I figured it was about time to finish out the blog for 2020...a year unlike any other. I finished up the last post just before Thanksgiving and Ellie's birthday. Before we got things started, I went to an appointment in Columbia for my BRCA2 diagnosis. I met with Dr. Petersen and she went over my family history and other risk factors to determine my risk. It ended up my lifetime risk for breast cancer ranging from 55%-84%. So, Andrew and I decided doing a mastectomy was in my best interest. And she recommended I go ahead with the bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes) and referred me to a surgeon for that and a plastic surgeon for reconstruction. I met with the gynecological surgeon, Dr. Crowder, and the plastic surgeon, Dr. Huang, and got the hysterectomy with ovary and tube removal scheduled for January and the mastectomy scheduled for August.
For Thanksgiving day, we went out to Andrew's parents house for lunch. Annie and Brad weren't able to come back into town, so it was just our family and Matthew's family. We had nice weather, so the kids were able to play outside and we enjoyed some family time. We had dinner that night with my family and everyone was in town except Sara and Molly. The next day was Ellie's birthday, but first Andy organized a little basketball tournament for the kids. My parents rented out the Willard gym and we had a fun couple of hours of basketball. I don't think a champion was ever declared, but it there were cheers and tears and everything in between.
That evening we celebrated Ellie's 14th birthday with a lot of family (which was not highly looked upon by the Covid coalitions). We just ordered pizza and blew through two Oreo lasagna's. The rest of the weekend was spent together and we enjoyed the Early Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. Decent weather meant the kids spent a lot of time outside, which was great. And we got to celebrate Kaitlin finishing up radiation. She was supposed to have a couple more treatments after Thanksgiving, but they told her she could just be done, which was awesome.
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Ellie's birthday wasn't the only one we celebrated. We celebrated the twins, Mary's and my birthday. The twins had their 9th birthday. Covid changed plans for this too and we scrapped the plans for a big friend party and they had two of their friends who were in their class at school come over and hang out for a couple hours. Jack and Lucas got to come over and we started with cupcakes and opening presents and then they disappeared to do their own thing. They played video games, colored and played outside. They thought it was great and so did I. That afternoon, Andrew brought over their big present-new bikes. They were so excited and immediately got on them and took off. Then that evening we had family over and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. It was a refreshing dinner to have in December. They enjoyed all of their gifts and a second round of cupcakes. We got to see the Farwell family a couple days later as we had them all over to celebrate Mary's birthday.
We also celebrated my birthday. Andrew gave me a gift early and it was a cooktop cover that he made for me. He did a great job making it and it was perfect. He also gave me a stun gun ring to take on my runs. Something I never thought I would have, but could possibly come in handy. Some of the family started coming into town that day so we went to my parents later that day. They had soup for everyone and delicious red velvet cake.
School was such a mess with going back and forth between level 2 and 3 during November and December. The kids had to go to level 3 before Thanksgiving (all virtual) and then got to go back to level 2 after Thanksgiving. That is everyone except Jackson. They kept the high school virtual one extra week. Then they got to go back to hybrid for one week before they decided to go back to level 3 for everyone until it was time for Christmas break. This meant that Ellie only got to play 2 more games before they called their season finished. They had one home game and one away game (won both) and that was it. We enjoyed getting to watch her and the team in the few games they had and already can't wait for next year's season. Ellie was so disappointed and loved her coach. We tried to get the girls some games as a "travel team" after the season, but we just weren't finding anything. Ellie and her friend, Alia, have been meeting up at the Y in the mornings to get some practice time in before classes started.
Despite all the Covid restrictions, Lincoln has been able to play quite a bit of basketball. In December he got to play in Jeff City, Columbia and Schuyler. They are a fun team to watch and it is neat to see how they have improved over the last couple of years. Lincoln himself, has really improved at his ball handling playing at the point guard position, which is kind of a new position for him this year. The twins and Andrew got in a lot of practice time, but didn't have any games until the new year.
Along with school, birthdays and basketball, we also started prepping for Christmas. Ellie surprised Lincoln and the twins and decorated their room for them. It was so sweet of her and they loved it.
Of course, we have to sprinkle a little Jovie in here.
Kirksville usually has a Christmas parade and this year they decided to bring the parade to everyone by spreading it out over two days and driving through different neighborhoods. It only consisted of a firetruck, police car and two floats, but it was still cute. And the boys had been playing "roller ball" most of the day, so they followed the parade around the block on the rollerblades.
Ellie had her friends come over for a sleepover and gift exchange. I surprised her and decorated the basement for them. I also got sugar cookies for them to decorate. Then later in the week, I brought out some gingerbread houses and trains I got several years ago and let the kids do them. We just never got around doing them before, so of course the icing that came with them was pretty hard. I put it in hot water and it kind of work. We ended up having to hot glue everything together though. We also got in some form of our "Polar Express". I had plans to surprise them with a trip to Pear Tree and then go look at lights, but then we had to squeeze it in between two practices, so the light part didn't really happen. We did enjoy our dinner though.
The kids had to get their cousin and sibling gifts wrapped up early as we celebrated Christmas with Andrew's family on the 20th. Annie and Brad and family got into town late Friday night. We hadn't seen them since they moved a year and a half ago, so it was so great to see them again. We all got to meet up Saturday night at Matthew and Kristin's. It was great to just sit and talk and let the kids play. We also found out that they are moving back to Michigan in the summer and Brad is going to become director of operations for a missions group. Ellie stayed the night with Ashlyn and Lauren. Then Sunday we had Christmas at Tom and Mary's, so she stayed out there and helped Mary get stuff ready. We had a good dinner and then exchanged presents. We spent the rest of the evening visiting while the kids ran around the house. The next night we got one more time together before the Brimmers headed back to Florida. With them moving to Michigan, we should get to see them more which will be nice.
A few days after the Brimmers left, the Early crew started showing up. Before we went over to get that all started, I let the kids do their sibling gift exchange and open their Christmas pjs. Bennett started by giving Ellie a new shirt and her face wash and lotion. Then Miles gave Bennett a drone, Lincoln gave Jackson a football and the socks he likes, Ellie gave Lincoln a snorkel mask and Jackson gave Miles a drone.
Over at my parents, Lissy got the fun started by giving the kids a fun game to play and convincing them to help her build a charcuterie chalet. Lissy also organized a meal calendar so that we all split up taking care of the different meals for the week. I think my parents were very relieved to have some help.
We had another little basketball tournament. Todd organized this one. We were missing the Earlys and Taylors, but had fun mixing it up with 3on3 this time.
The rest of the family showed up on Christmas Eve and everyone was there when Santa made a visit. And after a yummy dinner, my crew went home to get changed. While Ellie and I were the only ones going to Midnight Mass, the others agreed to get dressed so that my parents could have the picture of everyone. My parents had to make reservations for mass as they were limiting how many could attend. Andrew and the boys were very grateful that they could stay home and go to bed. Mass was a bit different since it wasn't packed. I don't think they even had the 200 that was their limit. But the music was still so beautiful. And I made the drive home without falling asleep. I tiptoed around and got everything ready and Andrew woke up when I was taking a couple pictures of the finished product and asked if I needed help.
The kids thankfully didn't wake up as early as I thought they would. I think it was closer to 7/7:30. We all had a great Christmas morning. Jackson was surprised with his trap bar and remote start for his truck among other things. Ellie got the foot massager she asked for months back and then forgot about. Lincoln and the twins got their wireless controllers their were hoping for. The twins also got bows and Lincoln got a new football and soccer ball. I gave Andrew a new bike helmet, some accessories for the weights, a coat and some jeans and coffee from the kids. And he gave me some perfume, sheets and an ice cream maker. The kids got to play with all of their stuff for a little while, I cleaned up and Andrew burned all the remnants from opening presents and then we headed to my parents.
They were all waiting when we got there and were anxious to get everything going. My parents tried to control the chaos and had the kids all wait while they handed out gifts. It definitely did help. And I tried to mark everything they got with their name since all the cousins get similar gifts. We put them all way in bags as they open them, but then they get them all out again later and get everything mixed up. One of the neatest gifts was that my dad used barn wood to make little stables for the four oldest granddaughters and they also received the Holy Family nativity pieces. The kids also all loved their new blankets.
We ate a yummy brunch afterwards and spent some time visiting before heading home to recharge before dinner that night. Andrew took the kids out to see his parents for a little bit too. We had a delicious dinner that night and then did the cousin gift exchange and the sibling gift exchange.
The next day, my mom and the sisters all went out for lunch at Pear Tree. It was so nice to get to hang out together without kids and just visit and laugh. Then we got a surprise when we got home. We were all just sitting around when "I'll Be Home With Bells On" starting playing and we had our own Dolly and Kenny serenade us. Lissy and Sara were great! I guess they had been planning it for a year or two, but I had no idea.
That night, some of the girls had a sleepover at our house. The boys did a lot of sleepovers at my parents with their cousins. The next day, Andrew took some of the crew out to the ranch to do a little mountain biking and that night, the Taylors and I were in charge of dinner and we had it at our house.
Everyone started heading home the next day and things started quieting down. We enjoyed some down time at home and the kids got to go through their new treasures. We had a day with no internet, which was good as it forced them all to find other ways to entertain themselves.
And we closed out the year by celebrating with my parents. We had dinner at Pear Tree and then we went to their house to ring in the new year. We usually spend the night, but we had ice coming in overnight, so figured it would be better if we spent the night at our house. While 2020 brought many frustrations and anxiety, we could definitely look back and find some bright moments of extra time spent with family and a chance to slow down. Here is to 2021 and unknown opportunities.
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