Christmas break

Christmas snuck up on me like a kid who doesn't know the months in the year. I was living like the 2010's with no Amazon delivery. We had to physically go into stores and buy things the week of Christmas. NEVER. AGAIN. It truly took the joy out of the season stressing if we would find the gifts we wanted to get for the kids and other family members. I did not make Christmas goodies for friends, my hope is to get Valentine presents out...but alas 2021 was another difficult year with covid, masks, concussions, Achilles surgery...life is a rollercoaster. Grateful to have a hot tub to soak in!
 

Holman turns 17!!

 Our sweet little Holman is now 6"2' and not so little anymore!! He is still recovering from his concussion so I'm sure his birthday was kind of a blur. We had grandparents over for cake and pizza on his actual birthday. Then on Sunday we had Georgie and her family over for dinner. He chose cheesey barley soup, bread bowls and eclair cake. Both events were great, honoring one of the best man that I know. Holman is funny, generous, kind and sensitive to people who struggle. He doesn't ask for anything so finding him gifts can be challenging. So grateful I can learn from him and I get to be his mom.

Bella's engaged!!

Bella and Sam joined us for Thanksgiving then they headed to Sam's family cabin for the weekend. Little did Bella know (but I'm sure she was hoping)  Sam had a romantic proposal planned! He took her hiking in the woods and his cousin, aunt and mom were camped out ready to take pictures. They even got a video too!! It was beautiful and we are beyond thrilled to have Sam join the family!! We found out later that Anna made Sam promise to propose on her birthday. They are planning to get married on March 5th. Bella Pershing sounds nice ❤️

 

Anna's 12th birthday

Can't believe this beauty is 12!! We just love our Anna Panna!! Olivia and I gave her pink highlights to celebrate.  She continues to amaze me with her artistic abilities. She is so creative. She is super funny and gets me rolling with her wit. She is very smart (I wish she knew that) and also very tender hearted. Her birthday dinner was cornbread (her favorite), mashed potatoes and chicken tenders. Every birthday Benjamin takes the kids out for Donuts with Dad, or Frost with Father or Pancakes with Pop. She chose to get drinks with dad for her birthday at Starbucks. The lady in front of them paid for their order. There are generous people out in the world! What a lucky thing to happen to lucky charm daughter. Love you Anna more than you will ever know 💞

 

Thanksgiving, November 25th

The Webster family was gracious enough to host Thanksgiving. It was our two families, Nana and Papa,  Sam Pershing, Emma's fiance Josh and the Webster's foreign exchange student from Japan. It was lovely. We ate like kings and celebrated  in Hillary's renovated kitchen. It's always so nice to see the cousins laughing together.

Lindsey made these turkey hats for the Webster family years ago, they are so well made!!

Hillary sporting a mullet. Too funny!

 

Holey shoes

I picked up Parkin to go to the optometrist and afterwards I told him we were going to buy gifts for some elderly people for Christmas. Ever the happy kid, sounds good mom. Then he said hey look at the hole in my shoe... Needless to say we went show shopping too. Never the complainer.

 

Marathon to wheelchair

 Three years ago on November 2nd Benjamin and I ran a marathon. Benjamin got this photo throwback when he was laying in the hospital waiting for his heart procedure....what a difference three years can make. The procedure was supposed to trigger an arrhythmia with a shot of adrenaline. They had it pumping for an hour, no arrhythmia. The doctor was hoping that he could isolate where his heart was misfiring so they could oblate it. No such luck. Benjamin didn't think it was a waste because they changed his heart medication and now they know adrenaline doesn't trigger his arrhythmias. So he can work out with no worries. We have definitely hit our deductible this year!!