The Accidental Boilermaker

Evelyn had scrimmage today. It felt nice to get out of the house. Unfortunately the gym was not heated and it was cold. We have a small team and three girls were out so everyone got plenty of game time.  The rest of the day was very relaxing. Some people took naps.  We watched Matilda the musical on Netflix. Evelyn just finished reading the book by herself. Nate and I agreed the first Matilda movie is better but this one wasn’t bad. 

 Merry Christmas! It wasn’t quite the Christmas we had planned. Originally, Oma, Grandpa and Mimi were supposed to be here but the winter storm put an end to that. But we still had a nice day just the four of us. Jameson woke up at 5:15 and woke up Evelyn asking her what time it was. They waited till 6 to come downstairs and start some legos. Nate and I came down at 6:30 because it’s Christmas. I made donuts for breakfast and then we opened presents. Santa brought new socks for everyone in their stocking.  Evelyn and Jameson have been asking to read Harry Potter. Nate and I agreed we could start the first book over Christmas break. I found book 1 and 2 wonderfully illustrated at Target. Hopefully the illustrator will do the whole series.  Jameson opened a box with a few new shirts and was unimpressed as Christmas isn’t about clothes. But then he opened his new sweater. I have one almost exactly the same but in green and the first time I wore mine, he wanted one to match....

 The dinosaurs are back and up to their usual Christmas mischief. They have done some goofy things but this is probably one of their best.  The nativity set isn’t so sure about the dinosaurs either.  Today we played Catan and a few other games. We made chocolate crinkle cookies for Santa. We went to church at First Presbyterian downtown because Nate and I wanted something a little more traditional than what our church often does for Christmas Eve. It was a very nice service. 

 Not much to do today since it was so very cold outside. We only got about an inch of snow, but it was enough for Evelyn and Jameson to want to go outside and we kept having to say no. Evelyn’s basketball practice was also canceled which was disappointing.  But we found things to do like legos, a pillow fort, reading, piano and decorating sugar cookies. 

 Today was ugly sweater day the the VA and holiday headware at school. I like to call Nate’s sweater “tastefully tacky.”  He was grateful for the sweater since the heat is broken in the mental health annex. Jameson turned the lights on on his Santa hat at school and then they wouldn’t turn off, not surprising since it came from the dollar store. But his teacher made him wear the hat backwards all day.  Evelyn had another scrimmage today after school. We were told it would be very low key - no seating, no keeping score and no cheering. There was all three. Evelyn was happy because she took two shots (neither went in) and her team won.

 Yesterday I helped chaperone the first grade field trip to the botanical gardens. The showcase garden is based on a Christmas book written and illustrated by the mom of a Croninger first grader.  I had a good group of 5 kids and we had a fun time walking around the gardens and doing the scavenger hunts.  In the evening Evelyn had her first basketball game, a scrimmage against a school down the road. She had a great time. She didn’t score any points but she had an assist or two. She also was the player who often inbounded the ball and she seemed very proud of that. Croninger won 14-22.

 Evelyn and Jameson had their winter piano recital on Saturday.  They both did very well on their solo pieces. Their duet, O Christmas Tree, wasn’t maybe the best they have ever played it, but it still sounded nice.  Jameson was the only boy. Nate and I remarked that after over 2 years of piano lessons, it’s been fun to hear how all of Mrs. Dorian’s students have improved and grown.  Today was our life group Christmas dinner which was lots of fun. There are 12 kids when everyone is there, 8 girls and 4 boys so it can get quite crazy.  But it is also nice to see them all play together so well.

 Sometimes they are extra cute and sweet. 

 Tonight was the 1st grade winter program, Flakes! Jameson was a flake as opposed to a snirt (snow+dirt; the kids in gray). Everyone did a good job. There seemed to be some general confusion when it was time for students who had speaking lines to come down to the microphone.  But the music teacher explained they only had one dress rehearsal with all four classes and several students were missing due to illness. Jameson did not have a speaking part. They were handed out on a voluntary basis and he did not want one.   Jameson is on the far left, second riser, second student in. I can’t really explain the plot because the songs and speaking lines were often hard to understand but overall 1st graders are still super cute.

 This afternoon Bella and Millie were supposed to come over for a sleepover. Maryca and Steven had a dinner but their original babysitter cancelled. It was a good weekend for us to have them over since we had no plans. But then last night Maryca texted that Bella was sick so the sleepover has over. Everyone was disappointed, even Jameson who originally said he didn’t want them spending the night. So instead we went to a Purdue Fort Wayne men’s basketball game. We got there a little too early which wasn’t terrible; we got to see all the warm-ups. It was a good game and we got our money’s worth.  Purdue won in overtime. 

 We decorated the Christmas tree yesterday. We still have lots of Christmas decorations to put up around the house so my big task today is clean and make space for all of them. While putting Jameson to sleep last night, he asked that we please don’t set up the nativity without him because it’s his favorite part. The other fun or kinda fun kinda stressful, remind me not to sign up next year, was door decorating at school. I wasn’t going to sign up. Then I had an idea and both Evelyn and Jameson’s door needed a volunteer.  Then I waited and thought do I really want to do this. Then Jameson’s door was taken so I said ok fine I’ll do Evelyn’s. Overall I am happy with how it turned out, especially the fireplace. After the fact I wished I had taped paper to the whole door instead of taping the letters and books to the door. But I also wanted to finish as soon as I could. There were some highly creative doors at school so while there category prizes I don’t think I will be winning on...

 We spent Thanksgiving in Decatur. We ate lots of good food and watched lots of soccer.  On Friday Evelyn, my dad and I went on 4 mile run/walk. My Uncle Phil came over for lunch and brought his new puppy Charlie.  Later in the day, we went for a 3 mile hike which was a little longer than we had planned but it was very nice.  Evelyn and Jameson got new Christmas pjs too. Another great Thanksgiving in the books. 

 I recently finished two crochet blankets. The first one was a baby blanket for my cousin who just had a little boy. I also made two hats to match. The second blanket is for Nate to use at work. His office can be cold and he is also moving to an office that doesn't have good acoustics so he wanted to something to help soak up sound. 

 Tonight was the winter wonder dash 5K where you get to run through the fantasy of lights. It was very cold and quite windy and even a little snowy but still a lot of fun.  I ran with Jameson while Nate and Evelyn stuck together.  Jameson had a good race.  He ran 31:21 and was 229 out 1050 runners overall. I was just a tiny bit behind him at 31:28.  Nate and Evelyn did awesome with a time of 33:37.  They finished 306 and 307.   You get to run two loops through the lights which is fun and allows you a good chance to see everything. Nate said Evelyn was focused on looking at the light displays for the first loop and then focused on running the second. Jameson was just go right from the start, but I still felt like I enjoyed the sights.