Thanksgiving Week

Tuesday was the first day Thomas and I took off from work. We went to Winter Haven and finally saw my dad and Maggie. We have not seen them since March. My dad is in a high risk COVID category, so he has been very cautious. But, we decided to meet at a park and enjoy a socially distanced visit. It worked out really well. We talk on the phone, but it was nice to be together in person. We stayed at the park for about 3 hours. My sister and JD came too and the kids enjoyed playing on the playground and also on the large open spaces. We brought a kite, baseball stuff and a soccer ball. After the park, we stopped at Pelican's, the world's greatest shaved ice place, and then headed home. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the visit. 

All five kids spinning.

Visiting from a safe distance

Wednesday: Thanksgiving Eve! Thomas and I went to Lowe's and they had a snowman yard decoration that I really wanted. He was out of stock. I went to their website and he is no where to be found. How can a Christmas decoration be sold out before Thanksgiving?? Not cool, Lowe's! We also went to Sam's Club and got some needed supplies. Then we headed home. I really love being able to leave the kids home for short periods of time. And, Luke loves not getting dragged out shopping. It's a win/win!

After lunch, Kara and I did some Thanksgiving prep work. We made an apple pie, a cranberry dish, and homemade rolls. Thomas made a pumpkin pie angel food cake. Thomas also decorated the front room; it is feeling very festive. In fact, I am sitting in the couch enjoying the lights while I write.  And, this is just our secondary tree. We bought it the year Jack and Anna were born and it has held up really well.

My baking buddy!

Thursday: Kevin, Kim, Dave, JD and Amanda came for Thanksgiving. Normally, we would have invited Marta's family and of course, my Dad and Maggie, but this year we kept it small. Almost within the CDC guideline of 10. My Dad wanted to play it safe and not gather. And, I think that is the best idea. We are so close to a vaccine and life returning to normal that I felt a little nervous about our group. But, we decided to take the risk and now just have to hope we don't regret it. 

We watched the parade and then the girls watched The National Dog Show. We had a really good dinner, played Unstable Unicorns, and chatted. The girls went into Kara's room and played with TikTok filters. They definitely love having an older cousin who has access to those things. And, it is a win for us, since we trust Amanda and are happy to let them experiment responsibly. 

They ventured into the pool briefly, but it was cold

Luke wanted a picture of him jumping in backward

It was a nice day. The dinner came out really good. I would like to start getting a little fancier with our Thanksgiving. Not necessarily the food, I like to stick to our favorites: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green been casserole, cranberry gelatin "salad", rolls and dessert. We have the same basic menu every year, with the occasional addition. This year Kim brought some amazing deviled eggs, sometimes we do macaroni and cheese. I do think we could use a good vegetable. One year a friend brought butternut squash that was amazing. Sometimes we do turnips and carrots--a dish my mom always made. But, what I was referring to before my food tangent, was our table presentation. I think it would be fun and add an element of festivity if I could come up with a nice table setting. We have china, a gift from Thomas' grandmother that we've never used. Maybe next year? 

Kara's apple pie came out great! Amanda made a cookie pie and Thomas did a Pumpkin Pie Angel Food cake with cinnamon frosting.

After everyone left, Thomas and I went to the pocket park and played football with Luke and Anna. We played a short 2 on 2 game, and Thomas and Anna won. The game ended when Luke took a bad fall and scraped up his side. Then, Anna and I went on a bike ride and we ended the night with a movie. 

Black Friday was a quiet day. We did some online shopping, but didn't leave the house. We put up the Christmas tree and the Christmas Village.

Marta invited us over for dinner on Saturday. Thomas had previously planned on using the day to put up the outside Christmas lights and Jack stayed home to help. I helped Thomas a little in the morning. He climbed up on the roof, but much to my relief, decided it was too steep to hang lights up there. It was our anniversary and I felt guilty leaving Thomas to go to Marta's house. But, the kids hadn't seen her in a while and wanted to go and I always enjoy visiting. Thomas said he didn't mind, since he was going to spend the day working on the lights anyway, so off we went. We helped her decorate her tree and had a good dinner.

 I was really excited to come home and see the finished lights and they did not disappoint. In fact, all of us were really excited. The kids had me drive a different way in to build suspense and Luke closed his eyes and asked us to let him know when the house was in view so he could open them. The pictures don't capture it all, there is another wrapped tree and some decorations on the other side of the house that I did not get. But, this is enough for the general idea.

The finished interior:

Finally, Sunday. We used two more of our free Universal tickets to bring Kara's good friend, Sophia and Sophia's mom (Anita) to the parks. We left at 10 and got home around 8:30. It was a long day, but we had a great time. Thomas stayed home with Luke, who was happy to have a day with his dad all to himself. And, I got to enjoy a day with the big(ger) kids. We saw some new shows and rode some new rides and had fun. To me, the coolest part was probably seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade exhibit. They had a good collection on display of past-years parade floats and balloons.

Another Week

Another week in the books. Some of the highlights:

Anna had her initial appointments for the jaw surgery. She had two appointments in two different places. They did all the pictures, x-rays, and molds. We go back on December 8th to get the results and determine the best path forward. It will be nice to have a plan, even if the plan ends up being waiting another year or two.

The kids had their sports. Anna's game was Friday night, but it wasn't at the YMCA and we had other plans. We went to Hollywood Studios for one final visit. We got there around 4:30 and tried their special red velvet Christmas dessert. We rode a few rides and ended the night with Slinky Dog. I think Slinky Dog at night is one of the best Disney experiences.

Saturday was Luke's soccer game. Luke's soccer team only has 6 or 7 kids. This week, 4 showed up for the game. The other team had 11. That coach said "our team came to play" and wouldn't give us any of their players (which is kind of protocol at the YMCA, I know Anna's basketball team has given other teams players). I thought it was pretty ridiculous, it's not like they keep score or crown a championship team. Plus, playing on our team would have given their kids more playing time. There was a first-grader who had already played two games (her dad coaches two teams and she played for both, and then was sticking around to watch our game), but she agreed to come in for our team. The other coach still played 6 players, so it was 6 against 5 and it meant none of our players could switch out to take a break. Generally, I don't care if the team wins or loses, in fact, I try to keep Luke from keeping score. But, this week, I really wanted to win. And, Luke's team did! They won 2-0. Luke was an amazing defender. At one point, the other team had a clear shot at the goal (we had no goalie) and Luke sprinted out of no where and kicked the ball away from the goal right before it went in. He didn't score either of his teams goals, but for one of them, he brought the ball all the way up the field and then another teammate kicked it in. He rarely let the other team get the ball past the halfway point. He really loves playing and is a good sport and teammate. 

Saturday night we had our final visit to the Magic Kingdom. It was really crowded when we got there. Most of the waits were around an hour. We waited 55 minutes for Splash Mountain, got to the front and then they shut it down for cleaning. But, it was even worse for the people behind us. It was a dad and son and they called them out of line to sit in the back of one of the boats. There was a woman in the front, and they left two rows empty. The kid said he didn't want to ride in the back, he wanted to wait for the front. They wouldn't let him do it and ultimately, they had him leave without riding. I felt it was a little excessive. 

The last two hours of the night were amazing, the lines were short and we were able to ride several rides. The older kids did Space Mountain while Thomas, Luke and I went on Astro Orbiters. We walked on Buzz Lightyear and had a quick wait for Peter Pan. About 15 minutes before closing, we got in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We waited 35 minutes and ended our year of Disney. 

Waiting for Seven Dwarfs. I love Luke's crazy eyes. Apparently, I told them to smile with their eyes, because I showed Luke the picture and he said, "I don't really know how to smile with my eyes." :)

One of my main goals in going was to get our annual family photo. I knew we would have to wear our masks, but I actually thought that was fairly fitting for 2020. On our way out, we got some great shots in front of the castle. It has been fun having the annual passes, but I am okay with taking some time off. For our family, it would cost $3600 to renew and I am not sure the value is there right now. I miss the entertainment. Plus, we have passes to Universal and I might get some to Legoland (which are only $99 on Black Friday). There are just so many fun things to do here! Although, I know that Thomas would trade all of it to be back in Maryland. We definitely miss all the historical "entertainment" we had access to as Marylanders. 

The castle was lit up with projections, which changed periodically

Jack has grown something like six inches this year. Crazy!

I don't know how many projections there were, but this one was pretty cool

We did some by the train station when we went in, but in all of them I am standing separate from the family. Weird.

There have been no more incidents at the house across the street--thank goodness. And, work was okay this week. Not great, but okay. I can't wait for the action I am working on to be over, but that is still many months away. Thomas has been really busy too. We are both taking a few days off for Thanksgiving. We wanted to take the whole week off, but we had too much to do and worked yesterday (Monday). The kids cleaned the house and the girls baked cookies and Luke and Jack played outside. After dinner, the girls and Thomas watched Batman Begins. It was a nice start to Thanksgiving week.

Week in Review

 I decided to do the weekly format again this week to change it up. I am going to write each day.

Sunday: we are having a quiet day. Thomas is reading the Harry Potter series and we are watching each movie as he finishes. Today, we watched The Prisoner of Azkaban. I fell asleep on the couch and had a nice power nap during the middle of the movie. I have not been sleeping well and last night was the worst. There was a drive-by shooting across the street from our house. Yes, you read that right. I woke up around 5:30 and was laying in bed at 5:46 when I heard three gunshots. There is a house, one of the larger fancier ones in the neighborhood, that is next door to the house directly across the street, where there has been some suspicious activity. That is where the sound seemed to come from. I looked out the window but didn't see anything. But, shortly after 6, there were two police cars present. I went out and asked them to confirm I heard gunshots and they said yes. It does not appear to be random and fortunately, no one was hurt.

I am dreading work this week. I work as the legal advisor on various teams. One of my team members screwed up something significant and no one on the team caught it. As the lawyer, I feel especially incompetent. Now, we are facing the repercussions. Last week was a week of very unpleasant phone calls informing all our bosses what happened. Of course, it had to happen on a high profile matter that has received a lot of attention. Everyone has been very nice, which in some ways makes me feel worse. They keep saying these things happen and to just move on. But, I am not sure I should be let off so easy.  This is going to cost a lot of time (like hundreds of man hours) and (maybe) money to fix. I can't say anymore, but the bottom line is I spent the last week feeling like a complete idiot and there is no end in sight.

Monday: It was a busy day at work. I worked from 6-545, with about 1.5 hours of breaks during the day. I took some time in the morning to get Luke to school and start dinner in the crockpot (pot roast) and some time to pick him up. Luke has a good routine in the afternoon, he comes home, washes his hands, has a snack, does his homework and usually has about 30 minutes to do electronics. Then, once the other kids are done with their school, he turns off the t.v. and plays with one of them, usually Jack. I try and end my day around 4:30, but some days, well most days lately, it just doesn't happen. Today, I tried to sign out at 5, but then the phone rang and it ended up being a longer than expected call. Then an e-mail came in that I "needed" to answer. After that, I just shut down. Thomas actually had to go to the office today for an in-person meeting. He was pretty bitter about going. It was his first visit in months. Going back full time, if that ever happens, is going to be painful! We really appreciate the flexibility of working from home. The kids all said their days were uneventful. Everyone liked the pot roast, and it is always nice, and rare, to have a dinner everyone is happy about.

Tuesday: The older kids had an orthodontist appointment this morning. The rubber bands aren't working for Anna and her mouth is bothering her. Her lower teeth are cutting into her upper gums, making her mouth sore. I got the name of the surgeon and called to arrange a consultation. Thomas and I got our flu shots and watched some Thanksgiving Friends, as is our yearly tradition (true for both the shot and the Friends). 

Wednesday: Thomas and I didn't have work, but the kids had school. Score! We took Luke to school and then did a lot of shopping. We went to Kohls, Hallmark, Barnes and Noble, Bath and Body Works, Five Below and Target. We bought something in every store we went in. It was a LOT of shopping. We bought some Christmas presents, candles, soap, and household items. It was really fun to be out on our own. We also got a free lunch at Panera (yay for Veteran's Day).  We got home in time to grab Luke and had everyone smell our new candles and pick out their favorites. We had some from Bath and Body Works and some from Target. The Target "Threshold" ones are really nice. We had coupons for most of the places we went--even Target was doing 10% off for Veterans, so that was fun. I love a bargain! 

Kara went to her ballet and acro class. I dropped her off and then came home to dinner. Thomas made pesto pork, a family favorite. Well, sort of, Jack and Luke eat the pork plain and won't eat the cauliflower grits that accompany the pork. He used our air fryer for the pork (on bake mode). We have been getting a lot of use out of the air fryer; it is nice to not have to heat up the whole house. Luke did a test on his "Fry 6th one-hundred words" and got them all right.  The older kids had math tests and did well. We asked them if given the choice, do they want to return to school in the new year. Kara said no, Jack maybe and Anna said yes. We will see how it goes.

I am sitting on the floor writing this while Luke brushes my hair, he is such a sweet kid (most of the time).  Although, he never stops talking :) 

Kara's teacher sent me this one. Kara enjoys working on her flexibility.

Thursday: Tropical Storm Eta is passing by north of us. We had some rain and wind last night and I was afraid they would cancel school. Fortunately, Luke was able to go as planned and it turned into a mostly nonevent for our area. I walked to pick him up and it was sprinkling a bit. Then, it turned into a downpour. I had umbrellas for each of us, but we still got pretty soaked. Thomas came and picked us up about halfway home (he'd been in a work training). Soccer was canceled, but Anna had her basketball practice. She said it went fine. While she was gone, Jack and Luke were playing with lightsabers. Somehow Jack hit Luke's lightsaber, which then hit Luke in the face. I've probably said this, but I REALLY miss our basement. Jack and Luke are incredibly loud. Even when they're not doing anything excessive, the noise just reverberates through the house. I miss the days of yelling get outside or get in the basement. I can still force them outside, but Florida is hot and rainy most of the year. At least it seems like most of the year. Anyway, Luke has a nasty mark, but he said it stopped hurting after a few minutes.

They are lucky it missed his eye!

Friday: Finally Friday! We worked and schooled. Thomas took the older 3 to get flu shots, Luke got his earlier in the year at school. We are all now vaccinated, which is a relief. After work/school, we went to SeaWorld for dinner. There was an accident on the highway that shut the road down, with police routing traffic off the highway. We used Waze to navigate and it ended up taking us 45 minutes to get to SeaWorld (normally, it is around 25); but we could see the cars stuck on the highway with no where to go and felt grateful. I can't find anything about the accident, so hopefully no one was seriously injured. SeaWorld was really nice. The weather was pleasant and they had their Christmas decorations. Their Christmas event officially opens tomorrow and I am looking forward to lots of visits.

Saturday: We've had to wake up Luke every day this week for school, usually around 7:45. Of course, Saturday morning rolls around and he is up and ready to go at 7:15. He exercised with me and had breakfast. We did a Walmart pick-up and then got ready for sports. Luke had his soccer game and played pretty well. No goals yet, but I think it is coming. Anna had her basketball game. Again, they were outmatched, but Anna said she had fun and she forced herself to talk with her teammates (something that is hard for her), so I consider it a huge success. Now, we are relaxing and watching a silly Thanksgiving movie, Free Birds. It's been a long week!

Sports and Election

Three of our four kids are back in organized activities. Several months ago, we learned of a good dance studio that teaches acro. Kara is very interested in acro, so I e-mailed and asked them to let us know when classes restarted. Fast forward several months and Kara is now officially a student. The studio has a policy that requires ballet after age six when taking acrobatic classes. The owner promises it will make a big difference in building strength and improving skills. Kara is a total beginner in ballet, but she has been doing flexibility and acro on her own for quite a while (and did a class when she was in the 3rd grade). So, after 3 weeks of classes, the teacher e-mailed me and said that Kara should move up a level in the acro class, but that to get her caught up in ballet, she recommends doing two ballet classes a week. I talked to Kara and she is on board. She loves the acrobatics and likes the ballet and if ballet will help her improve her other skills, she will do it. That will start in December when they move into their new studio.

Her teacher sent me this one

After enrolling Kara, we decided maybe Luke should get to do a sport. He's been asking for a while. And, since we were signing Luke up, we asked Jack and Anna if there was anything they wanted to try. Anna was interested in basketball. Soccer and basketball are at the YMCA, within walking distance of our house, so it was an easy request.  More importantly (see previous posts about quitters) both sports required a pretty short commitment, the season only runs about 6 weeks. So, here we are, we now have dance on Wednesdays, soccer and basketball on Thursday and games on Saturdays and the the occasional Friday (for basketball). Luke and Anna had their first games yesterday. 

Anna is a complete beginner and her team was way outmatched. But, she is just learning and having fun and she enjoyed it. Luke loved playing soccer, he played goalie and stopped three goals! Of course, they weren't hit with much force, but he still did it. He also did a good job in the field and he loves it. 

The excitement of the "blue" player didn't last. Luke blocked that goal!

And, in other news--Biden won! I am so relieved. I am really hoping he will live up to his reputation as a uniter and bring the country together. It is going to be a tough task. I am so tired of the vitriol. And of course, President Trump is not going to go easy. He is making a lot of baseless claims, which is frustrating. I 100% agree that all votes should be verified and counted. But, some of the stuff he is saying is just wrong, for example, he keeps talking about a big legal victory in Pennsylvania, and saying how the Republican observers weren't allowed to actually observe. That was not true. His lawyers admitted it wasn't true. The "big victory" was that the observers were moved from a distance of 13 feet to 6 feet. I feel like those types of arguments hurt his credibility. And, his team likes to talk about how he was up in all these battleground states, but then President-Elect Biden miraculously pulled ahead. However, all of the experts said that the majority of mail-in ballots were requested by Democrats, so of course they would favor Biden. And, Pennsylvania, which has been largely contested, was blocked from counting votes until election day. According to some experts, this was done for the express purpose of making something look questionable when it really wasn't. Now, he is also complaining about losing in the big cities in the battleground states, but again, the statistics showed that those city populations favored Biden. I am not sure what I am missing, but he has said time and again that he wants to bring this to the Supreme Court, where he has three appointees, and I can't help but feel all the rest is pretext. 

There are much more articulate explanations, but the bottom line is that most of the statements President Trump is currently making are false. I am not saying he shouldn't verify that the counts are legitimate, but I am saying he should stop spreading false information and temper his remarks. But, that has never been his strong suit (which, a lot of people love). I am glad the election is over and I hope there is a peaceful transfer of power. I am terrified by what would happen if the election results were reversed and called in Trump's favor. I also hope that Biden repairs relationships with our allies and is strong against our adversaries. And, things with the election right now are not helping on that front. I am sure Iran, China and North Korea are very excited about all of the infighting. We all know that a house divided against itself cannot stand. 

I am not worried about President Elect Biden's domestic policies, I am firmly in the camp that reform is needed on that front, which I believe he will bring. I am also not concerned about the US becoming a socialist society, but I know a lot of others are. We shall see. I am writing this out so that in four years, I can see how things are going compared to how I thought they would be. I am hoping for a more united country that is fairer to all people. I don't mind paying more in taxes, particularly if it brings down our national debt and relieves some of our dependency on China. I hope the poor get greater wealth, but that we don't disincentivize the rich, or would be rich, from being bold and working hard. I hope the US has a strong democracy and that faith is restored in a Government that works for, and not against, the American people. I hope the fears on the right are unfounded and that we are safe.

Happy Halloween!

The week leading up to Halloween was fun. On Sunday, we made treat bags to hand out (candy and a slap bracelet). I took Monday off from work and Luke, Kara and I played hooky and used our free Universal passes to bring Marta, Elizabeth and Elizabeth's boyfriend, Travis to Universal Studios. We had a great time and stayed from opening to (almost) close, but they closed at 6, so that isn't as impressive as it sounds.

Many hands make light work.

Marta recently had knee surgery, so she rented a scooter.

The kids were off from school on Friday, and we planned on going to Kennedy Space Center, but then I got two protests in two days, which is a bit of a nightmare. In short, it means I am going to be REALLY busy at work for the next three weeks (and then a short reprieve and then really busy again). But, we didn't want to completely give up on doing something fun, so I got up early and worked from 5am-1pm and then we went back to Universal with everyone. We had a fun day and got to ride Hagrid's in the dark. It was pretty cool and I hope we get to do it again soon. 

Halloween was finally on a Saturday and with a blue moon to boot. We were very excited! I got halloween donuts from Dunkin and then Thomas, Anna, and I went to Ace Hardware (they have an amazing Christmas shop set up already!) and Sam's Club. When we got home, we carved pumpkins. They came out great! Luke drew several faces on his pumpkin and then decided to go with a classic "scary" design. Thomas hung more decorations and everything came out amazing. The older kids and I watched Beetlejuice, which I hadn't seen in years. They liked it. We had turkey burgers from dinner and then promptly at 6, we headed outside. 

Luke and Anna picked out costumes weeks ago. Luke wanted to be Link from Zelda and Anna wanted a 50s costume with a poodle skirt. Jack and Kara weren't sure they wanted to trick-or-treat. For Jack, at the last minute we found a giant baby head mask in the garage and grabbed some onesie pajamas at Walmart. His costume ended up being a big hit, he got tons of compliments, and a few people even took his picture. Kara put on Jack's skeleton costume from last year and it fit really well. She hesitated right until the last minute and then finally decided to go out. 

One of Luke's friends, Beya, came over and we started walking around together. Then, we ran into one of her friends and her two little sisters. At that point, it was Luke, 5 little girls and my middle-schoolers. The middle-schoolers were done. They quickly outpaced us and set off on their own path. We walked the loops of the neighborhood. We didn't ring any doorbells, but most people had candy shoots, tongs to pass out candy, or had just left bowls out. And, most people wore masks. There were a lot of dark houses, but most did something. And, I think some people over-compensated by giving out large amounts of candy. At some point, the other kids fell off and it was just Luke and I. Eventually, we ran into the big kids and Anna decided to walk with us as we made our way home. The night was beautiful. It was a little hot, but not sweltering like last year. And, the full moon and sky were awesome. There were a lot of amazingly decorated houses. Several had music. Some houses had treats for parents. It was a really, really fun night. 

Luke and a candy shoot

The full moon was amazing, obviously my picture couldn't do it justice. Venus, Saturn and Mars were also visible.

This house went all out. They had flashing lights and music. It was so fun!

We got got home and I took over candy duty, which was supervising our candy table, and Thomas took Luke on the last street. Once everyone was home, the kids dumped out all of their candy and commenced their favorite part of the day--The Great Candy Trade (I call it candy wars, but they call it trade). They all proclaimed that it was an amazing Halloween. 

Jack's pumpkin

Luke and Kara's

The Great Candy Trade/War

And, for our final picture--Thomas has not had a haircut since February...