November 2020

 

It was a strange year for Nutcracker, not being able to do live performances, but we were so grateful that the show did go on.

Sarah and her fellow small mice. A couple parents did such a great job sewing masks that coordinated with each costume. A labor of love so that each dancer could be as safe as possible.

She was thrilled to be the Brave Mouse this year, the one who steals the cheese and gets caught in the trap.

I love that even though the Battle Scene was filmed in a restaurant, there were still these "backstage" moments where the little kids sat in awe of the older dancers.

And all of a sudden our littlest love turned 8!

Such a weird year for birthdays... No party. No friends. But we've got each other, and that's a lot.

Speaking of Bon Jovi, this was decades day at school. Is it weird that the 80s day is what my kids would happily wear any day?

So I'm working at the kitchen table; Naomi's over there making a black bean and cheese quesadilla. And I realized I have an almost teenager here...

I had a simple surgery in November (everything's fine) which left me with a stent in my ureter (okay, so that wasn't so fine)... I was a little bit of a mess. If you know me, you know I hate being a mess. Pukey and weak and in surprisingly significant discomfort for several days. After watching this for a few days, Sarah wrote me notes on slips of paper and put them in a hat. And when I wasn't feeling good, I was supposed to reach in the hat and pull out a slip of encouragement.  Behind her sassy toughness she's a total softie. A softie who seems to have read a few too many hallmark cards. :)

I went back to work, probably sooner than I should have (because I hate being a mess and I'd rather pretend I'm not. It's a problem. I know that.) My friend Holly came back from her lunch break with this -- she wasn't sure what would sound good to me so she bought some of everything. I have the best friends.

I thought I would spend Sarah's birthday laying on the couch recovering, watching to see who won the election. Turns out it took five days. I was still laying on the sofa recovering. 

I hope our kids never take it for granted that we live in a (very imperfect) democracy, and that our dinnertime conversations during these years will help them see both sides of issues, help them listen to and learn from those who are different than them, and will ultimately help them choose to be on the right side of history.

How will they know the right side? How do any of us know the right side? Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). That's a good start. 

This is still what taking care of patients looks like in November (not too different than it did for the past eight months)...

And this is still what school looks like -- Tuesdays and Thursdays at school; Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at home.

We went back to fully online after Thanksgiving, so this was the last day of school in person for a while... Lots of first and last days of school pics this year. :) 

Boulder County went to level red just before Thanksgiving break, which meant that the second act of Nutcracker could only be filmed with three dancers at a time.  I fully expected them to cancel the show, and no one would have blamed them for doing so. But they got creative and pushed through.

So Naomi was cut out of Chinese but still got to do Arabian, which was her favorite, at least in part because the costume was the most comfortable.

And Sarah still got to be a sheep.

...which made her very happy.

And Naomi as Snow, posing outside the studio in 20 degree weather.

I remember watching Snow over the years and thinking that they were so much older and here we are already.

Annika wanted to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year and really had fun with it.

If your kids (or you) ever want to do this, their website makes it so easy -- you set a goal and work towards it over the month. Apparently Annika underestimated her verbosity when she set her word goal.

We did our own Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot this year.

Clifton was with his sister in OK, so we had some serious girl time.

And even though we missed being with my brother and his family like crazy, we made the most of it. And the kids did most of the cooking so that was kind of amazing.

This pup is so good for us.

I don't know exactly what this is but I'm going to pretend it's them walking behind me all the time cheering on even the most mundane parts of my day.

These massive turkeys showed up at the park while we were there, apparently happy to have escaped Thanksgiving. I had no idea their heads were so weird looking.

Thanksgiving break ice skating!

The kids are actually getting pretty good at this.

All of our kids still happily hold our hands and that might be odd but I love it.

Naomi had to pick a "passion project" and convinced her teacher that making macarons qualified as a science experiment. She did a lot of research on the process and on the left is her first attempt. She went back to the drawing board, got some tips from Aunt Val, tried again, and came up with the macaron on the right. 

Naomi doing school under her loft bed. I feel the need to capture these images, though it seems hard to believe that we will ever forget what this year meant...