Winter Wrap-up

It is now spring and we are preparing to head to Key West for spring break. With that in mind, I realized that it has been about two months since I have updated the blog. This will likely be a fairly long post, but I want to be sure to include all of the highlights from the past several weeks. 

Preston earned his blue belt in karate in February. He has worked SO hard and has been doing so well with attending his classes on a regular basis. He was extra excited about the blue belt, because he also earned a staff with it! 

We had a great time celebrating Valentine's Day. Bonnie Mom was in town, so she had a sleep over with Evan and Preston. This allowed Carl and I to enjoy a nice night out. The boys loved their Valentine's gifts, which was money. They quickly used it to purchase items for their online games. 

We went to French Lick to meet up with The Congleton family. We spent the first night at the water park, which was tons of fun. All the boys were SO excited to see each other! They had a blast riding the slides and swimming. They also enjoyed staying up late and hanging out together after the water park closed. 

On Saturday, John, Carl, Levi, Luke, David, Evan and Preston went skiing. The Congletons have been several times, but this was the first time Evan and Preston got to try it! They really liked it, but it was a bit difficult as it was very crowed and some of the lifts were broken. We definitely want to try it again!

Preston enjoyed celebrating the 100th day of school. He had so much fun dressing up as himself at 100 years old. 

Evan has enjoyed shed hunting and has been out many times. Sometimes he goes alone, but lots of times, he goes with Mr. Roth. Evan has found lots of sheds, but this one is the first one of the season. I was so impressed because he saw it while riding in our van!

Mr. Roth and Evan wanted to use our kayaks to go shed hunting. Carl joined them and found the first shed of the trip, which happened to be the first shed he has ever found!

During the winter weather, Preston has enjoyed playing games. In addition to games like Clue, Spot It and Scrabble, he also enjoyed going bowling! 

I had lots of fun celebrating my birthday. Rachel and I went to Drag Brunch at Le Moo. We had a great time together. The food was good and he show was amazing! 

We had a couple of more celebrations, including dinner and cheesecake with my parents, enjoying the beautiful weather on my birthday, as well as dinner out. I am grateful for another healthy year with my family and friends. 

Chancey Skating parties are always lots of fun. Preston loves seeing his teachers and friends. 

Preston has been able to attend a few U of L basketball games with Granddaddy. They have so much fun together!

We have had some really nice weather in March. I love seeing the flowers, as well as being able to enjoy lots of time outside. We had enjoyed kayaking with our neighbors, fishing and looking for frogs  in our pond, and making chalk drawings. 

Carl's currently unnamed band played a our clubhouse for some of our family and friends. They did so well and everyone was so impressed with their skills. I am hoping they can play again later this year with an even bigger audience!

Although I have no pictures, we hosted our annual NCAA tournament party. It was one of our largest yet. It is so nice to have new neighbors that have become friends. Both the kids and the adults had so much fun!

The only bad part of the party was that while playing, Preston got a large chip in his tooth. He did well with the pain and was quite brave at the dentist when they fixed it. This was his first real procedure at the dentist. He has only needed his teeth cleaned over the past nine years. 

January 2022

One of the first things that happened in the new year, was that Grammy and Granddaddy invited Evan and Preston to have a sleep over. Since the boys were away for the night, Carl and I decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary a bit early. We went to The Melting Pot to celebrate 19 years of marriage. It was such a nice night and I am grateful for my best friend and the family that we have created. 

We had our first big snow in January! Evan spent his time shed hunting in the snow, while Preston played outside with Maryn, Seaton, Isla, Jake and Katelynn. Jake and Katelynn also came in for hot chocolate.  

Carl and I enjoyed a nice walk, despite the clouds and cold temperatures.

We made snow cream and it was SO good! 

Preston has been asking to go to the science center for quite some time. He and I were finally able to go one afternoon. It was so nice because there were only a few people there and we could see our favorite exhibits, as well as some new ones! It was a nice afternoon to be together. 

This picture is my favorite one from our trip to the science center. Preston said, "Why do they have this corona virus toy? No one wants any of that!" 

This is the image of the corona virus that he has been seeing for almost two years. I can definitely see how he thought they looked alike!

On Sunday, January 9th, we were told that there would be no school on January 10th, due to staff shortages from Covid-19 illness and quarantine requirements. We were able to drive through and pick up materials for the start of NTI on Tuesday, January 11th. We were not sure how long we would need to utilize NTI, but it ended up being 8 days. The kids then went back to school, but we got daily updates on whether we could do school in person or with NTI.

We all ended up getting Covid in January and assume it was the Omicron strand, as none of us got super sick. I am sure the vaccines helped too. Grammy also got Covid, which we assume she got from Granddaddy, who thought he had a cold. Again, we are grateful for the vaccines, as we are sure they helped us all have mild reactions to this virus.

A super fun thing that happened in January is that Evan turned 14! We celebrated here at home, since we had all just had Covid. Evan loved all of his gifts, which were all for hunting or fishing.