January 9

We went to Stormin’ Crab for Julia’s birthday dinner. 

January 8

Elliott and I had a fun morning in Nashville. Back on the road we go!

January 7

Happy 18th Birthday Julia!!! 

Happy 38th Birthday Joe!!!

Elliott and I have been in Nashville at a wrestling meet ALL. DAY. LONG. Clay made Julia her cake and sang happy birthday to her. She loves our singing-NOT! We will celebrate as a family tomorrow.

Weighing in…  we had to be there at 11am CST. His session was supposed to start at 3:30pm. It didn’t start until closer to 6pm (Trackwrestling, which is used to create brackets and keep scores, etc. was down, which caused the delay). Thankfully we already had hotel reservations, because we didn’t leave the expo center until 10pm CST. It has been a long day. Elliott wrestled in two matches and lost in both of them. However, he was a good teammate and stayed to cheer on his teammates. Me? I read 180 pages of Julia’s favorite book, “Looking for Alaska”. 

This is what Elliott enjoys about wrestling. His teammates (and the coaches). He is a social butterfly.


When the technology fails, we go old school with printed brackets. I giggled at the parents waiting in line to see their kid’s bracket. Reminded me of students waiting to see if they made the team…

January 6

Update: Second coat of primer is done! Trying to decide if we should prime all the drawers and inside of the dresser to seal in the smoke smell. I would think it would just rub off with friction. The varnish seemed to hold most of the smoke smell. 

Elliott accidentally grabbed this weeks ago at a wrestling meet, mistaking it for his. It’s a 2XL belonging to one of the coaches. We didn’t realize we had it until I asked him to clean out his wrestling bag to wash anything that he needs for this weekend. 


I made some progress on the dresser by priming most of it. Ran out of supplies. Back to Lowe’s I go!

January 5

Clay took my van with him to work to get all new tires, have the rotors turned, and put new brake pads on. To say thank you, we took his car to the car wash and got it vacuumed.


Playing “Chunky Bunny” with marshmallows. 

January 4

While Kat and Elliott were at FCA, Lucy and I walked around Hobby Lobby.

FCA

Julia spent Monday night with Mamaw and Bapaw.

January 3

Kat needed a new dresser. We found this one on Facebook Marketplace. It was outside when we went to look at it, so we didn’t notice the cigarette smell until we got it in the girls’ bedroom. I cleaned it with vinegar and water and later cleaned it with Odoban. This morning Clay and I moved it to the garage because it was stinking up the girls’ room and hallway (Kat slept on the couch and Julia spent the night with Mamaw and Bapaw). I have spent the morning researching how to paint and prime wood furniture (appears to be the only way to get rid of the smell). 


Last night Lucy helped me get the calendar ready.

We are back to school today (a lighter week until Elliott gets his CEC assignments/Lucy and Elliott get co-op homework). Clay went back to work today too.

January 2

Lucy played a minute-to-win-it game at church.

This is what it looks like when we trim Gus’s nails. He hates it. 

Starting 2023 writing college scholarship essays (and looking for more scholarships with Clay).

January 1

Clay rigged up a second TV in our family room so he could watch the KY football and basketball games at the same time.

This year the kids invited friends to come over. Kat didn’t invite anyone. She was still worn out from a slumber party she went to the night before.

2pm-made cookies

3pm- Guess the Drink. Clay is the only one that got them all right.

Everyone who was willing to get their photo taken.

4pm - Balloon Cup battle

4pm-Balloon Stomp

5pm - Flour Game

6pm -Eat Like Dogs

7pm Fruit Rollup challenge

8pm- Catch the ornament in your cup

9pm movie and popcorn, 10pm-chocolate chip cheeseball

11pm poppers 

We made it to Midnight!