Celebrating with our Grandparents

Grammy Hansen hosts a big Christmas Breakfast at her house every year, but since we have gone to trying to be home on Christmas morning so that Santa can come to our house, we have had to miss it. She was able to come down to Norfolk on the day after Christmas though. It is funny that the kids just tower over her. It won't be long before Emmy passes her up.

Steph and I left mid-morning to go the visit the cemetery and to see Grandma and Grandpa in Orchard. The cemetery is always so peaceful out there. Steph had put a little Christmas tree on the gravesite, and we were shocked to see that it was still there despite all the wind. Not only was it still there, but the battery lights were also still on. We had to hang up a Santa hat because that was dad's thing to wear for Christmas. Since he had the grey beard, he did really resemble Santa.

This year has been one of the toughest mental health years I have ever encountered. I had no idea how much losing a parent would hurt and how much it would affect me even 7-8 months down the road. I am doing all the things I need to and I'm trying to show my kids that it is ok to need a counselor, meds and sometimes days that you cry. I know that Dad would want me to get out of bed every day and do all the things that need to be done and I do but that doesn't mean that I don't miss him. I am lucky to have Steph, Mitch and Jess who are in the same boat and who are very supportive.

We stopped to see Cindy before we headed up to the cemetery. She seemed to be doing as well as can be expected for missing someone on holiday. It is always nice to visit with her. 

On our way home from Grimton cemetery we called Grandma and Grandpa to see if they were home and if we could stop by. They were home and it was good to chat with them. Grandma has been looking frail lately, her health worries me. Grandpa hasn't seemed to age in years. He is always the same. 

This is Bear, grandma and grandpa's big dog. I think him and I became instant friends while I was there. He is so funny! You have to give him constant attention or he is growl talking at you. 

 

Christmas with the Lutz's

We went to Norfolk on Christmas and spent the day at the Lutz's. The kids convinced Grandma and Grandpa to let them open gifts right when we got there. I don't think they had to do much convincing; Bob is always as excited to watch the kids open the gifts as the kids are to open the gifts. 

Grandma and Grandpa and the crazy kids!

After we opened gifts, we go to just sit around and relax and chat with everyone. Susie of course made a phenomenal supper, and we topped it off with cheesecake at the end. We had plenty of laughs playing with AJ's shock potato toy. It's like hot potato but if you are holding the potato when the timer goes off, it shocks you pretty hard. It was a successful gift. AJ gives me free rein to get him something a little out of the ordinary every year. This year was a success.

 

On the Nice List

I'm not sure how we manage to get on the nice list every year, but we did. Santa brought us so much fun stuff! He even ate all the cookies and milk that Emmy had put out for him, and the reindeer ate the carrots. 

Emmy got her speaker and microphone.

Abby got a mini fridge for her makeup and skin care items.

Bryce got some vintage basketball jerseys. 

Caleb got a KC Chiefs Hoodie

Scout was really excited for her opossum toy.

Lucy loves Christmas gifts. Just like siblings, her and Scout fought over who got to play with each toy.

 

Family Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve. The kids talked us into opening presents in the afternoon after we completed Abby's room redo. Christmas Eve was a Friday this year, so we were all able to spend the day together. We had fun opening gifts, playing with our gifts and then eating a good supper. That evening we attended church at Southwood. The Christmas service is always so nice there.

Emmy got a Chromebook like she had wanted.

We redid Abby's room and she got some accessories to add to it.

Caleb got supplies to fix the rust on his truck and a jersey.

Bryce got shoes and this cool Husker jacket. 

 

Room Makeover

There are many times that I will be stressed out and Robb will remind me that my choices and my actions have put me where I am at, and I have no one but myself to blame. This was one of those times! I didn't know what to get Abby for Christmas and she didn't have any great ideas. She had thrown out the idea of getting some new things for her room. My brain turned that into "Wouldn't it be great if we did the entire room makeover and we unveiled it as her gift". So....that's how it all started. With 2 weeks until Christmas we packed up Abby's room and moved her to the basement couch while we remolded. I had picked a color palate and I had some ideas that we ran with. I will say, it was really hard for me to paint over her pink chevron that she chose when she was in 2nd grade. It was time for her room to look like a big kid room since she is a teenager now. I ended up loving this dark blue color. I also painted the ceiling to get rid of a water stain that had occurred. I do the roller painting and Robb is the trim guy. Sorry Robb!

She had this LED curtain of lights that she liked and hung pictures on so we kept that, but Robb make it a little more aesthetically pleasing by making a board to hang it on and decorating it. We got a new lamp and bulletin board for pictures.

Robb used his handy skills to install this super cool macrame chair so that it was strong enough for an adult to sit in.

She got new bedding and throw pillows. The desk was a bday gift from grandpa last year. We added shelves and cute decorations for the shelves. I also hung new curtains.

We were both so excited to see her face when she walked in. She was so excited and loved it! Her excitement made all the stress and hard work worth it!

I have to add a slightly funny, now that some time has passed, moment. It was the day of the unveiling and Robb was doing some last-minute paint touch up. All of a sudden, I hear him screaming that he needed help. I was worried that he was really hurt! Come to find out he had picked up the plastic can of paint by the lid and the lid came off and the entire gallon of white primer had spilled on the carpet, right in front of the door. At this moment it became very clear why we have the jobs that we have. High stress emergency = calm and collected, task oriented me. High stress emergency= super stressed Robb standing there not knowing what to do. Now, on the other hand Normal everyday stress = overwhelmed me. Normal everyday stress= super calm, all is good Robb. Needless to say, it was a hairy and paint fumy 15 min or so cleaning up. We did have to sacrifice the carpet cleaner, many beach towels and the clothing we were wearing at the time, but it all turned out ok. If you know what happened, you might notice that the carpet is a little crunchy on the edge of her room but if you didn't know you wouldn't be the wiser. 

 

We Hosted Christmas

 

We hosted Christmas a couple weeks early so that everyone could come. It was important to us that we could all celebrate together this year since it would be the first year without our Santa. We had a great time, but it was also emotional and hard. We were able to reminisce about the year that Dad had on the Santa hat and Weston thought he was actually a Santa. We had good food and a fun night. 

Lutz family

Steph, Lester, Korbin and Draven

Jess, Chris, Jace and Cole

Mitch, Courtney and Weston

Mom and the grandkids

Cindy and the grandkids

Steph made us all these ornaments so that we could forever have Dad watching over our Christmas!

Emmy made the dessert tray. She was a little disappointed that it didn't look as pretty once everyone started to eat off of it.

Norris Freshman Basketball

Bryce played on the Freshman Basketball team for Norris this year. Basketball has been his sport for a long time now. He really never gets tired of playing basketball, shooting hoops or practice. He would even regularly go to the YMCA before school with Robb to get extra shots in. His level of dedication is impressive. This year he played point guard, and he did a great job. Every year Robb and Bob tell him to be more aggressive and to put up more shots and there were a lot of games where he looked more confident, and he started to shoot more. He is getting pretty good at his 3-point shots. They had a good season, and he really liked the Freshman team coach, Cheney. 

He usually was one of the shorter ones out there, but he was always jumping for rebounds. Not sure where he gets his jumping ability because it isn't from his parents!