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.
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:
Look.... Kara needs to get over being written about. Because she doesnt want Ms Summer to not know all of the amazing things she is doing. She needs to get over that-- because how else will I know! And just saying.... she .... argumentative? NAH!! All lies
ReplyDeleteLatin?! REALLY?! My Sir!
ReplyDeleteJack.... Bossy to his siblings?!!? Stop telling lies on my boy! That never has happened... ever! (snort)
ReplyDeleteAnna!!!!!! My girl! Sign language and Psychology!!!! Yessssssss. (I kinda like that she loves those too.. girl after my own heart)
ReplyDelete