Christmas Week

I liked Christmas falling on a Wednesday this year. It made it easier to do some things before the actual holiday. However this year, instead of doing more holiday activities the day before Christmas Eve, we went a few hours up north to go skiing/snowboarding. We had been planning on going the day or two after Christmas, but since Victoria was scheduled to work then and the entire state of Michigan was to get rain, we opted for the 23rd, when it would snow.

That meant leaving a few hours after church on Sunday, missing the caroling activity, to drive the 31/2 hours up to Crystal Mountain. Luckily, Jason, Austin, and Erik had caroled with the youth in the Stake 2 weeks earlier and Jason, Austin, and I got to sing in the ward choir for 2 Sunday performances, so we got in some good Christmas music. I felt fulfilled by my visits to friends and neighbors throughout the week leading up so I could let go of the tradition of singing carols at the retirement home this year.

We arrived at our hotel Sunday night and passed the brightly lit Crystal Mountain there. Since it's near Traverse City, which does have some inclines and hills, I think Crystal Mountain is a legit hilly area and not a reclaimed landfill.

The day of skiing/snowboarding was a success! We enjoyed the new experience at this ski resort. Kade tried snowboarding for the first time and did extremely well. Jason and Victoria hadn't skied for a few years and picked it up where they left off, though Victoria had to be careful on her still-healing sprained ankle. Austin looked fantastic on his snowboard and managed not to break any bones this time. Erik really surprised me with his ski skills, going in and out of paths through trees on black diamond courses with Austin. That last time we went when Austin and I had to leave early due to his broken arm, Erik really got a lot of practice in the rest of the day! I felt decent on my skis, though since I own mine, I need to get them waxed because when the slopes evened out, I would stop moving. 

New coats!

Kade finishing a practice run on his snowboard.

Jason finishing a practice run.

Everyone was behind me on the lift.

Kade was super tired!

Towards the end of the day, Kade did have a final fall (he fell a few times that hurt some of his extremities) that hurt his head, so we took him to the medic to see about a concussion. His eyes weren't dilated, but he had a headache and was a little light-headed. Austin and Erik were still going down the slopes when the rest of us were at the medic with Kade. They agreed that we could leave 30 minutes earlier than we had planned. It was good we did since the snow that had been falling all day kept falling and the roads got worse and worse. The defrost in our Explorer was having issues, which added extra stress to our drive. The 3 1/2 hours took 7 hours and we got home close to midnight. We try not to think about that!

So, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very restful. Kade still had a headache, but we went to the Remingtons for Christmas Eve dinner and to act out the Nativity. We opened our Secret Santa gifts when we returned home, as well as our matching pj bottoms, which I have never actually done, but really enjoyed doing this year. 

Another family and Angelisa and Erin joined us as well.

Austin and Erik were wisemen.

New pjs and our secret Santa gifts!

On Christmas, we slept in a bit longer than in previous years, opened stockings and gifts, played games, talked to family, and had the missionaries over for Christmas Puerto Rican food. We ended the day watching A Christmas Story. 

First thing!

Luke liked his canned food.

New shoes!

Erik got a Nintendo Switch!

Kade got some 90s rock CDS!

Austin got some sweatshirts.

Getting ready for a mission!

Varsity jacket!

It did rain the next few days, so we're glad we went on our ski trip when we did and we have now fully recovered and enjoyed a quiet Christmas.

A Special Day!

 A couple of months ago, Victoria informed Jason and me that she wanted to receive her temple endowment this Christmas season. She had actually been talking about it for longer than that, but this was the time she decided she was ready for. She has had some good conversations with friends at BYU I who have been endowed, a lot of them dancers which will help with the dancing/garment-wearing aspect. Some of them have been on missions, some are married or are preparing to marry, and some, like Victoria, just wanted to receive greater blessings from being endowed in the temple. A few weeks after she told us she wanted to receive her endowment, she decided to go on a mission, though that would be in the late summer, after she performs with the Dance Alliance again. In the meantime, she will increase her relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as she wears the garment and attends the temple. 

We enjoyed the Spirit as we participated in those ordinances with her yesterday and shared it with a few close friends from our ward. 

The Detroit, Michigan Temple!

We actually had sunshine that morning!

These are currently all members of our bishopric, their wives, and one daughter!

Concert Week!

 Erik participated in his holiday band concert on Tuesday. I love seeing how he has progressed on the trombone. Being my only kid who never took piano lessons, he's catching on to music very well and even enjoying it, though I don't he would admit that. More than half of his school is in the band! His band teacher is amazing, which is probably why. Next week, the choir and band will attend a showing of Wicked at the movie theater! I'm so jealous! His band teacher got the approval last second and made a quick turn-around to get all the permission slips in. Erik thinks he won't enjoy it, but I know he will secretly!

Unfortunately, my new phone and the videos I took aren't cooperating with downloading, so no videos of the performances. Just as well, since you couldn't see Erik at all, just the tip of his red Santa hat. 

Erik has the Santa hat on in the back.

The orchestra concert was on Wednesday. I probably would have been sad to not see Austin up there this year, but since he got together with a friend last weekend to play Christmas songs on his cello, and they sounded so amazing, despite Austin not touching his cello for 6 months, I was okay that he's not currently in orchestra. Perhaps when he gets some of his other classes out of the way he can rejoin. 

Kade performed so well! It's been fun watching him improve on his new viola. His orchestra teacher asked him to join the symphony to play Hark! Hear the Bells Trans Siberian Orchestra style on his bass guitar, to join the upright bass. For that song, they also had the HS jazz band join them. It was some super good Christmas rock! Kade also played Sleigh Ride with the rest of the Concert Orchestra and the Symphony, per tradition, with the jazz band as well. Again, I'm disappointed I can't post the videos, but the two I was going to post (Hark! and Sleight Ride) you can't see him very well either because of his positioning and the extra kids on those numbers. Oh well, enjoy the pictures!

Kade's blonde head is just to the left of the stand. This is concert orchestra tuning.

After their pieces.

Here's his piece with the symphony. He is standing in the back. In between Mr. Edwards' head and the bass, you can see a little poke of blonde.

Here are all orchestras after Sleigh Ride. He's in the middle back.

NJHS

 I mentioned in Erik's birthday blog post that he is now a member of the National Junior Honor Society. It's been fun to see him interacting in this club with kids that have similar school goals and are service-oriented. They have to get so many hours of service in, a lot of which will be provided by the school. He already gets a lot in through church. Yesterday, he got to ring the Salvation Army bell in front of Kroger, though that was with his soccer team, and they all count towards his hours for NJHS.

Back in September, Kade, Erik, and I participated in a service project organized by our ward. It was supposed to be Austin, but he had a meet, so Kade took his place. It was supporting the Miracle League at a baseball game. Jason went with the boys last year and I was so happy to be able to attend this year. Each person is assigned a buddy to be with during the game. We basically just made sure they knew where they were going, were safe, and felt loved. That was it. There were no outs, fowls, or points. Everyone was given a chance based on their abilities. For instance, some hit the ball from a slow throw, while others hit it off a tee. They had bats of different sizes and materials for each as well.

Kade's buddy was really fast and knew what he was doing. He hit a homerun every time! Kade just had to follow him around and encourage him. Erik's buddy was in a wheelchair and Erik and Nick pushed him around and helped him hold the bat. My buddy was really friendly and into the fans. Following the lead of her sister from the bleachers, I carefully guided her with my arm around her so she would go to all the bases after hitting the ball, rather than smile at the crowd the whole time. She was so sweet and fun to be with. 

Kade and his buddy.

My buddy and I, plus Spencer, who was originally assigned to her, but I don't think he felt comfortable holding onto her, so he guided us through the game.

Erik, Nick, and their buddy.

It's going to be a fun rest of the school year for Erik in NJHS!

Thanksgiving

 It was a longer Thanksgiving break for me because 3 staff members tested positive for Covid, so they closed Red Bell for Monday and Tuesday, in addition to being closed W-F for Thanksgiving. We just didn't have enough staff members healthy enough to keep open. Between going shopping for food items and some other things with my mom and going to the pool, which included a flat tire, the 2 extra days went quickly. Suddenly, the kids were done with school and we enjoyed going to the movies to see Red One and preparing food for Thanksgiving.

Luckily, Jim was there to do the job!

Thanksgiving morning, Austin, Erik, and I ran in the Canton Turkey Trot. Austin decided not to go all out and be a top 5 runner in the race, but rather take it a little slower so he didn't injure himself off-season and be 19th in the race. His senior friend Isaac went all out and came in 5th! 

Erik was overcoming a cold, but still hit a PR of 23:56 for the 5k. I felt extra motivated, especially when I saw I was approaching Erik in the race, so I hit a PR of 23:58, coming in 2nd for my age group! We saw a lot of friends there, which was so fun!

Pre-race

We ate dinner at the Remingtons again. Kara's parents were there as well, and her neighbor who was there last year, so we had a couple sets of grandparents with us at our meal. The kids enjoyed playing with their friends, and we all watched the Lions pull off a win! That, and good conversation, made it a nice afternoon/evening.

Kade made a cheesecake for the first time. It was a hit!

The feast!

 

Friday morning, Mother Nature gave us the holiday weather of snow flurries and temps in the teens, just in time for our service project in Detroit of manning the Giving Machine. Our shift was from 12-2 and we divided up so that Grandpa Jim could go with Jason and the kids to try those coney dogs at Lafayette and American Coney Island (they all concurred as I did that American is the favorite) and my mom and I had soup at Potbelly, which was the closest place that looked good because I just wanted to get out of the cold wind as quickly as possible! We enjoyed our service there and watching/helping people choose an item to give to someone in need. There were options to give throughout the world and locally here in the Detroit Metro area. 

The rest of the weekend has been spent decorating for Christmas, playing games, watching football, watching movies/shows, and eating good food. 

I guess now we're officially in the holiday season! Happy Thanksgiving!

Erik is 13!!

 Erik has been manifesting his teen personality lately, but what do you expect when you live with 2 other teens and you're in 7th grade? It's been fun watching him grow and interact with all his older siblings, especially yesterday when Victoria called him on his very own cell phone, which he has been asking about for months now. He got my old phone, which Jason fixed up a bit since the speaker had some issues, and a new case. The good thing about it is I can now contact him if I'll be late picking him up from somewhere, the bad thing is we have to set those parental controls in place. He is usually pretty responsible for screen usage, but that could change with his own phone and his coming into the teen years officially. 

Talking to Victoria on the phone.

He is enjoying being on the club soccer team and played really well during the outdoor season, even though it was a losing season. They are now in the indoor season and his team is improving. Erik is still like a solid tree while playing defense, as displayed last weekend when they had to stop the game twice for him while he collected himself after some hard hits from the ball. 

He's looking forward to track season, which will be the first time he gets to participate in it. He enjoyed cross-country season and especially enjoyed feeling motivated by Austin's success. 

He's trying something new, that his siblings never did. That is joining the NJHS. He was recently accepted and inducted into the society. He already is a great leader, scholar, and is service-oriented, which are the main pillars of the NJHS. He doesn't like a lot of positive praise or pomp and circumstance, so after the ceremony, he only allowed one quick pic of himself before we had to rush off. Typical Erik!

Shaking hands with the principal.

He's to the left of the principal on the risers here.

Here's his one pic before we left. 

I went back to take a pic of the poster that he made of all his years of service, he was in the car by this point. 

I wanted to take his picture here, but no such luck.

 

His trombone playing is coming along and I am proud of how he is applying himself there. His band teacher has high praise for him, along with his other teachers. He still is a respectful, helpful, hard-working student. 

We partied yesterday on his actual birthday. He had some friends meet us at Flodin Park to play basketball, football, soccer, grounders, and infection. When they were done there, we drove them all back to our house to play games and eat. They still went back outside a few times, because they didn't get enough time outside at the park, I guess. We served pizza for everyone, but breadsticks for Erik, along with carrots, pretzels, and soda. Erik wanted his favorite poppyseed cake and homemade vanilla ice cream which was a big hit! 

Regathering after a few plays in football.

Determining who is "It" for infection.

Food!

Fun group of boys!

His favorite cake!

Earlier in the day he opened his family gifts. This is a Plymouth Reign soccer backpack.

His favorite cereal.

The phone!!

He got some Minecraft Legos too.

Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim were here and we finished up the day watching football, one of Erik's favorite things to do, and for some, eating McDonald's. He also really enjoyed playing games on his phone with Kade and Austin. 

A big breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa!

Happy 13th to my baby!