As 2019
is winding down, it is time to reflect on what this past year had in store for
us. Somehow it seemed that the year flew by even faster than the last one…which
I thought would be impossible. The holiday season is upon us and with that the
growing excitement for young and old. Even though the children are getting
older, the magic is still real and alive and I hope it stays that way for a few
more years. We hope you all will enjoy this special time of year and we are sending
lots of love your way.
This
year held many changes for us in store…good ones but it still took some time
and effort to adjust. As of this week, we are now parents to an 8-year-old and
a 6-year-old. Elliot finished preschool in late Spring and is enjoying
Kindergarten status since August. He is attending the same school as his sister
is, which is awesome. Of course, he loves it too. He has a very invested
teacher and not one day goes by when he comes home beaming proudly and feeling
accomplished. His love for reading and math is only growing and luckily the
teacher allows each student to flourish and does not hold them back. Hence,
Elliot is one happy Kindergartner.
As for
my little girl, she is now in 3rd grade and so far, has never tired
of going to school. She is doing great but because of that, she thinks that she
does not need to study during the week and procrastinates on her homework
(which drives me crazy). One day, she will thank me for pushing her to be ahead
of the game but until then, I sometimes feel I’m dealing with a teenager and
not an 8-year-old. Eye rolling is a thing… Anyhow, next to school, Amelia loves
animals, drawing, writing stories and Lego. She also finished in the Spring
with her ballet/ tap class and performed with the dance academy at their annual
recital in May. It was precious to see and she thoroughly enjoyed herself on
stage. After dance was over, she decided to try out for Karate and since
summer, she has been attending bi-weekly classes at the local Y. She might not
be the next Bruce Lee but she is learning some important self-defense skills
and also earned her yellow belt a few weeks ago. Our 2 newest family member,
Lucy and Linus (guinea pigs that Santa brought last year), are doing well and
being “cared” for a lot. According to the scale, they are in excellent health.
And our cat, Indy, turned 11 in December and is enjoying life at home as usual.
In the
spring, Elliot played flag football with a local team for the first time ever
and loved it: the running, chasing,
sweaty and/ or mud covered uniform. The Packers did well and even made it to
the Playoffs. It was a delight to see our sports-loving boy flourish and he
can’t wait till next year to give flag football another shot. In the meantime,
he enjoys playing tennis or baseball in the front yard and his latest obsession
is basketball. Since November, he is part of the team the Lightning Bolts in a
local league with Daddy as head coach. Both of my boys are enjoying it… one
with a whistle around his neck and the other one in is Number 4 jersey. So far,
their season is going great and they are undefeated. For the rest of his spare
time, Elliot loves watching sports on TV (and chat with Daddy about the results)
and building Lego.
As I
mentioned, Derrick not only works hard and travels frequently for his job, he
also now coaches 7 first graders (Elliot is the youngest in the team) twice a
week in Basketball. Next to home improvements and other school activities, he
is quite the busy man. For me, I am now officially working full-time for my
company and enjoy my new role as Marketing and Sales Coordinator. This role
encumbers quite a lot: mainly reports for the board, projects for the
management team, global pricing, and being a liaison between departments but
also less traveling. While the job and my team are great and my way to work
only takes 4 minutes, it is still an adjustment going from part-time to
full-time. Luckily, my schedule is flexible enough for me to continue to
volunteer once a week at school or be present at school performances or
parties. For the kids, it also meant that they now attend after-care at school.
Some days, we pick them up early and some days, they are at school until
5:30pm. Finding the right balance is tough and mommy guilt is real but as a
family unit, we are doing what works best for us and trying to spend as much
time together as we can.
Our
biggest family adventure this year was a 2-week vacation in California. This
was our first ever long family vacation and we all loved it. We visited
Derrick’s brother and wife in San Diego and spend time with them but also
visited Legoland, the beach, San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park. Then we
traveled up to San Francisco, where we stayed with dear friends of ours. There
we not only explored the city (Saturday morning at the Farmer’s market is a
must do) and Golden Gate Bridge but also drove to Monterey Bay to see the
famous Aquarium and check out the Redwoods. The weather was perfect (cool
mornings, sunny days and colder nights), especially while the rest of the
country endured a heat wave, and we loved being outdoors. Between swimming in
the ocean and the pool, hiking, exploring, spending time with friends and
family, unwinding from our busy lives, and watching sea lions and seals in
their natural habitat, we made the most of our days in California.
While I
had to go back to work, Derrick and the kids then traveled to South Carolina to
visit Grandma and Pops. They all enjoyed the visit and even explored an
alligator farm and spent a couple of days at the beach. Those lucky kids went
from swimming in the Pacific Ocean to swimming in the Atlantic Ocean within a
couple of weeks.
My last
work trip in February brought me back to Holland for a week but before flying
back home, I made sure to stop by in Berlin for a weekend. While it was a quick
visit, it always is good for the soul to come home and spend some time with my
family.
We
always love when our family and friends come to visit us and this year, not
only Derrick’s brother and his entire family visited us but also Oma (aka my
mom). Oma’s visit coincided with the kids’ fall break and so we left town and
went to explore the Great Smoky Mountains. We stayed in Pigeon Forge, where we
had a fun (and long) day at Dollywood, attended the Dixie Stampede (a 4-course
feast while watching a live show with horses, music and pyrotechnics), rode the
SkyLift up to the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America and hiked
up a mountain trail to a waterfall. Once back at home, Oma not only had lunch
with the children at school and kept the household running but we also went to
the Pumpkin Farm and spent my 38th birthday sightseeing in Nashville
and bike riding in a nature preserve. This was also the first time that Oma was
able to watch a school performance and Amelia was one proud Cowgirl showing off
her dance skills during the 3rd Grade Hoedown. With Oma here,
Derrick took advantage of a work trip that lead him close to the Canadian
border to cross over and spent a few days with his long-time friend in Montreal.
2019
kept us busy but we also learned to prioritize and made arrangements so that we
can be together as a family most of the times. We are grateful to be healthy
and hope that 2020 will continue to bring us much joy, happiness and new
adventures.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year!
P.S.: Sorry for the lengthy letter but I have not been able to update
the blogpost in the past 3 months but plan to catch up during the holidays.
