Christmas 2020

As is true for many this year, our Christmas has been quiet in comparison to most years. My side of the family is small enough we could get together without going (much) over the size limit for gatherings so we headed to my parents Christmas Day. Christmas Eve was celebrated at home with a 5-course feast prepared by Seth. 

Normally Santa would come while we are at Mass, but we decided to go to the less popular Christmas morning Mass lest we get turned away for lack of space with the limited seating requirements. 

Santa came while we ate and gift opening was done by 8:00, leaving everyone time to play with their new toys for a bit before bed. Charlie left out a special cookie he made for Santa along with 9 carrots for the reindeer (you can't forget Rudolph!) along with a couple of notes, such as the one he was forced to leave below. (He had to replace the word "two" with "three" after another infraction)

Olivia received a few obnoxiously loud toys, which she was thrilled about. And Charlie's lightsabers were thoroughly enjoyed by all the males in the household. 

I am happy to announce that Olivia stopped her boycott of clothes on Christmas morning when we told her it was time to get dressed to go to Grandma and Papi's. I had brought down two shirts, not sure which to put her in. Once she had one on, she insisted on also wearing the other one - fortunately the first was thin. The same thing happened with her skirts the next day: I brought down a new skirt to wear, and she would only wear it in addition to her skirt from the previous day. So in one day, we flip-flopped from rarely wearing a sufficient amount of clothing to wearing more clothing than one would think of as comfortable. 

Here she is on Christmas Day (she absolutely loves her Uncle Eliud!). It was Frankie's turn to wear our one Christmas bowtie this year.

And showing off her double-skirt look the next day:

The following night Alex came to spend the night at our place, while Charlie and Frankie got to have a sleepover at Grandma and Papi's. Frankie was beyond excited! Here is a picture of Papi reading stories to the kids before bed. 

Also at Grandma and Papi's, the kids recited their annual Christmas poems that they memorized for Grandma as her gift. We sort of forgot about it until 2 days before Christmas so they were all quite short. 

COVID tests & Xmas concerts

Sam and Charlie also got their first COVID tests in early December because they woke up with coughs. Both were negative so we only had to isolate for 2.5 days. With all of our schedules to juggle those 2 days brought on more "what if"s and "how are we going to do this?" situations than I would have anticipated.

It didn't help that for that particular week, I had made regular lesson plans, replaced by distance learning plans when our school switched to DL, replaced by hybrid plans when we switched again, then replaced by sub plans due to our covid test, only to switch right back to the hybrid plans. 

The school was kept in limbo those couple of days, too. Their Christmas Concert was to be performed Wednesday afternoon (for students only, unfortunately). They videotaped the concert and then broadcast it over zoom that evening for families to enjoy. With 4 children in the concert, the music teacher was just as anxious to know whether the kids would come back to school in time or not.

We were told the test results would be back by Tuesday. Come Wednesday morning, we still had heard nothing so understudies were frantically getting ready to stand in for Sam and Elena who had speaking parts. I finally called medical records 2 hours before showtime, and they were able to send me the results. So we quickly packed the kids off and sent them to school just in time. 

I was one of the fortunate few parents who got to see the actual performance because I helped direct, and I assure all of those who missed it that the kids did great!

(I was dependent upon another mom for pictures so I only have elena's class:)

Elena's class also did a Living Nativity last week outside with a sheep and donkey. It was a new tradition brought on by the pandemic, which I suspect will continue into future years.

Livi at 18 months

Likes: shoes & socks (I have to wait until she's asleep to take them off), peppers (says "I want!!!"and points at the peppers in the produce aisle), apples, raspberries, anything sweet, Coco, standing on countertops/tables or anything else not made for the purpose, climbing stairs, emptying cupboards/drawers/bookshelves, brushing her teeth, reading books, pounding on computer keyboards (especially while Mom is in a meeting with students), wrestling with her siblings, growling, being chased around the island, dancing 

Dislikes: blankets, clothing, pajamas, winter coats (light jackets are acceptable), mittens, hats, staying in one spot for more than 5 seconds (unless it's Mom's lap), getting dressed (this is a total scream fest every day), ironically she also hates getting undressed and tries to put her dirty clothes back on when you take them off, eating more than a few bites of food at a meal, sleeping through the night, allowing Mom to get anything productive done (thus fewer blog posts lately), being constrained to my arms at church or the grocery story...even though she rarely leaves my arms while we are home

Words she says very well (and frequently): 

• Shoes
• No! 
• hi/bye 
• stop it
• I want it
• chocolate 
• owee (her general sound of frustration)
• Mommy/Daddy
• Coco/Cat
• water
• Grandma/Grandpa/Papi
• book
• go!
• happy! (said mostly on birthdays)

Dancing:

Keeping up with the mayhem!

Big month for Sam

 Not only did Sam turn 12 at the end of November, he also got his first deer...and his 2nd deer in the same weekend! He shot his first deer in an interesting spot. I won't say where it was, but his new nickname is "Ballseye." 😂 

We were fortunate to have nice weather the week of his birthday so we met with my family and went hiking at Camden park to celebrate. The warm weather has allowed him extra time with his cousins on that side, and for that we are very thankful! 

His godmother spoiled him with Lindt chocolates and a gift card. He keeps finding interesting things to buy with the gift card, and I always tell him to wait a day or two before pulling the trigger so he doesn't just buy something he'll never use on impulse. He's usually found a few new options by the next day so we have yet to see what the gift card brings. 

A few options so far: 

an you have to shoot from across the room to turn off

a throwing hatchet

prank electric shock pens

Say "Cheese!"

Livi is 17 months today and she certainly lives up to her middle name: she is an absolute joy. We all love watching her learn new things every day - some good and some bad. Her daycare provider says she is super mellow and just goes with the flow, which is good for a 5th child growing up in a hectic household! Some favorites are hugs, kisses and fist-bumps. 

She also knows to nod her head for "yes" and shake it for "no." When she's in the right mood, this makes for the world's cutest Magic-8 ball. The kids will ask her all sorts of questions ("Are you the cutest baby ever?" "Do you love me the best?" "Is Elena adopted?") and see whether she indicates yes or no.

Likes: throwing things in the garbage. She is good about picking up scrap pieces of paper and throwing them away. She also has a thing about throwing socks a way - Sam's in particular. We have pulled out the garbage several times to find Sam's socks lying on top. Maybe she's trying to train him not to leave his socks lying around. So far that lesson has not been learned by any of the kids....or their friends! We have a ridiculous amount of single socks that I know I did not purchase, which means other children are coming to our house and somehow leaving behind a single sock (or I suppose they could have come wearing a mismatched set as ours are often forced to do).

She enjoys putting things away in general, which is great and sometimes not so great. When she helps unload the dishwasher, I love it. When I go for a new sippy cup in the cupboard and realize it is full of week-old smoothie because Olivia "put it away" when she was done, I don't love it as much.  

Dislikes: blankets and baths. She can be in just her diaper in a room at 65 degrees, and she will still kick away any blanket you bring near her. And although she loves swimming, she for some reason dislikes baths. She refuses to sit down in the tub and wants to get out as soon as I'm done getting her washed up. I'm hoping to find a bath toy appealing enough to get her in the tub.

Last night she figured out how to say "cheese" for the camera. She had the rapt attention of everyone in the room as her picture was taken over and over. Here are a few snapshots and videos (you have to wait for it in the video):

 

Goodbye Fall!

I can't say we were ready for the snow that hit us this week, but at least we soaked up a lot of fun in the sun during the weeks leading up to it.

We had a very productive garden this fall thanks once again to my dad. We did a fairly good job keeping up with the produce this year (at the expense of other chores, of course).

We were able to sneak in one last visit to our friends' farm, where we pressed some of our apples into fresh cider. The best part is that they have 10 year old girl who is a bit of a mother hen towards Olivia so they had lots of fun together.

Since it's not looking likely that we will be able to have big gatherings for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, my parents treated the kids to outdoor fun on our last nice weekend of October. Here they are getting ready to go go-karting. Next time, we will put Elena behind the boys. She went along at a slow and steady pace, but we didn't think to tell her she should stay to the right so others could pass her. Alex and Eliud were stuck behind her for most of the time. Sam somehow snuck past her right away. It was entertaining at least to see how oblivious she was (between the noise of the go-karts and the wind, she couldn't hear us telling her to let them pass). They all had fun anyway! 

We also made it to Camden park to go hiking twice! Once with Seth's mom and once with my parents. The first time they ended up in the water and were soaking wet for the hike...with the sun out it didn't seem to bother them much. 

Charlie caught (and possible killed) a fish with his bare hands in a creek. It was admittedly not very difficult as the fish was caught in some branches.

The kids were also fortunate to have their school marathon on a day with 80-degree weather. They walked a little under 3 miles around town and then had an obstacle course set up when they got back. 

As we were walking the marathon, the kids were pointing out Trump and Biden signs. Charlie then told me about a sign he saw in our neighborhood that said (in Charlie's words): "No more Bull...and then it said the S-word."

A classmate of his was walking with us and heard him. He gasped and said, "It said stupid?!"It was so sweet. I quickly stopped Charlie from implying it said something else. Unfortunately, our kids have heard it all in our neighborhood already. At least they know not to repeat them (within our earshot at least!)

 

Frankie is 5!

 We celebrated Frankie's 5th birthday yesterday! He was up before anyone else, and when I commented to him that he was up early he said, "I know. I didn't want to be late for my birthday."

Sam had a football game in the morning that we all went to. Fortunately it was in Cottonwood where there is a very fun playground for the kids to play on (it's even on the guest side of the field!)

We took him out to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Turns out he's not a huge fan of Mexican food (or at least wasn't in the mood for it yesterday). He ordered a hamburger and didn't eat that either. He got grape pop in a glass bottle, though, and he liked the chips & salsa so despite a relative lack of food he was very happy with the lunch.

He decorated his own Halloween-themed cake and got a Spiderman toy he's been wanting for weeks (as well as way too much candy from his siblings). We finished the night with possibly the last bonfire of the year. We're supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow on Tuesday so I'm not optimistic about having many (or any) more.

Happy birthday to our sweet, loving, cuddly, friendly, speedy, super-coordinated, smart, fun boy!

Quotes from Frankie

Since October 4th is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi and October 5th is the Feast of St. Francis of Xavier, we decided to bake a cake in honor of Frankie's consecutive feast days. 

Elena baked a delicious, fluffy cake with buttercream frosting. We all loved it. Except for Frankie. He took one bite and said, "It's good. It's just...sometimes...my throat doesn't like cake." 

So the rest of us enjoyed the cake for him :) This is not uncommon with our kids - very few of them have liked cake or pies when they are young, which is fine by me!

The next morning, Frankie had a bit of a stuffy nose which made him sneeze. Seth asked if he was getting a cold. Frankie assured him he was not. It was just that "if I put the boogers forward, it makes me God Bless You."

Lake Cochrane

 

One tradition we were still able to keep this summer was our family trip to Lake Cochrane. As it was summer and the kids weren't in school, most of our families had been pretty isolated in the months leading up to it so almost everyone made it. Of course, it was loads of fun and the kids were beyond happy to have a little "vacation" amid the pandemic.

Here are a few snapshots.

Briar and Livi

Fish boil

Frankie and his shrimp. He asked me what part of the shrimp is was that we ate. I explained that the meat is the muscle of an animal. He latched onto the word muscle and decided his muscles were growing with every bite of shrimp :)

Frankie and Briar

Sam on baby duty

Sam and Ian fishing - they rowed over to a man on a boat and anchored themselves to his boat. He said he didn't mind the company - hopefully he was being honest!

Fish!

Napping on the dock:

Naptime on Daddy:

Wagon rides with Charlie!

Back to School!

School started on time and in person for our kids (although it took me a month to upload the pictures to my computer). The main differences will be wearing masks in school and not being able to mix with other grades. Their small class sizes have helped keep things fairly relaxed though. Several students at the school had to miss the first two weeks. There was an outbreak at a wedding the weekend before school started and quite a few families had to quarantine. 

The public school ended up delaying their start a week and then distance learning at the high school level for the first 2 weeks back. We are back in class now, but we have had to sacrifice several vacation days during the year as a result. This means I will have very few of those coveted 3-day weekends come January and February, and I will also have a shorter Xmas break :(  

Even with students having to be gone frequently for any little symptom (Elena had to stay home the last 2 days waiting out a sore throat), it's less chaotic that last spring for sure. In hindsight it's kind of ironic that we were all stuck in our homes when there were hardly any cases in the county and now that coronavirus is actually spreading in our community, we are back in school. The masking/distancing/closely tracking symptoms seems to be keeping things under control, though. Now we have pretty much gotten used to this new, strange normal for the long haul.

Frankie has loved preschool and was beyond excited for his first day! He gets pretty bored once he comes home at noon so we might have to extend his days. 

Olivia loves to help give (and receive) blessings before the kids go. We always lay a hand on the kids' heads while saying a blessing, and about 2 days in Olivia was coming up to us at the time with a hand on her head asking for her own blessing. She also likes to lay her hand on everyone else's heads.

 Livi does not, however, like being the one left behind after everyone goes to school.