North Pole Friend

Last last Saturday (the first Saturday in December ...), we awoke to find a visitor from the North Pole had arrived. No, not Santa ... our elf Tyler was back and, as usual, had brought letters, matching Christmas pjs, and breakfast. Because it is 2020, Tyler was also wearing a mask. We appreciate his thoughtfulness and attention to CDC recommendations. 

Tyler always brings powered sugar donuts, which normally are the best thing ever. But this year, he also left marshmallow snowflakes on each of their plates. Apparently marshmallow beats donut. But donut beats strawberry. Unless you're Dec. 

They happily read their letters from Tyler and Q and D immediately asked to put on their new pjs. Fiona has yet to wear hers. She has informed me that she is too old for matching stuff. Si-igh. I won't push it. Hopefully if I play it cool, she'll wear her pjs on Christmas Eve. And if she doesn't, that will be fine too. 

Several weeks ago, I ordered a four house gingerbread village kit because 1) the prospect of going to Trader Joe's during December is overwhelming in non-pandemic times and 2) I knew that we would get to do very few of our "normal" holiday events, so at least they would each get to decorate a house of their own. The houses were way tinier than I had expected, so I was a bit worried this plan would be a bust. 

With a North Pole audience, they begged to build their houses that day. We had no other plans ... so why not!?! [2020 theme!] I put the houses together with Quinn's help [next year, I'll let them build their own too] and was pleased that they were maybe a little bigger than we had thought. We had to let the icing set for a couple hours, which is always the part I forget to plan for. Thankfully this year I assembled in the morning, so after lunch we were ready to roll. 

And you know what, they were actually a great size for individual decorating. No one got bored halfway through, there was plenty of icing and candy [pro tip: always buy extra candy. or raid your Halloween leftovers!], and we didn't get frustrated with the houses or each other. YAY! I let them each pick a house and I took the leftover one. Then we sat down together at the table and had at it.

Honestly, they all did their own - by themselves - and I love how they turned out! You can see each of their personalities in how they executed their decorations and they are all very proud. I can't believe how unique the houses are and how thoughtful the kids were while decorating. Fiona made a skating rink in the yard behind her house and used Mike and Ike's to make people. She also created a cobblestone driveway. Brilliant! Declan made a snowman and a Christmas tree out of fondant, which are so cute. Quinn had such a detailed plan. She made a rainbow front walkway with Mike and Ike's, piped the best bow on her gum drop wreath, and put a present in the front yard. 

It was such a fun way to kick off the holiday month and welcome our North Pole friend. 

At Home: Week 2

Well, week three of distance learning was a freaking hot mess. So right now, you can hear about week two. Which was still not pretty .. but I have good stories.

We have officially ceded a corner of our bedroom to third grade. The upside is that Quinn keeps her desk spotless. It is picked up and organized at the end of every single day. However, several drawings are now taped up on the wall in her corner, she has a collection of hair and beauty accessories ... and we don't think she's ever going to leave. 

Also, in another glaring example (there are so many) of how far the bar has been lowered in 2020, our third grader is drinking her water from a stemless champagne flute. On her freaking virtual class meetings. Her teacher is awesome - and is probably only judging us a little.

Declan had a rough week at school. Three straight hours every morning of Google Meets is a lot for the buddy. He's hanging in there, but between long virtual class meetings and piles of worksheet for independent work time, he's pretty much over it. After doing a really good job one day getting his stuff done, we pulled out a favorite Lego set, took it all apart, and he spent the afternoon rebuilding it. God Bless Legos!

We also pulled out Mike's old hot wheels and hot wheel city, which provide several afternoons of cooperative play (sometimes including Mike) and only resulted in a few yelps from stepping on cars. Dec's favorite were the "crack up cars" that can spin to show dents. Quinn's favorite were the color changing cars - and several times I found hot wheels in my freezer. Even Fiona enjoyed them!

Fiona has been working very hard at music class while in distance learning. Fourth grade music curriculum is the recorder - so she is learning to play recorder in the basement. She's actually getting much better and we are proud of how hard she is working. We do pray that there is no music class during important work meetings.

Being stuck home all the time and school on screens means that there is often a lot of energy at the end of the day. I had the great idea that we could play family Twister to get some of it out. You guys, I remember Twister being less painful when I was a teenager. Oh my goodness! Mike, Quinn, and I often found ourselves quite tangled up! The good thing was that it got both energy and giggles out. So much so that Quinn wanted to play it again the next night!. Our poor backs ...

Thursday night, we went outside for a family soccer game, to be followed by a neighborhood walk. The game was going well. Mike and Dec were playing Fiona and me, while Q played goalie. We were close to the end of the game, so Mike started teasing Quinn and pretending to interfere with her. Dec has not yet learned the finer points of teasing, so when he tried to do the same, he was all up in Quinn's face. She was not having it and gave him one warning. He thought he was still joking like Dad was. Quinn did not. So she pulled back and punched him right in the eye. 

Luckily she was wearing thick gloves - or he might have had a black eye. While admittedly a bit of a gray area on whether he deserved that punch or not, Q and I had a talk about how we don't punch. Dec and I had a talk about fine tuning the teasing. Then we joined Fiona and Mike to finish up the walk, because even though the acts were not their finest, we are giving grace for moments of frustrations. And getting out in the fresh air was probably the better long term answer anyway. Plus, cold air is good for swollen eyes!

Changing Seasons

Since it was just us for the long Thanksgiving weekend, by Saturday, we were over it and needed out and away. We decided to do the forest hike that we ran out of time for on Thanksgiving day. It was a great plan ... until we got there and saw around 50 cars in the parking lot. Mike kept right on going while the kids said, "whoa. we aren't going there."

Plan B found us right back at O'Dowd Lake (where we went on Thanksgiving), but this time, we took the other path. There was a fair amount of off-roading - because why follow a paved trail when you can blaze your own? [Family motto] We diverged from the trailblazing to wander down to the lake shore. There was a skim of ice forming on the top, so Mike skipped a rock across it. The sound of rocks on the ice skim is so unique and it was the first time the kids had ever heard it. Minds were blown. Then many, many rocks were gathered so everyone could take a turn skipping across the ice. 

Then we wandered over to the fishing pier, where I showed them the view of the island that we had seen from the other trail. Quinn noticed that there was a "path" of rocks that led out to the island and asked Mike if they could make the trek out there. So off we went to the point to assess the situation. It was probably 60 feet out to the island across a variety of wobbly, slippery, and odd-sized rocks. So obviously we did it. 

Fiona and I were going to hang back while Mike, Q, and D went. But it looked like too much fun, so off we went. I was the first one to slip off a rock and get my feet wet - but by the end, I was not the only one with wet feet! Five out of five Vannestes were some degree of wet. We don't regret it at all, and we kept telling the kids that the worst case scenario was just a few wet feet. It was so fun to pick our way out there and explore the island. While there, Quinn jumped off a cliff and Dec fell off the same one. Mike helped Fiona down it, and I backtracked to find a less terrifying option. There was so much giggling!

Then it was time to pick our way back across the rocks. Only this time, two men were on the fishing pier so we had an audience. For a while, they pretended not to watch us, but by the time Fiona and I made it across, they were not even pretending. I'm sure we were quite a sight (you guys, thanks goodness for Mike Vanneste. He was key to any level of success in this adventure!). We swung by the fishing pier to grab some big rocks and then did one more round of rock throwing on the ice skim. It was the perfect outing and we were all so happy about the fresh air.

Sunday (which was still November), Mike Vanneste himself brought in all the Christmas decorations and set up the tree. I had fully set the expectation that we would put up the tree the following weekend - but I was surprisingly overruled! [Mike has a pretty strict rule around "No Christmas Until December] I thought we would just put the tree up and then chip away at the rest in the next few days. Quinn had other ideas. She mentioned approximately 20 times that there were still turkeys up. So I took those down. Then she wished loudly and often that the garland and stockings were up. Sigh! Sometimes it's easier to give in, especially since she's such a good helper

I also ordered a few new Christmas pillows for the living room and mentioned to Quinn that they were ready to be picked up at Target. She wanted me to go get them right away, but I told her I was busy helping everyone shower. She said "Daddy can get them." and I told her that Daddy might not want to run to Target that night. 

Next thing I knew, I was in the bathroom helping Bugs with hair when Quinn knocked. "Mommy, can I go to Target with Daddy?" She was in her pjs already, but it was a drive up order so I said sure. Later that night, Mike asked me why I needed the pillows right away. I told him that I didn't. "But Quinn said you wanted me to pick them up tonight. And she was coming with me." Yeah, I did not say that. Clearly, she totally played both of us! 

Sneaky middle child. But the pillows really do look great! We simplified the decorations this year and I'm really loving it. So is Quinn, in case you were worried.

Spina Bifida Update

Late February, we received a letter in the mail that Fiona's spina bifida doctor was retiring at the end of May. He included a recommendation list of other doctors. Fiona was understandably stressed about the thought of switching doctors, but we assured her that we would meet with several of the docs on the list to be sure she would be comfortable. Then a pandemic happened and we couldn't meet with anyone. So instead ... we pointed to a name on the paper, googled it to be sure she (a female doctor! yay!) looked nice, and went with it [this is basically the same way we picked our pediatrician, who is wonderful!]. 

In May, we started running into issues with our prescriptions, so Dr. O and I spent some quality time on the phone together to get things untangled. She was delightful and I told Fiona that I felt really good about things, even though we still hadn't met her. Dr. O and I got to chat again in August as we tried to get all the medical orders figured out for Fiona to start school. For the second time, she couldn't have been more wonderful.

We got everything set for an October appointment to do all the annual tests and finally meet Dr. O in person. We scheduled it for a distance learning day (so Fiona wouldn't have to miss a day of in-person school), which also meant only one of us could go with the other wrangled the other two. Fiona asked Mike to go with her. Then a week before her appointment, Dr. O called me and said that she had to go into quarantine because of a covid exposure. We moved everything to right before Thanksgiving.

By the time the appointment happened, we were full distance learning - but the plan remained the same. Fiona jumped onto her class meets first thing in the morning and then mid-morning, she and Mike headed over to Children's. The appointments were pretty spread out during the day and the hospital cafeterias were closed, so Mike packed a lot of things to do and a lunch - figuring they may spend a fair amount of time hanging out in his car. 

Instead, the hospital moved some things around and got them through all her testing almost 90 minutes ahead of schedule. Mike and Fiona figured they would chance it and went up to see if Dr. O could get them in early. She could! It was great news except for the fact that they powered through lunch and Fiona was hangry by the end. [Fun fact: she really likes Dr. O. It did not hurt that once she found out Fiona hadn't eaten, she brought snacks to the exam room.]

I got to Zoom meeting into the appointment with Dr. O and the occupational therapist. Fiona is doing really well and we all are very pleased with the new doctor. We have some clear vision on the next steps to keep her doing well. Overall, it was a positive change in her care team. Score one point for random doctor selection!

One more spina bifida note: My cousin Olivia is a teacher at the high school in GR. She has a student with spina bifida and talked to her about Fiona. This student asked Liv to send a message to F from her. F wrote back and then Liv's student S sent her contact information. I connected Fiona and S on Messenger and they have the sweetest chat conversation going. They have also video chatted a few times. It is great for Fiona to have someone to talk to about spina bifida related things and I think she is really enjoying that it is a "big girl." S lives close to my parents, so someday when it is safer to meet, we plan to get the two of them together in person. They are both so excited for that day!

A Different Thanksgiving

The night before Thanksgiving, I dreamed about burning the turkey (typical ... I live in fear of the Christmas Vacation turkey scene) and hugging people (not typical). Based on my dreams, I'm pretty sure I was not entirely okay with the fact that we wouldn't get to see our family for the holiday. Also, I just really miss hugging ... well ... everyone. We know that the choice to do the holiday with just the five of us was the right and smart one for 2020, but man, I will be ready to celebrate together next year!

We slept in a bit and still had the turkey in the oven by 8:30 and on the table by 12:30. Quinn was super excited to make Thanksgiving dinner with me. Until she realized that Thanksgiving dinner is pretty boring to make until the last hour or so when it gets exciting. Once the turkey was in the oven, the gang settled in to watch the parade and I took advantage of the downtime to run a solo Turkey Trot 5k. By the time I got back, the gang was remembering that while they look forward to the parade every year, they also find it terribly long and pretty boring (so many commercials). 

After a long debate (mostly around the thought of washing the dishes), Mike and I decided to use the fancy dishes and do the holiday right. A week removed from the 90 minutes of dish washing, I think it was the right call [the biggest drawbacks of no company for Thanksgiving ... no hugs and no help with the dishes!]. Based on Mike's belt unbuckling and moaning about being too full, I think the dinner was a success. And somehow, we had the perfect amount of leftovers. Mid-afternoon, Mike had digested enough that we broke out the "traditional" peanut butter pie. 

After pie, we grabbed our hiking shoes and outside gear to go for a hike, Since we were pushing closer to sundown than Mike liked, we ditched our plan for a forest trail and went down to O'Dowd lake to walk one of the paved golf cart trails by the lake. It was super hilly and the kids had a great time sprinting down the hills and using the momentum to start the trip up the next one. It was so nice to get out for some fresh air and to burn off a lot of energy. Our favorite moment was when Mike was trying to break a big tree branch and instead launched his glove 20 feet into the air. Fiona honestly laid down on the path because she was laughing so hard. 

When we got home from hiking, I told them I was not cooking dinner. Quinn jokingly asked if they could have cereal for dinner and I said "yes." So they did - and thought it was the greatest thing ever. I had leftover turkey sandwiches and thought the same. Even though Mike was still groaning about how full he was, he also had cereal.

Then we ended the night in pjs, on the basement sectional, with bowls of cheesy popcorn, to kick off the Christmas season with Home Alone. [Mike ate the full bag of popcorn, minus what the kids ate, and was painfully full. Again.] While we didn't see them in person, we connected virtually with all the grandparents and aunties throughout the day to tell them we loved them and let them know we were thinking of them. It was different than our normal Thanksgiving, but we still had a pretty fun time.