Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 12/21 - 12/27)

Monday (12/21) - It's our first official day of winter break and we enjoyed it! We started off by sleeping in this morning and then having a relaxing day. Adrian was the only one who had to get up and head upstairs to work for the day. I headed out to get a much needed pedicure and run a few other quick errands in the morning. Then after lunch the boys took a break from video games to get some work done. Daniel and I made crumb cake for his ELA project while AJ and Zak made ornaments and a tray for cookies and milk. We were all really productive in the hour and then the boys headed back upstairs to play video games. I spent the rest of the day working on stuff around the house, which is my number one goal for the next two weeks, finish everything on my to do lists.

The day passed quickly and before long it was time to get dinner together for everyone. Rocky and I headed out for a long walk trying to see the Christmas star, but unfortunately it was too cloudy for us to be able to see it tonight. After dinner, we cleaned up from the day and then got ready for our evening. Adrian was stuck working late so we decided to postpone our trip to see the light shows again and stayed home to hang out with him. We watched last week's "Great Christmas Light Fight" and really enjoyed the heavy weight category. When that was over, we got the boys to bed and wrapped a few presents while we finished our bottle of wine for Advent. Then we watched one episode of "Schitt's Creek" before I headed to bed for the night, leaving Adrian downstairs and still working. It was a great first day of break!

Tuesday (12/22) Today looked a lot like yesterday and we loved it! We slept in a little today, although Adrian and I both needed to get up and moving today. He headed to work another long day, hopefully his last one for the year. I got up and ready and headed out to get my eyebrows done and then bring the van in for a quick service. Thankfully it was related to what they did about a month ago and didn't take long or cost us anything, yay! When I got home, I started working around the house while the boys played video games. We took a break in the afternoon and AJ and I made cookies while the other boys worked on some things they need to finish this break. The cookies came out delicious, possibly my favorite batch on this season!!

The rest of the day passed quickly and I was very productive. I made tacos for everyone for dinner and after we ate, we went outside to look for the Christmas star. Daniel and I believe we saw it, or at least something that looked similar to it. It stinks that it's been so cloudy this week and we couldn't really see it from here. After a little more free time for everyone, we got ready for our evening together. We put out all of the goodies we've made and enjoyed them while watching the new movie "Jingle Jangle." It was super cute, we all really enjoyed it! After we put the boys to bed, Adrian and I headed to the basement to organize our stuff done there a bit and then finished our bottle of wine while finishing "Schitt's Creek." What a great series finale for a great series! We really enjoyed the whole series, so glad we decided to watch it!

Wednesday (12/23) We slept in a bit today and then had another slow start to our day, I'm loving this break! Adrian once again got up early and took care of Rocky and then dropped her off at daycare for the day before heading to work. When I finally got up and moving, I hung out with the boys and got a bunch of work around the house all day. We took a break in the middle of the day and finished a few pieces of homework and Scout requirements before enjoying the nice weather and playing in the yard for a bit. I took advantage of Adrian being upstairs all day and wrapped most of his presents this afternoon.

The day passed quickly and soon I was leaving to pick up Rocky and a small order at Meijer to grab a few essentials for the weekend. Then I came home and had dinner before heading out to the church to work for an hour. It was nice to see so many people there, big rehearsal for Christmas Eve. I was also surprised with two fun gifts at the church, one from my boss and one from my secret sister. I felt very loved receiving both of them!! When my shift was over, Adrian, the boys and Rocky picked me up and we headed to Creekside to walk around in the lights for a bit. We enjoyed using the new glasses our elf left us to have the lights all look like different things. It was a beautiful night and we walked around for about an hour before heading home.

When we got home, the boys decided they didn't want to do a movie or Christmas special tonight so they headed upstairs to play for a bit while Adrian and I opened our bottle of "Festivus" wine for our Advent calendar. After a bit, we called the boys down and watched the Seinfeld with Festivus and our favorite Big Bang Theory Christmas episode with them. Then we got them down to bed and worked on our wrapping for a bit. We finished the night with an episode of "Young Sheldon" before we headed to bed. I think we're going to have a very late night tomorrow!!

Thursday (12/24) Merry Christmas Eve! We all slept in a little today since Adrian doesn't have to work at all for the next 4 days! We had a relaxing morning of coffee and bagels that were delivered to our doorstep early this morning. Then we started to get ready for the celebrations. We got ready and bundled up to head up to the school to see Santa parade by in a firetruck. We decided to walk up so that we could take Rocky with us on a walk before leaving her in her crate while we headed out. When we got up to the school, there was a huge flock of geese and she decided to chase after them, escaping from Adrian and taking off running across the lawn. It was shocking to us that she took off but her animal instinct must have kicked in. Thankfully a neighbor in the school parking lot was able to coax her over and grab her leash so we got her back. That was a lot of excitement for a walk!

After we calmed down from that, we enjoyed the short parade of police, firefighters, snow plow drivers and a few other township workers. Santa was hard to see in the firetruck, but it was freezing and starting to snow so I don't blame him for hanging inside. When that was over, we walked back home and loaded into the car to head to Carl's for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. It has been a few months since we saw them so the kids had a blast hanging out while the adults caught up over snacks and wine. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of fish and our homemade pierogies, which came out pretty good for our first try. We need to tweak our filling so we have less potato and more cheese flavor.

After dinner, the kids opened their presents and were all excited about their gifts. Then we had dessert and the kids played for a bit longer before we headed out for home. It had been snowing most of the afternoon and we had a bit of a rough drive home, but Adrian did great navigating the snow, ice and other drivers on the roads. When we finally got home, the boys had some free time while Adrian and I straightened up and prepped for tonight. We sprinkled our reindeer food on the snow, left out milk and cookies for Santa and got the boys to bed finally. Then we pulled up all of our unwrapped gifts and got to work. There was more than we thought and we ended up staying up until 2:30 in the morning finishing everything up! This may have been the latest we've ever been up prepping for Christmas, but it's also harder now because the kids go to bed so much later. Soon after we finished wrapping and putting everything under the tree, we headed to bed exhausted and ready for tomorrow!

Friday (12/25) Merry Christmas!! We are very thankful that the boys slept in until almost 9am this morning and we got some sleep after a very late night last night. They were all super excited to see all of the presents under the tree. Adrian took Rocky for a quick walk in the snow while the boys separated all of our gifts into piles. We took our time opening our gifts and everyone was happy with most of their gifts (the clothes were boring, but necessary!) The boys were VERY surprised to find a new XBox under the tree for them, especially AJ and Daniel who know how hard they are to find right now. I'm glad Adrian was able to figure out how to get one for them!

After we finished opening gifts, the boys headed upstairs to set up the XBox and Adrian and I tried to make some sense of the living room. We had a fairly lazy rest of our day that included a few naps, some football, lots of food and board games. We did an afternoon Zoom with my family which was a bit crazy but still fun. It was good to see everyone and felt like Christmas with everyone talking over each other. Adrian and I played two of our new games, Lords of Waterdeep with the Scoundrels at Skullport expansion and Curious Cargo, and Adrian won both. We let the boys stay up until midnight, pretty much playing on their new Xbox the whole time. We all fell into bed shortly after midnight happy but exhausted after a fantastic Christmas!

Saturday (12/26) We slept in today since we had absolutely nothing on our agenda! We had a relaxing morning with coffee and bagels. Then the boys started playing video games and Adrian and I started playing board games. Our day was pretty much those two things plus walking with Rocky, watching football and eating great food. We played two games together as a family, Marvel Villainous which didn't go very well but we'll play again and Betrayal at Mystery Mansion, which we won and had a great time playing! Adrian and I also played Everdell twice and Barenpark, and I won all three games. We ordered Little Caesar's for dinner since the boys had been asking for pizza for the past few days. It was a glorious and relaxing day and exactly what we all needed. Looking forward to a repeat next weekend!!

Sunday (12/27) We slept in again today since we once again had nothing on our agenda, at least not this morning. We had a relaxing morning and then started doing a few things around the house to get it back into decent shape, especially focusing on the kitchen and the boys' video game loft. We also did a ton of laundry since we've been ignoring that for the past few days too. The day passed quickly as we worked and watched football games, including both the Jets and the Cowboys winning again this weekend. Around dinner time, I got ready and headed out to meet a few friends at the Mexican restaurant up the street to have some dinner and margaritas. It was a great few hours filled with lots of laughs and good conversation! While I was there, the boys had 2 friends over to play Dungeons and Dragons and use all of their new accessories for that. They had a great time playing together! When I got home, Adrian and I were pretty tired so we had some wine and watched some TV including checking out the new show "Big Sky" which we both really liked. It has been a great, long weekend and I feel rested and ready for another short week and long weekend of fun.

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 11/16 - 11/22)

Monday (11/16) We are back to our normal routine and schedule today for the only normal week of November. Adrian got up and moving and got AJ and Rocky started for the day before heading to work upstairs for the day. Then I got Daniel and Zak up and ready for their day as well. Everyone had a ton of Zoom calls all day and it was hard to keep everything straight, but we managed to do everything at the right time. The boys worked hard and got all of their schoolwork done as well and they were done for the day around 2:30. I worked around the house while they were working and got a ton of stuff done in between keeping up with their schedules.

This afternoon I headed to the Pataskala library to pick up free STEM kits for each boy and then ran a few errands. Then since today is "fast food day," I went to pick up dinner for everyone. Of course everyone wanted something different so I made a bunch of stops, but got just about everything that everyone wanted. Daniel missed out on a shake since McDonald's ice cream machine was down, again. When I got home, we all ate our fast food and then got ready for our evening. Adrian is working super late tonight so that required some juggling on my part, but I got it all worked out.

I headed out with AJ to the church to teach my Zumba class. We had a large group and all got a great working! AJ's Scout leader picked him up from the church to take him to his weekly meeting. When my class was over, I ran to Kroger to pick up my order and then back to pick up AJ from Scouts. When we got home, I took Rocky on a quick walk and got the boys ready for our night routine. We watched an episode of "Total Wipeout" together & then I got them to bed. Adrian was still work so I cleaned up the kitchen, made my snacks & watched "Real Housewives of Potomac" for a bit before also heading to bed. It was a crazy Monday & I'm hoping that the rest of the week calms down a little!

Tuesday (11/17) Since Adrian worked so late last night, he slept in this morning and I got AJ up and ready for school. Then after I woke Daniel up and got him started, I did all of Rocky's morning stuff and realized how hard it is to juggle all of this! Once I got everyone started on school things felt a little calmer, at least for a little bit. Adrian eventually got up, took Rocky for another walk and then started work for the day. The passed quickly with the boys doing school work and me working around the house. 

When the boys were done with school for the day, they got some video game time while I did a few more things around the house. Then they had haircut appointments which Adrian was supposed to take them to so I could run to Costco, but he got stuck working so I took them instead. They did great telling Kim what they wanted and they look great after their haircuts! I knew their hair was long but didn't realize how long it had actually gotten. We ran by the library to return a bunch of books on our way home, then I took Rocky on a quick walk and got started on dinner for everyone.

After we all had tacos for dinner, I sent the boys upstairs and called in for our monthly committee meeting for Scouts. We made some plans for upcoming events and reviewed where we are with requirements. When that meeting was over, I cleaned up a bit from dinner and then had the boys come down to get ready for family movie night. Today is "Little Mermaid" Day so we watched that for our movie tonight. I loved every second of it and sang along, unfortunately the boys were not impressed. They were thankful when it was over and they could go to bed, ha! Adrian was able to work downstairs and join us for the movie, then he and I used our new microwave air popper to make popcorn. We watched last week's episode of "Card Sharks" and then headed to bed since he was done "early" tonight. This is going to be a long week!

Wednesday (11/18) We got to sleep in a little today since no one has early Zoom calls today. I got Daniel and myself up and ready to wait for Patrick, McKenzie and Hailey to arrive. When they all got here, we worked on our school work and while there were some struggles, we did manage to finish everything fairly early. Daniel and Patrick were done especially early and enjoyed playing a few board games while the rest of the kids worked. After lunch, they were all released for some free time. I did crafts with Zak, McKenzie and Hailey to finish up one of Zak's Scout belt loops. We made Native American dream catchers and after a rough start for Zak, all three of them actually did a very nice job!! 

After the very rough morning/afternoon I sent the kids upstairs to play video games for a while and I took some time to myself downstairs. I caught my breath and then got a few things done around the house. The rest of the afternoon passed quickly and before long it was time for the other kids to get picked up and Melissa to drop off our food from the school for the week. After I got that organized, I made a quick dinner, then headed to the church to work for an hour. When I got home, Adrian was still working so he took a short break to walk with me and Rocky and then we got started on our evening routine. We watched an episode of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" with the boys and then got them to bed. Then we cleaned up a little and watched tonight's "The Goldburgs" before we also headed to bed for the night.

Thursday (11/19) We got up and moving on time again today, but just barely. We are all tired and ready for the weekend to rest! Adrian got AJ up and started on school then dropped Rocky off at daycare before coming home to start working. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and then we waited for Cameron and Hailey to get here for the day. The kids spent the day doing their Zoom calls and schoolwork and all did a pretty good job of staying focused. We had a few struggles, but we managed to make it thru the day. While they did school work, I worked around the house and got some things crossed off my to do list. It was a late day for schoolwork since Zak had a late Zoom for his library class, but we made it work. When they were all done with school for the day, they played video games together until the parents came to pick them up for the day.

When everyone was picked up, I headed out to pick up Rocky from daycare while our dinner was cooking. When we got home, I ate a quick dinner and then headed to the church to teach my Zumba class. This may be the last one for a while since COVID cases are so high in my area, we may need to move to virtual classes for a few weeks. We had a fun time dancing together and laughed a lot as usual. When I got home, we took Rocky on a quick walk and then watched an episode of "Raising Dion" with the boys before they headed to bed for the night. Then Adrian and I cleaned up a little from the day and were both exhausted so we watched some TV and also headed to bed for the night.

Friday (11/20) We survived the week, but just barely. We all got up and moving on time and Adrian got AJ started on school before heading upstairs to work for the day. I got Daniel and Zak ready and we waited for Hailey and Cameron to get here. We had a rough day, really it's been a rough week. I'm hoping the short week and then 5 day break next week will help us all snap out of this funk! The kids did a good job of getting to all of their Zoom calls and finishing most of their school work today while I worked around the house. My boys have a few things left for homework this weekend so hopefully that won't be too big of a fight! When they were done with schoolwork, they had some video game time until the parents came to pick them up.

After everyone left, we cleaned up the kitchen a bit and then had dinner together before getting ready for our evening activities. Adrian led another Dungeons & Dragons game for AJ, Daniel, Braven and Cameron. They had a great time playing even though a few of them died in battle. While they were playing, I was up in our bedroom attending a Zumba jam session. I had so much fun dancing with the Tres Leches, 3 different jammers all teaching on song to us. The choreo is easy and fun, which is what both myself and my students want in our songs. I didn't have much room to dance, so I did what I could but I still learned all four songs so that's what's important. When we were all done, the boys had some free time to play video games with their friend Braven. After he was picked up, we took Rocky for a quick walk and then watched some comedies from our DVR before getting the boys down to bed and following soon after them. 

Saturday (11/21) Today we got to sleep in a little since some of our commitments were cancelled. Adrian and Zak got up and moving and headed to his bowling league. He bowled well again today and was over his average all three games. While they were gone, the rest of us got up and moving. AJ and Daniel started playing video games and I started working around the house. I spent most of the day catching up on stuff that I did not get done during the week. Adrian watched the OSU game which was a great game and ran out when it was over to get a haircut. The day passed quickly, almost too quickly for a weekend.

When Adrian got home, the 5 of us played Monopoly together to celebrate that holiday. Daniel and I played two games of Monopoly Empire and each won one. Adrian, AJ and Zak played Monopoly Gamer and AJ won since he teamed up with Zak to beat Adrian. When we were done playing, we all had dinner and then the boys went back to video games while Adrian and I played board games. We played "Castles of Burgundy" and Adrian finally won a game! We also played Targi again and I won again. We both really like that game and may get it for Christmas. We let the boys stay up until midnight again and we were going to watch something, but Adrian got sucked in to the Michigan football game so he watched that and I played online a little before we all headed to bed. 

Sunday (11/22) We slept in again this morning, but I had to get up a little earlier than I would have liked. I had a virtual Zumba training that started at 10am so I needed to make sure I was ready for that. I enjoyed attending "Take the Lead" today and loved learning from Jenna, but the training itself was not one of my favorites. I'm thankful I was able to fit it into my schedule and be able to take it for free from Zumba. While I was in the training, Adrian got the boys thru all of their homework and most of the housework. Unfortunately Daniel wasn't feeling well, his stomach was upset most of the day, so he spent a lot of the afternoon resting. 

When my training was over, Adrian and I ran out to drop my van off for service tomorrow and picked up the popcorn we sold for Scouts. Then we came home and finished up as much as we could around the house. We also watched both the Jets and Cowboys games since they were both shockingly close. The rest of the day passed quickly, almost too quickly for me since I had such a late start on my chores. After dinner and some video game time, it was time for our night routine. We watched the next episode of "Raising Dion" as a family and then got the boys to bed. Then Adrian and I watched this week's episode of "Superstore" before we also went to bed. It was a pretty great weekend and we are excited for a short week and Thanksgiving next week!

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 12/7 - 12/13)

Monday (12/7) Back to our normal routine today, but only two weeks until winter break! Adrian got AJ up and started on school then took care of Rocky and headed upstairs to work. It's going to be a long and busy week for him so we are going to need some team work to survive! I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and started on school for the day too. The boys did a great job of staying focused on all of their Zoom calls and independant school work today, no complaining and they needed very little help from me. I spent the day working around the house and trying to get some online Christmas shopping done.

When they were done with school for the day, we started on their next at home Scouting program. We are learning all about Alaska and the Iditarod and the four of us are really excited to learn more about this topic. Today we started with learning about the first stop of the Iditarod (Finger Lake) and about knots and lashings. The boys practiced some knots including the square knot and two half hitch knot and read about lashings since I don't have any of that material handy. When we were done with that, they got some free time and I headed out to run some errands.

I got home just in time to feed everyone a quick dinner and then head back out with AJ to his weekly Scout meeting. In an ironic twist, his troop was learning about lashings tonight so AJ got to put some of his knowledge to use. I dropped him off there and ran to Target to do some more Christmas shopping then went back to pick him up. When we got home, Adrian was still at work so I took Rocky on a quick walk while the boys did some clean up around the house. Then we took a few minutes to learn about Pearl Harbor Day before watching "Frosty the Snowman" together while enjoying Christmas tree snack cakes that our elf for us. Adrian came down during that and we opened our Advent bottle of wine and then got the kids to bed and the kitchen cleaned up together. Then we watched two episodes of "Schitt's Creek" before we headed to bed too.

Tuesday (12/8) We got up and moving on time again today. Adrian got AJ up and started on school, took care of Rocky and then headed upstairs to work. Zak was up super early again, so he got some extra TV time this morning while Daniel and I got ready and got his school day started. The boys did a great job of staying focused on their school work today, especially Zak. He finally seems to be understanding that if he just sits and does a good job on his work, he can have the rest of the day to do what he would like to do. He was very responsible today to get all of his work done and even finished his art project that is due later this week.

When they were done with school, we did a few STEM experiments for the Scout program we are doing right now. They especially enjoyed the color explosions one! When we finished the experiments, the boys had some free time while I ran out to quickly do some grocery shopping. Then I got home and made tacos for everyone for dinner. Zak and I then had our first Zoom meeting for Scouts for the year since we weren't able to meet in person this week. I had fun leading the few Scouts that attending in some jokes and fun to work towards their laughter belt loop.

Thankfully Adrian finished earlier than planned again so he was downstairs when our meeting was over. We took Rocky for a walk and then cleaned up from dinner together. Then the boys came down and we got ready for family movie night. We ate the Christmas tree brownies that our elf brought for Brownie Day while watching the first Christmas Chronicles movie. We all wanted a refresher before we watch the second one, hopefully later this week. When the movie was over, we got the boys to bed and then watched the end of the Cowboys game while finishing up our Advent bottle of wine before heading to bed.

Wednesday (12/9) We got to sleep in a little today and we had a very slow start to our day. We all got up and moving and waited for Patrick, McKenzie and Hailey to be dropped off. When they got here, everyone started their school work for the day so they were done quicker. The younger kids had their morning Zoom and everyone finished all of their independant work for the day. They also worked together to build a fort in our loft for the Scout program we are doing. And Zak, McKenzie and Hailey built catapults to launch snowballs (cotton balls). It was a full day that was mostly smooth despite a few breakdowns. When they finished with school, they all had free time to play together. They played video games, developed animation shorts for their YouTube channel and played outside on the swings and the trampoline. I was able to get a ton of stuff done around the house in between making sure they got everything done and stayed safe. 

When the kids were picked up, Melissa also dropped off our meals from school for the week so I put those away and then got dinner together. Then I headed out to work at the church for an hour while Adrian worked late at home. When I got home, I took Rocky on a quick walk and got AJ set up for his Scout merit badge Zoom counseling session. Tonight he earned his "Citizenship in the Nation" merit badge which he has been working very hard on the past month! Since Adrian was still working, the boys and I watched the premier of "The Great Christmas Light Fight" before they headed to bed. Adrian finished up right before they headed up to bed so we opened our Advent bottle of wine, watched an episode of "Supermarket Sweep" and then also headed to bed. It was a long day, but also a productive one!

Thursday (12/10) We got up and moving a little better today after a good night of sleep for all of us. Adrian got AJ up and ready for school and then dropped Rocky off at daycare before heading upstairs to work for the day. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and we waited for Hailey and Cameron to be dropped off. They all worked hard on their schoolwork and stayed focused on their Zoom calls. They broke up the day with playing outside on the trampoline and playing with cars in the house. It was a long day for us today since we had Zoom calls until 3:00, but everyone did great with staying quiet and busy until we were all done. Then they were given free time to play video games together until the parents came to pick them up for the day.

When the other kids left, I worked with the boys on a few of our extra things. We watched a video about the Nobel Prize and learned about how it is awarded. We also learned about what the dogs and mushers eat while they are on the trail during the Iditarod. Both of the activities were very educational! When we were done with that, the boys had some free time while I finished up a few things around the house then went to pick up Rocky and pizza for dinner. After a quick dinner, I headed out to help with wreath pick up for Zak's Scout pack for about an hour. While there I picked up all of the awards Zak has earned since the Scout year started this summer. When I got home, Adrian and I took Rocky for a short walk and then we watched "The Great Christmas Light Fight" with the boys while starting our Advent bottle of wine. After we put them to bed, we watched two episodes of "Schitt's Creek" and enjoyed just turning our brains off for a little a bit before we headed to bed. 

Friday (12/11) We got up and moving today but just barely in time to start our day. Adrian got AJ up and started in school, took care of Rocky and then headed upstairs to work. I got Daniel and Zak ready and waited for Cameron and Hailey to be dropped off. They all got started on schoolwork and worked hard all day to stay focused during their Zoom calls and finish all of their schoolwork. They mostly played outside on their breaks because it was gorgeous outside today! While they worked, I helped them out and worked around the house. They worked hard until about 3:00 and then they were done for the week. They played video games together until the parents came to pick up the other kids.

After some free time for the boys, we called them down for a quick dinner. We had bagels for dinner since it's bagel day and they didn't have them for breakfast this morning. After dinner, AJ and Daniel got set up for Dungeons and Dragons with Cameron and Kyle. Zak and I headed upstairs to stay out of their way. They had a great time playing today, there was a lot of laughter and fun heard during their game time! They played about 2 hours and then the parents came to pick them up. Our boys headed upstairs for some video game time and Adrian and I took Rocky on a nice long walk. Then we opened our Advent bottle of wine and binge watched a few episodes of "Schitt's Creek." We put the boys to bed around 11, moved the elf and headed to bed ourselves. It was a long week!

Saturday (12/12) We got a great night of sleep and slept in a little this morning before most of us had to get up and moving. Adrian got himself and Zak ready and they headed out to Zak's weekly bowling league. Zak bowled great today, getting a ton of spares and his highest score to date in this league. He is having a great time bowling and is learning how to bowl well without the bumpers. While they were there, I headed out to help the other Scout leaders hand out wreaths and belt loops to our Scouts and then I ran a few errands which pretty much finished my Christmas shopping.

When I got home, Adrian was working so I got a few things done around the house and then helped the boys decorate this year's gingerbread house. We bought a pre-made one this year and it was so much easier than previous years!! We had fun decorating it and Adrian finished work around the same time we finished decorating. We spent the rest of the day playing games, video games for the boys and board games for the adults. We played our last month of Pandemic Legacy Season 2 twice  since we lost the first one. We finally won the second one and did pretty well for the season. We think this season was just OK, we definitely preferred the first season, this one felt almost impossible at times. We also played Five Tribes (I won), Llamas United with the boys (Zak won) and Viticulture (We tied, but then I won on the tie breaker). We broke up the games by walking Rocky and watching "Schitt's Creek." We all stayed up until after midnight and had a fantastic day!!

Sunday (12/13) We all slept in today because we all needed the rest. We had a slow start to the day with coffee and bagels and then started working around the house. Today was our work day so we really buckled down and focused on what we needed to get done. The boys finished their homework and their weekend chores and also did a few of the requirements for the Scout adventure we've been working on. They went on a hike around the neighborhood with Rocky and Adrian using their compass and we also watched the webinar of the Iditarod musher who is also an Eagle Scout. It was really interesting to learn about his experiences!!

Adrian and I also got a ton of stuff done around the house. We finished all of our Christmas shopping, organized what we have in the basement and made a plan to do everything that we still want to do before Christmas. We also got a lot of cleaning, organizing and prep work done for the week ahead. It's going to be a busy week, Adrian will be working a lot of hours and I'm actually subbing two mornings this week at the preschool. I'm a little overwhelmed by it all but I feel ready to head into the week! The day passed quickly and in between all of our work, we watched our football teams lose and saw a few other great games. After a late dinner, we watched "Charlie Brown Christmas" with the boys and then got them down for the night. Then Adrian and I watched two more episodes of "Schitt's Creek" before we also headed to bed for the night.

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Dec 6 - Dec 12)

We did a good job again of sticking to our meal plan last week. On Saturday we decided to do an at home date night since we were picking up donuts and beer for dessert from a local business. We also decided to order dinner from Piada and push the planned meal to Sunday instead. It worked out great and I really enjoyed a night off from cooking. As we are getting closer to Christmas I am getting more overwhelmed with holiday stuff and less focused on cooking and healthy eating. I forsee lots of easy meals and take out on the menu for the next few weeks and I'm OK with all of that. I will probably only do one more meal plan post for the year next week and then take a break for the holidays. I'm not sure if I'll continue these in the new year or not, I'm trying to figure out what works best for me.

This week is a mix of things including trying to clean out our refrigerators and take on a few new responsiblities. I am out of fresh produce from our CSA except for a few squash, some of which I'm using this week and the rest I'm hoping to leave until early next year to eat. I did a Costco run right before Thanksgiving so that stocked us up on meats and a few other pantry staples. I'm once again trying to only shop once per month and continue to do this into the new year. It's really hard to get any time to grocery shop, even with the pick up services at most of the stores I shop at. I'm thankful for the school lunch program as well as that is filling in a few holes in our diet as well.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday - Grilled London Broil and Roasted Sweets & Beets

Monday - Leftovers (I'm going out to run errands tonight so I'm making it easy)

Tuesday - Tacos! Beef for the boys and chicken for the adults

Wednesday - Ricotta Pasta

Thursday - Marco's Pizza - it's fundraiser night again and we have a coupon to use

Friday - Butterkin Squash Pasta
Saturday - Chili Stuffed Acorn Squash - this may get bumped to tomorrow, I'm not sure what our weekend plans are yet

Water Flavor - I'm back to using oranges in my water this week. I love the citrus flavor in my water! Sometimes I also add a drop of spearmint essential oil to the orange flavored water for a little extra flavor.

Baking - I'm actually taking the week off from baking. We have a good chunk of cookies in the house from last week plus our elf is bringing some goodies for the boys this week. I'll probably start my Christmas baking next week so I think a week off to catch up is probably a good idea.

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 11/9 - 11/15)

Monday (11/9) After a rough night of sleep for me and Adrian, we were up and moving and ready for another week. Adrian got AJ up and ready and started on school before heading upstairs to work. I got Daniel, Zak and myself ready and started on school. Zak is getting a little extra reading help starting today which is awesome because he has a one on one Zoom with his teacher every day now. The boys did great staying focused on their schoolwork and attending all of their Zooms thru the day. While they did their schoolwork, I worked around the house doing all of the things that I didn't get done this weekend since we were so focused on the deck project. We were all very focused and productive all day long. When they were done with school for the day, I ran to the library to pick up a few books and return a few others while dinner cooked in the slow cooker.

When I got home, we all had a quick dinner together and then got ready for our evening activities. I headed to the church to teach an awesome Zumba class. We had a large group and we all had a lot of fun, especially with our Thanksgiving themed songs. While I was there, Adrian took AJ to his Scout meeting which was their semi-annual Court of Honor. AJ was awarded all of the merit badges he has been working on over the past 6 months or so. His leaders are really proud of his initiative and had him talk about some of the unique badges he earned, including being the first one in his troop to earn the Nova STEM award. We are very proud of how hard he is working and how self motivated (with a little push from me) he has been during this weird time. We're also thankful to BSA for all of the resources they have provided us!

When we all got home, Adrian and I took Rocky on a walk while the boys cleaned up and got ready for our evening. We watched this week's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" together and knew a lot more of the answers than we've known in the past few episodes. Then we got the boys to bed, cleaned up the kitchen a little and put on the second half of the Jets game. Adrian was exhausted so he headed to bed, but I was a glutton for punishment and stayed up to watch the Jets lose again. Ugh, this season is painful!

Tuesday (11/10) We were up and moving early again for another full day of school today. Adrian got AJ up and ready for school, then took care of Rocky and headed upstairs to work. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and we waited for Patrick and McKenzie to come over for the day. They are coming today since I'm taking tomorrow off. When they got here, I monitored school and managed to get all of the kids on all of their Zoom calls and thru all of their work on time. It was a long day since both AJ and Zak had speech and it's harder to have other kids on different schedules, but thankfully we are able to work together and work it all out. While they worked, I worked around the house and got dinner set up in our crockpot to cook all day.

After school was done for the day, the kids played video games together while I did some stuff around the house and got ready for our evening activities. Melissa picked her kids up after work and we had dinner and then Zak and I headed out to our Scout meeting. We played a few games of Capture the Flag since the weather was so nice and then moved inside to learn about famous Americans. We had a fun discussion about a bunch of different Americans, and a few foreigners who helped Americans in different ways. While we were at the meeting, Adrian headed to the airport to pick up my Mom who is spending a few days with us. After we all got home and settled, we had family movie night watching "Over the Moon" which was a really cute movie. The boys thought it was just OK, but the adults really liked it! When the movie was over, the boys and my Mom headed to bed since it was a long day. Adrian and I watched an episode of "Card Sharks" and then also headed to bed a little later than usual since we don't have to get up tomorrow morning.

Wednesday (11/11) We all slept in this morning since Adrian is off, no kids are coming over and the boys didn't have any Zoom calls today. It felt nice to sleep in a little bit in the middle of the week. Once we all got up and moving, the boys started on their schoolwork for the day. They took breaks to play board games with my Mom including the Pokemon game and Even Stevens Odd. While they worked on school, Adrian and I did a few things around the house that we needed to finish up. We all stayed really focused this morning and early afternoon so we were done everything by about 2:00pm.

When school was done for the day, the boys went upstairs to play video games and Adrian, my Mom and I headed out to Coopers Hawk for our monthly wine tasting. We had a fun time tasting all of the different wines and left with over a case of win for us and for a few friends this holiday season. We headed back home and picked up dinner from a new place by us, Talita's. It was pretty good and I enjoyed a night off from cooking! After dinner, we played a few board games together. The 3 adults played Back to the Future and we lost, then the whole family played Apples to Apples and Mom won. Then we all watched "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" together and got the boys to bed. Then the adults watched a few comedies from tonight before we also headed to bed. It was a nice relaxing night in the middle of the week!

Thursday (11/12) We were back to our regular routine today, but a little more refreshed than usual since we had yesterday off. Adrian got up and got AJ started on school before getting Rocky up and ready and dropped off at daycare for the day. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and waited for Cameron and Hailey to be dropped off for the day. When everyone got here and settled, we started our school day. Zak and Hailey didn't have any Zoom calls today since their teacher is out for the day so they had a pretty easy day. Everyone did a good job of staying focused on their work and getting everything done for the day. When they were done with school, they went to play for a while until the parents came to pick up Cameron and Hailey. 

Soon after that, I ran out to pick up Rocky from daycare and pizza for dinner. It was Marco's fundraiser day again today so my Mom treated us to pizza for dinner. After dinner, I headed to the church to teach my Zumba class. We had a great time doing a Zumba shuffle playlist and got a great workout! When class was over, Adrian picked me up and we all went out for Graeter's ice cream for dessert. We went to the one with the drive thru first, but the line was super long so we turned around and went to a different one. Thankfully we were still able to get our ice cream and enjoy it in the car. When we got home, we watched an episode of "Total Wipeout" and got the kids to bed. Then we watched "Supermarket Sweep" from Sunday before we also headed to bed for the night.

Friday (11/13) We got up and moving on time again to finish out this week! Adrian got AJ up and started on school, took care of Rocky and headed upstairs to work. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and we waited for Cameron and Hailey to get here. Once again, Zak and Hailey had no Zoom calls today so they had a pretty easy day of working at their own pace on their work. Everyone worked hard, attended all of their Zoom calls and finished nearly all of their work today so we have very little homework this weekend. They took a few breaks outside to play on the trampoline, to play board games and when they were done, they played video games together.

After school was over and everyone was picked up, the boys played video games and my mom and I did some crafting. We put together my "J" with wine corks that I have been saving this year and we were one short so of course we opened another bottle. We cooked dinner together and the 6 of us ate together. Adrian & AJ were supposed to be heading to a Scout campout, but the troop decided to cancel it since the COVID numbers are spiking again. Instead we had a family board game night and played Llamas United and AJ won and we made it thru 5 rounds of The Crew. We finished up with another episode of "Total Wipeout" and then all headed to bed since most of us have early commitments in the morning. 

Saturday (11/14) We slept in a little bit today, but most of us still had to get up and moving. Adrian took Zak to his weekly bowling league where he did really well. After we all said our "so longs," I took my mom to meet my brother halfway between our houses so she could go and spend some time with them before returning to Florida. We were nervous for her to visit, but had a great time with her and are all glad she was able to come. When we all got home, we finally got back to our balanced weekend of one day of fun and one day of work. Today was our day of fun and we spent all day playing video games (the boys) and board games (the adults). We played Targi, Fort, Lost Cities, Viticulture, Takenoko and Sagrada and I won all of them!! It was a great day for me! In between games, we watched some of our comedies that recorded this week and episodes of "Schitt's Creek." The day passed quickly and it was super relaxing for all of us. We stayed up pretty late since we let the kids stay up until midnight and we waited for them to settle down before we headed to bed too. It was a great day and I realized how much I have missed these calm days at home hanging out all day.

Sunday (11/15) After a late night last night, we all slept in this morning, especially AJ and Daniel who weren't up until close to noon! After a slow start to our morning, Adrian and I got started on our to do lists for the weekend. We stayed very focused and got a ton of stuff done today including switching out the Halloween decorations for Thanksgiving ones, cleaning the house, catching up on laundry and doing some prep work for the week. The boys did their weekend chores and finished all of their homework for the week as well. The day passed quickly and we thankfully didn't lose power or have any damage during the high winds and storms all day. We finished up our work for the day right before it was time for the boys' night routine so we were able to enjoy an episode of "Raising Dion" with them before they went to bed. Then Adrian and I watched the season premiere of "The Good Doctor" before we also headed to bed. It wasn't a super exciting day, but it was much needed and I feel really good going into this week!

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 11/30 - 12/6)

Monday (11/30) Back to our normal schedule today after a great long weekend! It was nice to have no alarms for 5 days, and it kind of stinks to have to go back to them today. But we managed to get up and moving on time today. Adrian got AJ up and started for the day, then took care of Rocky. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready for school. It started off raining this morning and quickly turned to snow so everyone was excited to watch that and go out and play in it when they had breaks. Rocky was unsure about the snow, but loved playing in it when the boys were out there with her. 

The day passed quickly with the boys doing their schoolwork and me working around the house. Zak has a new schedule since his whole class is virtual again and so far it seems like it's going to run pretty well. He also had speech today & had fun talking to his teacher. When everyone was done for the day, they headed upstairs to play video games while I continued working downstairs. I used up some more of our turkey leftovers and made a casserole for dinner. We also all had chocolate mousse tonight for dessert to celebrate chocolate mousse day.

Adrian worked late, but not as late as he will be working the rest of the week. He came down shortly before AJ had his Zoom Scout meeting and helped me with a few things. We took Rocky on a walk in the snow that continued to fall. When AJ was done with his meeting, we got ready for our evening routine. We watched the new Minions holiday special and the How to Train Your Dragon Holiday special before the kids headed to bed. Then Adrian and I got snacks and watched this week's episode of Card Sharks before we also headed to sleep. My back is still bothering me (almost 2 weeks now!) and I'm having trouble sleeping, hoping for a good night tonight.

Tuesday (12/1) We woke up to a snow covered winter wonderland!! Unfortunately since school is virtual, the boys missed out on a snow day today. Zak was so excited about the snow that he was up at 4am ready to go out and play. We made him wait until the sun came up to bundle up and head outside. Everyone got up on time and logged in to school. AJ and Daniel followed their schedule and did all of their Zoom calls and schoolwork on time. Zak bounced back and forth between school and playing in the snow with Rocky. Everyone had a great day and it passed very quickly! I worked around the house while the boys worked on school, including baking brownies and starting to read "Charlotte's Web" again since Zak is reading it and needs some help with his questions and it's been over 30 years since I read it!

When the boys were done with school, they played video games and watched one of their favorite YouTubers do a livestream. We all had tacos for dinner together and then the boys had some free time while I cleaned up from dinner and went for a walk with Rocky and Adrian. Adrian worked late again but was thankfully done in time for family movie night and night one of our wine Advent calendar. We enjoyed a Coopers Hawk Sweet Red wine with popcorn while watching "Elf" with the boys. It is an annual tradition to watch this movie and we laugh every year! When the movie was over, we got the boys to bed and then finished our bottle of wine while watching two episodes of "Schitt's Creek."

Wednesday (12/2) We got to sleep in a little today since the older boys don't have their early Zoom calls. Daniel and I got up and moving so we were ready when Patrick, McKenzie and Hailey arrived this morning. Adrian got up and took care of Rocky and then headed upstairs to work for the day. AJ and Zak got up soon after everyone got here and we started our day. Most of the kids were supposed to have morning Zoom calls, but the internet was out across our district so they were all cancelled. The kids all did their work on their own and took breaks to play in between. Zak, McKenzie and Hailey finished one of their "can-do" assignments by making a large marble maze and city in our loft this afternoon.

When everyone was done with their assignments for the day, they got some free time. The older boys developed their own YouTube channel to put animation videos on and made two videos. The younger kids played outside in the snow and then warmed up by playing Minecraft together. I got a bunch of stuff done around the house while they were playing together. The day passed quickly and before long it was time for the parents to pick up the other kids. Melissa picked up our free lunches again and after all of the kids left, I sorted thru them and put them away. Then we had dinner together before I headed out to work at the church for my weekly hour shift.

While I was at the church, I got a few things on my to do list done, including all of the November invoicing and finishing the Zumba Social Media training. When my shift was over, I headed out to run a few errands since I'm not leaving the house much these days. I picked up groceries from Kroger, dropped off a prescription and picked up the necklace I won from a friend's business. When I got home, we took Rocky on a quick walk and then cleaned up from dinner. Then we opened our second bottle of wine and watched the Rockerfeller Tree Lighting special with the boys. Unfortunately since it was 2 hours long, we didn't make it to the end tonight, but we enjoyed what we watched. After getting the boys to bed, Adrian and I watched "The Goldburgs" from this week and then headed to bed too.

Thursday (12/3) After another rough night of sleep it was hard to get up and moving, but we managed. Adrian got AJ up and ready and then dropped Rocky off at daycare before coming home to head upstairs to work for the day. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and we waited for Cameron and Hailey to be dropped off. Daniel and Cameron started their day while Zak and Hailey played for a bit before starting their day as well. Everyone was very busy all day attending Zooms and doing their classwork. The day passed quickly and everyone did a great job, especially Zak and Hailey who had a ton of long Zoom calls today! I worked around the house and set up dinner and yogurt in the slow cookers to cook all day.

When everyone was done with school, they all got snacks and we watched a COSI webinar kicking off their new series "The Color of Science." We heard from Dr Kathryn Sullivan, the first woman astronaut to space walk & the only person to travel to both space and the deepest part of the ocean. It was very interesting and I think the kids enjoyed learning from her and hearing some new information.  When it was over, the kids were picked up and I went to pick up Rocky. Adrian was thankfully done working way earlier than we thought he would be and he was able to have dinner with us and hang out for the night. After we cleaned up from dinner and took Rocky for a walk, we got snacks and settled in to watch "The Grinch" with the boys. When that was over, we got them to bed and then watched 2 comedies from the week while we finished our night 3 bottle of wine.

Friday (12/4) We got thru another week and actually got some good sleep last night so we're not dragging thru the day like we usually are on a Friday. Adrian got AJ up and started on school, took care of Rocky and then headed upstairs to work. I got Daniel and Zak up and we all got ready and waited for Cameron and Hailey to get here. Everyone did a great job of staying focused on school all day, attending all of their Zoom calls and finishing all of their work. Zak and Hailey caught up on some of the work they weren't able to finish yesterday and are just about done with everything heading into the weekend. Everyone finished up right around 3:00 so they had some time to play video games before the parents came to pick up Cameron and Hailey.

When they left, the boys played video games for a while and I finished up some stuff around the house. Adrian finished up work early (yay!) and after we took Rocky on a nice walk, we cooked dinner together and got ready for our busy night. After dinner, we headed out as a family to go see Santa at Cabela's. It was great this year since they have a reservation process so there was no line to wait in. The boys went up, took their picture and we were in and out in about 10 minutes. Then we headed to Handel's to pick up ice cream and ate it while driving thru Lucy Depp Park light show. It was small but really good! After that we headed home and the boys had a little bit of video game time while Adrian and I played Pan Am (Adrian won) and drank our bottle of wine for Advent. When our game was over, we got the boys to bed, watched "The Conners" from this past week and also headed to bed.

Saturday (12/5) We slept in a little this morning, but were up and moving a little earlier than I would have liked. Adrian and Zak got ready and headed out to Zak's bowling league for the week. He had a rough week and didn't bowl great, and got cranky doing it. Thankfully he started to bowl better in the second half and ended on a high note and is ready to bowl again next week! When they got home, we had lunch and then Adrian watched the Buckeyes game while I got some work done around the house and the boys played video games. We took a break in the middle of the day to go pick up our cookies from the Pataskala Cookie Walk that they turned into a drive thru this year because of COVID. We had fun seeing some of our favorite characters and a few friends and collecting a large bag of cookies to snack on!

When we got home, we made our ninjabread cookies that our elf brought to celebrate the Day of the Ninja. I struggled with the dough like I usually do so Adrian stepped in and helped with that step and then I helped with the decorating. When they were done, Adrian and I headed back out to pick up our take out date night items. We got Piada for dinner and a beer and donut tasting pack from a local brewery and bakery. We got 4 beers and 4 donuts and had 2 tonight and will finish the other 2 tomorrow. When we got home we ate, fed the boys and then finally got to play a few board games. We played Villainous (Adrian won), Orleans (I won) and Roll for the Galaxy (Adrian won) while the boys played video games. We sipped on our Advent bottle of wine while we played and stayed up until midnight with the boys. After we got them to bed, we watched an episode of "Schitt's Creek" before we moved the elf and then headed to bed for the night.

Sunday (12/6) We all slept in again this morning and I got up just in time to head downstairs and log in for the first church service. We are really enjoying this sermon series and are thankful to have the option to watch from home right now. After church, we got started on our to do lists for the weekend. Adrian and I worked around the house and the boys finished up their homework for the weekend and did their weekend chores. They also did some Christmas shopping for each other, Rocky and me. In between all of the work, we watched the RedZone channel and saw the Jets lose (again!) in comical fashion.

The day passed quickly and we were super productive getting done just about everything that needed to get done today. Adrian grilled steak for dinner and we enjoyed our wine with that and finished our donuts and beer from yesterday. The boys got some video game time when all of their work was done. Before long it was time for our night routine and tonight we decided to watch the new "Lego Star Wars Holiday Special." I thought it was boring, I was also pretty distracted while watching it, but the boys seemed to really like it. When it was over, we put the boys to bed and finished our bottle of wine while watching two episodes of "Schitt's Creek." It was a pretty great weekend!