Christmastime 2020 and Pandemic Update

We are still enduring the Covid-19 pandemic. At this time, there have been 429,000 deaths in the U.S. and 2.16 million deaths worldwide. Thankfully, there is hope on the horizon! In December, the U.S. started distributing vaccines! Kentucky is doing a good job with distribution, but it will still be awhile until everyone wanting the vaccine can get it. They started with healthcare workers and have added other groups of people, such as teachers. Grammy has an appointment for early February and Granddaddy should be able to get the vaccine after he completes his chemotherapy later this year. Bonnie Mom and Grandpa have remained in Key West since September and have not been able to get appointments for the vaccine. We hope they can get appointments soon, since they want to travel back to Louisville. It is estimated that Carl and I will be able to get the vaccine in the fall or winter. It has not yet been approved for children under 16. Other vaccines are being developed and hope that one will be approved for children. 

Christmastime activities looked very different this year, as we are still avoiding crowds, avoiding larger gatherings inside, etc. We missed seeing our extended family in person, but were grateful for technology that still allowed us to celebrate with many of them. We were also grateful for some nice weather, that allowed us to gather outside with the Amshoff family to celebrate Andy's birthday, Alex's birthday, and Christmas.

We enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree and it turned out very pretty!

We celebrated Andy's birthday. He is now 2 years old!

Our gingerbread house turned out great! The boys ate tons of candy and icing.

We had the first snow of the season and it was beautiful! Although there wasn't a lot of snow, Preston managed to make a snow monster!

We took Grammy and Granddaddy to Lights Under Louisville. It was the best one yet!

We are still doing virtual school. Preston's teacher, Mrs. Zapp, dropped off a special holiday treat and the kids had a virtual party! They also had a fun spirit wear, leading up to the holiday break. 

One good think about virtual school is that you can attend class anywhere in the house!

We made sugar cookies from scratch and decorated them. They were super tasty and didn't last for more than 24 hours!

We visited Grammy and Granddaddy. We made cookies and Evan helped Granddaddy put up the Christmas lights outside. 

Although Santa is magic, we didn't want to put his health at risk by visiting him during the pandemic. We were fortunate that Santa was able to visit virtually. Preston LOVED getting to talk to Santa and ask him a bunch of questions. Carl and I enjoyed watching the boys and are especially grateful that Evan is such a good Christmas helper and big brother. 

We didn't get to attend church on Christmas Eve as we normally do, but we still had fun. We watched movies, read stories, and got ready for Santa.

Christmas morning arrived and the boys were up bright and early! They set a record with unwrapping their gifts and we were done in about 20 minutes! We spent the rest of the morning making breakfast and enjoying out beautiful, white Christmas in the hot tub! Grammy and Granddaddy joined us around 1:00 and we opened more gifts and ate lunch together. We also played games and watched a movie. 

Sir Christmas Pants had a great deal of fun this year! Here are  a few pictures of his shenanigans!

We enjoyed ringing in the new year together at home. We ate junk food for dinner, which is always extra exciting for Evan and Preston. We also played lots of games. Goodbye 2020! You were a crazy year! Let's hope 2021 is MUCH better for all of us!

I have been TERRIBLE at keeping the blog updated, because we don't do a lot. I do want to add a couple of good memories from the end of 2020. 

Preston continued virtual karate class and earned his purple belt!

Since we are home so much, Carl learned to make cheese! We have continued to cook some meals totally from scratch and we were able to use the mozzarella cheese we made!

We celebrated 13 years since my cancer diagnosis on December 10th, 2007. It was a low-key celebration at home, but it was nice to be together. I continue to be grateful for my health and I am hopeful that we will be celebrating that Granddaddy is cancer free later this year. 

We also celebrated Alex's 6th birthday outside on our backyard. The kids enjoyed seeing each other, having lunch together, and riding on the golf cart.

 

Fall 2020

We are still enduring the Covid-19 pandemic. At this point, there have been 64.1 million cases worldwide and 1.49 million deaths. The U.S. is struggling with the pandemic and we have had 13.8 million cases and 271, 000 deaths. Many of our friends have been diagnosed with the virus, which includes adults and children. There are several vaccines that have been developed and they are working to get those distributed. Front line workers and nursing home patients will be among the first people to receive the vaccine. We are all hopeful that this will help mitigate the spread of the disease. Another thing that brings hope, is that doctors are determining better ways to treat Covid-19 in patients.

In addition to the sadness of the pandemic, Granddaddy was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in October. We are grateful that he is able to undergo chemotherapy, as well as a new medication that is in the final trial phase. Dr. Stephens is very hopeful, so we are trying to remain hopeful as well. Granddaddy has been hospitalized quite a bit, but is currently doing alright. We are trying to remain very vigilant with our heath, as even s cold can be harmful to him.

We have been able to enjoy the fall season, despite things being so unusual. We were still able to do some activities that were outside, such as visiting Gallrein Farm, goin to Boo at the Zoo, and going trick-or-treating with our small group of neighborhood friends. 

We liked going to Gallrein Farm to pick pumpkins. 

We had fun at Boo at the Zoo! We wore masks when we could not be socially distant. Evan and Preston had fun being silly. They loved seeing some of their favorite Star Wars characters and getting some treats.

Evan and Preston have a nice group of friends in the neighborhood. We let them play outside together, so we figured trick-or-treating with precautions was pretty safe. It was a great night and we had so many neighbors that put treats out safely and used hand sanitizer. We ended our night with a fire in the fire pit.

We had a small, but fun Thanksgiving with Grammy and Granddaddy. We were able to eat lunch together, play games, and watch a movie. We were so grateful that Granddaddy was feeling good and could enjoy the day with us. 

The boys haven't been to school in person, since last March. We appreciate how hard the teachers and staff are working at both Kammerer and Chancey. NTI is difficult, but we are all working together to make it successful.

Preston enjoys school. He has flexible seating at school, so I let him have it at home too!

Mrs. Zapp let her students have lots of fun on Halloween. The kids wore costumes and had lunch bunch!

Preston had fun during spirit week!

We don't go too many places, but thankfully, we are surrounded by lots of beautiful outdoor space in our neighborhood.

The boys enjoyed fishing on Monday nights at the golf course pond. Evan went just about every Monday night and he caught many big bass!

We enjoyed our part of the Chancey Garden. When we went to clear it for the fall, we discovered some final gifts from the garden. Carl used the green tomatoes to make a delicious treat!

We have been trying to make one dinner a week from scratch. The first one was made by Carl. The pan pizzas were delicious!

We went to just a handful of U of L football games this year. We felt it was safe for awhile, since everyone wore masks, had temperatures taken before entering, were VERY spaced, etc. As we began to help Grammy and Granddaddy, we did decide to try to avoid germs of all sorts and stopped going to the games. It was fun while it lasted though!

We celebrated Grammy's birthday shortly after Granddaddy's first hospital stay and his leukemia diagnosis. It was an especially fun night and we all enjoyed being together. We had take out food and didn't do anything special, but it was so good to have everyone together to celebrate. 

All in all, we count ourselves very lucky during this wild and crazy year. Many are struggling, but we are in a place where we can be extra generous. We have a lot of love for each other and we have shared lots of fun and laughter. Of course, we have shared some arguments and hard times, but we have great hope for lots of good times ahead.