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December, 2019:

Fall 2019

I feel like we’re busier than usual in the fall with softball, dance, piano, basketball, cheerleading, cub scouts, indian guides, after school activities, volleyball, tumbling, holidays and everything else but our pictures didn’t capture it all.  Here are just a few.

Christmas is over and the decorations are down.  This weekend it will be 60+ degrees.  February will probably be brutal.  We leave for skiing in less than a week (I’m ready to leave today).  The kids are on break and attempting work while they’re around is grueling.

By the way my favorite time to grocery shop is the 8am hour during the week.  Hardly anyone is in the store.   Being excited about shopping on a Friday morning with plenty of parking and hardly anyone in the store … the highlight of my day 🙂 … that’s my life :/

Their most recent piano recital 🙂

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Sadly that was the last day we saw our piano teacher as he may have had a heart attack the same day and passed away less than 2 weeks later 🙁

Off-road’ing at the Badlands!

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Spreading reindeer food Christmas Eve.  The lights were up for more than a month and it didn’t snow once the entire time 🙁

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He can play multiple instruments!

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She’s busy with her activities too!

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He’s always well dressed for school pictures.  He insists.  Every other day it’s comfy pants and a t-shirt though.

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Christmas Eve 2019

It’s 11:53pm and everything is done

As per the norm it’s been a relatively stressful few hours

This year she didn’t feel 100% so she’s in bed around 8

When I finally dragged him upstairs just after 10ish I found that she wasn’t fully asleep

She’s laying in my bed

He might have finally fallen asleep at 10:40 but wouldn’t even consider laying in bed unless I was there with him

It was hard for me not to fall asleep

 

This year Grandma wanted to go to be with the other grand kids Christmas morning but he insisted that she be here instead

It took some convincing but eventually she decided to be with us

Thankfully she’s here, for numerous reasons

Had I fallen asleep I’m not sure what she would have done

She’s now attempting to fall asleep in one of our recliners

It’s 45 degrees here right now

The kind of in between weather where a little indoor heat is necessary but your furnace keeps on running so everyone is a bit too warm

Fans are running, a window or two is cracked, but then it gets too cold … and so the furnace starts up again

Tonight I was in shorts grabbing things from the garage

Just this past Halloween it was snowing … crazy

I really like this holiday but struggle with it as well

I don’t dwell too much on what we are missing

Not that I don’t miss her just as much as every other year, I do, SHE should be here with US!

I just try to do enough that these two enjoy and appreciate all that we do have

Each year just presents different challenges

As they get older they’re more emotional, more aware

It’s sort of hard to keep up with them in that sense

When they were younger things were a bit simpler

I digress …

It’s now Christmas Day 🙂

 

death hurts

Dealing with a death, even someone not particularly close to us, is never easy.

Today a man we only met this past September passed away.

His name was John Reglin.

In the spring of 2018 the piano teacher we used for many years moved away. My kids had been with her the longest of all her students.

So we took a break from lessons.

I tried for a while to find someone talented, someone with experience, someone who would challenge my kids, someone who would teach my kids theory and not just songs they wanted to play.

This past summer we found John.

He saw something unique in C.

He pushed E to be better, to try something new.

Not even two weeks ago the kids performed in their first recital with him.

That may have been the day he experienced a medical situation and was in the hospital shortly thereafter.

Monday I found out that news and told the kids.  They were distraught and we affected by it throughout the week.

Today I had to tell them he passed.

There were tears…

E was sad for her schoolmate who had been with him for many years.  His family introduced us to John.

C said, he was going to teach me how to write a song.

We lost a special person here.

I think this loss, and probably any loss directly affecting these kids, is particularly difficult for me.

I usually treat death as just something that happens in life.

But today it hurts.

I do not look forward to the death of an immediate family member … perhaps by some miracle we all live forever