Clair’s second basketball season

Clair decided she wanted to play basketball again this winter. So we signed up for the local intermural league again. This time I volunteered to be head coach and was selected. I was happy to be the head coach. One of the moms from Softball out about being the assistant and it has been awesome working with her.

Clair missed a lot of the beginning of the season with her broken arm. Yet still, she’s grown in the sport and really contributed to our team success. I can only imagine what it would’ve been like if she had been able to play the whole season.

I’ve enjoyed coaching and I think all the girls are learning something. There’s a good chance the season comes to an end tomorrow morning. I’m ready for softball and I think Clair is too.

Ellie gets her learners

Ellie hasn’t seem too interested in working towards getting a license. We decided to let it go and let it come when she felt ready. Couple weeks ago she told me she was ready to take the learners permit test so we scheduled it for today.

Mimmi arrived at the DMV. We had to wait for about 15 minutes. We were early and there were no lines on a Saturday. I was surprised. Once we were called we went through all the administrative work and then she went off to take the test. She was very confident. I had to leave the room and wait for her out in the lobby. 

I only waited less than five minutes and she reappeared with a smile on her face telling me she passed getting 100% on the test. I’m proud of her.

Pulling out of the DMV I asked do you want to go drive around the parking lot. Before I could get the question completed she said yes. So we went to an empty parking lot and practiced driving in circles and early parking. I’m really proud of her. She was a good listener, and she was very interested in everything that I wanted to teach her.

Being a teenager is hard. I am learning that for things like this doing it at Ellie’s pace is best for her and leads to the greatest success. She’s grown up so fast. I know I’m gonna miss this.

Only snow in over two years

The kids have been missing out on snow the past few winters. Quite frankly, I’ve missed it too. 

We finally got a good 6-8 inches which lasted a couple days. They enjoyed sledding and just being out in the snow. Thank goodness for the joys of childhood!

The sweetest little angle puts me to bed

I get tired before Clair most nights. My girl still loves to spend time with me before bed. Often we are playing games and sometimes we are snuggling or talking or watching something. For years she’s liked if she has the chance to tuck me in. I think this started when I would return from Poland and be wrecked and in bed by 8. It used to be rare, but I give into the idea more often now that I know she really can’t get to sleep before 10 pm or so. 

Last night was one of these nights. We were downstairs and she knew I was wrecked. She grabbed me by the hand and said “come on Mommy let’s put you to bed.”  We stopped to get water and she made sure I had everything I needed and walked me up the stairs. After I brushed my teeth and used the bathroom she tucked me into bed. She made sure all my devices were turned down and far enough away they would not distract me. She got me ice for my burnt finger and she tucked me under the covers. She snuggled me for a bit. We said prayers. Then she gets up, turns out the lights and sing a me a couple songs whilst rubbing my arm. 

She was an angle and I think I was asleep right after she left me. She’s the sweetest little thing. 

I’m so grateful. 

One on one time is the best

 This year for Christmas we gave each of the kids trips. Max and Ellie went with David for the long January weekend to see Grannie in Scotland. Clair got a trip to Universal to live out her dreams of going to Hogwarts. Everyone had a great time. 

I didn't get too much details about what happened in Scotland other then a lot of movie watching and some shopping. The boys were also spoiled with a lot of good quality meat such as Max's new favorite - Wagyu Beef stake. Ellie was spoiled by jewelry and came home with many pairs of earrings, some new and some inherited, as well as several very special rings. 

Clair and I had a great trip. Travel down went smoothly and most of the logistics were great, except the delayed return. The parks were a lot of fun. We thought it might rain us out, but turned out to be manageable. We used the fast pass on day 1 to make the most of seeing all the rights. There were 5 Harry Potter rides. It was hard to get Clair out of Harry Potter land to enjoy the rest of the park, but I pushed it anyway. My favorite ride was ET and she enjoyed it enough that we even watched the movie at night while we were gone. Universal is very cool. I am grateful we were there on the off season, because I could not image int during the busy, hot summer season. 

Clair enjoyed all the special Harry Potter events such as getting selected to have a wand picked out for her and then going around both sides of the park casting the spells at all the spell spots. She really enjoyed this part of the adventure. 

Clair is such a joy to spend time with. She is thoughtful and kind. She is also adventurous and patient. She did get upset with the number of bathroom trips I required, but otherwise, she was in good spirits the whole time. We ended up making a joke about it. I also told her when she's 47 to think back to this experience and see if she needs this little girls room more then, than now. 

I'm really grateful for our family to have this experience. We missed the others and were excited to see them in the airport on Wednesday and travel home as a family. Absence does make the heart grow fonder. Clair ran to hug Max. It was so sweet. 

Mycareer of 16 years, the entire parenting journey, comes to an end

This year, I lost my job at Astrazeneca. My last day of work was December 15. I’ve been working there the entire time I’ve been parenting. And although this blog has been very much about my parenting journey, having this come to an end, feels like a real shift and change in the entire parenting experience.

Overall, I’ve had flexibility in this Company to be actively involved as a parent in a way that I mostly wanted to be. I will miss the people I was working with. I think what happened was not right, but I am choosing to believe that God has a better plan for me and that I need to be patient to find it. 

The end was hard on my team too, and I know I will be missed. I know I made a lot of positive impact on the business. I know I’m very good cross, functional collaboration, and a great team, lead, mentor and coach. I also know that I didn’t manage up well and that that’s the one thing I need to do a better job of wherever I land next.

I wanted to share my memory, the thoughtful card that I got on the last day of work. One of my former team members organize this for me. Each of these messages means something to me. I want to cherish them forever.

As I start the new year, I need to step up the job search. I’m nervous about what this will bring for a family. I’m nervous that it’ll be hard to replace the package I had.  However, I am grateful for what I have had and believing that this is part of the journey, God has in store for me to be the best person that he has envisioned for me to become.

Along with the card, I received some gorgeous earrings and stones from the team, which they had shipped from Warsaw to me. Experiencing Warsaw Poland was such a blessing. The people are amazing and the town is vibrant and full of interesting history.

Christmas favorites

I absolutely love the Christmas cards that Clair writes. She is baffled by why we don’t give personalized cards at Christmas in the same way that we do for birthdays. So she’s decided she’ll do it anyway. Here’s a copy of mine from this year. Also, a couple of my favorite wrappings that I had to save. The Ivy paper reminds me of Anita and I love the blue bow on the silver paper that my necklace from David came .