The Foundry

Saturday evening, we went out with our friends to celebrate Amy's birthday.  We all carpooled down to the Foundry.  It is a fun place very similar to a food court.  There are all sorts of fun places to get food.  They are pop up restaurants, like food trucks that don't have a big enough menu to have a standalone restaurant.  We sampled food from several different places, loaded waffle fries from one place, a rice bowl from another, a hamburger and some dessert waffles with ice cream and Nutella.  It was the perfect place to go and enjoy each other's company.  It was nice to get out and visit with everyone and catch up.  It is fun when we see each during the summer when we play volleyball.  During the winter we don't see each other as often.  I enjoyed going out with JJ, it is always fun to be able to spend time together.          

 

Snow

We were so excited to have our first snow!  It fell mostly Friday night into Saturday morning.  We mostly didn't have anywhere to go except JJ was filling in at Regional off Mid Rivers.  He said his drive there was a little slippery, but he made it ok.  His morning pretty much fell apart and most of the patients canceled.  The kids and I worked on getting the house cleaned.  Once they did a chore for me, they could go outside and play in the snow.   It was great motivation.  We bundled up and enjoyed the snow for most of the day.  Jack wanted to be outside with us so bad, but he was so cold.  For Christmas my sister Courtney made me a scarf.  It is so pretty and kept me cozy and warm in the snow.  When she called to tell me, she was doing this I thought it was one of the most thoughtful things anyone has done for me.  She let me pick out the yarn and it turned out so pretty!  JJ got the firepit out and we stood around it trying to keep warm.  For lunch the kids roasted some hot dogs over the fire.  Garrett worked on making a snow fort in the front yard.  Nolan played with all the neighbor kids building a snowman and sledding in between houses.  JJ took the boys down to the hill by the clubhouse and they went down the hill a few times.  It was so nice for the kids to play outside and enjoy the snow.  They were out most of the day!          

 

There is always a lot of conversation in our house about how tall everyone is.  The kids love to point out that they have grown.  They go over to the growth chart we have hanging on the wall and ask to see how tall they are.  Nolan especially will say things like "look I can reach this now!"  Garrett is very excited with his height and the fact that he is going to pass up Lucy soon.  We had to get the level out and prove that she is still taller than him.  It might not be for much longer, but she is still taller.    

I haven't worked since my mom passed.  I returned to work and my coworkers had no idea where I had been.  Last time I was at work I was preparing to make my trip to Madison with Lucy.  They were worried something had happened to her or us on our trip.  They were shocked to find out my mom had passed.  I was glad to be back and so many of the kids were so excited I had returned.  One cute little kindergartener had made me this little heart and had been waiting to give it to me.  I was happy to know I had been missed.  I might not know very many kids that come through my line, but I try to smile and say hi to them all.  I know my job is simple, but I try to at least be a friendly face to them as I serve them lunch. 

Our local library has a chess club that meets every Saturday morning.  JJ was excited to take Garrett and see what it was like.  JJ texted me and said it was just them and this older man.  Garrett had a fun time playing this older man all morning long.  He learned a lot from him, and the older man was really nice.  He told Garrett his opening move was weak and since then Garrett has been reading his chess book and trying to study up a little more on chess.  I am glad they had a good experience and hopefully we can take him occasionally. 

I took Lucy to watch the neighbor girl Audrey play her first basketball game.  Audrey adores Lucy and they have fun playing basketball in the cul-de-sac.  Lucy was excited to watch her play and Audrey was excited to have Lucy there to cheer her on.   

It has been so cold, and we have been watching a little more TV in the evening because there isn't much to do.  One evening I had all my boys snuggled up with me.  We enjoyed watching a movie together.   

The pond has frozen over and on our walk Jack was so confused how the geese were standing on the water.  We let him go down and try to explore the edge of the water/ice.  

While the workers work on the house Jack loves to sit here on the couch and look out the front window.  He also loves to sit there while the bus drops off the kids in the afternoon.  He loves to sit and observe everything going on outside. He does the same thing out the back windows.     

 

They have been working hard on the exterior of the house.  The weather has been really cold.  They put up a tarp and made a little tent to work in.  The had heaters in there and it worked really well for them.  There was one night it was really windy, and the tarp was blowing all around.  It kept us up at night and it was awful!  It was hard to tell what they were doing and how much progress they were making in the tent.  When they would leave for the day, we would go in and look at their work.  There were some things that we didn't feel were what we had talked about as far as design went.  This caused me a lot of stress.  This project is an expensive project and one we have wanted to do for a long time.  We wanted to make sure it was exactly what we wanted.  Understanding that these small changes were done for a reason made sense to us and we were ok with that.  They weren't able to come work on the house every day because of weather.  They had to wait for a day the temperature was above freezing day and night in order to finish the top piece and pillar base.  We are thankful they are almost done, just a few small finishing touches.  They came and picked up the port a potty and left-over materials.  We are so pleased with the project and how it has transformed the house.      

 

New Years

We had a nice New Years at home!  Lucy went to a friend's house for the evening and my dad came over to join us at our house.  I am so glad he called and asked if he could come over.  I know he is lonely at I had invited him over early in the week.  We had a nice evening visiting with him, playing some ping pong, playing rommikub and watching part of a movie.  Everyone had requested I buy some fun snacks, so we enjoyed having some fun food we don't normally enjoy at our house.  It was a really nice evening.  We all made it to midnight and watched fireworks out the window some neighbors were setting off.  We can't believe another year has passed.  This year was such a hard year.  Something I feel like I have been saying at the end of the past several years.  This one really ended on a very sad note.  I feel like I can look back over the year and easily see all the hard things our family endured.  So many trials and hardships were part of the year.  I can also look back and see so many blessings.  I know that so many prayers were answered and so many miracles happened.  I think of the surgeries Lucy had and how miraculous they each were.  I am thankful that Nolan's arm healed so well after he broke it.  I am thankful the kids are back in school thriving.  I am thankful JJ's business is growing and doing well.  I am thankful I was able to start a new job working in the cafeteria at the kid's school.  I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend with my mom in the hospital before she passed.  These are all wonderful things that have blessed our family.  So, alongside the hard was also so much good.  Each year we can count our blessings and look forward to another year.  Another chapter to write in our story and another year we can experience new things.  I am thankful for the opportunity to do just that.  

 

House Exterior Project

Over the summer we started researching replacing the trim around our garage and adding some stonework.  We had replaced the trim pieces when we bought the house.  The ones on the house were bad and needing to be replaced due to water damage.  We never felt like the new ones were installed properly and certainly not sealed or caulked very well.  We have known this is a problem for a while but also knew it would most likely open a can of worms and we weren't ready to deal with it.  It was finally time.  If we were going to spend the money to fix this problem, we were going to do it right and the way we wanted it.  We researched companies and found one that would do what we were looking for.  We picked out or products and put down a deposit and then waited for an opening.  Six months later we are finally having the work done on our house.  They took everything off and found a lot of water damage.  More than we had thought.  They ended up having to temporarily support our garage and replace one of the headers.  It wouldn't have been long before the other headed would not have been structurally sound and our house would have started to sag.  They had to bring in a new headed that was really big and super heavy.  This was clearly not only a cosmetic improvement but a very much needed structural repair.  We are so glad we are having this taken care of and fixed once and for all.  It is certainly the most expensive project we have done on the house and knowing how badly it needs it makes it worth it even more.  They worked quickly and were able to have the rotten wood replaced and the house sealed up and ready for the stone to be put on.     

 

We had a pretty low-key holiday break.  The kids enjoyed sleeping in and being home.  It was a nice break from such a busy past few weeks.  Monday night we used some chick-fil-a coupons for sandwiches and enjoyed eating out.  We ate in the car since the kids were still supposed to be quarantined.  We then all got in Lucy's new convertible and drove through the light display in O'Fallon.  It was so fun, we said we might have a new tradition.  It was a fun evening and even though simple we all enjoyed getting out of the house.  I feel like we missed so many Christmas celebrations and I am glad we can still enjoy some of them after Christmas.  We were thankful when the CDC changed the covid guidelines.  After five days if your symptoms are gone you can go places with a mask.  We were able to go to the movies as a family.  We used some Christmas money from the Andersons and saw Sing 2.  We went on five-dollar Tuesdays and also got free popcorn.  While we were there JJ had decided to bring the older kids back for a late showing of the new Spiderman movie.  Garrett was especially excited.  He said that was the only thing he really wanted to do over Christmas break.  I am glad they were able to do that and have a fun time.  JJ was a good sport to be out late with them.  We also enjoyed some relaxing time at home.  We caught up on favorite Christmas movies, made some homemade gingerbread playdoh and made a trip to the library.  We got several books, movies and puzzles from the library that kept us busy.  I am thankful we had this break and time to be together after the funeral.  It gave me time to catch up and relax before jumping into life at full swing.  I wasn't ready to have to do all the normal things.  I am also glad I wasn't home alone, I would have been lonely.  Being with my family kept my mind busy but also allowed me to mourn and prepare myself when everything returned.     

 

Lucy's Car

When Lucy and I stopped at Laurens house on our way to Madison Lauren asked Lucy is she would be interested in having Braden's car.  We were both so surprised!  We went out to the garage and looked at it.  Lauren explained that since Braden had bought a truck this car just sits in the garage.  They would love to give it to Lucy.  After all she has been through, they couldn't think of anyone more deserving.  I offered to buy it from them, and she said oh no its just a giveaway car.  I was thinking what's a giveaway car, I want one!?  It is the perfect car for Lucy.  It is not perfect, so she doesn't have to worry about little scratches or dings.  Braden drove it down on Christmas day for her, what a fun gift.  He showed he how it works and all the little things she needed to know about it.  Lucy spent some time Monday getting the car all cleaned up.  She washed it several times, scrubbed the inside out really well and had the car looking really good!  Braden said the cars name is Wendy which Lucy has decided to keep.  Lucy is so excited to have time to practice driving the car before she gets her license in August.  Lucy said she is going to have so much fun with Wendy.  We are so thankful for such a sweet and thoughtful gesture!      

 

Christmas Day

As we prepared for Christmas I told the kids that I didn't have as much time to buy gifts this year.  I feel like this whole Christmas season my Christmas spirit was lacking.  I struggled to find the joy in celebrating.  I spent most of the season visiting my mom in the hospital.  I didn't have time to listen to my favorite Christmas music or watch my favorite movies.  I couldn't walk through the stores looking for gifts like normal.  I had told the kids that there were presents for them but not as many as I would have hoped there would be.  I was thankful for JJ and his help ordering gift and picking things out with me.  We made some shopping trips together and made sure we had special things for each child.  We had talked about a small trip over Christmas break, but things were so uncertain with my mom.  We are glad we didn't plan that now with the older kids recovering from covid.  I reminded the kids of the movie the grinch.  The line in the movie where they say, maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store.  They were all so understanding.  They know we love them, and this year was different.  

Christmas morning, we had breakfast and enjoyed watching everyone open their gifts.  Grandma Smith made the kids special Christmas quilts.  They are so beautiful and unique.  As they opened their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Rahm it brought back memories for me.  My mom had mailed the Christmas money the week of her stroke.  I got it in the mail just days before.  I sat with her in the hospital and together we looked at things online and ordered things for each kid.  As they opened their presents, I told them about it.  I told them that Grandma would smile and like things that she helped pick out.  I am thankful for that memory.  

The weather was again nice, it was our last nice day and then it was going to get cold.  I had mentioned to my dad that we were going to go for a walk at Rockwood.  He asked if he could come with us.  He wanted to get out of the house.  I told him sure and that we would happily wear masks and keep our distance.  Lauren and Braden were heading down and also joined us for the walk.  We walked the loop we did many times as a family growing up.  It was so nice to get out and enjoy the afternoon with them.  Lucy and Garrett kept their masks on, and we made sure to walk in little groups.  We figured being outside helped keep us all safe as well.  After our walk we went over to the cemetery.  I had brought a flower arrangement I had at my house and wanted to take it over.  My dad had also decorated it and I wanted to see it.  He had told me how he had clipped some branches off the pine trees and some red bushes and laid them on her grave.  He had also made a temporary marking with the popcorn tin lid.  He wrote her name and her birth and death date on it and pushed it halfway in the ground.  Someone wanted to know where she was buried and so he figured he should make some sort of marking until we get a stone for her. She looked so cozy with the branches laid on top. I thought it was so sweet of my dad to do that.  He misses her so much and I am glad we got to spend some time together.

I had so many thoughts running through my mind all day.  I had talked to my dad on Christmas Eve and he said somethings to me that stuck in my mind.  He was telling me how much he missed mom. He wished he could just hold her hand again or visit with her for 30 minutes. He told me if he could give me one piece of advice this Christmas it was to cherish my family, especially my time with JJ. We have a beautiful life together and that is so special. He said life is so short and it goes by so fast. Appreciate the time you have together and make the most of it. I remembered his advice as we spent the day together as a family. Our time here together is something to cherish, it does go by so fast. I tried to do that today as I watched the kids open their presents. I made sure to spend time with them enjoying their gifts and tried to slow down throughout the day. I sure missed mom today too, I know she would have loved a big get together. She would have maybe come over and seen what the kids got for Christmas. We would have had such a fun time. I know she probably celebrated in heaven wearing a festive Christmas sweater.