First post of 2021

Here it is, May 13, and this is the first post of 2021. What have I been doing? Lots! This years has come out of the gate strong and the blog has sadly taken a back seat. Here are the main things sucking up my time:

- The new job: Lots of hiring, a bit of rebranding the team, getting to know the business, and participating in what sometimes feels like a million meetings per day. But, it is going well and I really love my team.

- My health: I have been working out EVERY day. You heard me right, every day. Daniel from Team Body Project and I are best buds and I have lost over 20 lbs. I have 20 more to go, but am feeling better and so glad I finally committed to my health.

- The Farm: We bought a farm! I am not even kidding. It is 90 acres of heaven about 15 minutes from Canton First Monday trade days. We closed in early March and we are a bit obsessed with getting things ready for life on the Farm.

Here are some pics of our new Farm life! Thanks to TIG and Big John for helping us find this gem of a piece of land with a beautiful lake, trails, beaver dam, and soooo much potential. Grant worked so hard to make this work for us and I can't believe it is ours. We have so many dreams for it, but right now we are just trying to get electric, water, and roads. Grant even had to go register just to get us an address. We are truly starting from scratch and can't wait to see where this big dream goes. Big John and Ace are right there beside us figuring it all out. Lots more to come!

2020 Recap - The Year of the Unexpected

What started as a normal year, ended as the most strange year of our lives. I would have NEVER dreamed of living through a pandemic with fears running rampant, school and pretty much everything else shut down, politics dividing the country, Black Lives Matter taking center stage, and a toilet paper shortage (still so weird). 

I started the year at Southwest (with an amazing promotion to Director of the Change Leadership Team) and ended the year as the Vice President of Organization Effectiveness and Change Leadership at McKesson. We started the year with a regular routine of school and work. I ended the year working fully remotely from home and the kids back in school in masks after 6 months out of school or doing remote learning. We started the year with a full schedule of activities, social events, attending church every Sunday, and travel. We ended the year continuing to attend online church and social events consisting mostly of hanging out with neighbors. We started the year hugging our friends and family and ended the year waving at each other at a distance.

The most difficult parts of the 2020 pandemic life for me were:
- Remote learning: It was impossible to help 3 kids with their learning and work full-time
- Missing my family: I didn't see my Mom and Dad for almost all of 2020 and our schedule was totally changed with the Walsh family too as DD and Big John were very cautious
- Southwest Goodbye: Even though it was my choice, it was still an incredibly difficult decision to leave Southwest and all the wonderful relationships

The silver linings:

- Working from home: I LOVE it. My light and bright office, no commute, hugging my kids during the day, and overall just much less stress

- Neighbors: Pretty much every weekend, and many weekdays, we spent in the front yards or our backyard hanging with the Cherkassky men and the Brown/Herzogs. We had bounce houses, zip lines, fort building, fire pits, and so many crazy moments and memories.

- FOMO is gone: There is nothing going on! I have been going to bed earlier, am rested, and feel a lot less pressure. We were busy with biking, Marvel movie marathon, sleeping in on Saturdays and the highlight of the fall was watching both boys play flag football

Goodbye and good riddance 2020!

JR Mom Day

JR is so fun to spend time with! We got Krispie Kreme, did Curse of the Lost Pearl at Dreamscape, ate lunch at Dave & Buster and played some games (Ranger got a stuffed-animal type pizza slice with his tickets), pet the puppies at Petland, and wrapped up the day with some time at Urban Air. We both loved Dreamscape the best and would do it again! We were the first ones at Dreamscape when they opened and so we were able to walk fairly slowly through the mazes and experience. No puppies in our future, but we sure did have fun playing with them!

Happy Birthday Grant!

When I asked Grant what he wanted for his birthday, he said a trip, of course! Mary and Austin Haye bravely joined us for a 2 night trip to Vegas and we had an awesome time. We left Tuesday afternoon 12/29, and arrived back at home on New Years Eve around 9pm. It was fast and so much fun. We stayed at the Bellagio, ice-skated and sat around a firepit on the top of the Cosmopolitan, got couples massages, ate at a great hibachi place with incredible sauces, walked around downtown, gambled for about an hour (everyone won!), and discovered a fun new restaurant - SkinnyFats. It was super fun to hang out with Mary and Austin and I hope we get to do it again soon!

On his actual birthday, we went on a family bike ride and had chocolate peanut butter cake. So thankful for this hard-working, adventurous, fun husband and Dad. We love you Grant!

Colton Mom Day

Colton generously agreed to share his Mom day with Cadie and Ranger. We hit up Garrett park first. It was our first time to that park and the kids had a fun time, but the number of stragglers around the park made me a bit nervous. Then, we went to the trains at Northpark and wrapped it up with Bricks and Minfigs lego store. Colton is the happiest little dude! 

Merry Christmas!

We went to Christmas Eve service at noon with DD and Big John and Nina and Papa, had a late lunch at DD and Big John's, watched Elf with Nina and Papa at our house, had a fire in the backyard, and then had a wonderful Christmas day brunch at our house. It was a very relaxed Christmas Day. 

- Cadie: Sewing machine, gray converse shoes, BU sweatshirt and clothes

- Jack Ranger: skateboard, legos, BU jacket, and magic set

- Colton: Landwave ramps, legos, BU jacket

- Erin: Mattress pillow topper, rocks from Colton, mouse bone art from JR

- Grant: grill equipment, swim trunks, firepit tools, BU visor

Sadly, on Dec. 26, my Uncle Kevin passed away from COVID. He was only 57 and my aunt and cousins are devastated. My mom and dad went quickly to KS to spend time with my grandparents and family and it was a healing time.

Mistletoe for Sale!

The kids made a killing (about $750) selling mistletoe on lovers lane the week before Christmas. Jack Ranger worked the hardest and got the biggest cut. 

 Dad helps them cut it down from the trees around town, we package it in an assembly line in the backyard, and the kids have a cute setup to help get attention. They sold it in front of UP Elementary so that the cars could pull into the parking spots in front of the school. It was $5/bag and some people bought up to 4 bags! The funniest customers were the SMU guys who I think probably were hoping to steal some kisses.

Hoping to foster entrepreneurial spirits so these kids can afford a nice nursing home for G and I someday. :)