So long, 2020

A New Year's Eve toast that 2021 gets us back to normal.

Lots of horrible things happened in 2020 but there were a few good things:

E started her job at Microsoft and moved to Redmond, Wash. Andy and I flew out to help get her settled.

The family showed up to a Zoom party for E's 23rd birthday.

L graduated from high school with no fanfare, no prom, no ceremony and no party. She started college on campus this fall despite all of her classes being online. She made the best of it and found new friends.

B turned 21. Cheers!

L continued working at the bakery and started and ran a wildly successful mask company.

I learned how to sew, at least a basic straight stitch. I can also thread the machine and bobbin.

L celebrated her 18th birthday with a safe, outdoor gambling party.

B started his senior year at U of I. Both L and B were troopers taking a saliva test for Covid twice a week all semester long.

Andy spent a weekend golfing with E in Washington in July. When he came home I flew out and stayed with E for three weeks. Then when I left E's BF D moved in.

E got a dog.

L talked me and Allison into going to lots of garage sales throughout the summer. We found lots of bargains!

We put new front stairs on the house, got a new roof and new stucco.

Andy and I were able to safely socialize at our friend L's outdoor concert and Oktoberfest.

We spent many summer and fall nights on our patio listening to music and playing with the neighborhood outdoor cat, Schubert.

Andy and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary - not in Germany as we had hoped but we've rescheduled for 2021.

B managed to continue testing negative for the virus even though his roommate was positive.

L made lots of cocoa bombs with Aunt Allison's help over winter break and sold them to earn some money. She had to turn customers away.

The kids were all home for a quiet Christmas.

The kids were able to spend a few days together at Disney World to end the year.

We definitely learned to appreciate the little things in life - a beautiful sunset, being with friends and family, stocked stores, playing with the cats, dinners out. And best of all, we all stayed healthy. Looking forward to a better year in 2021.

All together for a lasagne dinner on New Year's Eve. No parties for any of us this year.

So long, 2020! Hello, 2021!

Kids Disney trip Day 5

L had little Mickey waffles for breakfast on her last day in Disney.

L brought this hat back for Andy in case he ever wants to go to Disney near Christmas time. I'm sure Andy won't wear it outside of Disney, if he'd even wear it then. At least she got it on clearance 70 percent off.

Beer guard

Good work, Muffles.

Kids Disney trip Day 4

Breakfast for L.

For some reason they toured the Riviera resort.

So pretty.

It would be nice to stay there.

L said this three-bedroom unit takes up an entire floor. Sign me up.

Big Christmas tree in Epcot.

And Christmas decorations on The Land ride. Meanwhile, in Oak Park ...

we're getting snow.

Unsigned

Got this Christmas card from my cousin the other day. Good thing I recognized the return address - she didn't sign the card.

Kids Disney trip Day 3

L was up bright and early for the rope drop at Magic Kingdom. E and B were sleeping in.

They were all together for lunchtime. B had a chicken sandwich and L sent a picture (not flattering) of him miffed to not find bacon on it. But then he realized it wasn't supposed to come with bacon lol.

L's lunch looked tasty.

She had peanut butter mousse pie for dessert.

Some nighttime pics from B.

I'm pretty sure these sparkly Crocs have been purchased and will be coming home with L.

They had to swich rooms today and are now staying in Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom for the night. I asked for pictures of the room and B sent this:

a very long hallway.

E did give me a FaceTime tour while they were waiting for their luggage to be delivered.

Gifts from the kids

So excited to get this book from B for Christmas. I follow this Facebook page and the stories are incredible. E got me the new Seinfeld book which I've already started reading. L got me lots of Carmex - can't have too much - an assortment of Burt's Bees products and some Clinique lip colors. My lips will be ready for when we're not wearing masks anymore.

Kids’ Disney trip Day 2

Today the kids are in Disney's Hollywood Studios. This is the makeover of the Great Movie Ride.

Looks cute ...

and not too crowded.

Star Wars ride. It looks like they're getting along.

Andy’s time capsule

Andy and I loaded up the car with old law files from his dad's office, files of our own we don't need anymore and a pile of deposited checks to shred at his office downtown.

We just slid the files in the locked bin and a service takes them away to be shredded.

In the files we found the key fob for my old Malibu, two random keys, his grandmother's will, papers for the sale of the family's Wisconsin cottage and death certificates for his great-grandparents.

This was best find - all the papers his dad had stored in Andy's file. We found our wedding invitation, the map to the church, the wedding bulletin;programs from his high school, college and law school graduations, as well as the program and ticket to his bar admission ceremony; and the invitation and church bulletins for E, B and L's baptisms. So cool. We found lots of other papers to like financial aid applications and his dad's statement to Andy's character for his bar admission.

Kids' Disney trip

This was the scene at our house 6 a.m. today. Andy is ready to take the kids to Midway for their short siblings Disneyworld vacation, E is depositing her Christmas check from us, L is ready to pose for a picture and B is wondering why E waited until now to deposit her check.

August wanted to go along.

I told each of them I wanted one picture a day. So far I've received these two pictures from L. She also sent a video of the plane landing in Orlando.

B texted when they landed and E Facetimed from their studio room at the Polynesian Resort. We've never stayed there so I'm interested to see some pictures.

Here's a Hawaiian-styled wreath. Again, a pic from L.

August loves tablecloths

August was lying on the Christmas tablecloth this morning. I put that one in the laundry and put down a new tablecloth.

And guess who immediately lies on it? Grrr.

Christmas dinner

The table hasn't been cleaned off since Thanksgiving but I managed to get the table set this morning for Christmas dinner. Red tablecloth, black napkins, a snowman candle playing off my buffalo check color scheme.

Andy carved the beef tenderloin.

Table full of food. Everything was ready by our 3 p.m. dinnertime. In addition to the beef we had mashed potatoes, carrots, au jus, sauteed mushrooms, rolls and broccoli casserole. Dessert was Christmas cookies.

Time to eat. A lot smaller than our usual Christmas dinners. We didn't even have to add any leaves to the table.

After dinner we played a couple rounds of Apples to Apples.

E and BF D. I noticed about halfway through the night that his shirt matched my buffalo check color scheme. Sweet!

Christmas Day

L made Andy a fleece "Christmas Story" blanket for Christmas.

I got him a U of I shirt (and he got one for me). We found them at the Champaign Costco when we took B back to school after Thanksgiving break.

B gave E this nice framed picture of her and Azula. We gave E silicone divider mats to use in the oven and a tomato knife. She also got WeatherTech floor mats for her Kona but we had those shipped to her in Washington.

B gave us no idea what he wanted for Christmas. After hearing how fast he put together the puzzle I left with him at school, L thought this all-white puzzle would be a good challenge for him. She even gave him puzzle sealer so once he gets it together he can preserve it and show all his friends.

E made him a nice quilt. She's had lots of time this year to quilt. We gave B headphones, a puzzle, charging hub, an amibo for his Switch game and an omelette maker for the microwave.

L got a Vera Bradley U of I purse from us, lots of Teddy Fresh appearel she found on sale, a Hello Kitty face cleaning kit and ...

a big, soft baby Yoda. It's huge!

This is the quilt E made for L.

Everyone on Christmas morning.

L found the pickle ornament. Her prize was a bunch of charging cords.

The cats joined our Christmas celebration.