Goodbye, 2020

Happy New Year's Eve!

Today Chet worked in the garage, the kids played outside, and I put away Christmas decorations (which had been removed from the downstairs on December 26th, but sat in piles in our bedroom until today).

Like so:

Because our room looked like the above picture for five days, once I put everything away Ruthie came in and said, "Wow, it's DIFFERENT in here!"

Ahem.

See that dresser and bedside table? I'm going to paint those tomorrow. Well, I'm at least going to paint the bedside table (as well as the matching one on Chet's side of the bed). We're going to remove the drawers and I'm going to paint the dark wood white. Stay tuned to find out if it's a success or a disaster.

Tonight we ate DiGiorno pizza and Caesar salad for dinner (Lorelei had pasta with parmesan cheese, because DiGiorno isn't her favorite -- MORE FOR THE REST OF US). I bought sparkling apple juice for the kids to enjoy:

I also found King Cake-flavored ice cream at the commissary, and believe you me that it's extremely dangerous because I just had two scoops and still want more:

Happy New Year's Eve, friends -- 2020 has been bad, weird...but also good. Bring on 2021!

Sydney and Ford

I took this picture of Sydney and Ford from across the room during one of the hotel stays on our trip.

Ford is famous for his very long-winded stories, and Sydney was listening to him tell her about the dream he had the night before (in great detail).

Sydney sometimes has limited patience, but when this picture was taken she was exercising all the patience she could muster, and that made me prouder than Ford's ability to tell novella-length stories.

Is anyone else tired this Wednesday evening? WHEW. I am.

Happy second-to-last day of 2020!

Bellingrath Gardens

Last night the kids and I met our friends who live in Pensacola at Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama. They still have their beautiful Christmas lights displayed, and visiting Bellingrath had been on my to-do list before we move away from the Gulf Coast.

These pictures don't really do it justice, so you'll have to trust me that is was very beautiful.

I would like to go back in the spring, in the daylight and when their flowers are in bloom.

Happy Tuesday (it IS Tuesday, isn't it?!)!

Dollywood Pictures

Here are some pictures of our trip to Dollywood:

We had so much fun. The park was sold out, but barely felt crowded with the extreme limiting of tickets sold per day. I would go back again in a heartbeat, and for more than one day.

It was also refreshing to hear the Dollywood musicians belt out Christmas carols about Jesus, and everyone wished you a "Merry Christmas!"

Happy Monday, but most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Papa John!

Sunday

Today we did not go to church, because I forgot to reserve seats.

Speaking of church, there was a family Christmas celebration scheduled for Saturday, December 12th that they ended up cancelling (due to an uptick in COVID cases), and our Christmas Eve service was also cancelled.

I did not put away any of the Christmas decorations that traveled yesterday from downstairs to our upstairs bedroom, en route to the upstairs storage closet.

I did, however, continue to wash/dry/fold laundry, so that is good.

I also sat down and read some of my book today. I read most of my books via audiobook, always while accomplishing some other task, so it was nice to actually sit and look at words on a page.

I also went to the grocery store, and we cooked hamburgers for dinner.

Chet worked in the garage (he is building a work bench).

The children played outside.

Chet and the children are currently watching "Soul" on Disney+, while I enjoy the quiet of the upstairs.

Tomorrow Chet goes back to work, but he is thankful for a short work week.

At dinner I told the children we would be accomplishing math and piano practice, at the very least, tomorrow.

I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday.

Day After Christmas

Today I was a total Grinch, because I took down all of our Christmas decorations.

I think I knew before we left for our trip that I would do such a thing.

We put our tree and decorations up SO EARLY this year, and I was happy to do so, but it meant I was REALLY ready to see them go come December 26th.

I also stayed in my pajamas all day, which included a pair of "comfy" pants Sydney gave me for Christmas. Around 6 p.m. Lorelei asked, "Are you still in your pajamas?!" I said yes, and that my comfy pants were too comfy to take off. She said, "I'm really glad for you."

I'm pretty sure she was sincere about that.

Here is a picture of our past Christmas cards, which I taped to the wall in the shape of a Christmas tree (I had to include the light switch plate to make it look right):

Happy Saturday!

Merry Christmas!

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given; 

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

--Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

WHEW!

We returned home from a trip to East TN yesterday (the 23rd), and so far my Christmas Eve has been spent unpacking and doing mountains of laundry.

But that's okay, because I'm thankful we were able to even take such a trip, and that we have plenty of clothes to wear and machines that wash those clothes for me.

The past two years we have taken a trip AFTER Christmas, and I wanted to do it differently this year to see how it went.

So far I'm a fan, because even though I'm doing a lot of housework on Christmas Eve, we completed Christmas preparations before our trip, so there's no stress regarding that. We also got home early enough yesterday that I was able to go to the grocery store instead of having to go this morning. I'm MOSTLY glad that I will be able to take down our Christmas tree and decorations in what I consider a timely manner, instead of having to do it AFTER a trip and as the holiday season is ending.

Here is a picture of us at the turnaround point on a hike we took in Great Smoky Mountain National Park:

More about our trip later. Merry Christmas Eve!

2nd Half of December

Where on earth has December gone?

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning I attended book club at a local coffee shop, then took the kids to a park that we used to visit often the last time we lived in Gulfport.

Sydney (in true Sydney fashion) wedged herself into a baby swing, and I told her I was pretty sure I had a picture of her from years ago in the exact same swing.

I sure did:

She is a goofball.

I have to go wash what feels like all of the laundry in the house now.

Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday

We picked up Sydney and Lorelei yesterday (Monday) in Mobile. They had both been in Pensacola since last Wednesday, at the houses of two different family friends, having the time of their lives.

Mobile has a Bass Pro Shop, so we took a picture with Santa:

Ford, Ruthie, Monster, and I felt a little lost without the big girls for five days, so we did a lot of this:

I also finished putting up our Christmas decorations. I decided to create a "tchotchke" Christmas display on our buffet to hold all of the items that play music or are fun to touch:

It's now the kids' very favorite area of house now (probably because I let them arrange and rearrange it however they want, whenever they want).

Happy Tuesday!

Last Day of November

I don't know about you, but I thought November was alright (and by that I mean I enjoyed it).

I learned that it's totally fine to completely disengage from the news for a while (I already knew that, but I really leaned into it around November 10th -- I literally have no idea what's happening in the world right now).

Chet and Ruthie had some catching up to do for our thankful tree, and here are their last leaves:

Chet had a hard day at work, but his leaves prove that there is always (ALWAYS) something to be thankful for. In fact, we all learned (or re-learned) that lesson this Thanksgiving season. There were a few days throughout the month when we were feeling grumpy while cutting out and writing on those little pieces of paper, but we could always think of something.

Here is an unrelated picture of our Thanksgiving table:

I'm pretty sure Martha Stewart (who most likely reads this blog) will be contacting me soon to collaborate on design ideas.

I have to go move (some of) my outdoor plants into the garage now because we're under a freeze warning tonight. Part of me just wants to leave them out there and not worry about it, but the other part knows I'll lose sleep wondering if they're okay.

On to December!

Dresser

I didn't take a picture in natural light today, but since I promised you a picture, here it is!

This morning we attended church, picked up donuts afterward, and stayed in the house for the rest of the day because it hasn't stopped raining.

I am trying to wrap my head around tomorrow being Monday. The kids will be in for a shock when I tell them to start their math assignments.

Happy Sunday!

Saturday

This morning I visited a store near downtown Gulfport that only opens once a month. They mostly have antiques, but some newer items too. All purchases there directly support small business owners. I didn't expect to buy anything, but walked away with a dresser (HA!).

We needed one anyway; we still have Sydney's original changing table that had two drawers, and Lorelei was stuffing all of her folded clothes into it.

This was a picture I snapped at the store (the ladies were still attaching the new hardware) to ask Chet if I should buy it:

I wasn't exactly sure where it would go in the house (despite the too-small changing table drawers Lorelei was using), but it DID end up in Lorelei's and Ruthie's room. (Only Lorelei's clothes are in it; Ruthie's clothes -- and Ford's clothes -- reside in a big white dresser that's in our bedroom. This drives Chet crazy.)

I'll take a picture tomorrow when there is some natural light. Also, I'm not sure where in the house my phone is, so I can't snap a quick picture to share now even if I wanted to.

The new dresser led to some sprucing up of the bedroom, and purging some items, which is my very favorite pastime. 

Speaking of purging items, one item we purged was a huge fluffy hot pink pig that is actually a piggy bank. Lorelei got it for Christmas in 2016 when we lived in Austin, and she recently passed it on to Ruthie (it drives me a wee bit crazy when they do this -- PLEASE JUST GET RID OF IT INSTEAD OF PROLONGING THE INEVITABLE).

It had been sitting on the top shelf in their closet, and Ruthie, of course, was all of a sudden very attached to it. Chet said, "Ruthie, Christmas is soon as we need to make room for presents we may receive." Lorelei relayed an anecdote she read in a book where a little boy pinched his brother and only received socks for Christmas. Ruthie was thoroughly confused after that.

Here is an unrelated picture of the kids playing a board game this morning:

Happy Saturday!

Day After Thanksgiving

My children did not dress in all black clothing this Black Friday like they did last year, but they DID choreograph a dance to one of our ornaments that plays very loud music.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving, just the six of us. Like last year, I ordered a Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving meal (this time we ordered the one that feeds 4-6 people and it was the PERFECT amount). We ate at 4:00 p.m. The commissary was out of frozen Mrs. Smith's pumpkin pie, so I made two from scratch, which was surprisingly easy and delicious.

We traditionally eat monkey bread and sausage balls Thanksgiving morning, but this year we only did monkey bread. Sydney and Lorelei can make it all by themselves, and Ford and Ruthie are also helpful making this particular treat, but they were still sleeping:

We paired the monkey bread with bacon instead of sausage balls, but Sydney and I made sausage balls this morning (Friday), and delivered some to a neighbor who had given us a chocolate pie on Thanksgiving day.

Grammy's box of Christmas crafts arrived today, and the kids thought I was taking a video instead of a picture, hence the odd faces (that's Ruthie's 'what are we supposed to say again?' face):

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and delicious!

Psalms 9:1-2

I read this verse today and wanted to share it:

"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High." (Psalms 9:1-2)

Not just when my children behave or when we have enough money in the bank or when the laundry is under control, but each and every moment of every day we have on this earth.

(Picture from our Great Wolf Lodge trip)

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, friends.

Lorelei and Ford

I'm too tired to write anything fancy, because today I pulled out some Christmas decorations (we put up the tree yesterday -- no ornaments yet), and now my house is decorated half Thanksgiving and half Christmas, and I think it's driving me a bit batty.

I like these pictures of Lorelei and Ford:

We have taken a break from school this past week (starting last Wednesday), and it's been much needed. However, I'm ready for routine again (even though Thanksgiving is this week).

Happy Tuesday, friends!

November Thankful Tree

For YEARS I have been wanting to create a thankful tree in November.

Clearly, 2020 is the perfect year.

It started out like this:

As of this evening, it looks like this:

Chet, of course, created the trunk. Sydney cuts out the majority of the leaves. I label each leaf with the person's first initial and the date, because I plan to laminate them so that we can enjoy reading them next year.

November 21st?!

I did NOT mean to go so long without posting, but Chet left for a 2-week field exercise the first week of November and I barely had time to think while he was gone (he returned home yesterday, the 20th).

Monster likes to involve himself in our projects:

This picture was from a few days ago, and today he chose to lay on the windowsill, on TOP of a coloring book, and with his face in one of my plants. He could have chosen a clear spot on the windowsill (it's a big windowsill), or ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE HOUSE. 

Animals are silly.

(Non-Partisan) Election Thoughts

These are strange days.

I normally don't share my thoughts about current events, because, in my opinion, most people don't actually care what other people think about such things.

However, this election season, which my children are aware of, we have had the opportunity to cover some important life lessons.

First, a picture of cranky, two-year old Lorelei with the White House in the background:

Lesson 1: We are not electing God. In fact, "For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob." (Malachi 3:6 NKJV) Also, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) 

The President of the United States of America can't change that. Isn't that a relief?

Lesson 2: You will probably never agree with any one person about everything. This includes your friends, your spouse, as well as the people you vote for in elections. Choose the "issues" that are the most important to you, and vote for the person who says they will protect those issues.

Lesson 3: Sometimes you don't get your way. Whether it's the movie you voted for on family movie night or the presidential candidate you voted for, sometimes your vote "wins," and other times it doesn't. Don't worry; it's likely not your last time to vote.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Halloween Pictures

I was going to write something about how it's taking me longer than I feel like it should to adjust to this time change, but my brain is absolute mush come evening because of said time change, so I'll share the kids' Halloween costume pictures instead.

Ruthie was Elsa (a costume we already owned), Ford was Darth Vader (also a costume we already owned), Lorelei was a skateboarder (we bought the sweatshirt and shoes, both of which she needed anyway), and Sydney was a spy.

I asked Sydney how she thought she was going to spy well while wearing a robber's mask, but for that she had no answer.

Sydney's costume required some research and ordering of items, all of which she did on her own (well, I ordered the items, but she did all the research).

All the kids trick-or-treated with their friends, while Chet and I sat in the driveway handing out candy.

It was the easiest Halloween ever.

Happy Thursday!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, but more importantly, OUR POWER IS BACK ON!

The Navy base shifted trick-or-treating hours earlier (to start at 4:30 p.m. and end at 6:30 p.m.) in light of the power outage, and the power came back on just after 4:00 p.m.!

(Trick-or-treating still started at 4:30 p.m. though, and I LOVED the earlier hours -- let's do this every year, people!)

My computer is not uploading the pictures I took of the kids, so I will have to share them tomorrow (November 1st, my FAVORITE day of the year).

I hope everyone had a lovely Saturday, full of electricity and candy.

Zeta Update #2

We’re still without power (it’s just after 7:30 p.m. Friday), and I just read on Mississippi Power’s website that they expect to restore power to Long Beach and Gulfport by midnight Monday, November 2nd. 

(The Seabee base is technically in Gulfport, but the western edge of the base is nearly in Long Beach.)

The kids took their first cold showers last night, and Ford was NOT mentally prepared. I told him he would take lots of cold showers at the Naval Academy, and that a cold shower is better than a scalding shower. He didn’t seem to appreciate my two cents.

(Speaking of cold showers, I’m currently mentally preparing for my own here in a little while.)

We’re still fine on food, but meals have started to get a little strange. I’m SO thankful we still have running water.

I’m also extremely thankful for the nice, cool weather that has allowed us to keep our windows open and not sweat to death with no power.

TGIF!

Zeta Update

We lost power about 7:30 p.m. last night. Thankfully, we had already finished dinner (we were in the midst of cleaning up), and the kids had already showered.

The worst of the storm lasted from about 8 p.m. until 9 p.m. The wind was strongly blowing and we could hear shingles popping off our roof (most of the houses in the neighborhood lost a few shingles). Chet told me today (after it was said and done) that he could see the window glass pulsing.

We put the kids to bed around 9:15 p.m., and Chet I went to bed not long after. The storm had mostly passed by 10 p.m.

It’s 5:30 p.m. now, and we’re still without power. Most of our neighborhood spent the day outside, enjoying the nice post-storm weather and cleaning up yards and putting outdoor Halloween decorations back out.

Now to figure out what to serve for dinner (besides Halloween candy)...

Zeta

We are currently in the middle of Zeta (which I refuse to acknowledge as a hurricane, because IT'S OCTOBER 26th AND HURRICANES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FINISHED BY NOW).

A local meteorologist posted this on their Facebook page, and it made me...laugh? I don't know.

Gulfport has dodged every hurricane this season, and thankfully this one is fast-moving. I honestly feel fine dealing with bad weather from 6-10 p.m., as opposed to the middle of the night. Lying in bed while a storm descends upon your house is a very desperate feeling.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Life

Our normal routine and schedule have been a little out of the ordinary the last few weeks, and we're all kind of tired. Well, Chet and I are tired; the kids are just extra goofy. 

Chet was not as mad as he may appear; this is his "concentrating" face, and Sydney and Lorelei were taking turns putting their faces REALLY close to his head while he was trying to take care of something for work.

Sydney and Lorelei have also moved into a phase where they TRY to be funny. It is mostly a fun stage.

Happy Tuesday!

(P.S. It's taking every ounce of willpower for me not to get rid of all things Halloween. HURRY NOVEMBER.)

Jack-o'-lantern

Chet and Sydney carved a pumpkin Sunday:

It sat on the counter between our butter dish and overripe bananas for about 30 hours, because Chet requested I coat the inside with petroleum jelly in order to help protect it from the elements outside.

What on earth.

But I did, and now it's outside (NOT lit from within), and I'm wondering why we are hoping to preserve it for so long anyway since HALLOWEEN IS ALMOST OVER (that's me shouting with anticipatory glee).

Happy Monday, friends.

Scare-A-Van

Every year, about a week before Halloween, the base puts on a fun Halloween event.

This year they created a new event called "Scare-A-Van," where we drove in our cars to 16 various (and decorated) locations around the base to collect candy.

(These events are always so thoughtful and the kids really enjoy them, but why, why, WHY do we need to collect Halloween candy a week before Halloween?!)

Sydney opted not to go (she stayed in our neighborhood to play outside with her friend). When we got home I asked what they did, and she answered, "We pretended like a lemon was a ball and tossed it back and forth to each other."

Well.

Lorelei, Ford, and Ruthie all agreed that it was MUCH more fun than they were envisioning. I think us allowing them to eat candy in the car helped them come to that conclusion.

Happy Sunday! I do NOT feel prepared to start the school/work week tomorrow, but we shall press on.

Great Wolf Lodge

Chet and I treated Lorelei (and her siblings) with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday.

It was actually not his or my idea. My friend Stephanie told me a couple of months ago that she was taking her daughter (Lorelei's best friend who lived next door to us in California), and I instantly asked if we could come too. I didn't even originally plan for it to be her birthday gift, but that's what it ended up being.

We (just the kids and me -- Chet had to work) left first thing Wednesday morning, drove to the Lodge in Le Grange, Georgia, and stayed until Friday. It was SO much fun, and really the perfect birthday present (and a bonus that her best friend was there too).

I PROMISE I will post a few more pictures this week, but here's one:

Happy Saturday!

Happy birthday, Lorelei!

 Our Lorelei turned nine today!

We spent the day at home, and there was no party (other than the 6 of us), but the weather was perfect and she spent most of the day outside playing with friends (her usual activity of choice).

She decorated her cake with Pokemon candles and four different colored sprinkles, and requested Papa John's Pizza for dinner.

She's such a joy.

Whirlwind

How (HOW) is it mid-October?!

I've been out of my usual routine for 2+ weeks now (more on that later), and tonight was no exception. I am attending a neighborhood party tomorrow (Friday) evening, and Lorelei's birthday is Saturday, and there are errands and things in general that I need to do to help make these events fun.

I REALLY didn't want to take a trip into town after dinner this evening, but I did (and our Friday will be less hectic because of it). Lorelei and I went to Party City and Dollar Tree, and now I feel a tiny bit more prepared to celebrate her.

She's a nearly-nine-year-old delight.

Goodbye, September!

I'm ending September on a high note. Probably because I completed a 3-mile run this evening (runners' "high" is real), we've had LOVELY weather the last two days, and my mom is coming to visit Friday (we're so excited!).

Also, I just started a humongous load of laundry consisting solely of socks and underwear, and I'm always thankful I have a machine to wash our clothes rather than having to lug them down to a river and beat them against rocks.

I'll end with this picture, which I didn't take today, but DID take this month, and proves learning and life in general go on here.

On to October (the BEST month of the year)!

(Happy birthday, Angela!)

Ruthie's Point of View

The other day Ruthie took dozens of pictures with my phone.

Several were of the refrigerator, specifically the part where ice comes out of the ice machine. (It took me a minute to figure out what exactly I was looking at.)

These were my favorite:

The first one is the area of our counter where the clean dishes finish drying (plus mine and Chet's vitamin containers, apparently), which happened to include a good shot of the Fiesta teapot (I think it's a teapot?) I recently bought at a resale shop.

The second picture is Monster wearing his judge-y look. Clearly he didn't approve of Ruthie taking so many pictures.

Happy Tuesday!

Here's a picture of Chet reading to everyone shortly before Ford's special night commenced Sunday night:

Please don't turn us into cat social services. We are aware that Monster could use just a tiny bit more love.