Goodbye To 2020

"The year that shall not be named." - From Dude Perfect who tweaked Harry Potter. ;)

The year Covid 19 hit. It will go down in history books. We lived it.

What a year. 

A year full of canceling and pivoting.

Though this blog is typically full of highlights, it would be remiss not to touch on the disappointments of the year.

We faced the every-day frustrations of the world, such as seeing the shelves of the grocery store emptied, trying to navigate an entirely online classroom, donning masks to enter any building...to just touch on a few... 

As we thought about the challenges of 2020, while most of the year had plenty of frustrations, and we didn't experience such heavy losses as losing a loved one, we felt we had three big disappointments that will be in our memories. In order of biggest to big: Not being able to continue to compete at the next level in DI, postponing our Ultimate Florida Trip twice, and coming home from our beach trip due to a hurricane. 

While it has absolutely been a year full of big disappointments, I'm thankful to reflect on the good moments we did have. This year especially, we could call this a Silver Linings Jar. As I put this together, it reminded me we still have so much to be thankful for. For me, the key is and will always be something we have been taught throughout our life, gratitude. Gratitude turns what we have into enough. There is always beauty to be found. 

Here's to a fresh year!

 

School - First Semester Fun

It's easy for me to dwell on the frustrations with school right now. We are dealing with such a strange school dynamic this year, having to go back and forth with virtual for Lorelei at what it feels like any sign of a cough, but really overall the kids are doing great. Here are some first semester snapshots.

Making their own ant farm as we study insects.

Lorelei's Volcano Project

History Timeline Progress

I love how much the Bible is integrated and that Lorelei has Bible this year.
Sometimes smoothies and photo bombing bothers are involved.

I love it when science meets nature!
We went looking for leaves and found a friendly moth.
The timing was especially great as we had recently studied insects too!

We found SO many varieties of leaves.
We compared ten and could've done many more!

We spent some time using this free curriculum during the election.

Lorelei was given the assignment to make an animal cell using any materials.
She chose a few food items as well as cotton balls and was happy with how it turned out.
We were temporarily virtual at this point, so I had to film her talking about it as she would have presented it to the class.

Snail Terrariums

Holiday Writing

This was probably the most fun I've had making some lesson plans of my own for Makin. Holiday writing! (Included a few examples below.)

Christmas

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

These kiddos sure are glad Santa brings chocolate frogs!

I had fun coming up with a special table,
mostly from what we already had and then some last-minute finds.

The Romeos joined us for a late lunch.
We had a great time visiting and then playing a game, the kids did their own game
 and all the fun kid stuff.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Highlights Week 3

Fancy Breakfast

This year I went with a mini-theme for food. :) It was a hit! They were probably the most excited about the adorable mini-waffle maker I found!

Movie With Friends

Well, we found yet another Covid-perk! Private theater rentals! We split this between three families so it was really close to what it would have cost us as a family, plus the kids love anything with friends! Brad says this is the best way to watch a movie! We booked The 2018 Grinch, which is by far our favorite Grinch. :) So fun!

The Non-Progressive Dinner

I've been wanting to organize a progressive dinner for quite a while, and this year it sort-of happened. ;) We started out with progressive plans, but then after some families had to bow-out for various reasons, so we basically had a pot-luck three-course nice Christmas party, which we affectionately called the Non-Progressive dinner. Still so fun, and thankful for time with friends! (The kids had a kids-house, so they had friend time with a sitter!)

Game Day

I found some new games for this year's game day. It was a bit short because of work being extra busy, but still glad we had some time!

Advent

We do advent readings all throughout December as much as we can, and when we miss a few days just play catch up. :) Great to help us stay focused on the reason for Christmas!

Snowmen Art

I had several art options saved so I let the kids peruse their choices and they decided on this project.

This one was snowmen pencil drawings based on another pinterest picture. Lorelei was all free-hand while Makin liked his to be as precise as possible. Both turned out great! After pencil they went over with sharpie, then colored with colored pencils. They liked giving each snowman its own fun accessories for some character.

Sweet Treats

It's not Christmas without lots of baking! :)

Dancing Lights House

Another favorite tradition! We love watching the entire batch of songs from our car and typically have popcorn for the "show." This year we added a new location to try out nearby where you could walk through a tunnel of lights on one neighborhood block, but a cold front came in (and we hadn't packed proper layers) so we couldn't even walk the whole tunnel this time.

Christmas Movies

This year we watched more movies than ever. I had actually written myself a note last year "Try for Less Busy in 2020 - extra movie nights?" Little did I know how easily I could make that happen with fewer out-activity options! And what a great age the kids are at for this too...so many more movies they enjoy now! Thought it might be good to note our movies, which were a mix of seen-before and never-seen!

The Santa Clause (1,2 and 3!)

Prancer

Home Alone 2 (We rewatched 1 on Thanksgiving also)

Muppet's Christmas Carol

The Star

The Polar Express

It's A Wonderful Life

Christmas Highlights Week 2

Christmas Lights On the Square

A yearly tradition and this year they seemed to even have some new lights that were great! The weather was a good night for it too!

Reindeer Games

We had the biggest group to date this year! We also added the bonus competition of Gingerbread House decorating (Brittany's idea), which the kids really loved. So much fun!

Holiday Pie

Goal: Most pom-poms stuck to faces, total for team wins.

Gift Relay

Snowball Fight, with GIANT marshmellows.

Cookie Shuffle

Sugar Plums Dancing - reverse charades (one person guesses, the rest act) for Christmas songs
This one is "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" - Makin was the reindeer...

I think these are reindeer antlers...

Let It Snow - empty a kleenex box the fastest

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause - unwrap kisses using one hand, in one minute, the most unwrapped wins.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice - balance Rolos on a popsicle stick for one minute.

Ornament Roll Relay

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?
Both teams thought to use their smallest team member! ;) 

Gingerbread House Contest!

Josephine really wanted to be a snowman, so these girls did a bonus wrap for her.

Candy Crew - The team Lor was on.

Cabin Destructed became the theme when their trees wouldn't stay up.
This was the team Makin was on.

Yard Decoration

Brad and I have always been too cheap to get anything to decorate the yard, much to the kid's dismay. After driving around looking at lights the previous week, I decided we just needed something simple that would bring a smile to someone's face when they drove by. SO, we got an inflatable Frosty. :)

Mom's Night Out

I enjoyed a night out to Brittany's place with a favorite things gift exchange, yummy food and a game that had us laughing!

Art - Polar Bear

This one turned out so great!!!

Watercolors and then splattering white for snowflakes.

Chalk to draw bear outline, kids looked at Pinterest for how to draw.

Painted the bear, then drew face with pencil and then sharpie.