A Little Bit of January Mish-Mash

Before Christmas break ended, I decided I wanted to do some closet switching.  When we moved in, I remember Steph M (my sister-in-law) saying, “Oh my goodness!  You will have your own closet and it is so big!”  We have two closets – both walk-ins – in our bedroom, so she was right.  But we ended up putting my stuff in half of the closet attached to the bathroom and Jeremy’s on the other half of the same closet.  Then, the second closet was used for dresses, extra coats, and miscellaneous stuff.  But I thought I would just try combining all mine in one.  So, Madison helped me pull everything out of the one closet and all my stuff out of the other.  Then, she set to work organizing Jeremy’s closet – shoes, hats, and hanging stuff.  I set about doing the same to mine.  At some point when she was getting frustrated, I switched over to help her finish out the process. Honestly, I really like it, and I should have listened to Steph in the first place!  Here they are (first one is mine, the next two are Jeremy’s / miscellaneous side).

  

Also, right as we went back to school, Madison had an orthodontist appointment to have them put in her bite springs (aka forces!).  This was a process but didn’t involve as much residual pain as she anticipated, so that was good.  She will have to have them on for at least 9 months. 

One weekend, the girls performed “Town Mouse, Country Mouse” for us; a throwback moment from when they were really little and used to perform all the time.  It was fun to see them do it.

The girls are still cooking suppers once a week (depending on the week).  Madison cooked up Garlic Shrimp Scampi – delicious!

Gloria gifted us with cash at Christmas which I usually just tuck away and stockpile because I don’t know the “perfect” thing to use it on.  But this time, I decided I would use it to print all the blogs I have into books.  I had started this a few years ago and had printed 7 of the 16 years I had been blogging, but I really wanted to have them all done.  My fear is that one day Google will shut down Blogger as a platform and all my memories will just disappear.  So, I wanted to print them, so we can enjoy them in the future.  The website I use (blog2print.com) makes it painless and easy.  I could probably format it differently somewhere else, but I don’t really care exactly how it looks as long as the pictures are with the right post – and they are.  So, I printed the other 9 books I had to print (on sale at 50% off!).  And they are slowly arriving at our doorstep.  I spent most of one day looking at them already!

We are on snow day #2.  We went back to school on Tuesday this week (MLK day was Monday).  Then, we were cancelled Wednesday due to wind chills around –15F.  Thursday we were back in school.  Then, last night they canceled in anticipation of the winter weather advisory that was dumping snow.  Not sure, to be honest, if they would have canceled has they waited til the morning, but it is a beautiful snow and we will go sledding somewhere this afternoon to enjoy it.  With the second day home this week, the girls got a little crazy and decided they would have some wrestling matches – inspired by watching Cale and Sam wrestle a week ago.  They know nothing about the sport and are pretty comical to watch.  Jeremy joined in toward the end, and then I took him on – didn’t get pinned.

         

I started up my women’s volleyball league again.  We are all a little rusty, but last night (our first night back) was so much fun – lots of laughter!  I kept it to 10 people this time.  It is less coordinating if people can’t make it, and it allows for more conversation (get to know you talk) before and after playing. We will play for 10 weeks and then see what next.  I am so glad there are others that still enjoy playing (and can still play). 

Happy 12th Birthday, Ellie!

She made it to 12 on a Thursday before a 4 day weekend!  Which should have been spectacular, but she was unimpressed with her birthday because she had to go to basketball practice that night.  The consequences of growing up – you have things. 

While she was gone, Madison and I wrapped her gifts, decorated, and invited the grandparents over for a mini celebration.  She was surprised when she got home!

    

It’s hard to put candles in the ice cream cake, so we just dug right in. 

    

Then, we enjoyed present opening. All she has wanted since Christmas is a Stanley cup (the current rage in water bottle type containers).  She didn’t get one at Christmas and planned to use her money to get one.  But I wouldn’t let her shop for things until after her birthday was done.  So, she was in a holding pattern.  Jeremy came up with a great idea of wrapping up his miniature Stanley Cup (the hockey trophy).  And then giving her the one she wanted second.  It made for a fun gift opening. 

    

On Friday, we headed to Cleveland to look at some slabs of quartz for our kitchen countertop.  We talked the girls into joining us by shopping for fun while we were there.  And we ate at Wasabi, a hibachi place.  They had chosen this as their birthday out meal.  Usually, they each pick their own place to go, but decided to team up to go on one night to somewhere a bit more expensive.  It was fun to watch the food be cooked and hang out together.

    

Her last birthday activity was inviting three friends over for a sleepover which got upgraded to a sleepover AND ice skating that day.  (Salem has rented the ice rink for the SYF and invited others to join them!)   They had fun skating and burned a lot of energy off. 

    

We can home for pizza and brownie sundaes.  They hung out, played games, used the Nintendo Switch, and laughed.  They were here til late morning. 

    

Madison’s 14th Birthday!!

I cannot believe she turned 14!  It has been so fast.  And I know people always say that, Enjoy the moments.  They pass in a blink of an eye.  But seriously, they do!  She is amazing.  She is creative and willing to try on her own to fashion things from videos and online instructions.  She wants to craft with all kinds of things – soap making, candle making, macramé, sewing, scrapbooking, and more.  It is fun to see what she creates and personalizes for others.  She has an optimistic personality and is usually upbeat and encouraging.  She enjoys organizing, getting things done right, and rearranging spaces.  She is a great sister (by the looks and sounds of it!) – willing to be silly, to support, to help, to veg out with, to craft with, and to play with.  And she enjoys reading… a lot! 

We celebrated a couple ways (and are actually not quite done).  The morning before her birthday, Grandma and Grandpa Ediger took her and Ellie to IHOP for breakfast. 

Then, we went to watch the movie, Migration, at the theater which was a fun animated show. 

On her birthday, she decided she didn’t want friends over.  She wanted to have Veggie Burrito Bake for her meal. 

She baked her own angel food cake for dessert which we shared with Grandma Yoh, Arturo, and Jen. 

    

And she wanted to watch the movie, Little Women (2019 version), since she had finished the book. 

Then, the morning after, we had a Birthday Breakfast Party for her and Ellie with the Edigers and the Yohs.  There were 21 of us in our living room.  We had 2 waffle irons and 1 flap jack griddle going.  We had 2lbs of ham sticks and 3lbs of sausage links.  We topped things off with white sauce, Dutch honey, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, raspberries, and powdered sugar.  While there were a few waffles left over, pretty much all of it was eaten.

    

We had a gift opening in the basement.      

         

I love having space to host.  I learned that our living room/dining room can easily be converted to a fellowship hall!  Our basement works well for lots of people and especially with the 3rd row raised seating on bar stools. 

We will continue to celebrate as Ellie’s birthday is quickly approaching!

Snowman Pancakes and December Wrap-up

We rescheduled our snowman pancakes with friends until December 27.  We had two families from church over – Bess Treisch and her kids (Miles, Luke, Amelia, and Briggs) and Steph McGinty and Landen (Ben and Cale couldn’t make it).  It was so. much. fun. 

We had all the toppings: M&Ms, Resse’s Pieces, marshmallows, chocolate chips, PB chips, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, blueberries, twizzler pull aparts, whipped cream (almost forgot that!), and pretzels.  Some people used all of the toppings.  Others were sparse users.  I think everyone enjoyed their pancake!  Here are the masterpieces:

                                  

While we got ready and as we cleaned up the kids burned up some energy downstairs, building train tracks, wrestling the big bear, playing kitchen, and getting to know one another.  The girls asked if we could do this again more often.  We will have to make time for it. 

Aruturo, Jen, and Gloria came to Salem on Christmas Eve and the last Sunday of December.  It was nice to have them there worshipping with us.  We realized we never took Christmas pictures at Gloria’s, so we took the chance to take some one Sunday morning.