December 2019

Jenna’s Birthday

Jenna turned 7 on December 14th.  I cannot believe how fast time has flown by.  We had a small gathering at the house for her birthday that consisted of my parents and Jenna’s friend Nova.  My parents came a bit earlier to have lunch with us first and then we had cake and presents once Nova came over.  Then my parents left and Nova stayed for a playdate.  Jenna seemed to really have fun.

Cooler Weather: A Jacket for Daisy

Daisy is a very loving dog but we found that Nova doesn’t really like to be kissed repeatedly by a dog, so Daisy got put out in the backyard for part of the playdate for Jenna’s birthday.  Since it was a bit cooler weather, I decided to try a jacket on her that we’d been given.  It is a little snug on her, but I thought it was super cute.

Garage Project with Dad

One of the things that I used to enjoy was working with my Dad on projects.  As a teacher, he’d have his summer’s off and he’d typically try to make some extra money by picking up a job or two during the summer doing things like painting a house or some other kind of home maintenance job.  Since we’d moved into the house here in Lincoln, I had wanted to build some permanent storage shelves out in the garage to kind of match the shelves that the previous home owner had built in our utility room in the basement.  I put together some drawings and measurements and asked Dad if he’d help me build the shelves in the garage during the break that I had from work near the end of the year before Christmas.  He and I tackled the job and finished it in one day.  I was so happy with how they turned out and really enjoyed working with him.  We still make a pretty good team.  And not a single cuss word was spoken, though there was one close call from me.

Grant Christmas Concert

Grant’s music class at school put on a short program and parents were invited.  I was glad to have a flexible work schedule that would allow me to attend.  I continue to be very happy with the perks of working from home and am very thankful to have the job that I have.  Grant’s class did a wonderful job on each of the songs.

Pre-Christmas and Christmas Eve

Prior to Christmas, there was a family gathering in Kearney, NE at the Mother Hull Home where my Grandma Bonnie now lives.  It was great to see some extended family members and to see my Grandmother.  Christmas was always her favorite holiday and for many years she would host Christmas for her entire family at her house.  She is no longer able to do that, but I am thankful for a family that continues to put forth the effort to make her Christmas wishes come true.

For Christmas Eve, my parents drove up from Beatrice and attended Christmas Eve service with us at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, where we have been attending since we moved to Lincoln.  It was a very nice, kid friendly service and we got a few pictures afterwards.  We went home to have some soup that Carol had prepared, cheese and crackers and other sides.  Then we went driving around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights before Mom and Dad left to head back home.  It was a very nice evening.

Sometimes trying to get a good family Christmas picture gets a little frustrating:

Christmas Day

We had a nice, quiet Christmas Day with just the four of us here at the house.  We woke up and opened the gifts from Santa and then had a bit of breakfast before tackling the rest of the presents.  Carol prepared a great Christmas meal and we enjoyed spending the day together playing with the new items we’d received.

 

 

Post-Christmas Family Time

After the actual Christmas holiday, we gathered at my parents house to celebrate with my brother and his family and it was a very nice time.  The kids were thrilled to spend time with everyone and get to open a few more gifts.

Post-Christmas Cookie Decorating (January 2020)

One of the activities that we normally do at Christmas is decorate Christmas cookies, but due to everyone’s Christmas schedule being busy we didn’t get it done this year.  So instead, we extended the Christmas tradition into the New Year and decorated sugar cookies with my parents when they came up on New Years Day to spend some time with us.  Thanks again to Carol for preparing a delicious crockpot meal of diced ham with blackeyed peas.

Post-Christmas Lights at Lincoln Zoo (January 2020)

They put up a ton of lights at the Lincoln Zoo every year and we’d planned to go prior to the start of the New Year, but it got cancelled on the night we had purchased tickets to go so they rescheduled us.  It was nice to extend the celebration of Christmas-time a bit longer and the lights at the zoo were very cool.  It was a cold night, so it was nice to be able to stop inside a building to get some hot chocolate and popcorn.

 

Post-Christmas Snow Fun (January 2020)

We hadn’t had a whole lot of snow this winter until January rolled around.  Grant was thrilled to find a huge pile of snow in the parking lot where he goes to Gymnastics on Saturday mornings.  He just HAD to climb the mountain of snow!  We’ve also been able to do a bit of sledding in the backyard and the kids built a small snowman with Carol.  And the snow has been frequent enough here lately that I have gotten the extreme pleasure of clearing the sidewalk and driveway of snow roughly every other day.

Random Pictures from the Month

Upside down Grant, an icecream cone comparison (with a cousin of Nate’s) and sleepy Daisy.