Goodbye, 2018

We had some help celebrating this year--Daddy-o's parents and his brother's family came for the evening, which filled our house with music, games, laughter, and so much food.

With one last party this season, we've now seen all the CA siblings.

The kids spent the evening playing Mario Kart, Tenzi, and making movies.

All these cousins! 

We even got to celebrate this guys 18th birthday--the lucky New Year's Eve baby!

Our kids were really happy to have a captive audience for all the movies they've made this last week.

As always, a cousin line-up. Maybe sometime I'll pull out all the line-ups from over the years and we can see them together. It would be fun to see the kids grow (and see the height differences change--some of the girls have been passed up by the younger ones.)

 

And the silly picture.

It was a good end to a pretty good year. Lots to be grateful for, lots to reflect on, lots to learn from and hopefully grow from in 2019.

Season Greetings

Our greetings may be too late for Christmas, but that's just how cards went this year. Every single step was a struggle. I finally mailed out the batch that we were sending on Christmas Eve, and wanted to wait until people had a chance to receive them before posting. (We decided to cut back our list this year so we could use the money towards a charitable donation, but still sent to a few, mainly to friends who don't use social media much, so if this is the first you are seeing of it, it just means we feel like we get to "see you" online :).)

So, if you'd like, play along with our Mad Libs style Christmas letter.
Fill this out first, and then see how 2018 went for us.

1. Your Last Name_____________________________

2. Adj_______________________________________

3. Adj_______________________________________

4. Time Measurement__________________________

5. Past Tense Verb____________________________

6. Distance Measurement_______________________

7. Adj______________________________________

8. Number__________________________________

9. Noun____________________________________

10. Measurement of Time_______________________

11. Past Tense Verb___________________________

12. Location, Building__________________________

13. Adj______________________________________

14. Noun, Plural_______________________________

15. Adj______________________________________

16. Body Part_________________________________

17. Adj______________________________________

18. Adj._____________________________________

19. Animal___________________________________

20. Verb_____________________________________

21. Adj._____________________________________

22. Adj._____________________________________

23. Number_________________________________

24. Adj._____________________________________

25. Adj._____________________________________

26. Adj._____________________________________

Dear ​(1--Your Name)
​
 Family, Season’s Greetings! We are excited to tell you about our ​(2-adj.)​ 2018. Moving in 2016 was so (3-adj.), and we didn’t want to let another ​(4-time measurement)​ go by without a move. In January, we​ (5-verb, p.t.) ​ up our stuff and moved 5 ​(6-distance)  down the street. Even if the distance was small, the impact was​ (7-adj.)! We love our new home and hope to take at least ​(8-number)
​ year(s) off before the next move.

The kids have been busy this year. After finishing middle school as a homeschooler, Bean, 14, started high school at the local ​(9-noun)​ and is loving every ​(10-measurement of time). She ​(11-verb, p.t.) water polo this fall, attends early morning seminary at the ​(12-location, building), and doesn’t even complain too much about the early wake-ups.

Bug, 12, is our only one still homeschooling this year. He loves his ​(13-adj) art class, piano lessons, and park day with ​(14-noun, plural). He went on his first backpacking trip with the (15-adjective) scouts this year and usually has a book in his (​16-body part).

Peanut, 7, thought he would try out public school this year, so he is now a 2nd grader at the (​17-adj) elementary school. He has had mixed emotions, but likes his teacher and P.E. and has made a few
(​18-adj) friends. He was bitten by the reading (​19-animal) and loves to draw and (​20-verb) T.V.

Daddy-o achieved a life-long goal this fall and is now the (​21-adj) owner of his own business--an RV and boat storage facility. While his daily work may not be glamorous, he loves the challenge of keeping up with all the parts of a (​22-adj.) business and is happy that he no longer answers to anyone.

Since Kim is only homeschooling (​23-number) kid(s) this fall, she thought she better take on a couple more roles. She is teaching a homeschool science class for middle schoolers and is now a (​24-adj.)
​dog-walker, along with keeping up with the kids’ activities and learning.

At this (​25-adj) time of year, we are grateful for the spirit of Christmas, and friends and family, near and far.  Merry Christmas and (​26-adj) New Year!

Love, The Mercers

Dec. 27th

We're creeping back into real life today. The kids still haven't left the house, but they did all get dressed because we had two different sets of cousins come visit today, one set in the morning and one set for dinner.

I had a dog walking job with these lovely, sweet beasts, starting today, so actually had to leave the house. I was a little scared when I first pulled up to their house and was met with this:

I guess that is normal for him, and he hasn't jumped off yet, but I was pretty scared of what I was in for. I feel like I'm going to be able to write a book if I keep going with this job--dogs (and sometimes their owners) are crazy. Luckily, these two were as calm as they'd been when I first met them.

But other than this, and a quick trip to Michaels and Trader Joes, I'm still trying to hang on to that holiday feeling. Staying home for several days and spending crazy amounts of time doing absolutely whatever I want has been exactly what I needed. I've read a little, blogged a little, played with the kids, ignored the kids--I will say that the kids have been incredibly productive. 

Since Christmas morning, they have collectively made several short movies, read a few books, played 4/5 games we received, started writing a screenplay, unlocked all the levels of Mario Kart, watched several movies, built an electric pencil sharpener and a hydraulic system, written in journals, and have eaten their weight in candy and cookies. I'm pretty sure no school or homeschool has gotten more done in 3 days time. Maybe I need to really embrace the unschooling.

The Day After Christmas

Christmas might be the most exciting morning of the year, but the day after Christmas came pretty close this year. I've learned that making plans to leave the house on the 26th is a bad idea, so we continue the fun for another lazy day in pajamas (for the kids, at least--Daddy-o had work today and I couldn't take another day in PJs, but I'm not planning to go anywhere.)

Peanut has barely set down his new stuffed lion, Flips, all day.

Bean and Bug dove right into the iPad. We have been staunchly against buying Apple products, but there really doesn't seem to be an Android equivalent to iMovie, and, as anyone who we've visited in the last year knows, our kids are obsessed with making movies. So, we finally caved and got them something to use here at home. Maybe when we come visit now they'll be able to do things besides make movies (or maybe not--I think they really enjoy the movie making :) ).

Their first project. I love how creative they are and how quickly the story ideas come to them.

After a slow start to the day, I had a semi-productive "lazy day" at home. It's an incredible feeling to not have to be jumping in and out of the car to run kids everywhere. 

I played games with the kids, sent out a few more Christmas cards, 

cleaned up the trash that had taken over the living room, and made some real food so the kids wouldn't be subsisting on pure sugar for another day.

Merry Christmas to All!

What a day!

Kid were happy with what Santa brought (no more freezing after all her water sport practices!)

and in some cases surprised--when you don't ask for much, Santa gets to guess what would be a good gift.

(One of our kids wasn't moving slowly enough for the morning light--he was REALLY excited and then counted up tonight that between Santa and us, he got all the things on his list! Good Christmas--and a nice, short list.)

As always, these kids and their thoughtful gifts blew me out of the water. They all do such a good job trying to think of what the others would like. In Bug's case, it meant some frantic gift making this last week, but he really knows how to make his ideas come to life. Bean was incredibly appreciative of the Hairy Potato Cat he made to go along with the Streaking Kittens expansion pack for the Exploding Kittens game.

And Peanut lucked out with homemade gifts from both Bean and Bug--an illustrated story about Christmas in California, and a Dinosaur Coloring Book.

 Both kids spent a lot of hours drawing pictures for him and the results were pretty awesome.

These kids were happy with the PJs my mom made them. Warm, fuzzy pants are a big hit in this house!

After all the crazy fun of opening packages, we spent the rest of the day hanging out at home, playing new games, watching movies, reading--I pretty much stayed on the couch in front of the fire the whole day. 

Cozy, hygge Christmas Day.

I love that we had a fancy Christmas dinner, in pajamas. The food was amazing and the table looked festive, and we were all comfy.

 An abundance of gifts. An abundance of candy and cookies. An abundance of laughter and hugs and joy. An abundance of family time. 

(And now, that feeling of over-indulgence and exhaustion that these good days bring. I'm hoping for an abundance of sleep and vegetables tomorrow.)

"Twas the Night Before

I really thought that this year, we were ahead of the game and we were going to be able to spend the day before Christmas playing games, doing puzzles, watching movies, and relaxing. Peanut and I were pretty much done wrapping, but the other two kids still had "a couple gifts to finish" before they could wrap--and those couple gifts, as well as addressing the cards and finishing the cookie decorating took us right up to 5 p.m. My dreams of a family together time before Christmas will have to wait another year. This year has been all about adjusting our plans and going with the flow.

BUT--we have enough cookies to keep an army sugared up until the new year. We made too many this year, and didn't get them done in time to give more of them away,

but we have so much fun decorating them.

And at 5, after throwing dinner in the instant pot, we sat down to watch the best movie of all time. Both Daddy-o and I still cry at the end, every single year.

So, we sat down for dinner around 8, and we had to eat it around the kitchen island because our table had been taken over by the cookie army. After dinner, we lit the last advent candle (because THAT didn't get done last night since we ended up spending the evening with friends--isn't that what it's all about?) and read Luke 2, sang a song, and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

We got the stockings hung by the chimney with care.

The kids left cookies, milk, and a couple carrots for Santa and his reindeer and then we FINALLY got the boys to bed. Bean and I still had an errand to run--we've been doing the 12 days of Christmas for someone here, but they went out of town so we had to run over to their house to pick up the last couple days of gifts that we'd left on their porch. Guess we'll have to drop them off next week when they get back.

And then, it was time to make the magic happen so we could get to bed.

My favorite view of the tree--the presents out, the quiet, and the anticipation of the next morning.

A Hygge Christmas

That was our goal this year--to have a hygge Christmas (although I just read that the adjective is actually hyggelig, so I guess we are technically trying to have a hyggelig Christmas, but at this point in the game, changing the name seems unlikely, haha.) 

Hygge is a Danish word that roughly means cozy. After spending a weekend in Solvang celebrating our Danish heritage, I decided that this was the perfect principle to try to incorporate into our Christmas. I'd been hearing about hygge a lot over the past year or two (although I'm pretty sure that comes from being a homeschooler and the various feeds and podcasts I follow relating to that because most people I talk to do not, in fact, know what hygge means.)  The idea of trying to make the holidays cozy and calm, celebrating with friends and family, but reducing the frantic busy-ness that takes over each year sounded perfect because this fall has felt the opposite of hygge to me and I was ready for a break from the crazy.

However, saying we're going to have a hygge Christmas is one thing--making it happen is a whole different game. To say we've struggled is an understatement. Illnesses have had half the family (and many friends we've had plans with) feeling down through a lot of this month. The kids' break didn't start until Friday, between Bug and Bean, they have activities Monday-Thursday that affect dinner and the rest of our evening as always, Christmas cards have been a struggle every step of the way, and securing the right presents (and kids trying to make presents for each other) has been stressful. There have been some tense moments that are certainly not in the realm of calm and cozy.

BUT--we have tried to bring some cozy into our home. We have sat by the tree sipping warm drinks, we've lit candles, we've snuggled up for books and movies in the evening. Not selling hot chocolate has made a huge difference in our weekend evenings, and that has been nice. I can't imagine how overscheduled this year would have felt if we'd tried to do that as well.

And we've had a few different families over for various celebrations which has felt very hygge. We had friends come for a family night and going to see the lights at Deacon Dave's, another group come for a solstice bonfire and dinner outside, which was the highlight of my week--a few hours of just eating and enjoying friendships while sitting outside.

We've also gone to others' homes as well. We got to hang out with a group of my friends from high school and their families last weekend, which was awesome. 

And we had a couple nights with my brother who stayed with us while on his annual December business trip. What's better than some uncle arm wrestling time?

Getting to share some cozy, relaxed time with friends has been magical, and we still have more to come. And I'm hoping that as the Christmas preparations are winding down, we can slow down and really embrace the coziness and love these next couple days. 

These Days

This is what the photos on my phone look like these days. Meet Dandan, my regular dog walking client. I get to walk this overgrown puppy Monday thru Friday (in hopes that when his owners come home, he won't maul them as they come through the door.) He's a little crazy and has a bad habit of jumping, but he's also super smart and happy, which is impossible to not be affected by, so I'm loving our daily walks. And I still get the occasional dog sitting or drop-in visits, so this little side-hustle is bringing in a small, but steady income which is also fun.

These nights are now lit up by Deacon Dave's again. 

We can no longer see the lights from our house, but that hasn't stopped us from enjoying them with friends on multiple nights already, and every time we drive that direction. While the kids are a little sad about the loss of hot chocolate income, I think we've all enjoyed more relaxed weekends with time for movies.

But these days are still busy with kids' activities and church callings, and school. Bug had a practice Destination Imagination tournament a couple weekends ago. He's involved on a team that meets weekly, preparing for the STEM challenges and performance that they will compete at in February. And he is in piano and art, which just feels like part of his school day. Bean has a lighter schedule this trimester, and isn't doing a school sport, so we decided to let her fill up her evenings with art class and 2 days of club water polo. Peanut is the only one who isn't involved in anything extracurricular right now.

This feels like my second home these days. Some days, I feel like my time is broken into chunks of 15-45 minutes, between two different school runs in the a.m., Bug's classes during the day, two school pick ups, after school activities, and my dog clients. It doesn't make for the best productivity, but I'm trying to embrace it. It is making me appreciate my mom who did the same for us for years. And at least I have a new (to us) van to run my taxi service.

And these nights, I'm trying to spend as much time as possible right here, enjoying the lights and, once everyone else goes to bed (or at least their rooms), the quiet. 'Tis the season.

Zoo Trip

We couldn't have asked for a better day to visit the zoo. Our pass expires on Christmas Eve and 3/5 of the family hadn't seen the new California Trail exhibit, so we wanted to make one more trip before then. The weather was perfect, and I think most people must be busy with Christmas shopping and holiday events because there were a lot fewer people than normal.

We got to see pretty much all the animals there.

And spent quite awhile in the new area.

These kids crack me up. I'm so glad that they still love going places with us, and that they love to be silly.

This boy--I think the positive way of describing his way of going places is that he is very focused and knows what he wants to see. What that means in reality is that he spends most of the time asking when we are going to see/do "X" and what food I have for him, haha. But I think he had fun, too.

One of the highlights of the day was seeing the grizzlies, not only out, but active. They were interacting and digging for food and jogging around a little. It's fun when the animals wake up!