Thanksgiving

 We stayed in Iowa again this year for Thanksgiving.  The strike at Joeys work was still going on and that made wanting to travel not happen.  But, thankfully, they signed a contract just before thanksgiving so Joey was able to relax a little, but was too late for us to change our plans.  

Joey had planned our thanksgiving meal and he enlisted quite the help.  He had every kid help him prepare are meal. Ella made the mashed potatoes, peeled and mashed them. And here she is stirring the gravy.

Eli helped with the dressing and the green beans and you can see Josie is helping peel the potatoes too!

Eli cutting the green beans!

A busy kitchen that I wasn't in!  Win for me! ;)

And Ella set the table!  They all did good and Ella was super proud of her mashed potatoes.

And a little bubble bath to end the day!

And to finish the holiday weekend we got in the Christmas spirit!  

And this stupid onesie Joey has is so wonderful....

A little elf house I wanted the kids picture in front of. :)

Family pics 2021

Family pictures this year were a little different because we were all in quarantine because some of us, Jane and I, were + for covid. So no one was able to help take pictures.  We only got a few pictures and like only 2 good family picture, but that is all we need anyway, I guess...

Just Keep Swimming!

The kids did their first swim meet this season.  This was Eli's first swim meet ever.  He was pretty excited.  During warm ups it looked like Eli was drowning, but he didn't thankfully, and he did great! The meet was in Waukee IA which meant we were able to visit some friends after.  We spent the night and hung out with our friends, which is why we picked going to this particular meet.  We took full advantage of the location.

 Here are few pics from the meet.  

Halloween 2021

Halloween shenanigans looked a lot like those in the years past. We started the holiday off with painting our pumpkins.  Ella painted a cat, Eli's was fire and Josie did Stitch.  They really enjoy doing it.  Eli free handed his and that took a lot for me to just let him do it.  :)

We went camping and the campground does a Halloween weekend and so we try to get that.  The kids can go around and trick or treat at the campers.  Here are the group of kids that went around.  Lots of candy!!  Just what they needed...

On our actual trick or treat night, Eli had a costume change from the firefighter to a skeleton.

Ella the witch and Josie a skeleton.  Josie actually did not get mad that Eli wanted to change to skeleton like her! :)

All their loot that we are STILL trying to eat and it's December! LOL

 

Fall

I am not sure how we are to middle of October already, but we are.  Of course, we have been busy and it's only just beginning.  Eli is loving school and is learning to read and is so far doing great! The girls are doing great too and they like to see their friends at school.  

Labor Day we, of course, went camping and a chilly day of boating.  With the sun behind the clouds and the cool breeze we were not in normal swim gear and Eli had an idea to start a fire.  So the group sat around it chit chatted.  A relaxing day.  Happy Labor Day everyone

Ella enjoying the sunset and the evening.

Well I woke up to my face looking like a mongaloid and very itchy rash EVERYWHERE!  That fire apparently had some poison ivy in it and well....I was very miserable post labor day.  Steroid creams and steroid dose pack and now some scars to remember Labor day 2021

Joey has joined Ottumwa Leadership Academy, which is people from the community taking this class to lead the city and learn how to better it, take on a project and learn stuff.  One of the  meetings is a retreat to a local resort and they encouraged family to join and enjoy the resort.  That is what we did.. the kids and I tried paddle boarding, we rode bikes on the biking path and they have an indoor water park.  I was finally able to relax at a water park.  It was just small enough I could see everyone while sitting and all the kids can swim now.  We were glad we could take advantage of this opportunity, even if dad was in class during most of it.

And just after this I FINALLY was able to hit my goal!  I dead lifted 225lbs.  I have been working so hard to do this and have hit a ton of road blocks like covid, kids cove closing, more covid stuff and just life taking over.  However, I kept going and I did it!!!

And what I didn't know, was that while I was deadlifting my goal, I was infected with covid :(  The next day I started feeling off and then went down hill from there.  I thought it was just the flu as I had all the flu symptoms (high fever, aches, chilled, congestion etc) but I eventually lost my sense of smell and figured it was THE COVID. Thankfully I was vaccinated and so was my mother in law because she was here visiting us.  I managed to spread it to her and 2 co-workers, on accident, as I didn't know I was infected at the time.  Jane ended up staying an extra 10 days because she ended up with it.  Sorry Jane!  So while we quarantined, we ended up going boating and being away from all people except us.  I also got family pictures done too.  Joey was still able to go to work because he is vaccinated and showed no signs of infection, so that made isolating impossible.  The kids somehow tested negative and never actually showed symptoms with 2 +'s in the house.  We are all recovered (including my co workers) and are back it. 

And at some point Josie chipped her front tooth.  We eventually got it fixed just before picture day. Except she missed picture day because we were all home quarantining.  Then the darn thing fell off and she had to get it fixed again.  Now they all have dentist appointments tomorrow and I am sick of going to that office.  

Swimming has started up and this year Eli is in it with the girls.  All 3 are sleeping so well after swim nights :)

Eli is enjoying it and the girls are doing it but not sure they love it.  They have a friends with them in the pool so I know that helps.  I am planning that we do some swim meets this year, a nice family time event. 

Ella is just improving so much and looking good diving off the block!  Now time for Josie to learn to dive!

And fall means HALLOWEEN!!  I seriously cannot beleive we have pumpkins and candy at our house now.  We have painted our pumpkins...Ella's is a black cat, Eli's is fire and Josies is Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.  All did them by themselves.  Eli really surprised me with his and it was hard for me to do his own thing, but he had a plan and ideas and I decided to let him go to town. He is very much into art and is pretty darn good at it so this should not have been so hard to believe!  Go Eli!

And what is most likely our last camping trip of the year was the annual trick or treating night.  We camped, took costumes and the kids got a lot of candy loot.  Ella scoping out her candy that she left right there for a racoon to get. It was that coons lucky night!!!

We had a nice little group for trick or treating.  All the kiddos ready to go!

And now, Joey is dealing with the UAW strike at work.  His stress level is high, but he does a great job of not showing it.  Hopefully an agreement/contract will be signed very soon and everything gets back to "normal."  And I am as always super busy at work, especially at the beginning of the year and this year is no different.  I think it's actually busier than normal but eventually I hope it calms down.  

And that's a wrap on our fall so far! Whew, we had LOTS going on, I guess! Hopefully I can blog again before Christmas and not have such long post.  Fingers crossed! 

2021-2022 School Year

What's the start of a new school year with out first day of school pictures.  The kids were excited and ready to go.  Although, we did talk about how this summer was faster than the 6 month corona virus summer of last year. 

Josie 3rd Grade

Ella 3rd Grade: Teacher Ms. Lee for both girls

And a BIG year for Eli.  He is in Kindergarten this year.  He is very excited for school and he mostly wants to learn to read.

Look who's poppin into Kindergarten. Of course, he was given popcorn

And he gets a desk this year!

Ella at her desk and all her school supplies

Josie at her desk! You can see how close they sit together.