December Moments

Here's our moments in December.

Nels and I met up for lunch one day.  I was Christmas shopping and he took a break from work.  We met up at the Sandwich Factory.  I love cheese sauce with french fries!

Isak and Kira went on a field trip to watch a women's basketball game at MTSU.  Can you find Kira?  She's on the third row towards the middle.  

I love seeing my kiddos read together.  Sofie and Noah are good little readers, but they need a lot of practice still.  Thankfully, older brother and sister are available to listen and help them.  

What's this picture all about?   Well, Kira ate three bites of sweet potato and I was pretty proud of her.  :)

Another quick lunch date.  We went to Oscar's tacos.  We decided we don't like it as much as our other Mexican restaurant.  So this will probably be our last time there.  

Sofie read her first chapter book.  It was a non fiction book about clouds.  She was so happy and I was happy for her.

The kids' school had a STEAM walk night to show off all of their hard work.  There was a cute Christmas display, so we took a picture first. 

Then we visited Sofie and Noah's project.  They made coverings for lights.  They learned about how if the city lights are too bright it can be harmful to the nocturnal animals that use the moon to navigate.  It was so fun to hear Sofie and Noah explain their project and how their invention worked.

Kind of hard to see, but here's pictures of them telling their class about their projects.  Noah's group is in the middle row on the left.  Sofie's is on the bottom row on the left.  

Noah showed us how to code the bee.  

Isak explained his project of a penguin fin prosthetic.  

Kira explained her project of a giraffe neck brace.  

Aren't they the cutest 4th graders?!

Guess what?!  I got to go to the temple.  And I went while the kids were in school!  It was great.  I'm so glad I got to go.

We bought Kira a desk...finally!  She's been begging for one ever since we moved here.  The boys worked together to build it.  I didn't take an after pic...I'll have to do that.  It's a cute desk and perfect for Kira's room.

Everyone give your coat and stuff to Dad!  Haha.  Then he puts it all in the car.  For some reason they need all of this stuff during Sacrament meeting, but then they are fine without it in Primary.  

After church photos.

Aren't they cute 6 year olds?!

Our neighbor was walking his dog while we were outside taking photos.  The kids loved to pet the puppy. 

She even knew a few tricks and the kids were impressed.

Kira took these for us...

We're missing Isak.  He ran inside and changed clothes before I could ask him for a pic.

Another lunch date.  Bad Daddy's Burger.  SOOooooo good!

Just snuggling Kira after school.  

This is Kira...unicorn lover, pencil in hand, always creating, imagining, playing.

We learned about some families in our ward who were struggling.  They had asked for blankets and clothes.  We donated this blanket.  

And some boy clothes.  We try to stay on top of decluttering...so I was glad I still had some things we hadn't donated to Goodwill yet.  

Sofie and Noah went on a field trip to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville.  They had a great time.  

Isak got a new cast that he wore for about two weeks.   He sure has been a trooper with his broken pinky.  I know it's frustrating for him, but he's tried to make the most of it.  I'm grateful it happened in the winter instead of the summer though!

After the cast, he got this splint that he wears for four weeks.  He can take it off when he's doing low key things like eating and reading.  He can even play the piano without the splint on.  He was happy about the extra mobility and the splint comes on and off easily.  

Sofie gave a sweet talk about Jesus's birth in Primary.  

Their primary teachers gave them these monster feet.  Haha.  Noah loved being taller!

Hot chocolate and pancakes.   The kids loved to have the candles lit for meal time.

Christmas break...we pulled out some toys, including the marble run.  They all played with it for a while.

I've been enjoying fresh blueberries on my chicken salad.  Yum!

The girls found this art project on their Kindles and made it without any help.  They are so cute. 

New kiwi box.  This one was an Atlas box for Sofie and Noah.  It was ok...but not their favorite.  

I had to take all of the kids to Isak's doctor to get his splint adjusted.  I was nervous about bringing them all, but they were great.  Word Search puzzle books for the win!

There was a cold spell December 23-25th.  And our heater couldn't keep up with the low temperatures, so it stopped working!  We were freezing.  We all got our coats on and slipper and blankets to try and keep warm.

That's ice on our door knob that's INSIDE our house!!

Chilly...our house was not built for these temperatures.

I made some hot chocolate for us.  That helped.  :)  Eventually, we learned to put our furnace in emergency mode and our house slowly warmed up from the 50's to 60's.  We also used our fireplace and used space heaters to get us through the couple of chilly days.  

The boys decided they wanted to share a room.  So we put the bunk beds together and moved everyone's stuff around.  So now Isak and Noah share a room, Sofie and Kira each have their own room.  I think it's a fun change.

Sofie's cute drawing.

December 31st, New Year's Eve Party at the Nyborg's.  😀

We ate Papa Murphy's pizza.    Then we played Harry Potter's Spell Caster game.

We played Azul.

Isak wasn't feeling well.  He had a headache and was grumpy too.  😢  He felt better off and on all night.

We still had fun.  After games, we popped some popcorn and watched Escape from Lemoncello's library.  Sofie and Kira were tired so we put them to bed at 11 pm.  Isak and Noah played Mario until midnight!  Then I put them to bed.  Nels and I made it to midnight.  It's been a while since I've done that!!

Earlier, we took our traditional white donut photo!

And that's the end of 2022!!!!

We did it!  We made it through the year.  

Major highlights:

We moved into our house in March.

Sofie and Noah graduated from kindergarten, turned 6 and started 1st grade.

Kira and Isak finished 3rd grade, started 4th grade, turned 10 and had birthday parties!!

We bought a piano!!

Soccer and swim lessons.

Lots of Harry Potter.

We did a road trip to Utah and Idaho.  It was the best!

I turned 40!  Ah!

We explored our area more and hiked some waterfalls.

Family vacation to Florida.  Wonderful beaches.

Celebrated holidays and enjoyed time as a family.  

Hard Things:

We all had some hard things.  

Noah going to first grade.  He cried every drop off for the first 2-3 months.  

Nels's job...he does not like it.  He works loooooong hours and is constantly stressed out by it. 

Kids making new friends, being exposed to different and difficult situations.

Me - holding space for everyone's emotions and helping them in a loving way.  It's tiring and I'm learning to replenish my emotional energy better so I can continue to help my family.  

Some favorites:  

I loved my lunch dates with Nels.  

I loved the kiwi boxes and the kids did too.  

I loved being a part of my sisters' book club.  

I loved our Friday treats.  

Looking forward to 2023.  I hope to make some more videos and photobooks.  I realize that I am a documenter.  I love to write, take photos/videos and document our lives.  Now I have a name for what I love to do.  😀  I hope to take our family on some more adventures near and far.  I look forward to reading and developing musically as well.  Happy New Year!