December 2020

 

Light Display

More Batman shirts

Christmas morning- we should have sat for the picture, we look like giants

Christmas Eve chocolate fondue

RC car

Lego Star Destroyer 

3 months of Cupcakes from around the world

Portable speaker and.. balloons

All the grandkids

The sisters and their babies! 

Master closet before

Master closet- almost finished

Babysitting Zeke

Lewis the guinea pig

Toy kitchen- don't give it away! 

And that's the end of another year!

-Because of rising covid cases among high school students, all MI high schools were moved to virtual. Caleb is a self-professed introvert and kind of prefers online school. He can be comfortable at home, get snacks, play on his switch during breaks and not have to interact with people. As a mom, it was hard to watch him sitting home everyday, kind of a lonely existence for him. Caleb would meet up with a couple friends after school at the HS field and play soccer or go for a run a couple times/week. We also continued to let our kids go in a couple of friend's houses as long as everyone wore a mask. 

-I visited Steph and Zeke for a couple days. Ben was away on assignment for a month, they had just moved into a new house and Zeke needed a sitter for a day while Steph worked. Zeke is adorable and I quickly remembered the 6 month old baby routine- feed bottle, feed baby food, entertain baby, put baby down for nap (pray baby falls asleep), quickly eat cold toast/coffee, get dressed and pray baby sleeps more than 30 min, baby wakes up and repeat cycle. I love my kids and the baby/toddler years I had with them, but I am also glad those days are behind me. People make jokes about me snuggling with Zeke and Melody and that I'll get the baby itch again- um, nope! 

-Isaac's band and Julia's choir had their Christmas concerts recorded and we watched the videos at home. 

-One of the perks of a covid Christmas is there were a variety of virtual Christmas concerts we could buy an inexpensive "ticket" to and watch from home. We watched a Hip-Hop Nutcracker, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra and an Andy Mineo Christmas special. 

-We celebrated Christmas with the Jongsma family. We decided on all wearing masks, no eating food and just opening gifts. Even though it wasn't an ideal situation, it was so nice to be all together again! We are looking forward to Ben being with us again next Christmas. He was able to FaceTime with us and observe the chaos. 

-I was inspired by a home organization show and wanted to update the master closet. Nate loves house projects and made the dream a reality. He ordered two ikea shelves and made one and painted the closet. He also painted our bedroom a light gray color and helped me pick out a desk and chair for a work space (I had been putting my laptop on a TV tray and sitting in a glider chair). I am grateful for Nate's desire and ability to improve our house, if it was just me I don't think things would ever be improved/updated. 

-During Christmas break Nate and the older boys worked on the basement. They installed some interlocking, foam flooring. Nate improved the ping pong table so it can fold- so kids can play alone and so the table can be moved to the side. 

-We bought a toy kitchen for Enedina's kids Christmas present. It was funny to watch Stephen and Lexi play with it and say we shouldn't give it away. We had a toy kitchen for years and gave it away because no one played with it. Something different is always interesting, for a little while at least. 

-Stephen wanted a guinea pig for Christmas, but that wasn't going to happen. We arranged to watch his class guinea pig, Lewis, for a couple days over break. The younger 3 kids are enamored and this plan backfired a little when we had to give him back. I try to remind them that we had a guinea pig and gave him away because none of the kids played with him. But, they were too young and don't remember Rudy. 

-The DeWitt's came over and we decorated Christmas cookies and played games 

-We had a nice family Christmas. The Christmas Eve service was supposed to be outside, but it snowed and was moved indoors. Church still gave out hot chocolate and the kids took some. You can see where this is going. The sanctuary is dark, we are holding battery operated candles and as we are walking into the pew a kid spills their hot chocolate. And cue the frantic clean up and me thinking, "Merry Christmas Eve!" Nate was in the sound booth and texted me to not be a grinch, it's Christmas. Mmhmm, easy to say from the sound booth. We had fondue for supper- steak and Grandma DeMaster's cheese fondue with bread. After church we had chocolate fondue. 

-Christmas morning the littles were up and opened stockings. Older kids slept in and we watched church online. Then the presents! The 3 boys got RC cars. As Nate said, he enjoys when he can get the kids gifts that he can "help" them with. Caleb got the Lego Star Destroyer that he has wanted for a couple of years. Isaac got an electronics kit with a computer chip. Basically he is writing computer code to make things happen- like a light turns on, a gear turns, a music scale plays, etc. Julia got a cupcakes from around the world 3 month subscription box. She will receive ingredients and a recipe to make cupcakes inspired from flavors of different countries. She also received coloring supplies, friendship and paracord bracelet makers and books. Stephen got a portable speaker, a large pack of balloons that he requested, Fluffy stuffed animal (Harry Potter) and binoculars. Lexi got some Batman legos and shirt, aquabeads, rainbow bracelet loom kit, and puzzles. We spent the days following Christmas relaxing, playing with toys, eating good food and watching movies. 

-We went to see the Christmas light display at Fifth Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids. It was neat, but not the most impressive light display. We were all in the truck and Lexi scratched Caleb and put her shoe in his face. Caleb took the shoe and said, you can have it back when you say "I'm sorry for scratching and you are nice." It took Lexi 20 min to say that sentence- it was hilariously hard for her. She had no problem saying "I'm sorry for scratching you," but she could not say the last part. She said a number of variations for the last part- "you are NOT nice," or "I am nice," or "shew are shnice". And then she said the sentence, he gave the shoe back and she said, "just kidding!" Which promptly got the shoe taken away again. Eventually she was able to choke out, "you are nice." And thankfully it was dark as we were crying with laughter.

-On New Year's Eve day, Jim and Rebecca came over to play cards. For New Year's Eve our family went to the Gabrielse house along with the DeWitts. We masked up, played games and rung in 2021 with hope for this new year!

November 2020

 

Last day of rituxan

Thanksgiving

Got his driver's license!

Naomi and Ruth 

Isaac's basketball game

Hiking Manistee River Trail

Covid addition- hooks for drying masks

party games

He got lots of Harry Potter legos

Neighbor friends

Harry Potter

Party food

Party invitations

Celebrating Ruth's 2nd birthday

-The weather was pleasant enough for us to celebrate Ruth's 2nd birthday outside. She is babbling and loves to dance/sing to movies. 

-Isaac made the 7th grade basketball A team (again, so many boys went out that they had a 7th grade A team, B team and some 7th graders went on the 8th grade B team). They got 3 games in and then the state paused school sports due to rising covid cases. 

-Caleb got a couple indoor soccer games in and Julia got a volleyball game in before the sports pause. 

-Stacy has been working more since covid began as all foster parent trainings are over zoom and now she can train any county in MI.

-We celebrated Stephen's 8th birthday! This was his first birthday party year and he wanted the indoor trampoline park. With covid cases rising in the area, we decided against it. I promised him a fantastic outdoor Harry Potter party with his neighbor friends (as these kids already play together outside daily). I then pinterested like crazy for party ideas and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. We sent Harry Potter invitations to Parker and Adeline Blom, Bernadette and Charlie Fickle, and Sam and Ben Winningham. Thankfully the weather was pleasant! Each guest received a wand and each sibling set received a spell book and a wand motions sheet. The menu: Butterbeer (which we all agreed was gross), Harry Potter themed snacks and then frozen pizzas (Stephen's favorite) and cupcakes. We played games- Devil's Snare (wrap streamers around a friend), pin the scar on Harry, guess the Bertie Botts jelly beans (a mix of good tasting and disgusting jelly beans and you don't know what you'll get- the kids loved this game) and Pie Face (another kid favorite). We were going to play Wingardium Leviosa- kids have to keep balloons in the air with their wands- but it was too windy. The party was 2 hours and Nate and I were exhausted. We would much rather pay for a party at a trampoline park where everything is done for you-ha! Stephen said it was a fun party and the neighbor kids also had a blast- so a win overall! 

-Stephen is 64 lbs and is 4 ft, 4 inches. Stephen loves Forest School and gets along with all of his classmates. His closest friend at school is Andrew and then Parker and Sam in our neighborhood. Stephen can go with the flow with his older and younger sister. Stephen and Isaac share a bedroom and get along overall. Stephen's stuttering is mostly gone and he is done with speech therapy at school. Stephen has begun reading the Harry Potter books. He is smart, considerate of others, loves telling jokes, gives good hugs and enjoys nature and playing soccer. We love you Stephen!

-We celebrated Thanksgiving with just us. We had each kid pick a side or dessert they wanted to make. Caleb made stuffing, Isaac-strawberry jello, Julia-white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, Stephen-apple pie, Lexi- mac and cheese. We did a zoom with Stacy's family and spent the day relaxing. That weekend we went hiking with the Petersons. We hiked part of the Manistee River Trail- the weather was beautiful! 

-Nate had his last rituxan treatment ever! He's been receiving it every two months for the last 3 years. Thank you God for this milestone!

October 2020

 

7th grade soccer 

Caleb and friends at Gavin's Lake MI cottage

Pirate and Ninja

Elsa and Hotdog (I think she regretted the costume choice)

Laser tag

Lake MI overlook

Arcadia Dunes hike with Gabrielse and DeWitts

Caleb running XC

Nolbi's 7th birthday

-We celebrated Nolbi's birthday and gave him all things Minions.

-Caleb's cross country team had fewer meets because of covid.  He cut down his time over the season and his fastest time was 21:40. Nate had fun re-living his cross country high school days. 

-Our friend Kristen DeWitt died from suicide after struggling with severe depression. She had been trying different treatment options for over a year. Her son, Nathan, is one of Caleb's good friends and our family was becoming closer with the DeWitts as well over the past year. Sometimes there are no words.

-The outage finished on Oct 21- yes! 

-The kids had fall break and we rented a place near Crystal Mountain with the Gabrielse and DeWitts. We all quarantined for a week before the trip so we could stay together without masks, but it still felt a little unnerving to vacation together during covid. The rental had a basement game room/tv room for the teen boys and a large family room/kitchen so we could hang out and eat together. It was wonderful to just go somewhere! We played games, went on a hike and played laser tag. Nate and Lexi went to the alpine slide as we weren't sure she could do laser tag. When they came back and saw our group playing, Lexi was devastated and desperately wanted to play. So I gave her my laser gun and she loved it. The whole group had fun, although a little odd to look at the pictures of us intently shooting at each other... 

-At some point during the fall we began attending church in person again. Church allowed 100 people, spaced out with masks and no singing. Eventually we re-instated singing, with masks on of course. There is no Sunday School or kid programs this year. (The MS/HS youth group has found creative ways to meet.) Our church split the congregation into geographical "small groups" to maintain some sense of community within the church, and we are leaders for our group. We met outdoors about twice/month. Our family enjoyed the months of watching church online from the comfort of our pajamas and family room. It wasn't perfect, some of the kids struggled with behaviors. Transitioning back to in person church was also challenging for some of our kids. Lexi is in a stage where she is quite adamant that she does not like church. Covid life makes everything different. Being an elder during covid has also been an unique experience for Nate. 

-Stephen and Lexi are great playmates and their imagination with stuffed animals is cute. They will have conversations between the animals and make up story lines. Some of the animals are Beach, Big, Scratch, Fifi, Fluffy, and other names I can't remember at the moment. 

-We did not do trick or treating this year. We took Stephen and Lexi over to Tim's house for a fire and a candy scavenger hunt that Jenny put together. The older boys got together with friends and Julia went to a trunk or treat with a friend. 

September 2020

 

Covid soccer

Braces Time

Ripstick 

The Flash 

Paintball birthday party

Julia playing volleyball

Stephen playing soccer

Isaac playing soccer

Apple picking

-Nate began working the outage at the end of August. He left for work around 3:30 am, got home around 6 pm and tried to go to bed by 7:30/8 pm. And he worked this schedule every day. This is the last full outage at the plant that he planned, so he wanted it to be excellent! 

-Isaac, Stephen and Lexi were able to play soccer with masks. Julia played in an outdoor volleyball league. It was an adjustment, but overall they weren't too bothered by the mask. They were just happy to be able to play sports! 

-Lexi had the most intense Holland Rec soccer coach we have ever experienced. He had these 1st grade girls running drills and practicing plays. He wasn't mean, he was just very serious. Lexi was not thrilled with the coach, but we kept reminding her how awesome her team was because of his coaching. And her team was a sight to behold. Hopefully the intense coach experience didn't ruin her for soccer next year. One of the team parents joked that the girls would need therapy after the season, ha! 

-Stephen had a very large team so the coach wasn't able to do much skill development with the boys. Stephen liked playing goalie and was happy to be playing soccer.

-Isaac had a large 7th grade team, basically two teams in one. So for the first quarter of play one squad played and then the second squad the second quarter and so on. Isaac is a strong defender and he also has a solid left foot and played forward quite a bit.

-Julia decided to try volleyball more seriously this year. Her friend Leila was on team which made her happy. It was fun to watch the team near the end of their season as they were getting some good volleys during the matches. 

-Isaac got his braces, should be an easy one round- about 1.5 years. I wonder how many years total we will be paying the orthodontist?..  

-Caleb started his cross country season. They run a 5k at every race and in his first race he ran 24 min. I think a 5k in 24 min is amazing. Caleb set a goal to reduce his time every race. Caleb had quite a few friends on the XC team and the practices were challenging, but fun for him. 

-We celebrated Caleb's 16th birthday! Caleb is 164 lbs and is 6 ft. He chose paint-balling for his birthday party. He took along Josh, Teddy, Henry, Nathan, Jacob, Jason, Gavin, Andrew, Ashton and Eli. Most of them had never done it before, so there was a mixture of excitement tinged with nervousness. They had a fantastic time and all wanted to paintball again. For Caleb's bday he got a ripstick and a new kindle fire. Caleb is responsible, a hard worker, can give great one liners, athletic and he is kind. His closest friends are Jacob, Ashton and Nathan. He enjoys playing on his Switch with friends and watching funny youtube videos. Caleb is taking his first AP class this year, US history. His favorite classes this year are Bible and history. Because of covid delays, he couldn't get his license on his birthday. Caleb, we love you very much!

-Nate had a birthday, but he was busy with the outage and requested we not do anything for it. Felt weird to not celebrate, but we are happy to celebrate another year with Nate!