BUSY & Kara Turns 15

Kara turned 15 on February 12th. She had multiple days of celebration. First, the Mitski concert. Then, we celebrated as a family on Saturday, February 10th. Kara wanted us to go to a park, have a picnic, and hang out like we did on Thanksgiving in Tennessee. We went to Fort Christmas. We tossed around a football, then Thomas made up a game where we played basketball with the football. The rules were that once you had the ball, you either had to pass or shoot. It was pretty fun. Then, we played baseball, had our picnic and left.

Just a picnic in the park.

That night, we had Kara's chosen dinner, meatballs, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. She made her own cake again this year. It was a fancy strawberry recipe with vanilla buttercream. It was delicious, but we agreed the strawberry flavor wasn't quite strong enough. 

Sunday was the Superbowl and my friend Bevin's baby shower. Bevin's daughter, Beya, is Luke's age and Luke was invited. He was the only male in the house and felt a little awkward, but toughed it out. Beya was the first friend Luke made when we moved to Florida. Then, they were in the same Kindergarten class. They are also in the same class this year.  After the baby shower we came home and watched the Super Bowl. Thomas was in first place in our work poll (about 70 people) and he had to pick the correct winner to stay on top. He chose the Chiefs and we were very excited that they won.

The week passed busily. The girls had a lacrosse game on Kara's actual birthday. It was a varsity game, but the coach let some of the JV girls play, including Kara and Anna. Their team won handily. There is a big dichotomy here in lacrosse. Some teams have never played and some are really good. I would say our team is in the middle. We have had three games, we lost two by a huge margin and won one by a huge margin.

Jack had track practice everyday. He is running distance and feels like he is making improvements. And, of course, Luke still has baseball. So, every day it is a minimum of 2 activities, and some days 3. Thank goodness the girls are doing the same thing or I don't know how we would manage! We thought about pushing Jack on getting his license (which he is on board with), but there is no parking for Sophomores at the high school, so it wouldn't do us much good. We still plan on having him get it around summer time. Then, we will focus on Anna, and then Kara. Ugh!

The girls also had their first JV lacrosse game this week. The coach appointed Kara as one of the captains (just for that game). She played a lot and did really well. Anna had been sick and missed two practices this week, so she didn't play as much. Oh, speaking of being sick--Luke had strep throat last week and was home for three days. 

Kara playing in the "draw"

Blurry shot of Anna (had to zoom way in, she was across the field)

I am writing this on a Saturday. Kara has a few friends over for her Valentine's/birthday get together. I am hanging out in my bedroom. Luke was supposed to have a baseball tournament, but it got canceled for weather. So, the boys went to Arcade Monsters. Anna is also avoiding the party, she is hanging out in her room.

Kara and I were proud of how cute the pretzels looked.

With most of the party snacks.

Impromptu Concert and Sports

Kara turns 15 on the 12th. She has been vacillating for a while on what she wanted to do for her birthday. First, she wanted to see Mitski, a singer, in concert. But, then we couldn't get tickets. So, she decided on a Valentine's themed-party. The Mitski concert was on Tuesday at 8pm. I went into the office that day, picked up the older kids from their sports activities (Thomas took Luke to baseball) and had just settled on the couch after dinner to relax when Kara came bounding downstairs announcing the Mitski tickets had dropped in price and maybe we should go after all. I was completely on board, her birthday, her choice of celebration. But, she also wanted the party, so she was torn. She asked a Magic Eight ball and flipped a coin and both said concert. It was around 6:30 and the concert started at 8. We bought the tickets, prepaid parking and left the house about 15 minutes later. Fortunately, the venue was less than 30 minutes away and we had plenty of time to park, go to will call, and check out the merchandise table (concert shirt was obviously a necessity). We watched the opening act, a sad male singer named Tamino. He had a beautiful voice and was enjoyable to listen to. It was just him and a guitar and almost felt like meditation music, it was melodic and peaceful. 

Pre-concert, with time to spare for a picture :)

Then, Mitski performed. I had never heard of her, but I enjoyed her music and the concert in general. We had great seats and it was a fun night. We got home around 1130 and both us were up in time for work/school on Wednesday, like it had never happened (Kara wakes up before 5!). It was way more spontaneous than I would ever be without a push from an energetic teenager, but I am grateful for the experience and happy that Kara got the birthday gift she wanted most. She is still going to have a little get together with her friends (I think), but it will be a more mellow affair.

Mitski herself

Post concert, who's tired? Not us!

The rest of the week was busy. The girls had lacrosse, Jack had track. Luke had his first baseball tournament at the USSSA level. They have three types of tournaments here (that I am aware of): Greater Orlando Baseball (GOB), USSSA, and Perfect Game. Our team could not hang at Perfect Game, those kids are like mini professionals, but they were kind of killing it in GOB, so the coaches decided to try the middle ground. Luke was the starting pitcher for the tournament and did great. At the end of the first day, the Vipers were the number one seed. I have never seen them play better. The whole team was on fire! On Sunday, they won their first game, but fell short in the championship match. I hate to sound like sour grapes, but they really should have won. One of their players was sick, so they only had 8. That meant an automatic out every 9th batter and a giant hole in right field. Despite that huge disadvantage, they still only lost by 3. The competition didn't actually seem much different from GOB, but maybe it was just a weird week. We will see how the next tournament goes. 

Jack had a professional driving lesson on Friday. We are working toward him getting his license and he is pretty close. All three kids did an online drivers ed course that included 6 free instructional hours. Jack is our guinea pig. Although, Anna is getting anxious to get her license as well, but she had told us months ago she was in no hurry and didn't care when she got her license, so we decided to focus on getting Jack ready. She seems to regret her choice, but we are making her stick to it. We don't have the time to get two kids all the required hours and ready for the test. Plus, the insurance increase is going to kill us, so better to work our way up.

The older kids did their course selection for next year. Jack and Anna only have 2.5 years of high school left! I hope time goes by very slowly (except at work-- I want a magic time machine that makes work hours feel really fast and family hours feel really slow). 

In kind of weird "news," I had to drive to Lakeland today for my dad, on the way, I was minding my own business driving in the stop and go mess that is I4, happily listening to a Podcast when a driver got right on my tail and then sped around me, using the breakdown lane to pass me. Then, he gave me the middle finger out of their sunroof. I have no idea what I did. I was driving in the left lane, but was keeping up with the car in front of me and again, it was stop and go traffic. There was no passing lane, we were all just crawling along. The only thing I can think of is maybe he had been in other lane and wanted to get in front of me and it was a moment when I had sped up a little? I legit had been driving in the same lane with the same car in front of me for 10 excruciatingly long miles. That is the second time recently someone has given me the bird. I think I am good driver, I make way for other cars, I use the left lane for passing (unless it's stop and go traffic where we are all kind of parked anyway), I don't tailgate, etc. I feel like society is so much less kind than it was 10, or even 5, years ago. Is this a Florida thing? Drivers here definitely are way more aggressive and mean than they were in Maryland. But, the two flip-offs in two weeks is disconcerting. 

Braces and a Busy Week!

Last weekend, Luke had a baseball tournament. Saturday was freezing, almost literally, in the morning. The wind chill was in the 30s. Not baseball weather and not Florida weather! The Sunday was even worse, with a steady wind. I knew if I went I would get a cold sore, so I opted to sit those games out. The team played well and ended up finishing the tournament in second place. While they did that, I took the girls out to get lacrosse cleats. We had fun driving the new car.

On Monday, I had a doctor's appointment. Thomas took Luke for a consult with an orthodontist. He was expecting just the consultation and the "come back in a year" kind of visit. However, the orthodontist said that Luke needed to get braces right away. He had a tooth removed last year and his dentist didn't put a spacer in, which screwed up the spacing in his mouth. Thomas saw the xrays and felt the orthodontist was being honest about the urgency. Luke's quick consult turned into getting braces right then and there. It was crazy! I think Luke was in shock. He said maybe it was good that it happened the way it did because he didn't have much time to worry about it. 

Holding Thomas' hand for moral support. There wasn't room for Thomas to stay in the back for long and he felt sad leaving Luke alone.

He chose pink for his first bands, his favorite color.

When the big kids got home and saw him, they were shocked. So were his classmates and teammates. Everyone wondered why he hadn't told anyone. It was because he didn't know! He is sad that he didn't know his last gummy bear would be his last gummy bear, at least for the next couple of years.  Anna is still in her braces, so our oldest and youngest are both in braces. Anna is hopefully on the home stretch. Luke is seeing our fourth orthodontist. The first was in Maryland, no issues, that was really retainer, pretreatment stuff. Then, we had the one here. He did great for Kara and Jack, but we didn't like how he handled Anna (blogs have been written on that topic). Anna saw another one here, and we have minor complaints, but nothing significant. However, it is a bit of a drive, so we wanted to try someone closer for Luke. We found this one and it had great reviews, so we scheduled the consult. So, that is the story of 4 kids, 4 orthodontists. Let's hope Luke's treatment goes smoothly! 

Lacrosse tryouts were all week. They were over 2 hours long every day after school. Considering they get to school at 625 and the practices ended at 5, it was very long days for the girls. They mostly enjoyed it. We found out today they did not make Varsity. They have never played, so that wasn't a huge surprise. It looks like they will be on the JV team. We are excited to see how it goes.

Jack had band practice after school on Tuesday. He went to conditioning for track on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately for him, while track ended up 4:30, he had to stick around until the girls finished. Track tryouts are Monday, the 29th.

Thursday, I had to go to Lakeland for my dad. He had been in the hospital and was being discharged. I had to do a lot of running around to get things set up for him. There was a huge stress moment when the place he was going said that he wasn't financially eligible. He is paying out of pocket (he has used up his Medicare days) and they had told us the day before that he had to pay for 35 days in advance, which totaled over $12K. I had gotten the check, brought it to them and they said they would arrange for his hospital discharge. It is the same place he lives. His permanent home is in the assisted living facility, but this was to stay at their nursing home/rehab. Anyway, after I dropped off the check, I got back to the hospital and they called to say they wouldn't take him after all. Ultimately, they did take him, and I still don't know what created the disconnect, but it was stressful. 

My Aunt asked for a selfie :)

Today, Saturday, Luke, Anna, Thomas and I went to Volcano Bay. I love going to a waterpark in January! Last weekend it was so cold and today the high was 80. Weather is weird! We had a great time. 

2024 is off!

I am not sure how to describe the start of 2024. Good? Bad? A mix I guess. First, remember how I said that I hoped that this would be a year with no big house expenses. Well, we already have a $3800 plumbing bill due to blocked pipes and tree roots and the need to do a power flush. I know I have said it before, but I'll say it again--if we ever buy another house, I am looking for new construction! 

The kids didn't go back to school until January 9th. Thomas took off their entire break and I took off a good portion. I still have a few years until I get the more robust time off, so I have to be more careful with taking extended periods, especially with the two vacations we have planned this year. Thomas and the teens went to a movie at City Walk one day while I was working. The girls saw the Hunger Games movie and the boys saw Aquaman (Luke stayed home with me). They all enjoyed the movie they saw. Friday we all went to Epcot, but it was very crowded and we didn't stay long. I don't remember if we did anything over the weekend. 

Monday, January 8th, the last day of winter break, the girls and I went to Magic Kingdom. We had a very fun day. We ate lunch at Columbia Harbour House, which would never be the boys first choice (seafood), but we liked it. The only bad part of the day was the line for Jingle Cruise. It said 35 minutes, but it ended up being over 70.  I understand they are estimates, but that was crazy. The first 40 minutes the line moved well and then it just stopped. I think someone else must have taken over the Genie+ line and had a higher ratio of Genie to standby. I kept texting Thomas that I thought it would be another 10 minutes. I ended up sending 3, "probably just 10 more minutes" texts before we actually got on the ride. It was not worth it. But, other than that, the day was fun. And, we actually had fun playing games in the line, so it wasn't all bad. After we were done at Magic Kingdom, we decided to walk around the Polynesian. I thought they would still have their holiday decorations up, since the park was decorated, but they did not. We still enjoyed seeing the resort.

Magic Kingdom was still decorated.

Back to school/work has not been fun. I wish we were independently wealthy and could do volunteer work instead of a regular job. I know that we are fortunate and I have no reason to complain, but it is definitely hard to go back to work after a nice break! 

The girls are gearing up for lacrosse tryouts. Last year they took everyone who tried out, but there appears to be more interest this year and a new coach, so they don't know what to expect. We keep saying the only guarantee is that if they don't tryout they won't make it, so what's the harm? They have been spending a good amount of time trying to learn the game.

Everyone was off for MLK Jr. day and we enjoyed the long weekend. Friday night, the girls, Thomas and I went to Universal. It was very quiet. We rode Hagrid's with just a 30-minute wait (posted was 50). I think we just hit it at the right time, because we thought about riding again, but the time had increased to 70 and the line was much longer.

Hanging out with Milhouse

That Saturday, I took Jack and Kara to the library. We love the massive library in downtown Orlando. I was surprised when we got there that a bunch of streets were blocked off. We had to finagle our way around to find parking. It turns out there was a parade. It didn't occur to me that the MLK parade would be Saturday and not Monday. We got our books and then watched most of the parade. It was pretty fun and maybe next year we will go intentionally. The most interesting part was the coca-cola float. They gave us a 10-pack of some limited edition soda, 2 small bottles of ginger ale, and a cranberry sprite zero (loved it!). It was random, but fun. I did enjoy seeing the floats with the MLK Jr quotes and feeling like we were doing something to honor his memory on his weekend. I wonder what he would think of the United States today?

In really big news, we bought a car! A Tesla. They had an end of the year deal and with the tax credit, we decided to go for it. It is a Performance Model 3, which Thomas thinks feels like a sports car. It is definitely different, in a fun way, to drive. It has one pedal driving, where you never really have to use the brake. If you lift your foot off the gas pedal, the car comes to a stop. It will take a little getting used to, but I like it. The best part is that there is no noticeable shift as it moves through gears, it is super fast and super smooth. We kept the Clarity, which will be the kids' car. We are a three car family now. Fortunately, we were able to pay off the van before buying the Tesla, so still just one car payment. It would have been nice to have no car payments for a while, but yolo right?

Picture to end, Luke finally got a haircut. We went to Tijuana Flats one night and one of the kids noticed he looks a bit like Eleven from Stranger Things :)

NYE and 2023: A Year in Review

 For NYE, we had our traditional cheese fondue.  Luke and I went jogging together in the morning and Kara and I went for a walk that night. Some of us played Ticket to Ride. I got thwarted one too many times and was a pretty sore loser. Thomas beat Anna by a slim margin, I believe just 2 trains. Thomas, Luke and Kara stayed up to welcome in the New Year. They watched Madagascar and the ball drop in NYC. I went to sleep, but woke up at midnight with the sound of fireworks all around and was able to wish them a happy new year. I felt a little bad not staying up, but I was tired.

Now, it is 550am on the first day of 2024.  Happy New Year! The house is quiet and I am ready for the reflection that this yearly post requires. Once I hit "publish" this post will be the first in my 14th year of writing! It was more fun to write when the kids were small and every day felt like an adventure. Our lives are very different now than they were in 2011. I don't even know if it is being dramatic to say the world is very different, but after COVID and Trump that is how it feels. When I started writing, we had 3 kids 3 and under, had just gotten out of the military and I was starting my new life as a stay-at-home-mom. Now it is 4 kids 16 and under and I am 6 years into my career as a civilian (Thomas is 12). Who know what the next 13 years will bring? I wonder if there will still be a blog in 2036 when it is probably just Thomas and I living at home?

I just wasted 20 minutes writing that short paragraph, in part because I went and read my very first post. Time to be a little less introspective and a little more productive.

We only had one vacation in 2023, which is unusual for us, but was fiscally required after another year with major investments in the house. This year it was a new pool screen and water heater. We have put a lot of money into home repairs/upgrades since living here. Hopefully 2024 will break that trend (fingers crossed!). Speaking of which, we have now been in Florida almost 5 years! If I remember, I will do a 5-year anniversary post in May.

Our one trip was to DC and Williamsburg, our 16th birthday gift to Jack and Anna. It was a great trip that we talk about often. It was a little sad to be tourists at places that we frequented as locals, but it was still great to spend time in the area. We did not do any cruises, although at one point we were booked to do two, three if you count the anniversary one Thomas and I did not take. I think Anna has probably forgotten that we also cancelled a Spring Break cruise, so hopefully this post doesn't make her too annoyed (the girls are two of my few readers). 

Other major happenings included Kara starting high school and Thomas having surgery.

I debated not doing the individual summaries this year, but I am going to give it a try, although I am skipping the three words:

Anna: As mentioned Anna is now 16. She is a sophomore in high school and doing really well. She started the year with great skating ambition and was able to participate in two competitions. Unfortunately, her coach left the local rink and the distance became too much for us, so she hung up her skates. It has been a few months of no skating, which I know is still hard on her. Hopefully, she at least enjoyed the time it freed in her schedule and our Wednesday night Disney adventures. She is doing well in school, but is hard on herself. Sometimes, it is justifiable (like when she doesn't turn things in on time) but other times I think she compares herself to Jack or Kara, which isn't fair to anyone. By all empirical data, she is a talented, gifted student. She is often helpful and has an amazing sense of humor. She is also introverted and is often reluctant to try new things. But, she has gotten better at advocating for herself and even at doing small things that were previously challenging (like asking for a drink refill at restaurants). 

Kara: Kara is 14 and in 9th grade. She ended 8th grade with theater being a big part of her life and social identity, but hasn't participated much in high school. She made the transition to high school fairly easily and has a lot of friends. She can be impatient and snarky at times. She really enjoys music and the highlight of her year was getting to see her favorite artist, Lana Del Rey, in concert. She is adventurous and does not like being at home. She has started almost every day of break with a "do we have any plans today?" Along those same lines, when school is in session, she texts almost every day with the same question, "what's for dinner?" She has started an exercise routine and has found that she enjoys running. She wants to be a vegetarian. She doesn't want to get married or have kids, but does want to have a dog one day. She is a good student and gets straight As. 

Jack: It has been a good year for Jack. He is also 16 and a high school sophomore. He enjoys school and learning in general. He had straight As for Freshman year and is on track to do the same this year. He still loves history and old music, like Elvis. He can be a little impatient with his siblings, especially Kara, but he is working on it. He has enjoyed band more this year and is very social. When he was little (before elementary school) he was incredibly friendly and outgoing. Then, he became quieter and much more introverted. Now, he is back to be social and friendly. He is very helpful and regularly does things around the house without us asking. He is polite and gentlemanly (opening doors, carrying things, etc.). 

Luke: Luke is in 4th grade. He is very smart and was again chosen for Battle of the Books. He still loves baseball and had a good year as a member of the Leones and then the Vipers (mostly same kids and coaches, different name). We sometimes struggle to get him away from electronics, he especially loves Rocket League. He can be very hard on himself and struggles with resiliency, although he has made improvements, at least at school, this year. He gets along well with his classmates and teachers. He is a homebody, unless the activity involves playing sports. It is hard to believe that he will start his final year of elementary school this year! 

Thomas and I: We celebrated 20 years of marriage in 2023, I am sad that we had to cancel our cruise. However, I love Thomas and am happy for the years behind and the years ahead, regardless of how we celebrate. Thomas still doesn't like his job, but he does like working mostly from home and I think he likes it a little more than he did when we first got here. He is mostly recovered from his arm surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery didn't seem to fix all the problems with his arm that we had hoped it would address. He enjoys baseball (counting down the days until Spring Training begins) and being the pitching coach for Luke's team. For me, not much is new. This year has been my most challenging in a while. Work has been stressful and the transitions with my Dad have been difficult. Since I write this blog from my perspective, I think all of that is well-covered.  

What everyone enjoyed most this year:

Jack: DC, particularly the Capitol building

Anna: the DC trip

Luke: the DC trip, especially the day at Busch Gardens

Kara: Lana Del Rey concert

Thomas: seeing Mount Vernon again and riding GOTG for the first time

Kori: the day at Busch Gardens and the day we went to Epcot and all rode GOTG together and ate around the world.

Now, the year ahead. 2024 will have at least two vacations. We have our traditional Spring Break cruise and a 13-night epic trip that includes three days in Seattle, two in Vancouver, and an Alaskan cruise! Only Thomas has been to any of those places, so we are all super excited; although Anna would have preferred Europe, Hawaii or even California. It will be our longest vacation ever, and has required a lot of planning, but I think it is mostly sorted out; we have our hotels, cruise, excursions, and flights booked. We still need to figure out exactly what we are doing in Seattle and Vancouver, but I think we have the general idea and there can (maybe) be some room for spontaneity. 

What everyone is looking forward to this year is our trip to Alaska. Luke also said his birthday and hitting double digits. 

My wish for 2024 is the same as every year. I hope we end with good health and happy memories!

PS-it is now 7:44. This is the hardest to write post every year and definitely takes the longest, even with no pictures. But, I am sure I will be happy I did it when I reread it next January.

The Week After Christmas (repeat post)

Rereading my blog, it bothered me that I had all of this in one post. So, I am separating it out. 

The rest of the week (after Christmas Day) was not as exciting. We had another (mostly) relaxing day on Tuesday. Thomas and I went out in search of wrapping paper and we took Luke to the batting cages. 

Wednesday we all went to Lakeland to visit my dad and to work on moving some of his stuff. After Lakeland, we went to Winter Haven to visit with Marta and Frank. We got to meet their new, giant dog, Buddy, We played Uno, shared gifts and had pizza. It was a good visit for all but Luke. He was playing outside with Buddy, when Buddy got a little rambunctious and knocked Luke over and then mouthed his arm (as puppies do). Luke, justifiably, felt like he was being attacked and let out a terrifying, blood curdling scream. The surprised puppy got banished behind closed doors for the rest of our visit and Luke eventually recovered from the traumatic encounter. While I know Luke was never in any danger (Buddy was clearly playing and the mouthing didn't leave any marks), I can only imagine what it felt like from Luke's perspective and I am sure he will be more careful in how he plays with Buddy in the future.

A big Buddy.

Kara wants a dog like Buddy and even devoted an instagram story to him.

Thursday was another day (mostly) at home. I did have a bit of mental breakdown. On Wednesday one of the things we moved was my dad's tv and somehow we broke it. I don't understand how, because Thomas literally took it off the wall, wrapped it in a blanket and used a dolly to wheel it over to his new room where he remounted it. But, somehow the internal screen got cracked. My sister sent the text to tell me, so we had to buy him a new tv. This was frustrating for a multitude of reasons. One, I didn't want to spend that money. But, two, it felt so demoralizing. All the effort to help and do the move ourselves and I broke a door in his apartment that we will also have to pay for and then the tv. It truly felt like no good deed goes unpunished and I kind of lost it. Fortunately, my dad will never know my reaction, but Thomas, Jack and Anna sure got an earful. I hurt my foot kicking a box, cried, and carried on like a crazy person for about 10 minutes. I would have loved to just hire movers, but we didn't even know what would fit and we had no plan for the furniture we couldn't take and as mentioned in previous blogs, a very, very short window to get him settled. Pretty sure my reaction was the result of all that stress. But, it was still over-the-top.

Friday, I spent the day in Lakeland finishing up the move with Kim. We thought it would take about 4 hours, it took 8 (well, 7 since we took a lunch break). Then, the drive home was miserable. I really hope it is all done, but it may not be. I am sure everyone is sick of reading about this and I am tired of writing about it, so I won't go into details, but I kinda sorta exchanged some words with the business office over the protocol for vacating his old apartment. In short, we didn't do it properly, but my response was they should have returned my numerous phone calls and then maybe I would have known better. We will know next week if it is all resolved.

Now, it is 430am. I went to bed at my normal time and then woke up at midnight and never fell back asleep. I had three Coke Zeros at lunch, so that is probably the biggest reason why, but I am also still stressed about my dad. We have to liquidate his investment accounts and I am worried about how that will work and making sure it is done on time to pay for his care. It is almost $6000/month for where he is living and I had to sign the agreement as his power of attorney. I did not agree to financial responsibility, but I still feel responsible for making sure he has a place to live and I am worried about what will happen if we can't liquidate in time to pay for upcoming months.  I am so tired of trying to manage this (and to be clear, my sister is actually doing most of the work). 

Christmas and the Week that Followed

As always, Christmas was wonderful. I was super excited and woke up before 5. I started hearing the girls and Luke shortly thereafter. However, Jack and Thomas slept until the appointed time of 645. I saw a couple of posts from friends who have teenagers that slept in on Christmas and I was glad that at least 2/3 of our teens are still so excited that they wake up early.

We opened gifts, had our traditional breakfast casserole and spent the day lounging lazily. We had our big meal on Christmas Eve, so there was no cooking or baking. We played games, ate a lot of candy, and didn't do much else.

The kids were thoughtful in their gifts and were excited to see everyone's reactions to what they picked out. Anna was shocked that Jack got her iPods. Kara got Anna the Lululemon belt bag she has wanted for a very long time. Kara got Luke the complete set of Dork Diaries. Jack got Kara a Lana Del Rey record. Anna got Jack a book from the 1800s and Kara a portable cart that represented an inside joke from our DC trip. You get the idea :) The older kids have to use their own money for presents, so I really think it adds a lot of meaning when they put time and effort into finding the perfect gifts for each other. I also loved my gifts from the kids. When Luke was choosing Thomas' gift he knew he wanted to get him baseball cards. I asked him if he wanted to give Christmas or Halloween themed cards. Luke responded with a thoughtful, "I'll get him both--he deserves it." It made me laugh, as Luke is still at the age where he is not required to shop for, pay for, or do much to actually effectuate a gift. I hope he is as generous when his money is on the line!

Thomas also gave me some great presents, my favorite is a really cool bracelet that has a charm containing a picture of our family. You would never know by looking at it, but you hold it to a light and there it is. In a funny twist, apparently at some point I commented on a "magic beans spinning cube (sort of a rubik's cube type puzzle)" that I wanted. That is how Thomas wrote it in his reminder notes and then when November/December rolled around, he had no idea what I was referring to. So, he got me several gifts that may have matched that description. Of course, I have no recollection of saying anything about a magic bean puzzle, so I can only assume he found the right one :) I crocheted Kara a purse and really enjoyed the process of making a gift for someone. I may try and do something similar next year. For their big gifts, Luke got a device that measures bat speed; Kara got an iWatch; Jack got an upgraded saxophone (if it ever gets delivered...); Anna got an iPad; I also got an iWatch and Thomas also got an iPad. 

Everyone sits in the same spot each year. If you try and move, someone will get mad.

Anna was so surprised Jack got her Airpods, it warranted an immediate hug.

Wearing the Tigers sweatshirt Jack gave him, while opening another from me.

The aftermath.

This makes it seem like it was all about the gifts, which of course, it never is. I loved everything everyone picked out for me, but that is not what wakes me with excitement. I was excited to spend the day together and to see the reactions to the gifts I (for Thomas and we for the kids) picked out. I love the music and the lights and the movies and the food and the family time. Christmas Day represents the entirety of the season in one amazing day.