairs is a mess 90% of the time. It drives me mad. But it is moments like today that I capture them playing with their toys and it makes it all worth the mess. Olivia was down playing with her American Girl dolls and Isaac was working on rebuilding his wooden train set and then pulling busses up beside it.  

Right before Thanksgiving, we found ourselves in Ft. Wayne as Jeremy and I had appointments to renew our TSA pre-check. While we were so close, we decided to burn up the last of our our gift cards from the failed 'year of experiences' Christmas gift of 2020. We took the kids to SkyZone to burn off their energy. One of their favorites is the wall. The ninja warrior zone is cool, we like to watch them battle on the beam, and Olivia enjoys just jumping and trying tricks. Most of the time Jeremy and I join in the fun, but we were just there to watch today since we were burning up the gift cards. 

Thursday was Thanksgiving. I was in charge of the dressing, the pumpkin pies and of course, the cut out cookies. We attempt to always be over to Maw and Paws before 11 when Santa is on the Macy's Day Parade. I sent Jeremy and the kids this year since I was having a melt down with my new hair.  I'll eventually get this hair down right?! I hope so. We took pictures of our family and Jeremy and I cut the turkey as we always do. Tradition. Since Isaac and Olivia are the youngest and only little kids on this side, it was pretty quiet. We stayed all day this time since we weren't going to the Coder side until the next day. 

Olivia is totally into doing her American Girl doll's hair. She set up an entire beauty salon in the kids bathroom, complete with a sign up sheet and prices.  Not sure how they're paying, but I don't ask questions. I just snuck in to take some photos, but she caught me when the flash went off. 

We headed over to the Coders on Friday for Thanksgiving #2. Jeremy had to work, so it was just me and the kids. Arick was also home deer hunting, so we got to hang with him as well. Everyone but Brittney was home for the holiday. It was so nice to have everyone in one place again. The most interesting part was when Emelia asked Granny to tell her some facts about her for something she was writing for school. This led into her telling us about her jobs in high school which included working in a department store. She also said the first time she met grandpa was when her and friend were waiting in line for the ferris wheel at the fair and he and his friend ask if they could (cut in line- boys!) and ride with them. But that's where they met! 

I was trying so hard to go all of 2021 with under 40,000 miles on my SUV.  But I had to drive my SUV this weekend to Attica and it happened on the way home. So close! I was about half way between Upper Sandusky and Lima on 30 and so I took out my phone to capture the moment. Not too bad for having it for three years and only putting 22,000 miles on it. I know it's because I still drive the car to work most days and anytime we are traveling far.  

Finishing up the break found us on a spare of the moment trip to Cincinnati to Top Golf. Again, we have gift cards, but still we drove there just for TG. Olivia typically has dance on Sunday's, so when we found out that morning that dance had been cancelled, we decided to take off and do something fun. Our family LOVES Top Golf. Olivia had a great day and kicked some butt in the second game. I stink, but enjoy seeing how much fun all the rest of them have. Isaac continues to get stronger and better every time we go. It's fun to see him hit further and his excitement when he gets lots of points. Jeremy is the only one who plays the games correctly.  The rest of us just get up there, wack the ball, and hope for lots of points!