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| Light Display |
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| More Batman shirts |
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| Christmas morning- we should have sat for the picture, we look like giants |
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| Christmas Eve chocolate fondue |
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| RC car |
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| All the grandkids |
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| The sisters and their babies! |
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| Master closet before |
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| Master closet- almost finished |
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| Babysitting Zeke |
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| Lewis the guinea pig |
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| Toy kitchen- don't give it away! |
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| 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!
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