Bye-Bye 2020

 You will not be missed!!!!  Although, as Jack said tonight at dinner, it's not like 2021 is going to be any different.  We are going to wake up and COVID is still going to be here.....ugh....so true!!  Cannot wait for these vaccines to get rolled out so we can hopefully all move on!

I will be the first to admit, during this all, I really have enjoyed the slow-down time.  It hasn't ALL been bad, but I AM ready for NORMAL!!!  Whatever normal is going to look like again.  

Our NYE is consisting of Peyton locked in her room, we ate frozen pizza for dinner, Maddie and I are working on some Legos and Jack and Mike are putting together Mike's new desk......getting rowdy over here!!!

Here's to a happy and healthy 2021!!!!  Cheers friends......the year 2020 will be one that my future grandkids will read about in history books.  What a year!!!!  

Quarantine Roblox

 The quarantine Roblox has gotten SERIOUS!!!  She now needs to have the PC, phone, and iPad.....hilarious!!!  Who would have ever guessed she would enjoy playing online games with her friends as much as Jack?!?!  She's giving him a good run for his money!!!

The post I was hoping to AVOID.....

 I was really hoping we were going to escape this pandemic without this, but unfortunately we are not.  Peyton tested positive for COVID the Monday after Christmas.  She had a stuffy nose for a day or two and then lost her taste and smell.  She was suppose to play in a basketball tournament all week, so I found her a rapid test Monday morning.  Sure enough, came back positive.  She has since then been quarantined to her room.  I bring her food up to her room in an N95, and anytime she has to come out to go to the bathroom we make her wear an N95.  We have moved the other two kids to the basement.  

We are now all stuck in this house in quarantine!!!!  Mike did get his vaccine a few days before this (I DID tell him to take a selfie when getting it so I could blog about it, but he didn't listen).....healthcare workers get to go to and from work as long as they are not experiencing symptoms.  So Mike has been going to work and the rest of us are trapped in the house for a while.  

It is now Thursday and Peyton is feeling fine.  She does not have a stuffy nose any more and she said she can taste and smell SOME things.....so she's getting better.  Now we just pray the rest of us don't get it.  

We have no idea where she got it because of the timing of it.  The only people she has seen are her basketball teammate and us.  Besides the ice skating the night before, but they were masked appropriately in the car the entire time and masks are required at ice skating too....so I don't know.  Either one of us has it and is asymptomatic or one of her teammate is asymptomatic....it's the only thing we can come up with.  

My waitress costume.....

Her pediatrician wanted to do a televisit with both her and I.....so we did it outside on the porch, while masked....

Peyton and Co

 Peyton and a few friends wanted to go ice-skating the day after Christmas.....so they bundled up and masked up, and off they went......

Chiefs Game Roadtrip

 The Dads and Lads left the day after Christmas for Kansas City.  The left St. Louis around 3:30, got to KC and got checked into their hotel rooms.  They went for a bite to eat and hung out for a little while before heading to bed.  They got up the next morning, tailgated a little bit, and then head in for the noon game.  Jack had a great time!!!  He texted me a few pictures throughout the time they were gone, which definitely meant he was loving it, or he never would have done that!  When they walked in that night, he walked in with a big old smile.  The Chiefs only won by 3 points and Mahomes had a terrible game and cost Jack his fantasy football championship that day!!  Ya win some and ya lose some.....

Christmas

 Christmas a just a tad different this year, not too much tho.  The only things different and missing were Grandma and Grandpa Farm and GiGi.  Due to COVID (the theme of 2020) it wasn't safe for the to come. Christmas went on, even though we felt their absence.  

Maddie woke us up around 7:00, Grandma Jeanne and Mark got here around 7:40, Maddie was the only kid up at that point.  Jack joined shortly after.  We let Maddie wake Peyton up around 8:30 and then the party began!  

Maddie found Daisy had TP-ed the entire main floor pretty darn good.  She was then hiding in Peyton's gingerbread house, with the Tik-Tok light shining right on her.  Maddie thought this was pretty funny!

The kids were very happy with all the things!  Maddie got a new iPad and gymnastics equipment for American Girl Doll, Jack got a mini fridge and microwave for his man cave and tickets to a Chiefs game, and Peyton got a TV and and wall tapestry of her favorite boy band (One Direction).  Everyone seemed thrilled!!!!  Jess got a new fire pit for outside and Mike got some new clothes and AirPods.  

After all the gifts were open, Maddie wrote a song for each person.  She worked her little heart out on these, for weeks!!!!  She sang to each person, while playing her guitar.  It was the most thoughtful and cutest thing ever.  Mark got them all videoed and put together on one clip.  

We then ate.....all the normal Christmas morning foods: Grandma Jeanne's biscuits and gravy, Maddie's monkey bread, and egg casserole.  Mark and Jeanne hung out for a while and then they went home.  

We then took down all the Christmas decorations, and then I realized I forgot one of Maddie's gifts!!!!  So she got one last surprise that night.  All the fixings for more SLIME!!!!  I cannot believe this girl still has such  love for this stuff, but she does!!!!  She was very much excited!!!  A perfect evening capper.  

Silly Daisy.....Tik-Toking away.....

Chiefs game!!!!  And later that day he found out JVC and Jackson Riney were going too!

ROBUX!!!!  The girl is obsessed!!!!  

I can't remember what the high five was for here????.......

IPAD.......oh so HAPPY!!!!

Singing to Peyton......

And to Jack.......

And to Dad.....I'm pretty sure this is when she was singing about him not liking to waste money.....she knows her Dad very well!!!

Mike had her up and running by early evening......and I'm pretty sure we won't see much of her again....

And we are probably finished seeing him for a while as well.......

Her one last forgotten gift!!!  Was a late night surprise!!!!  SLIME!!!

Christmas Eve

 Mike worked during the day on Christmas Eve, so the kids and I went to Top Golf for a bit.  The scores are hilarious.....I am anything BUT consistent with my golf game......check that out!  We then came home, Mike got home, we ordered pizza, played a game, and called it a night.  Peyton was less than thrilled to give up her phone and go to bed at 9:30 so that Santa could come.  HA!  

This was about the time we caught Peyton cheating.  Saying circus and carnival were the same thing, and finding a cheat zone in the side of the glasses......

Better Basketball Players Than Golf

 Peyton and a few of her basketball teammates went to top golf a couple days before Christmas.  They had a great time, but it might be safer to say they are better basketball players than golfers.....HA!!  

Christmas Visit with Great Grandma Wondel

 A couple days before Christmas we had a slight break in the weather.  Dawn, Chris, and I met up with her at the Dyer Park for a very WINDY lunch.  It got super windy and then a storm rolled in.  We got it in, just in time!!!  Hopefully next year, we can all be together again inside and normal!  

Mike's New Weight Machine

 Once we got the basement finished and Mike knew how much space he had to work with in the workout room, he went to order the weight machine he wanted.  Well, due to COVID, everything involving a home gym is WAY backordered!!!  He ordered it and they told hi 5-8 weeks, well it took more like 15 or so......and many, many phonically and emails.  It finally arrived and he put it together!!!!......Well, he only got it half way put together, because the knuckleheads didn't send the weights!!!!!  So many phonically and emails later, the weights arrived about 10 days later.

It's finally put together!  Mike is thrilled, Jack is learning to lift (and not so sure he's thrilled.....time will tell.)!  HA!

Jess + Gus = BFF's

 Gus LOVES me, Annie LOVES Mike!

Gus is always right at my side, whether it be on the couch, bed, begging to go in the car, he's never hard to find!

Spoiled Dogs

 Mike went to bed early the other night, while the kids and I were still up for a bit.  He shut the bedroom doors to block the noise so he could sleep.  When I came up to go to bed this is how I found the dogs.....ha!!  Think they were tired and ready for bed too???

The Polar Express

 Second Grade tradition at St. Peter......2nd Grade Polar Express.  They got to spend the day in their PJ's doing all the Polar Express things, including watching the movie!!  Maddie LOVED it!!!  Said it was her favorite day of second grade!!!

Maskne

 UGH!!!  So real, so gross!

Basketball with Masks

 Well, we've hit another COVID milestone......the kids now have to wear their masks while playing basketball.  I will say, every player started the game with them worn appropriately, and then as the game moved along, the masks started dropping lower and lower......

I had to start playing tennis in a mask a few weeks ago.  I honestly didn't think it would be too big of a deal.  Well, turns out it is harder than I was anticipating...definitely gets the heart rate up!!  Not easy!  

Subbing for other Knights

 Peyton and Chloe were asked to sub for one of the other Knights teams.  When Renee texted me to ask me, I was subbing at school so I read it very quickly.  Once school got out, I asked Peyton if she wanted to and she said, sure.  I was actually kind of shocked, because she does not usually like to sub for anything....not soccer, not basketball, nothing!  It makes her nervous.....but she agreed.  Once she agreed the next day I took a look at the original text to see when the games were and they were in JEFF CITY!!!  And we had already committed to the Riggios to do Christmas cookies.....so Peyton rode along with Renne and Chloe.  The games were live streamed, so we were able to watch from home.  

The got second place and the girls said they had fun.  

Christmas Cookies 2020

 Again, it looks different this year......and then AGAIN, we are thankful to have wonderful friends that will willingly pop in and fill the void.  

We didn't get many cookies baked (I don't think the Riggios quite understood how we USUALLY do Christmas cookies...ha!).....The kids decorated cookies and we baked some M&M cookies, and that's as far as we got.  Over the next few days the girls finished some of our other cookies.  

Peyton was not here this night, as she was subbing for another Knights team in Jeff City.  She did entertain us tho while we were baking cookies.  We were able to live stream her game on the TV and watch while we were hanging out in the living room.  That was kind of fun!  

The Start to a WEIRD Christmas

 Well, thanks COVID, Christmas will look much different this year as well.  We did not go to my parents this year, as we all decided it just wasn't safe.  Mom and Dad came up the weekend before Christmas on their way to Florida.  They visited Chris and family, Dawn and family, and Grandma Chris all on their front lawns and threw their gifts to them.  

They stayed the night here before heading to Florida the next morning.  We visited spread apart and with masks on......cannot wait to be back to normal, hopefully SOON!!!!

Dad is using a walker, while he has no knee.  His knee replacement got infected a couple months ago, so they took it out and got rid of the infection.  He will now have it put back in in the middle of January.  Just add another thing to this year......

BFF Top Golf

 Due to silly COVID, Taylor, Leigh-Anne, and I haven't really gotten together that much.  We decided Top Golf was COVID-friendly and we could give it a whirl.  We were REAL bad at golf, but we did enjoy the company and beverages......

Ice Skating

 We had a random Saturday with no much going on.  Mike and Jack hung low at home and the girls wanted to go iceskating.  We picked up a friend for Peyton on our way and one of Maddie's friends met us there.  Of course, while we were skating Maddie and Quinn talked us into a sleepover.  So after we skated, we came home and Quinn went home and got her clothes to stay the night.  The next day I just dropped the two of them off at gym practice.  

Maddie was a little rusty at skating, but she got it back in no time and was soon scooting across the rink.  

Now this was really funny!!  The last time Maddie had a gym friend (Vera) stay the night, the girls ended up having the same PJ bottoms, just different colors.  When Quinn went and put on her PJs, she had the SAME ones!!!  They got a big kick out of this.....super random!