We traveled back from KC a few days earlier than we had planned after Christmas and we are so thankful that we did. We ended up getting ice here and then a day or too later got quite a bit of snow! Missouri got even more snow than we did so while it was sad, it was definitely the right decision. This means that we ended up driving back to Indiana on New Year's Eve, which made that holiday pretty uneventful. We spent new year's day hanging out, putting new toys, suitcases and Christmas decorations away and tending to our Mellany, who caught some sort of 24 hour bug. Thankfully that's all it was!
The snow was so pretty and the kids had so much fun playing for HOURS! They built a huge snowman (that needed tractor assistance) and a super impressive fort!
After the New Year's weekend, Monday came and it was time for school. Our corporation is remote learning for the first two weeks and will go back to in-person learning on the 19th. The kids aren't real thrilled about this, but they also don't mind things being a little bit more laid back (honestly, I don't either!). There's no rushing around in the morning and in the afternoon they can play with their new toys, play with neighbors, watch movies, etc....it's almost like a little bit of an extended break.....a nice transition into "full time school". Charlie goes back to school next week, two days a week, so for now he is keeping busy with sticker and activity books.
The beginning of the year always calls for eye exams for the kids. This was Charlie's first time and while he didn't really care for the dilation drops, he was a champ with everything else (including the glaucoma puff test). Both Mellany and Johnny are professionals at this point and did an excellent job with all the tests. Mellany had a little bit of prescription change so she is getting new frames. Johnny is still having some issues with his eyes (excessive blinking, side viewing, dryness) and after looking at them, the doctor found his eyes do have a slight prescription for farsightedness as well as some allergy bumps on the sides of his eyes. I'm so thankful that there was only about a month in-between this visit and when I last took him in and that now we can hopefully get it all corrected. She gave us some allergy eye drops to try and Johnny picked out some super cool blue frames. He will wear his glasses similar to Mellany....when he is reading, when his eyes are tired, or when he feels like they will just help him in general. The appointments took several hours and it was painful at times (mostly towards the end because it was way past dinner time) but I'm so thankful I took them all in and thankful for healthy eyes!
While 2020 had several "downs", it also had a lot of "ups" for our family; one being that we had a whole lot more family time. With John not traveling and all extra activities being cancelled, we spent a lot of time together and it was such a blessing in disguise. We spent all spring and summer outside together, we traveled to several places and worked on house projects together.....we played games, completed art projects and cooked, etc. etc. etc.....and we are making it our goal to make family time like that a priority in 2021. It may not get to be quite as much, but just taking the time to "step back" and be present is something that has become more important to us than ever before.
Here's to an amazing 2021!
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