Christmas!

It seems like a long time ago, already.  Christmas was such a blur and we fit a lot of things in during a short amount of time.  I think I left off a couple weeks into December.  Gracie had one more week of basketball and Owen has not done a lot of wrestling since then because of his toe.  Southern Boone Middle School girls ended up doing pretty well.  They weren't undefeated like last year, but only lost 3 games.  Gracie keeps getting better and had a season high of 16 points during the Versailles game.  They have been fun to watch.  

Sadie, Bella, Hayden, and Gracie

After the game against St. Peter and Paul.

Bella plays on their competitive team with them.

Gracie, Audrey, and Sadie after their game against Fulton.

We won this one too.  Audrey also plays on their competitive team with them.

We had a pretty large cheering section for the last basketball game.

I think this was during the boys' game, but most of them were there for the girls' game, too.

Owen looks so tiny standing next to his friend Rowan!

The week prior to Christmas included a lot of traditions we have developed since moving to Missouri.  We crammed a lot in during what little free time we had.  Basketball did not end until December 18 for Gracie.  Owen had wrestling practices twice weekly until December 22, and Nick was officiating at least a couple times a week for wrestling.  We fit a lot in before heading up to Iowa on December 23.

Magic Tree!

We made it to the magic tree again this year.  Notice that they are wearing sweatshirts.  It was unseasonable warm through almost the whole month of December.  Nick wasn't able to go because he was officiating wrestling, but we decided to stop on an evening after Gracie had her catching group.  Owen was disappointed because they didn't have hot chocolate or other fun things during the middle of the week, but oh, well.

Owen in front of the tree

Gracie at the tree

The two of them together

The annual gift exchange party with Gracie's friends.

There were a lot of girls this year.  The whole basketball team was invited.

Owen was selected as a Student of the Quarter!

So proud of him!  He also ended up  with all A's for the semester. 

 Not bad for a kid who doesn't like school.

His mom actually didn't fail this year with having him home when his teachers came out to the house.

(I wasn't here with Gracie two years ago.)

Warm Springs Ranch

We went to see the Clydesdale horses again this year at Warm Springs Ranch, as we did last year.  This year, however, we got to get out of the car and look around.  Most of the displays were inside the barn, which was nice.  However, it didn't seem as impressive as seeing it for the first time in the drive-through last year.  It was a fun night and we went out to eat after.

Owen with one of the horses

Owen again

Gracie in front of the big barn

Family picture with a Clydesdale.

Budweiser beer bottle pyramid

Gracie and Owen in front of the wagon.

Another wagon lit up outside

Gracie and Owen in front of the barn with a Clydesdale statue.

We decided to celebrate Christmas as a family on December 22 since we weren't going to be at home on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  We did our pictures in front of the tree and opened gifts.  Then we got packed and prepared to be in Iowa for the next four days.

Gracie and Owen in front of our tree.

We have to have Ruby in a picture.

Gracie and Owen with their presents

Nick with his gifts

Opening gifts.  it looks like Gracie got a new phone case from her brother.

Owen got a new Chiefs comforter from mom and dad.

Gracie got a huge box.

The following day we started our Christmas tour through Iowa

All of us.

Another trip in the truck.

Our first stop was Muscatine.  We celebrated with Nick's siblings and mom.  We arrived early afternoon and joined the chaos that had already commenced.  We did the cousin gift exchange and Nick made pizzas.  Only 2 of the younger kids had thrown up by the end of the night.  Fantastic.

14 cousins.  We were missing Sawyer and Charleigh.

Josh and Julie went to Hawaii this year for Christmas.

Owen with Lucas and Tony

Gracie sitting with her loot.

Owen got new boots and a Chiefs hat

We stayed at Steph and Danny's on Thursday night.  It was fun with lots of eating and time with family.  It was warm enough the next day that I actually got out on their property to take a two mile walk/jog with Ruby before breakfast.  This was very strange.  Most Christmas gatherings in Iowa are so cold, but that was not the case this year.  No snow and about 45 degrees on Christmas Eve Day.

We left late morning to head to Newton, where we would be spending Christmas Eve and the following night.  We took over Josh and Julie's house while they were out of town.  On our way, we stopped at the mall in Iowa City to take the kids to the indoor ice arena.  They were pretty excited to go ice skating.  

Owen getting his skates on.

Nick and Gracie getting ready to go out on the ice.

All three of them.

No, I chose not to skate.  It's better that way.

Gracie needed a little help tying her laces first.

Nick and Owen on the ice

All three of them on the ice.

After a couple hours at the mall, we continued another hour to Newton.  We stopped at Walmart to get some food for dinner and breakfast the next morning, then set up camp at Josh and Julie's.  It was the strangest Christmas Eve I think I have ever had.  It was over 40 degrees and sunny in Iowa, we were at someone else's house without them there, and there were absolutely no Christmas decorations left at their house since they cleaned up everything before they left for vacation.  Luckily I remembered stockings so Santa could leave us some gifts.  We watched three movies, two of them, Christmas movies; "A Boy Called Christmas" and "A Christmas Carol."  Since we had already watched "Elf," "Polar Express," and "The Grinch" several times already this season (starting before Halloween, I think).

Other favorite holiday movies this year were "Home Alone" (the first one) and "The Christmas Chronicles."  Gracie and Owen both seem to like these a lot. They also like the movie "Noelle."  

We are a lively bunch.

Like I mentioned, Christmas Eve didn't seem like Christmas Eve this year.

Santa found us!

The next morning we woke up to filled stockings and another relatively warm day.

Digging through gifts on Christmas morning.

Owen's new compound bow

Gracie has new turf shoes!

She doesn't look very enthusiastic about having her picture taken, though.

On Christmas morning, Gracie and I took Ruby for another walk, as it was still fairly warm out.  Deb, Tony, and Tony's girlfriend, Haley joined us for lunch.  Nick grilled pork chops and shortly after lunch we got on the road again to go see the Wearmouth family.  An hour later we arrived and visited all afternoon and evening with more family.

Owen and River were outside all afternoon until dark shooting.  River got a new gun/stand, but they both used their bows for the majority of the time.

Again, notice the grass and lack of outerwear.  It was so unseasonably warm.

Owen wore his Santa hat all day.

Gracie and Kaia with Suge.

Grandma and Grandpa with Kaia

Nick opening one of his gifts.  He was pretty excited when he saw the box.

We had dinner at the Wearmouth house that evening and headed back to Newton to stay there one more night.  Tony and Deb had already headed back south by the time we got back to Josh and Julie's.  Tony wanted to get back to Alabama to get ready for his next assignment in the Army.

The following morning we headed back to Annie's to have lunch with the entire Blyth family.  We had not seen our cousins and their families for over two years.  It was great to see everyone again and Annie was a wonderful hostess.

My family.

Grandparents with their grandkids.

Cousins on the Blyth side.

Not nearly as many as the Britton side.

My sister and I with our families.

It was a great day and we stayed at their house until mid afternoon before we headed back south to Missouri.  It was a lot of driving and a little weird not being home at all during Christmas, but it was great to see everyone.  Monday morning, Nick was at work again and I went in for a little while on Tuesday to get some things done.  Otherwise we were off the rest of the week.

AND... Nick brought home strep with him!  Oh what fun!  He and Owen went to wrestling practice on Monday evening and he didn't feel quite right prior to leaving, but took his temp and it was normal.  By the time they returned home Nick had a fever and temp of over 101.  He stayed home from work on Tuesday and went to the Dr. on Wednesday when he still didn't feel any better.  I was expecting Covid or Flu, but nope, Strep throat.  Thankfully medicine is available for that and he was feeling a little better by Friday for New Year's Eve.  Still not 100% though.  

For the 3rd year in a row, Talleys hosted for a New Year's party.  It has been fun every year.  Unfortunately, for Gracie, it is all boys and none of her friends were around to bring as a guest for her to hang with.  She left around 9pm to head back home.  Nick still wasn't feeling great, so he left around 10pm.  I toughed it out with Owen and stayed until midnight!  He would have been crushed it he had to leave because his mom needs sleep.

Owen, the party animal.

I made it!

It's way past my 9pm bedtime.

Here is our New Year's group this year, minus Gracie and Nick, and one other couple who left earlier.

Last year it was just our family with Talleys.  We left early last year, too, because Chad and Annie joined us late in the evening.

New Year's Day was pretty uneventful.  I don't think we did a whole lot.  The following day was Team Camp at Mizzou for Gracie's Aces team.  They played at the indoor facility all day and I got some work done in my office in between games.  The team looked pretty good that day, considering most of them had not played since November and we only had 2 pitchers.

This was before New Years and Nick finally stopped with Gracie to take a pic in front of their billboard from the Little League World Series team.  This sign is on the east side of Hwy 63 just south of Columbia near the KOMU station.

Here are the girls from Gracie's team who went to the Mizzou camp.

Gracie broke her old Xeno about a couple days earlier when she was hitting in the cages in Columbia.

She was pretty proud of herself.

Since New year's weekend, we have continued to stay busy.  Nick and I returned to work on January 3 and the kids went back to school on January 4.  However, they were only at school for 2 days before Southern Boone went to virtual learning due to staff/teacher shortages.  Covid is still problematic for Missouri.  So they learned from home on Thursday and Friday that week.  Nick did a lot of officiating that week and we had things to do every night.  We have gone to 2 Mizzou women's games, which were awesome.  We beat #1 South Carolina in OT and then beat Auburn the next week in an OT game.  I'm glad we got to go to both!

Gracie had an Aces organization practice in St. Joseph on Saturday, January 8.  I took her up there because Nick had officiating in Jeff City, that he took Owen to.  The practice went pretty well, but Gracie didn't have a chance to hit very much because she was catching the whole time.  They did infield practice during the first couple hours, though, and she looked great.

Funny story...  Gracie and I stopped at Starbucks before the practice and she got a whatever macchiato, as she likes to have.  However, mom failed to make sure she had something to eat, and she didn't listen when I told her not to drink the whole thing because she would have to poop.  I think she got a little too much caffeine and was freaking out right before dinner break saying that she was shaking and sweating and her heart was racing.  She thought she was going wo throw up.  Woops.  She was also starting to get pretty congested and said her face was pounding.  I told her she didn't have to keep going, but she wanted to try to eat something and then went back to working out.  Luckily the 2nd half of the practice wasn't as intense as the first half.  She was congested, but fine.  Note: do not give Gracie caffeine without food.  Or let her drink a whole cup of coffee before practice.

We returned home from St. Jo after midnight and Gracie stayed awake the whole car ride home to help me stay awake.  I appreciated her company.

Fast forward to Sunday after very little sleep.  I woke up at 6am to get ready to take Owen to his wrestling meet in Marshall.  However, he was coughing like a seal, so we decided against having him wrestle in the tournament.  Bummer, and yes both kids were sick.  Nick decided that since Owen wasn't wrestling he would go help out the CWC team at Blair Oaks.  Sunday continued to be a pretty uneventful day for us.  Owen laid on the couch watching movies and football most of the day and Gracie was in her room for the better part of the day.  No activities for the sick kids.  Neither Nick nor I have developed symptoms so far.   

I had a pretty good idea that it might be Covid when Gracie did not come downstairs when I made pancakes Sunday morning.  She is usually hovering in the kitchen as soon as she smells food, especially pancakes. I heard nothing from her until about 20 minutes after and I had to yell upstairs for her to come down and eat.  She couldn't smell a thing.  Owen was different, though.  He didn't have nearly as much congestion, but his cough sounded like a barking seal.

Gracie and Owen both stayed home Monday and I wanted to get them tested, however there were no tests available to buy and the doctor's office couldn't get them in until the following day.  Luckily one of my coworkers had stocked up on at-home tests and gave me a box.  I took it home from work that day and had the kids take the test.  I wish I would have recorded Gracie getting the swab up her nose.  She couldn't stop laughing because she said it tickled.  Her eyes were watering and she couldn't sit still.  Within about 3 minutes of taking the test, it was showing positive.  Go figure.  Owen's was also positive.  Awesome.  Nick and I were still fine, though.  I had to stay home from work due to our current protocols in Mizzou Athletics, and Nick chose to stay home because he can.  I also emailed our doctor for advice on what to do and how long they needed to stay home.  She basically gave me the CDC's current guidelines and said there was no need to bring them in as long as they are doing ok at home.  Gracie was already improving by Tuesday and we kept her home for one more day before allowing her to go back to school with a mask.  She was very disappointed that she had to wear a mask, but complied so she could go back.

Owen took another day to get better, which made sense since his symptoms didn't show up until a day later.  Thankfully the weather was really nice last week and we could spend some time outside.  Poor Owen had to watch his friends ride their 4 wheelers from afar, though.  He sat on the front porch and said "This is depressing."  Yes, Owen.  It's not fun being sick.

So, there's our Covid story.  Nick and I are still healthy and I'm not sure why.  People are still getting sick despite being vaccinated, but so far we are good.  I can go back to work next week with a mask, which I am thankful for. Next week is the first week of classes for Mizzou and we do all of our training for tutors.  It will be a busy work week for me.

Hopefully Owen will get back to wrestling next week and compete next weekend in Columbia.  I am looking forward to seeing him wrestle again. This just hasn't been his year, so far.  Gracie is currently trying out for a regional softball team in KC.  Nick took her last night and stayed there since it was supposed to snow and it was probably a good choice.  The roads don't look great today.  So, I'm sitting here wondering how that is going.  Nick was supposed to officiate today, but I'm glad that he got out of it so he can be with Gracie.

Owen was pretty excited about the snow last night and was outside playing with his friends by 9:30am.  I think he will have a good day.  As soon as it stops snowing, I suppose I will go out too.  The driveway will need scooped.  Fun times.  I look forward to hearing about Gracie's softball tryout and providing the next update.