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!