Snow Day

Last week we got quite a bit of snow that started falling on a Saturday evening and kept falling most of the day on Sunday.  The kids had off from school on Monday, and it was actually a relatively nice day to be out.  The sun was shining, and it wasn’t too cold, so Nina and Lyla had a great time sledding on Monday.  They ended up with a delayed opening on Tuesday, and their county had scheduled a student holiday for Friday of that week, so needless to say, it wasn’t too much of a stresser week at school!

 

 

 

  

Even Cayenne got into some of the snow day fun.  After I took the kids sledding, I took Cayenne to the dog park. She found another dog there who liked to run and play like she does, and they both had a blast!

  

First Track Meet

On January 6, Nina participated in her first track meet.  It was a meet that the coaches selected athletes for, so Nina was very excited to get the opportunity to go, however she was defintely a bit nervous as she knew she would be among experienced athlethes and didn’t want to seem out of place.  We weren’t nervous about Nina’s ability to compete, but we WERE nervous about her shoes arriving.  We had ordered them before Christmas, but they took until the afternoon before we left to arrive.  Even though she didn’t get to break them in before the meet, we were breathing a sigh of relieft when they arrived.

The meet was at the New York Armory in New York City, and because Mark and Lyla had soccer over the weekend, Nina and I went up together on Saturday to the hotel where the team was staying.  We went out to dinner that evening with a big group from the track team, and despite the long wait for a table and food, Nina and one of her teammates enjoyed playing table games while we waited.  The athletes all got a good meal, then we made our way back to the hotel for showers and wind-down time.

The team had breakfast together at the hotel the next morning, then it was off to the Armory.  Our hotel was just outside NYC, so we all paired up with others and took Ubers into the city.  Being at the Armory was a very cool experience.  The venue is unique and houses the National Track and Field Hall of Fame as well as an awesome track and field center. 

   

For this first meet, Nina competed in the 55m sprint, the 200m, and the High Jump.

 

She just started high jumping a few weeks prior to the meet, and since they only high jump practice once each week, she had only had four total times ever trying/learning high jump.  She’s doing great with it, and we were really proud of her for putting aside her jitters and competing in the event even though she’s so new at it. Here’s a short video of one of her attempts: https://youtu.be/aPkTCpqC3yg

 

   

She really enoyed running the 200m.  It was the last event run of the day, so it had been a LONG day there for everyone, but the 200m is a very exciting race.  She felt great about her race, so it was a great event to end the day on.  

 

By the time our team’s portion of the event was finished and we Ubered back out of the city to the hotel (where we left our cars), it was already getting late on Sunday night.  We were starving, so we stopped for some fast food and gas and thankfully didn’t hit any traffic on the way home to make it back by 12:30am.  It was a rough morning for both of us the next day as Nina had to get up and go to school, and I had to get up and teach Body Combat, but we were glad that Nina’s first meet was a good experience.  She really enjoys her team, and even though this is all new to her (coming from a couple years in tumbling and competitive cheer), she is working relaly hard, and we’re happy that she’s enjoying herslef as much as she is.

 

Two days after we got home, Lyla got to get her cast off after five weeks of being immobilized.  Needless to say, we were all very happy about that!  Her wrist was definitely sore for a couple days afterwards, but thankfully she’s feeling back to her old self now with no complications, so we can safely assume all is well and healed.  YAY!!!

 

New Year's Day Fishing

Ringing in 2019 was pretty tame around the Simpson house.  Nina and Lyla had our neighbors over for a fun dinner and sleepover, and Mark and I played cards, watched the ball drop, and called it a night.  I did have to teach a class on New Year’s Day, but other than that, everyone was ready to get outside after spending the first half of the day in.  Nina also got a new fishing rod for Christmas and was anxious to try it out.  While the temps weren’t freezing, they were probably a little too cold for the fish to be that motivated to bite, so they didn’t catch anything, but it was still nice to be outside in the fresh air together. Having torn my calf muscle at the end of September, I had to sit out on all the great fall weekends for hiking, so I’m anxious to get back out there!  I always love doing things outdoors as a family.

 

 

Catching Up to Christmas

The lead up to Christmas is always a blend of exciting and busy.  I’m typically getting stuff prepared for Christmas right up until the day of, so that can make things busy, but it’s a wonderful season of the year, and I genuinely enjoy all that comes with it.  Mark and I had an occasion out with some neighborhood friends at a little holiday celebration, the girls had some celebrations with friends, and Cayenne even got into the Christmas spirit!  Clearly, she was very anxious for Santa to give her a chance as one of his reindeer this year!

   

Speaking of Santa, the girls haven’t “believed” in Santa for awhile, but they sat down with Santa for a chat and some joking around when we visited Mark’s work for the Christmas party.  Santa even signed Lyla’s cast for her.  :)

   

As is the tradition every year, we bake tons of cookies to give to family, friends, neighbors, etc.  The one type of cookie that I always get plenty of help with are the iced and decorated sugar cookies.  They’re not necessarily decorated with the most style, but they are decorated with lots of love (and finger licking)!

We had an awesome Christmas Eve dinner at the Williams house this year.  Sadly, I didn’t break out my camera to get any pictures.  Actually, I was kind of slack with pictures all Christmas, but the evening was a wonderful one spent eating some great food and enjoying the time with family.

 

We typically get home pretty late from Christmas Eve dinner, but Lyla was still up early on Christmas morning.  Nina probably would have slept in quite a bit, but she didn’t mind Lyla waking her up to get the present opening started.  Cayenne actually gets to open the first present because she is crazy for presents.  She loves opening them, and even when the presents aren’t for her, she thinks she should help.  I think she expects a treat for HER inside every gift - no matter who it’s for.

  

 

After we finished stockings and presents at out house, we did a quick turn around to head over to Mousey and Poppy’s house for brunch and more Christmas.

  

  

After more great food and more presents, we finish things off by celebraing Jesus’ birthday. My mom has carried on the tradition that started with her family, and every year there is a birthday cake and singing of the birthday song for Jesus.  As PB used to say, we all get cakes and get sung to on our birthdays, so the same applies to Jesus.  

After time at my mom and dad’s we come back to the house to hang, play with presents, rollerblade, etc.  

For the past few weeks, we’ve been working to convert the basement toy room into a hang out room for the girls.  It was unpainted (other than basic builder grade paint), had stickers all over the wall, and was filled with all kinds of younger kid toys that we’ve had for ages but just haven’t gotten rid of.  A couple weeks ago, we started the big process of getting rid of all those toys, cleaning out the room, painting the room and the adjoining bathroom, etc.  While we’re still working on the finishing touches of decorations, the girls now have a room to hang out in down in the basement that’s much more age appropriate.  They got a Nintendo Switch and some large bean bags for the hang out room, an art table, and a couple other things to go down there.  So far, it’s been a great change for them and one they’re getting a lot of use out of.