Week 42-Welcome to 2021!

 Happy New Year! I got sidetracked and busy. Last Monday my parents had planned to leave to go to my sister's but they ended up staying an extra day so we played games and my kids played their Christmas songs again for them (did much better this time) and I sat around talking with them a lot. It was nice. We got Nicolletti's for dinner and had family night and it was all good. 

Josh's ankle was still really swollen and black and blue and gross so he sent some pictrures to Mark Henderson and he told Josh he should probably get in to see someone. Josh tried Mark's old office but they were busy and recommended him to another doctor and he went Tuesday morning. Dad actually dropped him off and then my parents left and we were hard core cleaning when Josh called for me to come pick him up. He was really upset and totally freaked me out. Turns out it was broken and in many places so he needed surgery. It turned out to be a rough day. Josh was so emotional and upset and we were both overwhelmed. My parents offered to come back but by the evening and once we had details about the surgery, I was feeling better about things and decided we could handle it. 

Wednesday we spent all day cleaning up the basement. We cleaned out the whole unfinished area and I took a load of stuff to the dump and gave some away. We moved our Christmas stuff and food storage so that hopefully sometime Josh can build a workbench. We're really trying to create a maker space down there for Lily with her Cricut and Curtis with the 3D printer. We'll move a book shelf around and the futon and the desk and bring out the ping pong table too so that we can play it more easily, but that part can wait until the work bench is built. It was a lot of hard work that I basically did by myself but it felt good to get it done. Josh did take apart our old entertainment center and Lily and Curtis carried all the pieces up to the garage, so now it is a mess, but that project will have to wait for another day and another trip to the dump. That night Sam and Steve came over and gave Josh a blessing and it was beautiful and inspiring and comforting to us all. I love those two guys so much and appreciate what a help they are to Josh in so many ways. The church is really a divine organization and I'm grateful for it. 

Thursday we didn't do much. I took Josh to get tested for Covid and then we had to quarantine until Monday when he had the surgery, which was fine since we aren't hanging out with anyone anyway. That afternoon Josh did work on our family movie for the year but it took way longer than planned (always does!) so we didn't get to watch it NYE like I was hoping. We ended up watching a lot of HGTV and once the kids were in bed, Josh and I watched some of the NYC show and talked through the year. Every year I write in my journal things about the year, like our favorite date, best gift, highlights of the whole year, best books we read, etc. Then we make a list of everything we love about our kids right then and then things we're looking forward to in the new year.  It can take us while to have that discussion and sometimes we've been up until 2am or finished it the next day but this year it didn't take long at all. When you only went on four dates all year, it isn't hard to pick the best! Then the ball dropped, we kissed and went to bed. Pretty lame but with a husband who can't walk and a pandemic, it was the best we could do.

Friday we had a fun breakfast, watched the lame substitute for the Rose Parade, watched some more HGTV and then just hung out and played and read. The kids played some Mario Kart and it was just a super lazy day. Saturday, however, was super busy. We spent all day cleaning up Christmas and cleaning the house. We took down the tree, village, train and then the kids vacummed and put things away while I took the tree to the recycling center. We put all the decorations away and took down the window lights and the kids all cleaned a bathroom. I did dishes and cleaned my bathroom and finally by 4pm, things felt clean and back to normal. Josh did clean out the vacuum and helped wrap up all the lights but that was about all he could do and I know he felt bad. While I was doing the dishes last night he started reading me love poems in an effort to fill me up and make me feel taken care of. He's such a sweetheart. That night we were able to watch our family movie and it was super fun. It was fun to see Emma's Valentine's day concert and our chalk obstacle course and Emma's birthday parade and Josh paddle surfing and Curtis slowly picking apart a crab during Lily's birthday dinner and Brandon dancing while wiping the table. 

Sunday was a nice sabbath day with church, although I am not a fan of our new early morning schedule, and then the rest of the day the kids played, I wrote in my journal, Lily baked, we played games and read. It was a nice, restful day. 

Monday I was nervous but I got the kids all going on school then dropped Josh off at the hospital (which was awful) and then spent all day stress cleaning my kitchen and helping the kids with school. I finally got the call that I could come get him and I was so relieved that surgery went well and he was okay. The Schrams came over to hang out with the kids while I went and picked him up and we went to get his medications and then home for dinner and family night. He was still pretty numb so not in any pain and he was acting pretty normal. We got him all set up in the basement where he can watch TV if he can't sleep and keep his foot up and is close to the bathroom. He didn't sleep at all last night but is hopefully sleeping now. He started to feel some pain this evening and has watched a ton of TV but the kids have been taking very good care of him and getting him whatever he needs. He has been feeling very loved and taken care of. It was nice to run to the store today and be able to leave the kids home since he is here. I was up at 3am last night because Lily's smoke alarm started chriping. I was so out of it (I hate being woken up in the middle of the night) and couldn't figure out what to do because we had no more batteries and usually Josh handles that stuff but finally, after 30 minutes I just ripped the wires out, stuffed it under some sweaters and went to bed. So I've been pretty tired today and went to Lowes for batteries and made sure the kids did all their school work and I taught four piano lessons. Luckily the girls didn't start dance again yet so tonight we could just have leftovers and take it easy. Two friends from church came over and took our Christmas lights down for us too and that was super nice since I draw the line at ladders. 

So, this past week wasn't what we planned or hoped for but that kind of seems like the perfect way to end 2020. It was a tough year in many ways but we were blessed finacially to always have what we needed, we have all been healthy (until Dec 26 anyway), we've gotten to spend a good amount of really nice time with my parents, the kids are all surviving school, we get to sleep in every day until 8am (which is my perfect wake up time), we've developed good habits like my kids now each have a kitchen job that they do for dinner each night, we read the whole Book of Mormon together as a family, we had wonderful home primary time on Sundays, my girls have still gotten to dance and Curtis at least got to play baseball, we went to the beach, my kids have been very creative and we're all still alive and we love each other. God is good and I trust we're all getting the experience we need to be the people we're supposed to be. 

Looking forward to 2021 I hope that the kids can get back to school, Josh and I can go on more dates, we'll be able to go to church all together again, we'll be able to travel west this summer like we're planning to do and we'll be able to hang out with friends again. Cheers to 2021!