Here We Are Again

 We are spending the week at home--in quarantine--again. This time Anna and Aliza have it. Anna hasn't been too bad, but Aliza has been just utterly exhausted. It's the gray clouds and rainy or snowy days and the people close to me who are sick and being home day after day--it's all leaving me feeling so heavy and sad. 

I was talking to two different people about the sad, heavy feelings and with one we decided that it comes from caring about people and living in community. With the other we decided that it comes with being middle aged, knowing more people, experiencing more life and it's something we learn to live life balancing.

With all the extra time at home I've tried to keep on chipping away at the painting list. The boys are keeping up with school. I'm baking, watching extra shows (Amazing Race started and if you haven't listened to Girl Named Tom you should), drinking tea, reading as much as possible and snuggling with sick girls when they want to.

Joy Dare::December

 8663. Hot chocolate
8664. All of Aliza's driving questions
8665. How much the children miss Jeremy
8666. The first glimpse of the kitchen cabinets
8667. Christmas with The Chosen movie
8668. Going over the details with Jeremy
8669. Friday.
8670. Making pretzel treats

8671. Making Aliza excited by doing more packing
8672. Family painting night
8673. Weekend work on the house
8674. Janell brought lunch and helped paint
8675. Decorating Mom's tree
8676. Jeremy reading for Advent
8677. Isaiah reading a verse in church--out loud and on-the-spot--without hesitating
8678. Taking Aliza to get her driver's permit
8679. Sisters-in-law
8680. Making sure we had supper around out own table
8681. Knowing I'm where I need to be
8682. Supper brought to us
8683. Jeremy taking Aliza to drive for the first time
8684. Grandad and Dad made it back home
8685. Friends
8686. Leaning in to all the emotions
8687. Holding Grandad's hand
8688. Using an oven to make supper
8689. Slept through the night
8690. Everyone is so happy to be home
8691. Coming home to countertops and flooring
8692. Tucking everyone in their own beds
8693. Mom helped me clean all the dust out of our makeshift kitchen
8694. Mini date with Jeremy
8695. Surprising the children with Chick Fil A
8696. Sunday brunch
8697. Wrapping some presents
8698. Finger food supper and The Chosen
8699. Christmas shopping with Anna
8700. Writing a note to Grandad
8701. Driving with Aliza for the first time
8702. Christmas with The Chosen playlist is getting us back and forth to Pocomoke
8703. Turning on the porch light
8704. Taking some extra time to sit around the table with Mom
8705. Aliza got to go to dance and see her friends
8706. Used the new sink for the first time
8707. Work evening with Jeremy
8708. Josiah has more energy this morning
8709. Cookies
8710. Grandad is improving!
8711. Mom driving with Aliza
8712. Sending the children outside to play
8713. Jeremy found everything he needed without going to the store
8714. Hard work=some progress
8715. Isaiah's excited outbursts
8716. Sleeping in
8717. Doing just the next thing
8718. A show watching evening
8719. A candle that makes my house smell like Christmas
8720. Not knowing everything the day would bring at the beginning
8721. Janell to my rescue
8722. School finished for Christmas
8723. Reading the Bible to Grandad
8724. Wrapping presents with Aliza
8725. Baking one more batch of cookies
8726. Anna making sure we have a Christmas tree
8727. Christmas story and carols around Grandad's bed
8728. A quick visit and a hug
8729. Cousins growing up and talking

8730. Christmas morning in our new living room
8731. Happy children
8732. Christmas dinner with Mom and Dad
8733. Reading Philippians to Grandad
8734. Heslop family time
8735. A beautiful gift made just for me
8736. A whole day to stay put and relax
8737. Anna so excited about painting
8738. Isaiah trying out his roller skates
8739. Driving home from WV without stopping
8740. Finished closets
8741. Ephesians with Grandad
8742. Holiday Baking Championship
8743. Being an aunt for the day
8744. Working really hard to check things off
8745. The first morning walking up with our construction friends arriving
8746. Moving the dining room kitchen into the new kitchen
8747. Making the first meal in the new kitchen
8748. Enjoying a friend's amazing outdoor Christmas light display
8749. The children curled up on the couch together to watch a NYE movie
 

This Week's Building Progress (Dec 27-31)

 Our new master bedroom closet is finished.

The upstairs closets have been covered with plywood.

And with that SEC has finished until after final inspection!

That means now it is our turn to work! Painting the pantry was my first priority so that I could move the kitchen out of the dining room.

We've painted the living room, bathroom, laundry room, office and interior doors so far.

Around the addition has been graded. Mostly that just provided our children a huge amount of mud to play in which they took full advantage of.

Jeremy moved the refrigerator into place and I set up the kitchen. But only with the things I've been using in the dining room kitchen for now.

On New Year's Eve I made hibachi chicken and fried rice, a family favorite, completely in my new kitchen.

We ate our meal at a regular sized table in an uncluttered dining room with special napkins that say "thankful".

So this concludes the weekly progress reports! I'll be back with project updates because there is still a lot that we are planning to do to the old house.

 

Christmas Highlights

The week before Christmas was super intense in terms of our building project. It was even greater upheaval than it had been and I was not feeling very excited about Christmas. Anna decided that one way or the other we HAD to have a Christmas tree. So she sat down and made one. It is just absolutely perfect for us this year. When I brought the presents downstairs on the 23rd, Anna set up the tree and arranged the presents around it. Probably one of my favorite memories from this year.

 

Aliza gave everyone (including herself) their favorite Pokemon in plushie form.

Amanda helped us surprise Aliza. You have to know that Aliza HATES shoe shopping in any form so when she unwrapped the paper to find a Vans box, she was not impressed and questioned her mother's judgment in gift giving.

That quickly changed when she opened up the box to see hand painted Animal Crossing Vans.

And then she put everything together and realized at Thanksgiving Joel was asking her questions to help Amanda know what characters to put on the shoes.

They are just perfect. Aliza was thrilled. She has figured out her presents the last couple of years so it was extra fun to completely surprise her this year.

Isaiah wanted one thing for Christmas. Roller skates. He read a story in his reader about friends roller skating and since then that is what he's wanted. More on that later!

Anna wanted toys for Christmas. I'm so happy when she wants to be a little girl...that tween side comes through plenty!

There was a time when it was an ordeal to get a picture of the Sheats cousins. Not anymore!

It's so fun to watch these kids grow up. They can go from playing hide and seek to sitting together talking.

After I completely cleaned up our Christmas mess, because SEC would be working, we spent a couple days with Jeremy's family.

Amanda completely surprised me with this sign that she designed and painted for me.  If I cried over things like this, I would have cried. It is going to look great in our house and it is so very ME. After 13 years of blogging, I can claim the blog name as my own mantra.

Back to Isaiah's roller skates...he was finally willing to try them out.   Jeremy is so great teaching the kids to do new things. He put all the pads on Isaiah and told him to fall to learn that they really will protect him. After a while Isaiah was starting to get the hang of it on the carpet in Grandma and Grandpa's garage.

There was plenty of falling!

Anna got acrylics and Amanda showed her how to paint with them. Anna has been so excited about painting!

Good family time and treasured memories. Even with everything else swirling, I left Christmas with a full heart.