Advent: Week #2

Day 7: Bake a tasty treat. This was a switch-a-roo day.  I had intended to take the girls to Search for the Christ Child at Oak Grove as we had done when they were little.  But the JHY had an activity planned at the same time.  They went caroling, which sounded like a pretty good activity.  So, we made chex mix for the first time ever – and I think we are addicted!

Day 8: Attend a choir concert.  Madison had a choir concert.  It is always a great concert.  I appreciate that Mrs. Carr still feels comfortable including actual Christmas music, not just holiday music. 

*Ellie’s choir concert happened the week of Thanksgiving.  They did a great job, and Ellie was in a small trio of people singing a different part at one point.  I wanted to just include the pictures at the same time as the other concerts.

    

Day 9: Attend a band concert.  This one is Ellie’s band.  They had a combined 6th-8th grade flash mob style performance of “Mama Mia” during the show.  And Ellie and her two friends (Maylynn and Bailey) came out a few seconds? minutes? prior to everyone else; they stood there and handled it like pros.

    

Day 10: Check out library books.  We love holiday books.  When the girls were little, we would get all kinds of picture books.  We did get some of those this year as well.  If they are at the house, we do read them.  But they also both picked out a mystery book to unwrap from the library as well.  I don’t think either one of them liked what they unwrapped, but it was fun nonetheless. 

Day 11: Visit the Humane Society.  About 2 years ago, the girls bake sale raised money for the humane society.  It was about time we took the money to them (21 some dollars).  We decided that while we like seeing animals, we all leave a little sad because we can’t save them.  But there were some cuties there – including these little kittens!

    

Day 12: Go to Columbus to stay with Greg, Maggie, Elena, and Nora.  This was the preview from the escape room.  They were very excited.  We left around 4pm.  Madison picked up some drive time and drove us all the way there!  We had a delicious meal of meatball subs and salad.  We had a nice evening of reconnecting.  Unfortunately, I have not pictures of the night.

Day 13: Christmas shopping and lunch with Sophie!  It is always more exciting to shop in Columbus, even if the stores are pretty much the same.  We had gifts to pick out for Yoh cousins, for Ediger cousins, for each other.  We pretty much got it all taken care of.  We met Sophie at her apartment she moved into in November.  It is a nice place, and she seemed like she was settling in with her job (an RN on the oncology floor at Nationwide Children’s Hospital) and in her place.  We took her out to eat at Cap City Diner as the snow started falling. 

    

We finished a relaxing meal and watched the snow continue to fall.  By the time we pushed through a few more stores, roads were snow covered.  Jeremy said he was “up for the challenge” and we headed home – at 35 mph.  We got home 3-1/2 hours later and appreciated our warm beds.  Church was canceled the next morning, so we eased back into the day.

Advent: Week #1

I didn’t know if the girls would want to continue our Advent tradition.  They are getting older and busier, so it takes a lot to commit to making life a little more full.  But they reminded me about it about a month ahead of time, and so I worked at creating a calendar that would work with the other things going on.  Many of the traditions are the same, but I tried to mix them up and add a few new ones.  So, here is what happened (with probably less pictures than in the past):

Day 1: Cut out and bake cookies.  This one continues to become easier as the girls get older.  They know how to mix up the dough, roll it out, and cut it up … even take hot cookie sheets in and out of the oven. 

Day 2: Frost cookies.  Sometimes I invite friends for the girls.  This year, that was not the intent.  However, we had a surprise snow day!  They went sledding at the firehouse with the Combs girls who then came back to hang out and frost cookies. 

    

Day 3: Write a letter…. actually, I just want them to write the blurb about themselves in our Christmas letter.  So, they did. 

Day 4: Escape the (at home) escape room.  I found a free escape room online with the puzzles and clues to use.  It was fun to watch them work through them in excitement.  The final gift was a preview of Day 12 of Advent – a trip to Columbus to stay overnight with Greg and Maggie’s family!  They were very excited!

         

Day 5: Attend a festival.  We went to the Dalton local businesses open houses in the evening.  I forget how long this can take – all the different shops are open with various foods and fun things to look at.  We cut it short to go watch Paxon play basketball – a win against Wooster! 

The next day the festivities continued in Dalton with the Holiday parade.  We saw our friends the Treischs at one point.  They JHY from Salem also made a float and passed out candy.  I don’t have a picture of that, just video.

Day 6: A dramatic night out.  This was a new one this year.  I got tickets to the Ohio Shakespeare’s Christmas production – Every Christmas Story Ever Told.  It was on a small stage, and we were in the third row.  There were only 3 actors.  It was funny and fast and a good way to spend the night.

Leading up to Advent and Random things

The weekend before Thanksgiving we enjoyed watching Get Smart, the fall production at the high school.  Madison had been working hard on stage crew getting things ready.  She had the fun job of picking out costumes for the show – a job she really enjoyed.  The play was fun to watch. 

    

Jen and Arturo came to hang out before Thanksgiving.  They arrived on Saturday night after the play and stayed til Thanksgiving morning.  We did a number of things together, but one of the reasons they came back at this time, was to watch Wicked 2 in the theater.  It was a great second part – a bit darker than the first one, but good. 

Ellie has a teacher that is a self-proclaimed Grinch (Mr. Crawford, math teacher), so she and some friends conspired to decorate his room secretly for Christmas.  I got permission from the principal, and let them go at it over Thanksgiving break. 

The church hosted a “Deck the Halls” night to work on decorating the church as a group.  There was a decent group that showed up to put up and decorate the various trees.  Afterwards, we enjoyed hot chocolate and popcorn while we watched the new The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a more touching movie than I remembered, but a book that I have always loved!

    

Ellie was invited to go ice skating for her friend’s birthday party.  She had a lot fun skating around the rink.  Then, they had a sleepover afterwards. 

Ellie also received a postcard from her teachers in the mail commending her work as a student.

And there is Pepper.

Earrings

Madison got her ears pierced when she was 9 years-old for her birthday.  We offered the same thing to Ellie when she turned 9.  She was not interested.  Now, 4 years later, she was excited about the possibility.  While we had gone to Claire’s for Madison, I had read some things about piercing that made me want to try a different avenue.  So, we got some recommendations, and we made an appointment for a body piercing shop.  We drove to Modern Ritual in downtown Canton on Black Friday. 

The shop was clean.  The people nice.  The experience was much more sterile, doctor office like, than Claire’s.  The woman used used a needle and quickly pierced each ear. Ellie was stoic throughout the whole thing. 

     

The earrings are small “diamonds” that I think she can continue to wear.  She is very excited about being able to change them up in the future.

Fireman’s 5K

We have a new position in our district; they are the athletic trainer, but also a “health and wellness” coordinator.  Her name is Audrey Zuercher.  She proposed at the beginning of the year that staff meet at the park on Mondays to use the trail and exercise together in whatever capacity that meant for them.  She also sent out a couch to 5K training plan and let people know about the Fireman’s 5K that happens at the beginning of November.  I decided I would participate in the Monday club and use the training plan to prepare for the 5K.  The last time I did a 5K I didn’t really train for it, but I completed it by walking and running intervals.  This time, I wanted to be ready.

So, I went on the first Monday in September.  It was just Audrey and I.  Audrey is a runner; I am not.  She was gracious and ran the first day of the training program with me.  I fit in two more training sessions on my own each week.  Then, every Monday, she and I (no one else came) would run.  And I felt tired of training, but also ready for the 5K. 

Madison and Ellie both wanted to run it, too.  So once volleyball ended, they both ran off and on to prepare for it.  Jeremy signed up, too, in support of the Firemen and to get the free hoodie.  He didn’t train, but he already did a 50 mile bike ride none of us had done.

Saturday morning was cooler than it had been, but the sun was shining and the wind wasn’t blowing.  It was actually great running weather.

    

There were about 300-400 people running from the high school down on the bike trail and then back up.  We all said we would run at our own pace.  Madison and Ellie started out together and at some point, separated.  I just plodded along, only stopping for about a 10 second breather at one point.  Pretty proud of myself.  Madison never stopped running.  Ellie took some walk breaks when needed.  Jeremy ended with a run.  I would say we all did a good job for where we were at. 

               

I would say we all did a good job for where we were at. 

And because I can’t stop laughing at the ridiculousness of this picture, I am putting it in.  I look like I am either out for a little skipping down the street or I am a turtle.  Not sure which, but enjoy a chuckle at my expense…

It was a lot of work to train, but it definitely paid off.  We will see if I am as motivated next year…