This guy hasn’t had a full-on haircut in over a year and a half. My friend (who dyed my hair last month,) trimmed him up a bit prior to Astrid’s funeral, but other than that, he has let his locks grow non-stop since mid-2019. After scrolling through some ideas on Pinterest, we came up with a few options for him to show the same friend/stylist. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to give him such a major transformation. He looks like a new kid! I mean, teenager 🙂
The PTO at the kids’ school put together treat bags for all of the students prior to going on winter break. We really are grateful to be part of a school community who has worked so hard to keep the kids engaged and connected during the pandemic.
During the month of October, a local artist, Bernadette Gockowski, offered to paint watercolor cards with the name (or names) for mothers of a baby (or babies) who died before they were born. I received our name card during Advent, which was a beautiful gift.
We’re thankful to still be able to meet monthly for Family Formation at church. As we left this month’s meeting, the girls were able to get their picture taken with St. Nicholas.
The Shecklets decorated our Christmas tree tonight. They hung Astrid’s “A” ornament first.
The finished tree got two thumbs up from Shecklet #4.
Shecklet #3 also asked if we could hang a stocking for Astrid. We had an extra one (the white bear) that someone had given us the Christmas prior to Shecklet #1 joining us – but we ended up using a different one for him. It turns out it’s the perfect addition to our mantle this year.
Part of our nephew’s 2020 Christmas present is a stuffed gnome I made. (I saw one that a college friend made and thought I’d give making one a try.) Shecklet #2 helped by stuffing him. I think he ended up pretty cute!
This year’s St Nicolas Day gifts include the usually new ornaments and chocolate coins as well as window clings (since all of our Christmas ones had their last run in 2019.)
I also have two ornaments for Astrid – her “A” initial like her siblings as well as a little pink sled with 2020 that I will put her photo in. The kids also asked for their own photo ornaments to remember her by – I’m still trying to figure out what those will look like or be.
Shecklets 1-4 are getting cactus ornaments for 2020. Jake’s Aunt Nancy sent the kids mini cactus plants after Astrid died, so when I found these ornaments I thought they would be perfect way to remember the live gifts the kids received in memory of their little sister.
I was scrolling through old pictures in Shutterfly tonight and found this:
Then ⬆️
And now ⬇️ (I wrote about this a few weeks ago.)
Thanks to COVID (that’s a phrase I hope we one day never have to hear again,) the kids’ school pictures were canceled. I took pictures in the fall, but in order to be included in the yearbook, their photos need to be taken with a plain background and the kids have to be wearing their uniform shirts. Here’s what we came up with using the camera on my phone. I can only imagine the variety we’re going to see in this year’s yearbook.
Food and friends. That sums up the perfect way to spend Thanksgiving. We were grateful to have time with our KC friends. (We did pre-visit COVID testing and had negative results.) The kids picked up where they left off the last time they were together in May and the adults had time to catch up on the last 6 months of life. It was great to relax, hang out, and on Thursday, cook in the kitchen with my friend.
I am probably biased, but this meal was one (if not the) best Thanksgiving meal I’ve had!
These kids keep growing like crazy!
No visit would be complete without a photo of Shecklet #4 and her godparents.