2019 comes to a close...

Another year done.  I'm not going to lie, 2019 was pretty rough on us.  Jeff's school closing in the spring made for a year of forced change, and our hearts really struggled.  Lots of questions.  Lots of defending.  Lots of resigning.  Lots of change.  I didn't write a Christmas letter this year, as I just didn't have it in me.  Too sad about our loss.  BUT.  Through it all, we were able to catch glimpses of sunshine here and there, and we're emerging more thoughtful, empathetic people.  Our kids were rockstars through all the change:

GRACE--This fall Grace started attending the 6GC!  Another big change in our lives, she got to start riding the bus and attended a different school than the boys.  She really liked the middle school model--going from class to class, having a locker--and quickly found some favorite teachers and old friends.  She continued piano with a new teacher: Miss Marsha.  She started helping out with the Eccleshall kids next door.

JOSH--Josh transitioned to a 90+ team this summer/fall and is loving it!  We started with the 2010 team and then got bumped to the 2009 team to get more playing time.  He started this 4th grade year in the fall with Mr. Cong.  He wore a soccer jersey to school everyday in the fall of 2019.  He continued in piano with Miss Marsha as well.

MICAH--Micah started kindergarten!  He was a natural learner, having watched his siblings do school for his whole life.  Mrs. Linquist has been the best K teacher EVER, and he loves to go to school each day.  He lost his first teeth in 2019, and transitioned to a bigger bike as of recent.

Jeff transitioned to Mountainside Middle in the fall, and I transitioned to being home by myself for a couple days a week!  Wow!  What a transition.  I kept my Granny Mondays and added Yoga to every-other Wednesday.  Jeff was an excellent teacher for 8th grade mathematicians, though his heart ached to be back with is Mead Alternative kids.

Cheers to 2020...may our hearts continue to grow and heal, and may our compassion grow alongside our kids!

Sending off 2019!

Katie and Brady took Megan to a competition after Christmas, so we got to bring Abby home with us for a night or two.  We had some good UNO time...and the snow arrived!  For NYE, Abby went to a friend's house overnight and we spent the evening with the Magees.  We spent the evening eating fudge and playing games and staying up late.  At 11:45, we were just about to finish playing a game of Pandemic, when Ainsley started throwing up in the bathroom.  Too much fudge.  So we spent the last few minutes of 2019 cleaning up an unfinished game of Pandemic and bathroom puke.  Little did we know that we were solely responsible for what 2020 held for us...Coronavirus!  It was all our fault!  At the time, though, we just thought that was the way 2019 would end for us.  It was a rough year and puke at midnight definitely put the exclamation point at the end of the sentence.

Oops! Jeff's December pics that didn't make it off of his phone in time to make the Blog Book! Lost forever!

 

Moser Christmas, 2019

Christmas with the Mosers was on Friday, the 27th, and we were busy passing around that darn bug.  Ben had it the night before, and came over late to Christmas, when he was finally moving.  This was also the year that his present arrived via UPS truck JUST as he arrived, making it perfect timing.  Brooke brought Eddy this Christmas, and was so excited to show him all of our traditions, and we were all a little on the sick side, so we adapted!  No crab Christmas night, but the next night we did.  We stretched it into two Christmas days together, and the Lochheads decided NOT to go see Colin and Linnea (who were visiting their family in Portland over Christmas) due to passing the illness from one to the next.  It wasn't what we had planned, but turned out to be a good year of memory-making all the same.