Best Of 2020

 Best Of 2020

1. Trip to Thailand

2. Adapting to virtual school

3. Spending A LOT of time together

4. Swimming almost every day

5. The Great Wolf Lodge

6. Watching the kids progress in piano, dance, and voice lessons

7. Going back to school in person

8. Developing new talents, like shooting

December happenings

After putting up our Christmas tree, we realized that some of the lights weren't functioning. We decided to decorate the tree anyway and buy a little tool to fix them. Well, that tool was a piece of crap, so we bought a new tree. I was super indecisive but finally settled on a 9 ft white lights tree. Not the one pictured below.

I took Alexis to the store and she was super excited to be sporting her JoJo Siwa bow around.

As    much as I hate it when she falls asleep in the car (it makes bedtime much trickier), her face is so kissable!

Sunday-best.

Awww. She wrote this by herself (with me telling her which letters to write). She made the same sign for Juniper and Kira.

For Activity Days, we went Caroling around the neighborhood. Such a fun activity.

It rained! And it had to be recorded because it doesn't happen a lot.

We got apples on our tree. Very bitter ones, but still.

Kendall took on a job as gift wrapper. She loved it!

Playdate with Juniper

Hot Cocoa Bombs, the new trend of 2020.

All decked out for Christmas at school.

She has so many stuffed animals. Haha.

Mwah!

Ugly sweater day at school.

Strike that pose!

Sushi date.

She made a gingerbread house at school.

Pajama day at school.

Just because I loved that outfit.

I "attempted" to make macaroons. They looked like crap and the outside definitely didn't turn out the way it was supposed to, but the filling was amazing!

They got along for a whole minute. Record break.

How many kids can you fit into a hammock? Answer: 4

Taylor has been loving riding along in Alexis' Hummer. But eventually, we ran out of gas. Thank goodness for Alexis pushing the car the rest of the way.

I ordered some stuff from Belgium which I was so excited about! Then I hid it and told no one about it. Note to self: this is the best time to order. The chocolate I ordered in June became hot chocolate by the time it made it to Arizona.

New Year

Most of the day was pretty uneventful. William got sick earlier in the week, so we've all been quarantining. We did get outside to ride bikes, scooters, and EZ-rollers, which was super fun. The weather is amazing right now, and I'm loving every minute of it. I wish my kids enjoyed being outside as much as I do.

For dinner, we had sushi, then we went outside to do fireworks. Because we were outside, William was able to hang out with us, since he was the only one who tested positive for Covid and the only one with symptoms.

After the fireworks, we came inside to do a chocolate fondue and do the New Year countdown with New York City (10 PM). That's my kind of New Year. 

 

Christmas

William was working a 24h shift on Christmas Eve, so we had Paul and his family over for brunch. I made crepes, and they brought the toppings.

They'd also brought some crafts for the kids to make, which was fun. And then we played a game of Charade. Girls (Beestonators) against Boys (Beestonators Exterminators). Haha. Except that the boys had 5 on their team while the girls had 3-1/2. Paul had also come up with the words, and his boys had helped cut up the words. Fair? Not really. So of course they won. Some words were super easy, like snow angel, while others were super hard, like White Christmas.

After they left, I took the kids to the movie theater to watch The Polar Express.

William came back home around 7 AM and was exhausted. Still, he opened up presents with us before going to bed and sleeping most of the day.

Logan got some books, a fitbit watch, an echo dot, and a Nintendo switch. Taylor got a fitbit watch, a Nintendo switch, an echo dot, and some gift cards. Kendall got a tumbling track, a ukulele, an echo dot, and a fitfit watch. Alexis got some doll clothes, a microphone, an echo dot, and stuffed animals. William got stuff for survival, golf, and shooting. And I got some jewelry, some fake nails, music sheet, and a new pan. 

I also got an elephant necklace from Rachelle. All of us Ohio girls got one. Apparently, when a momma elephant delivers a baby elephant, the other mommas make a circle around them to protect them from predators. And that's what Rachelle, Erin, Stephanie, Vanessa, Maloree and I would do for each other. We have each other's back, always. We'd do anything for one another.

For lunch, the kids and I had some crackers, meat, and cheeses. Very French, if you ask me. Then I talked to my brother for a little while.

For dinner, we had a raclette dinner, which everyone helped to prepare. I love it when we all cook together.