January (first half)

Eventually, all good things must come to an end. Such as it was with Christmas break. We are now about three weeks back into the work/school routine. Kara has rehearsals 2-3x a week for theater (she is student director); Jack has band rehearsal after school 1x week and basketball 3x/week; Anna has skating 2x a week; and Luke has Battle of the Books on Wednesdays and baseball 2-4x/week. I can't remember if I wrote this last year, but in recent months I have been feeling grateful for all the driving to and from activities. I am very happy that our kids have good activities that they enjoy and about which they feel passionate. It is certainly not always easy, and in some cases I know they wish they could do more (additional activities or more days of the activities they are already in), but I am glad we are able to make so much work. 

Baseball games and tournaments don't start until February, so it has been nice to have our weekends partially free. One Saturday, my family (Kim, Dave, Amanda, Kevin, my Dad and Maggie) came up for lunch. We had a nice visit. Unfortunately, Kara missed out because she spent the day, from 730am until 10pm, at the Junior Thespian State competition. She had an amazing time and got a Superior for her monologue. Her group received an Excellent. Jack has basketball games on Saturdays. They only have 6 kids on their team. His first game, only 5 showed up, so there was no rest for them. The next week, all 6 came. They lost both games, but are working hard and being good sports.

We got annual passes for Fun Spot. It is a small amusement park with two Orlando locations and one Atlanta location. The annual passes are inexpensive and they have go carts and some fun rides. Anna did not want to go, but the rest of us enjoyed it. We went to the smaller Orlando park which is at Old Town. I frequented Old Town as a kid. As a teenager, I would go there often with my siblings and/or friends. We would play miniature golf and laser tag, have dinner and walk around the shops. I had such good memories of that place! Fun Spot wasn't there then and only a couple of the stores are still the same. But, it was still very nostalgic for me. And, Jack and Luke had their fortunes told by Elvis :)

On MLK Jr weekend, I know we did something every day, but I am having a hard time remembering everything. Anna went to Universal with a friend. And, I know that one day we went to Fort Christmas. The Fort was closed, but the pioneer houses were open and we enjoyed walking around. Then, we went to Steak n Shake for lunch. One of my resolutions was to not have any added sugar in January. So far, I have stuck to it, but it was hard not to get a shake. And, if you are wondering, I am not yet seeing any positive results from withholding the sugar. 

It was a beautiful day to be outside.

On Friday, Jack stayed home sick from school. He had a sore throat, but said he was mostly tired. He was fine by the end of the day. Luke had to do evaluations for baseball. He is returning to the same team, so that is nice. On Thursday, when Anna was walking home from the bus stop, she thought maybe a bug flew into her eye, but she didn't see anything. On Friday morning, she woke up and her eye really hurt. This time, we saw the tiny bug and she got it out. But, her eye still hurt and was very watery. We offered to let her stay home, but she had a test and wanted to go to school. I ended up picking her up after 4th period. Her eye was crazy red and watery. We determined she had scratched it. It was a little better Saturday and a lot better Sunday. 

Anna took this picture on Saturday afternoon and told me this was for my blog :)

Saturday morning, Thomas, Jack and I went to Leu Gardens. We enjoyed taking our time and walking the gardens. Afterward, we stopped at Target and went to PDQ for lunch. It was nice that the kids who didn't want to go didn't have to. I think they would have happily gone to the lunch part and the girls definitely would have gone to Target, but they didn't feel like getting up and going to the Gardens. Which, I completely understand. And, it is wonderful to have kids old enough to stay home alone (and, who are willing to let their little brother stay with them).

Leu Gardens is an amazing oasis close to Downtown Orlando.

Today we went to Volcano Bay.  I love going to a water park in January! It is one of the benefits of living in Florida. It got a tiny bit busy after lunch, but was very empty all morning. We had a lot of fun. Kara woke up with a headache and decided to stay home. When we came home, we saw she had done a bunch of cleaning. She vacuumed and swept and straightened the kitchen. It was such a nice surprise!

New Year's Eve and 2022: A Year in Review

On New Year's Eve, we had our annual cheese fondue and discussed our thoughts on the year behind and our hopes for the year ahead. It is one of my favorite traditions. Jack and Anna did not stay up until midnight, but the rest of us enjoyed ourselves. We watched Home Alone 2 and played several games (Just One, Quixx, and Love Letters). At midnight, we ran outside and did sparklers. I was sorry that Jack and Anna didn't stay up, but it was still a really fun night.

On New Year's Day, Marta, Frank, Elizabeth and Travis came over. We had a big dinner, played Guesstures and made chocolate covered pretzels. It was the 30th anniversary of the day Marta and Frank met and we enjoyed hearing more of their story. 

On to the year in review part! I have been writing some variation of this post since 2013. It is always fun to go back and read, but as I lament every year, so very hard to write!

Overall, 2022 was an amazing year. It was definitely the year of vacations! We went on 3 cruises (totaling 16 nights at sea) and spent two separate weeks in Tennessee, one in spring and one in fall. It was awesome, but probably a bit much. We didn't increase our savings at all this year! That was largely due to the cruises, but another theme, and a far less fun one, was home repairs. We started the year with a flood, which led to months of repairs. Then, since we had partially updated some areas of the house, we decided to complete related projects. Another huge, and costly, project was updating our pool. Yikes! When I write it all out like that, it feels very overwhelming. I am glad that most of that is behind us. The big projects were paid for with money we received when we sold our Maryland house, but it was still hard to spend it. We do need to have the pool rescreened, but hopefully no other big home costs in 2023!

For the individual summaries:

Luke--Luke turned 8 in March. He enjoyed playing baseball with the Los Leones, which is a hybrid travel team. They play as part of the local Little League, but only play those games every other week. On the opposite weekend, they play as a travel team. Luke improved a lot this year. He had the second highest batting average on his team.  He also did great with pitching. In fact, while he wasn't the team's best pitcher, he did have the lowest ERA. He loves baseball, but doesn't ask Thomas to go out and play everyday like he used to. He is doing amazing in 3rd grade. He gets straight A's and scores very high on all the standardized testing. When he sets a goal, he is very driven (like with the Sunshine State books). On the less positive side, he can still be a poor sport. He is also very hard on himself. He gets upset whenever he perceives himself as less than perfect and can shut down when he is struggling with a difficult task. He is less friendly and more self-conscious then he was in the past. He gets tired of being in a group relatively quickly (for example, he went to a party with a friend the other day and had them call me to come get him before the party ended because it was "getting crazy"). Fortunately, he is still very kind and loving. When he grows up he wants to be a baseball player. My three words for Luke are: sweet, home-body, and athletic.  Thomas' words for Luke are: Sweet, self-critical, and energetic. 

Kara--Kara is 13 now and in 8th grade. She really found a love of theatre this year. She participated in the Junior Thespians competition as a 7th grader and is doing it again as an 8th grader. It is one of the highlights of her year and she is a talented actress. She has lots and lots of friends and is constantly on her phone. She is doing amazing in school--she had straight As for all of 7th grade and is on track to do the same in 8th. She is driven and determined. She can also be argumentative and has a hard time admitting when she is wrong. She still enjoys reading and crafting. She made a perfect theme park partner for all the Halloween events. She doesn't like me writing too much about her, so I will keep my summary short and sweet. She wants to be a lawyer when she grows up. My three words for Kara are: driven, adventurous, and helpful. Thomas' are: Hard-working, determined, and temperamental. 

Jack--Jack is 15. It was a big year for him. He has thrived in high school and made lots of new friends. He still loves history and reads lots of challenging books. He is also trying to teach himself Latin. He enjoys playing his saxophone and played in the marching band, but really hated all the practices so he is unsure if he will continue. He got his learner's permit on his birthday and is doing great with learning to drive. He has really enjoyed playing basketball this year and spent a lot of time working to improve, playing almost every day. He also started going to the gym regularly and is hoping to build muscle. Like his siblings, he is doing great in school. He finished the semester with straight As. He enjoys his debate class. Actually, he enjoys school in general. He likes to learn and has proven to be much more social than we could have anticipated. For negative, he can be condescending at times and bossy toward his siblings. But, he is also helpful and often does things around the house without being asked. When he grows up he wants to be "happy, rich, successful and influential." My three words are intellectual, helpful, and mature.  Thomas' are: Maturing, ambitious, and kind. 

Anna--Anna is also 15. High school has been a little more rocky for her. She hates how big the school is and how overcrowded everything feels. But, she is doing great academically. She is enjoying learning sign language and really likes her psychology class. She doesn't love most of her other classes, although she does like 6/7 of her teachers. Her passion is still ice skating. She tries to go twice a week and would go everyday if it were possible. She also enjoys running, making bracelets, and slime. Like Jack, she got her learner's permit on her birthday, but is not really enjoying learning to drive. She takes a little longer to get used to new things, but always gets there eventually. She has struggled a bit this year to stay positive and can sometimes have a "grass is greener" perspective. She is still my walking buddy and I always enjoy talking with her and hearing her thoughts and and insights. She is unsure on what she wants to be when she grows up. My three words for Anna are loving, sensitive and evolving.  Thomas' are: Loving, diffident, and moody. 

Thomas and I are still enjoying working (mostly) from home. I really enjoyed all our traveling this year. Thomas still doesn't like Florida. And, to be honest, I would be happy to move back to Maryland. But, I don't think we will ever get all the kids on board and we promised we wouldn't make them move once they were in high school. We enjoyed going to the Tigers games and spending time at Universal. Overall, it was a really nice year with lots of great high points. Obviously, all the issues with the house were a bummer, but not enough to overshadow the fun experiences.

Favorite parts of 2022:
Anna and Kori: Spring trip to TN (we did so many new and fun things and it wasn't crowded like it was at Thanksgiving)
Jack: Christmas cruise (exploring places he had never been)
Luke and Thomas: the fall trip to TN (being with the Wills and being in the mountains in fall)
Kara: a bunch of little things

And, what we are looking forward to in 2023:

Luke: his birthday

Jack: hoping for a trip to DC

Kara: all the end of 8th grade activities

Anna: summer break

Kori: Christmas break

Thomas: hopefully taking another trip to the mountains

Merry Christmas!

We got home from the cruise on Christmas Eve. We had Chinese food for dinner and spent the day doing laundry, watching Christmas movies and resting. We didn't put up our Christmas Countdown on the garage, like we have in year's past. The kids traditionally take a picture in front of the countdown, so they were disappointed. But, we couldn't find it, so we improvised.

We had to time it perfectly to make the sign valid.  Although, I did not add the seconds.

Because of the cruise, we were supposed to have a scaled-back Christmas, but it still felt like a lot. Thomas got me as many presents as he always does, so my pile was pretty big. In fact, Luke commented that I had "55% of the presents." That definitely was not true, but I did have more than anyone else, which made me feel a little (but not too) guilty. Anna commented that she is going to marry someone like Thomas when she grows up. I am always surprised when I read about the men who don't take part in any of the Christmas shopping or wrapping. That is definitely not the case in our house! We had a good time opening our gifts. Everyone had a few surprises that they were excited for. Jack and Anna got new phones last year, but Kara didn't expect one due to the "scaled back Christmas". However, her iPhone 8 wasn't working as well as it had, and it was a double hand-me down, so it was time. I got a large print copy of Pride and Prejudice. Apparently, I asked for this at some point during the year. I like to read, but it is nice to not have to use glasses, so I am sure I thought it would nice to have a copy of my favorite book in large print. As I unwrapped it, Thomas was apologizing and telling me it was not what he expected. It is HUGE. I have never seen a large print book so big. It made me laugh really hard. The print will definitely carry me into old age, but I will have to make sure I keep lifting weights to be able to hold it!

Even scaled back, everyone still received about 8 presents from us and Santa. Then, they had gifts from each other and a few from friends.

They were pretending to glare at me because my stack was bigger :)

Jumbo print

We had a ham dinner with mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. It was all premade, so we did not have to cook. I did make our traditional breakfast casserole, but I made it on the 24th, so it also just had to be reheated. I don't like cooking on Christmas. Or the day after. I think we made it until about the 27th before we finally did some real grocery shopping.

The rest of the week passed in a relaxed manner. We watched movies, including Top Gun: Maverick, Muppets Christmas Carol, Black Adam, The Glass Onion, and That Thing You Do. We did evening walks, read books and I worked on a Harry Potter puzzle Kara gave me for Christmas. It is proving very difficult. When the pieces fit together, it doesn't look hard, but it has a lot of muted colors that are hard to differentiate. I did have to work, but not too much. One day, we went to see the Florida State Marching Band rehearse for the FSU/Oklahoma bowl game. They were amazing! I couldn't believe how loud they were. I think Thomas and I were more impressed than Kara and Jack (Anna and Luke stayed home). After the rehearsal, we went to lunch at Olive Garden. It is Kara's favorite restaurant and we haven't been since we moved to Florida. We used to go there fairly often in Maryland, but just haven't here. 

Other than all of that, Anna and Jack practiced driving. We got some new Christmas lights at Walmart at the post-Christmas sale. Kara went shopping with a friend and enjoyed the clearance sale at Bath and Body Works. One of Luke's friends came over and the boys were determined to go in the pool. That day was fairly warm, but it had been cold, like in the 30s at night, so the pool was cold. But, they felt the water and were confident they could handle it. They jumped in, screamed and jumped back out. It was pretty funny. They did end up playing around the pool for a while, so it wasn't a total bust.  

So, that was Christmas week. Nothing big, nothing exciting, but absolutely amazing. Christmas Day to New Year's Day is probably my favorite week of the year. It is such a peaceful, relaxed time, with no where to be and nothing to do. I love it!

Favorite Gifts:
Luke: a hanging tent for reading
Kara: a new phone 
Anna: an iWatch
Jack: a guitar

Thomas: a new iWatch

Kori: my large print Pride and Prejudice 

Luke in his reading tent. It was hidden in the garage.