Thanksgiving

It's probably been close to 20 years since we have had Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  Maybe I'm forgetting one in there somewhere but I honestly can't remember one.  Mario's father, Michael, has spent three Thanksgivings with us over the last six years so that's been fun for the kids to get to know him better.  Otherwise, we spend it alone or with friends.

This year Melissa said that her family could join us since Josh has been working weekends and he'd be home in time for work. (I give her a hard time about spending every holiday with Josh's family.) We invited Mom and Dad up too which turned out to be convenient since they decided to serve a mission and they had to report to the MTC the following week.  So basically, we were on the way.

We decided to do something "crazy" and not have turkey or ham for Thanksgiving dinner.  Instead we opted for some steaks with some traditional Thanksgiving sides.  Josh did an amazing job with the grilling and Eric and Nicole took care of the rest of the cooking.  Nicole's dad, Steve, joined us too since his wife was in Germany visiting family.

Steve was kind enough to take some family pictures. I think this is my all time favorite picture of Mom and Dad together.  Steve captured them so naturally.  I also love the one with them and the grandkids.  Very sweet!

As far as Black Friday shopping this year, we didn't do much.  We decided to go to Walmart just to say we went.  Fortunately, there have been fewer and fewer crowds each year.  When I would go to Walmart in Tucson several years ago, we couldn't even walk it was so crowded.  Now, we can easily push a cart around.  I think many have opted for online shopping.  I don't think I even bought one thing at Walmart.

I still need to send out Christmas cards. I never got to it last year, and honestly, I am not excited about doing it this year.  It's a tradition that I may put to an end soon.  It is exhausting trying to keep up with all our military friends' new addresses since we all move so often.   But I guess that means I won't be getting cards either because no one will have my new address. And I do like having updates on their families since I'm still not on Facebook (and have no plans to ever join if I can help it.)

Formal Military Dining Out

Last night, Mario and I attended a dining out with his cadets, their families and our Congressman, Don Bacon. The last time I attended a formal dining out, Mario was LT and therefore, very low ranking. So there was no pressure for me. This time, Mario and I had to sit at the head table with the Congressman and a few of his best cadets. Mario neglected to tell me that I’d have to walk in with the six others at the head table while the guests stand up and watch us walk across the room and up the stairs to our seats. I have feet, knee and hip issues so I rarely wear high heels. But for this occasion, I figured I should wear heels. I picked up a cheap pair at Goodwill for $4 yesterday morning. Unfortunately, they were a tiny bit big and so I was so self conscious walking in front of that crowd in those heels. But then found out we had a break half way thru and I had to do it all over again. The crowd had to stand when we left and stand for us to enter again. I’m not sure I am cut out to be a commander’s wife because I was very close to taking off my shoes and walking across the room in my nylons. Ha!

I noticed the sweetest thing next to my name on the seating chart. Mario told the cadet who made it to put something special by my name. He said everyone in the meeting laughed and Mario said, “No, I’m serious.” See if you can see it in the pictures.

The cadets did an amazing job putting together this dinner. I was very impressed. It was really nice to meet many of his cadets and their parents. I know Mario will have a major impact on the lives of these young men and women. They are lucky to have him as their commander.

By the way, that is the same uniform Mario bought 19 years ago when he joined the military. I can’t believe it still fits perfectly! And, yes, I’m crazy and already put up my Christmas tree. But I am waiting to put on the ornaments until the kids can help me.

Online School Day 1

Nathan and Zachary have officially started 8th grade. Their first day of online school was the same day as the solar eclipse which was cool but a little of a distraction. Savana and Keanu Moore came down to watch from our house since Lincoln was in the path for a total eclipse and Omaha would only have a partial eclipse. Grandma and Papa were also visiting.

Saying it was a rough start would be an understatement. We are an Apple product family and so using Windows for the first time in a decade didn't help at all. The school gave them each a Windows based tablet/computer. I was eager to set expectations right from the start and that meant setting a breakfast/scripture reading time each morning at 8 am. I don't really care what time they begin working but they must have breakfast and scripture study with me. That isn't negotiable because they will start working early and not remember to eat until 11 am and then be really grumpy from not taking time to eat a good breakfast.

The boys began their day by getting up at 7 am and getting a jumpstart on their work. They each began with Language Arts. I knew we were in trouble when they were still working on same subject four hours later. They were grumpy/mouthy/disrespectful and I was ready to put them in the car and head to the nearest middle school to drop them off. I'm sure glad Mario wasn't home that morning because he wouldn't have tolerated their disrespectful behavior towards me. They both would have been grounded for at least a month or more. But I'm a pushover and all I could do was laugh at how dumb I was to think that online school may actually work for us.

Fortunately, by lunchtime, we took a break to go watch the eclipse and to eat. They finished up Language Arts and moved on to the other subjects which proved to be much easier. I'm sure getting accustomed to the new computers helped. The boys worked well into the late afternoon and had a lot of Tuesday's work completed too. Fortunately by time Mario came home from work, peace had been once again restored at the Perez home. But it did make for some good memories and I'm pretty sure our morning became a comedy routine for Mario's first ROTC class.

Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, and Back to Missouri

We moved out of our home the end of June and took off for a three week vacation with Summer.  It started with a  trip to see Melissa and her family.  We have the best time going to visit them and spending time at Jeanne's lake.  I sure wish I was rich and could afford to buy a house on that lake (if one ever came up for sale.)  The boys got a long well (as far as I know.)  The weather was absolutely perfect and it was just so relaxing to be outside soaking up that beautiful scenery.  Summer had fun chasing her frisbee and learning to swim.  She can swim without lifejacket but fetching a frisbee in the water without it proved to be too difficult so we had her wear the jacket.  Zach spent most of his time fishing.  I know that is suprising!

After Missouri, we headed to Florida.  We stayed with Billy and Kristen for a few days while Summer visited a petsitter.  It was the saddest thing ever.  The petsitter sent me pictures of Summer watching for us out the window.  Apparently she sat there most of the day.  It broke my heart.  But as usual, we had a blast with Billy's family.  We went boating several times, played in his pool, and had a front row seat to his city fireworks display from his house.

It was great to see Charlie and Mel with their beautiful redheaded children.  Henry finally warmed up to Summer.  But I think his favorite place to pet her was when she was in the kennel.  He didn't want to eat dinner because he was busy playing with her.

After a few nights at their house, we packed up and checked into a rental house with our friends, Lindsey, Greg, Gage, and Maddox Andersen.  Gage and Maddox are 4 and 3 so it was different being on vacation with little ones. Other than not sleeping well (which didn't bother us at all), they did really well.  It makes me excited for the day that my children bless me with grandkids.  We spent each morning exploring different beaches near Englewood, Venice, and Sarasota. Then in the afternoons, we'd play in the pool and finish the day with games.  We love to play games with Lindsey and Greg.  Their favorite beach was the one that is close to our home in Venice-Manasota Beach.  Greg loved it so much that he went home and told his mom that he wanted to move to Florida.  She said she'd follow him there. I love Pat so I need them to follow through with these plans.  Ha!

Lindsey and I are both petrified of lightning.  One day we went to lunch on the boat with my parents when a storm hit.  We thought it was cleaning up so we go back on the boat to go back to the boat club.  The storm got much worse.  Lightening bolts were striking around us.  The rain was pelting us to the point it hurt. My father could barely see where he was going.  It was scary!  Nate said he wasn't scared because he thought if lightening struck him, he'd die instantly.  Seriously, that's how scary it was for me.  I thought we were all going to die. Mario and Greg did get shocked from holding the metal bar on the boat.  They didn't tell us until hours later.   But we made it back safely and Lindsey and I will never forget that day, I'm sure!  

We went out another day on the boat tubing. I'm shocked Lindsey got back on the boat after that first experience.  But we had a lot of fun and no one got hurt thank goodness.

We got away on Sunday and spent some time with Grandma and Papa playing games.

Unfortunately, it was time to head back north. Mario and I long for the days we can live in Florida.  Each time we go, we get excited that it's getting closer each day. We decided to take a little detour and go through North Carolina to visit Michael and Rose.  Zach adores Michael and I can see why.  They have similar sense of humors.  Mario and I were laughing at how similar the two of them are but in reality, Zach is a lot like Mario who probably has same humor as his dad.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of North Carolina.

Then it was back to one of our other favorite vacation spots-Jeanne's lake.  Melissa was so nice and went fishing with Zach a lot.  Have I mentioned that he likes to fish?!  We discovered that Summer really likes to torment fish.  It was quite fun to see her go after them.  I don't know if you can tell, but she brings me a lot of joy!  Her shenanigans crack me up!

Then it was time to pack up again and head back to Nebraska to a new home.  What a wonderful three weeks we had visiting family and spending time with friends.  Thanks everyone for making it a memorable trip for all of us.

A Move to Lincoln and Homeschool

So we finally found a house in Lincoln, Nebraska and are all moved in.  It was quite an ordeal to find a place to live in this college town.  First of all, the rentals are expensive and rundown.  The landlords have no incentive to fix up houses that will be destroyed by college students.  Mario found a subdivision in the far south side of Lincoln that he loved and persuaded a landlord to drop the rent $400 a month so that we could afford his house.  The landlord has been wonderful and even agreed to put up a fence for Summer.   It is a beautiful home that is still more than I want to pay but we love it and are getting accustomed to it, the ward, and neighborhood.  The one downside is that there are some great fishing ponds in the neighborhood so I rarely see Zach and when I do, all he talks about is fishing.  HA!

The biggest news of all is that we are trying homeschool (online) for 8th grade.  We originally found a home on the east side of Lincoln that we loved but the school was awful so that's when I looked into online options.  We decided against that home and our new home is in a good school but the boys were all excited about trying online school so I figured we'd give it a shot. Not much to lose since it's only middle school and not high school where grades really matter.

We are using the k12 curriculum through a public school in Omaha.  It requires us to go up to Omaha for classes once a week but I figured that would work perfectly for us to see Eric, friends, and going to the temple.  Everyday I second guess my decision to do this.  It is quite a sacrifice for me because I am accustomed to having A LOT of time to myself and I won't lie, I love that alone time.  But I only have my boys home for 5 more years so as my blog says, I am going to try to enjoy the journey and try to love every minute I have with these two rambunctious 13 year olds that I love so much.

It will be an adjustment for all of us and I'm sure that I will threaten more than once a day to put them back in traditional school.  Haha.  But really, I'm hoping that it will be a great opportunity for our family and it is something that works so well that we will want to do it for high school too.  That may be wishful thinking.  

Happy 18th Birthday Erin!

Today is Erin's 18th birthday!  Happy Birthday Louie!

I won't lie, it's been a hard day.  I thought maybe we could just ignore it and hope we wouldn't remember the date (I rarely know the date).  But of course, that's not going to happen since it's the day after Eric's birthday.  Last year I did all of Erin's favorite things on her birthday.  But since we moved, I couldn't do those things unless I went back up to Omaha and we were just there yesterday.  It just goes to show that service helps you forget yourself because July 17th this year, the boys and I went to volunteer at homeless shelter and that day was way easier than last year on that date.  This year her birthday is much harder and that is probably because we didn't get out and do some service in her memory.  I'll make a note of that for next year.

But despite the sadness, I am so grateful to have her for the 16 years we did have with her.  I'm a different (better) person because of her.

I took Summer for a walk this morning and began to think how I wished Erin got to meet Nicole and Summer, the two new people in our lives.  Haha.  I just called Summer a person.  That's how much I love her!   I thought about how much she would have loved both of them.  But the Spirit quietly whispered to me that I don't need to wish that because Erin does know them.  She is just on the other side of the veil and the veil is quite thin.  I know without a doubt that Erin is with us much more than we realize.  For that knowledge, I am so grateful.

I love you Erin Lou and miss you every single day.

Eric is 20!

I'm officially old! My oldest child is no longer a teenager.  How in the world did time fly by that fast?He and Nicole came down last Friday night to celebrate the big milestone while Melissa and her kids were down. Eric has been experimenting with a vegetarian/somewhat vegan lifestyle so I was surprised when he requested Hawaiian pork with rolls for dinner.  

Yesterday, for his official birthday, we took him to lunch at a restaurant in Midtown (in Omaha) called Leadbelly.  It was great to see him on his actual birthday.  Unfortunately for him, he had to rush to urgent care after lunch because he had a growth on his neck that was getting infected and he was worried that the infection would get to his brain.  Fortunately, everything was ok and they gave him antibiotics to clear it up.

Happy birthday Eric!