2021 ~ The Year I remembered I Have a Blog

 Hi Everyone. So it's been 9 years since I wrote last. It's almost like a novel. 

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~9 YEARS LATER~ 

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We decided to move to Houston in 2018. I was 4 mo pregnant with Diana. We had to make the drive in 2 days. That's 17 hours each day. I drove the van with 6 children, 1 dog, 5 fish, a bunny, and a parakeet. I was pretty nervous because we had to be awake and able to sign very important buying-a-house type documents. We were dead on our feet and excited to be homeowners again. Even tho the journey to get to security was fraught with unforeseen trials, it was still a great decision. Northern CA had been burning for a few years by this time and it took us until AZ to be clear of the smoke. Also, if we had stayed in CA then we were going to have to pay over $2675/mo for rent. To top it all off, our extended family was falling apart. It was high time there was a change in our lives. Oh, moving to Houston was glorious! The heat! The humidity! The cockroaches! Ok, that might be overstepping bounds there, but the bug guys took care of them pretty easily. We were able to buy a house double the size we could afford in CA. We had a pool! Seriously, our way of life went from penny-pinching to living the good life. We could afford granola bars! Until our van died. Then I said, "Hey, let's just get that 15 passenger van we've always wanted." So we found a 10 passenger van that was perfect! It stretched our budget a little bit so we had to cut back on a few things. Like AC. It was totally worth it! We got to visit CA the summer of 2019 which sealed the deal for me. If I had any regrets before they were all squashed. I had officially fallen in love with Houston. I missed my friends, but the stress I felt while living in CA due to money was not missed one bit.

At the end of 2019, our property in CA was finally sold. Phew! Money to pay off the big van and little car too. And then some to put into the mortgage. Jimmy got a desk job and we really felt like we had made it. Extra cash, full house, all the things. Then 2020 hit. We were actually quite stoked about it. We decided to head to the east coast and visit my husband's oldest sister. We had a blast! Checking out old battlefields and learning more about our country's history while bonding with family left us feeling like we should be doing this more often. The next stop of our trip was to go to Utah to help my sister with her newborn. I was actually supposed to be there for the birth. Not in the room, but just outside of it. But then we got word a few days into our trip that the country was going to shut down because of COVID-19. Another Carona virus. Our carefree lives were about to end. We took a day to plan out our return and course of action when we got home. Basically, it was survival mode. I thought we'd be fine because we have a pool. That's hours and hours of enjoyment! Thankfully that is what happened. We finished out the homeschooling year, which didn't actually change much. Our social lives took a nosedive, tho. No more in-person friends. We all turned to Zoom. I stopped teaching piano for a bit and just focused on our family. After a while, we realized this wasn't going to end any time soon. The kids would play on bikes with friends in the neighborhood and starting in September, Jimmy and I decided to go ahead and get take-out for our dates. Which were non-existent since COVID started. Oh, I forgot to mention that my sister, her husband, and their 5 kids stayed with us for 2 months during that time to find a house. Which they did thanks to my totally awesome friend, Bonnie! I really love her to pieces. She made me feel like I was at home the first time we went to church here. I'm just glad I've got it together enough to keep her as a friend. We are both such busy people! 

Fast-forward to today and you've got some people who are super excited to get back to real life! I go teach piano in person because I've been vaccinated. Lorien and Vanessa are able to spend time with friends again because the vaccines were available for their age group. I'm just waiting for James' age group to really get back to normal. We'll be going back to 2-hour church in 2 weeks. Lorien has friends who are leaving in the fall for school so she wants to cram in as much time with them as possible. That would have really sucked if that vaccine hadn't come out when it did. I mean, COVID probably wouldn't have done too much damage to any of us. Except for James. We just don't know, but I'd rather not find out.

Quick run-down of kids:

Lorien has been in a college/high school program for the past year. She thought she would fail, but proved herself wrong by finishing with mostly B's. She hasn't been doing much else with her time. Playing the piano is still her way of relaxing. She has a boyfriend who she makes time for every day. He's in AZ so they don't get to talk that often. 

Vanessa is plugging away at the piano. She is full-on teenager now. I survived the first little bit where they're trying to figure out what to do with their new station as a teen. Really, tho, Vanessa has been so nice about her hard days. She helps me when I ask her to, like making dinner, or finishing up chores. She still has friends in CA that she talks to weekly. I think that bond will last forever. They were born within weeks of each other. I went to her friend's baby shower with her in my belly. It's been great having Zoom as an option for the girls to communicate with each other.

Christy has grown by leaps and bounds this year. She wore heels to church today and is as tall as me. Skinny as a stick, but tall. I guess you'd call her a string bean. She loves getting her school work finished first. She wants to have the rest of the day for herself and doesn't want to hear me asking if she's finished yet all day long. One thing she hasn't been able to tackle is getting her room clean and keeping it that way.

James loves video games above everything else. He will venture outside for the occasional bike ride. He's got some neighborhood friends that he talks to about coin collecting, bike riding, and anything his friend is into at the time. 

Melody loves being a big girl. She misses being able to hug everyone she sees. I hope she doesn't lose that desire. She's such a kind person. She helps her little sisters have fun. They'll do a salon or have a tea party together with their toys. Her favorite thing to do is stay up late reading her books to her closet light. The Dragon Master's series has kept her busy for quite a while, but she can't wait for the last two books to come out!

Emily still sucks her thumb. She can't and won't stop. She loves to bug the dogs and sit on them when they are laying down. Fortunately, our new dog, Cassie, is very forgiving and doesn't complain that often.  Emily loves being with her big siblings and will just go out the front door by herself if they left without her. 

Diana wants to be the same as Emily. They are two peas in a pod. Diana bothers the dogs, and will step outside by herself too if she's been left out. She loves helping me with anything I'm doing. But her favorite thing right now is bubble baths. Any time we walk into the bathroom she asks for bubbles.

All in all it's been a good 9 years and I am grateful for all the blessings we have recieved. Hopefully I'll write more often than once in 9 years, tho.