A Ton of Fun in 2021: Week 49 Recap

Never did I set out to be a published author. But here we are. I got one of my favorite Christmas gifts early this year...my hardback version of my PR Principles textbook. They sent two copies and it was delightful to have it physically in my hands. I called up my co-author immediately and let her know it came and be on the lookout. So exciting! StuKent has certainly been good to its authors, showering us with love and gifts throughout the year. I'd highly recommend partnering with them to author a textbook if you're looking for a good author/publisher relationship. 

This week's blog is actually being loaded in the order the pictures uploaded to the blog. I hate that part about the blog and the little ability to rearrange them once they get uploaded.  First up is Ava's 10th birthday party they had at a horse stable in Celina. OMG was Olivia excited. This was her first time riding and horse and she couldn't have been more excited. They got to pet and ride the horses, she got to tie-dye a t-shirt and got to hang out with all her friends. A huge day for her (and of course Ava)! 

Saturday found Isaac and his Elida team playing against St. Mary's at their first 5-6th grade basketball game. Jeremy, not knowing how to say no to anyone, again volunteered to coach his team. They have practices every Tuesday and Thursday night, but games are always on Saturdays.  Most of their games are home, which is fun, but they're also all at 2 p.m., making Isaac choose between basketball or swim meets. We all know what will win out most of the season--especially with Jeremy as the coach. They lost their first game 17-4, and Isaac scored half of those 4 points. LOL. Room to grow right?

Saturday morning before all craziness of the day began I took the kiddos downtown to the Lima Christmas Extravaganza. All the businesses were open and had the stores decorated to celebrate the season. We went to the hobby/comic store and they were selling hot chocolate and sugar cookies. We bought some and walked around in a store we normally wouldn't go to, which is the entire point. Joey's had a Grinch and sled out in front of it and of course we grabbed a few photos with him. We ended up going to Pointe of Joy and picking up some cute things and eating a Kewpee before heading home. 

Friday night we got tickets to attend the Holiday Spectacular at the Civic Center. This is the first year since 2015 that our kiddos haven't been in the production. It was certainly bittersweet, but with no show last year and having too many other activities happening during the holiday season, this was something that had to go. We let the kids decide, and they decided that they were going to let this go. Olivia said she didn't know they did some of the things (like the light up gloves in Santa Baby) and it was pretty cool to sit through only one of the eight performances! ONU always puts on the perfect show to set the mood for the season!

Coco bombs are all the rage today. Paying roughly $5 per ball, Ann and I thought they couldn't really be too bad to make and an experience in itself for the kids. Well they were an experience to say the least. We had the molds, we had the chocolate and hot chocolate, we even had the marshmallows. The first ones turned out just fine, it wasn't until we tried to fill them and put them together that disaster ensued. But dang did we laugh. In the end, they tasted delicious, even though they looked like the four year old did them all, it was certainly me trying to salvage something and pretty much had an #epicfail. Good thing I don't have to take these to the fair and be judged.  I think they weren't even ribbon worthy to look at, but to drink were top notch! 

I never in a million years thought I'd be so excited to see a port a pot show up in my front yard. Starting in 2017 with plans, we got ghosted by a contractors who got us to the drawing stages, a second who came and looked and promised to get started by summer who never responded and by a third who turned us down because of workload. Brian from Burden was recommended by my co-worker Joann. Called in Oct 2020- said couldn’t come over to discuss until Jan 2021 and we thought "here we go again." But when he did make it over, he promised he could make this backyard oasis we wanted come true. Skeptical and being burned by so many others I refused to get my hopes up! In our discussions leading up to Thanksgiving he said that we would know it would begin when the port a potty arrive- “shits about to get real” kids had NO idea either so couldn't wait to see their faces when they got home from school. Couldn't be more excited to see the pavers leave. Then they brought in the cool machine that threw stone down before cementing.

A Ton of Fun in 2021: Week 1 Recap

Party It Up: Ringing in 2021!

I've finally decided what I want to do in 2021.  It's simply too much to expect I'll actually post daily.  So instead, I'll make it a weekly goal to blog about our 2021~ Here we go with Week 1. Maybe at the end of 2021, I'll have a virtual scrapbook of the year. 

I will dip into the end of 2020 with this first post about meeting the newest to the 'extended cousin' family.  Since we typically spend NYE with our friends who have kiddos (who frankly look like cousins) who are our kiddos ages, we decided to visit a few days earlier to make up for our broken tradition this year. Madelyn Grace was born while we were in Disney, so we didn't want to bring any crud back to her, so after quarantine of at least 14 days, we finally got to meet the newest baby doll. Such a precious bundle and loved all three hours of snuggles I was able to get while visiting.

   

Jeremy had to work Monday-Wednesday to close out the year. Greatest news was that he was promoted and got a raise. We were super appreciative since he was seen as an essential worker this past year and only gets 7 paid holiday days off. He decided (on his own) that he would do something extra special for the kiddos with the few extra dollars he earned. After work on Wednesday, we rewarded the kiddos with a hover board and electric scooter for their all A's grade cards. While this wasn't atypical for Olivia, it certainly was an accomplishment for Isaac who has been working his butt off! Now, this was all Jeremy and neither were approved prior to arriving on my front door step this afternoon. UGH. I really, really don't feel comfortable with the hover board. But Olivia started asking for it the day before Christmas, so Jeremy knew Santa couldn't get that gift delivered under that quick of a turn-around, so he decided to do this instead. Both were super excited and decided to load them up and take them with us to the lake with lots of open land! Olivia ended up falling and having road rash all over her hip and down her leg. UGH. Can we box it up and send it back yet?!

Next up was New Year's Eve 2020. Yep, after this year of a global pandemic that is still lingering, most are ready to bid it farewell. Since we are celebrating Christmas with my parents on New Year's Day, we were surrounded with family this year for NYE. All four kids were up the entire night. We took shots of Crown Royal XR to toast to the new year. Dad said he had been saving this special drink for a special occasion. Making it to 2021 was certainly a special occasion! We also played the game "It's all Relative." Pretty funny and lots of laughs until the wee hours of the morning.

Next morning was New Year's day... or Christmas in our case. We let the kids unwrap their gifts first so they could go play while we unwrapped our gifts too. Here are just a few of pictures of the many surprised faces that happened. Olivia got two Harry Potter Lego sets she was over the moon about and a tie-dying kit 🙄(I said should stay at the lake, but somehow made it's way back here to our home.) 🤣 Isaac's favorite gifts were his Top Golf gift card and a cruise ship. We were suppose to be on a cruise ship this coming week with all these people in the pictures, but COVID had other plans.

Another tradition that we would like to keep up is taking a picture with the grandkids and grandparents. For the first time EVER, they were old enough to follow commands and I think we finally got a good one in like 3 minutes. No shenanigans were needed. So their reward for doing this so quickly and easily was to do a funny picture as well. Sometimes I think the funny pictures are a truer representation of the circus that our family truly portrays. Love this people to pieces and so happy they're are my monkeys in my circus! 🐒

If you are still reading, I'm not sure why? This is turning into a novel. But after a magical day of Christmas, we made prime rib, mashed potatoes, asparagus, corn, rolls, fried rice and shrimp to ring in the new year and lots of goodies to snack on for the big night. Ohio State Buckeyes played the Clemson Tigers in the Sugar Bowl to determine who would go on to play for the national championship. OSU was the underdog, but the Clemson coach had given some motivation by publicly declaring he would rank them 11th in the country and certainly not third. Well OSU came out with a 49-28 win and we all got to celebrate the victory together! I don't have many pictures, because honestly I was nervous and didn't want anyone to think I jinxed us by snapping a picture. Jeremy is psycho about these things.

The next morning we all slept in. Since we had been up past midnight the past two nights, peeps were tired. Mom and I had made coco bombs for the kids for Christmas. She had bought the molds and we tried our hand at it. They're not as easy as they look, but we eventuality figured it out. I think all the kids but Olivia tired them out and they all approved.

In all this madness of this week, Olivia lost TWO molars! Yes, the first one was on Monday when she bit into something and said it became loose. She worked at it for hours. Look at how deep the root was 😳and full of blood. YUCK. The second molar was loose before and she had auntie Amanda pull it out on Friday night. Tooth fairy brought her $3.25 for each molar under her pillow even though she wasn't even home. She said they must have a tracking device on those teeth!

Saturday afternoon we headed back to the homestead. We tried to put things away. I did capture this video of Isaac playing Township. He's had this app for around 4 years now and has built himself quite the township. He was so concerned when he got a new iPad for his birthday that the app wouldn't transfer and all would be lost. But, thankfully he's still going strong. Watching Garfield and playing Township. Life is good.