2020: a year in review!

How. How is 2020 almost over? And yet how can it also feel like it's the longest decade of my life? I'm truly not entirely sure. 

Blogging has -- clearly -- fallen by the wayside in the year of homeschooling + working full time + childcare from home with no outside support. I hope you'll forgive me. ;) Maybe someday I'll find a little more wiggle room to blog, or in other words, give up some of my precious reading time to blog (but I don't see that as a likely outcome, haha). (Psst: an end-of-year reading post coming too, hopefully soon!)

Let's take a walk down pictorial memory lane, shall we?

JANUARY

I remember being mentally exhausted from traveling for Christmas, and enjoying being at home for an extended period of time that is after a normal December of go-go-go. I went thrifting a lot when my weekly nanny was here (SOBBING FACE, I MISS THRIFTING SO MUCH), we got our Interior Define couch delivered after a 12 week wait, and we went to the Joslyn Art Museum as a family which the kids have talked about a lot since then (can't wait to go back!). 

FEBRUARY

David and I had our only date night of the entire year, which involved a margarita I've dreamed about since then about 100 times. David also traveled for work for a week long conference in California, flew back basically immobile and hacking/coughing/dying on the plane, and then got diagnosed with influenza at Urgent Care a day later. SO FUN. He was basically immobile for 12 days afterwards. And I remember his oncologist recommending he wear a mask inside when he was around us which seemed so bizarre at the time -- but did, in fact, combined with having him sleep in the guest room, prevent all the rest of us from getting the flu. HMMMMM.

MARCH

March 2020, a month that will go down in history. As I've said before and will say again, I always thought I'd like to live through a historical time and I TAKE IT BACKKKKKKK. Give me precedented times until I die peacefully of old age. The girls spent the weekend with the grandparents on the 6th and 7th, so we had a last fun night of restaurant food and hanging out with friends inside our house and all that stuff. My uncle had a birthday party at my parents' house on March 8, and that was our last outing. We started remote learning, and adjusted to being at home constantly. I feel like somehow March was yesterday and also a decade ago.

APRIL

Felix was still bald. We spent a ton of time outside, in the lovely spring weather. We survived more remote learning. Watched Easter Mass on the computer. I sewed my first couple rounds of masks. We reupholstered a chair. 

MAY

Felix turned one! Kitty turned 6! I turned 29! Felix got a water table and wow, that might have been the best thing I bought in 2020 with how many hours of play we got out of it. David camped overnight in the backyard with the girls. David and I spent some of our TrumpBux on a king-sized bed & frame (okay, maybe THAT was the best money we spent in 2020).

JUNE

We had a national racial reckoning, and began to talk in earnest with our kids about some serious stuff (hence the sign). Spent a lot of time at David's aunt & uncle's pool (all to ourselves! the luxury!). David gave all of us girls haircuts at home! 

JULY

Kitty lost her first tooth! I sewed more masks. We spent more time on walks and in the baby pool / water slide / water table outside in the backyard. We began in earnest to clean up and fix up the garage (posts here and here!). Summer went on!

AUGUST

We got ready for homeschooling for real, ate outside a lot as the weather cooled a little bit, kept going to the pool, and I think finally fell into the swing of being at home all the time. ;)

SEPTEMBER

By the time September came, they'd really decided it was safe enough for us to go to a playground, so go we did! And you would have thought it was the most exciting thing in the world. :) We visited family outside, kept schooling, etc. We also went to the local nursery and bought a maple tree for the backyard!

OCTOBER

David's grandpa passed away from covid at the beginning of the month, so we traveled to Atkinson for his funeral. We spent David's birthday -- he turned 30! -- celebrating outside with his family on our way home from that. We took a day trip to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (free entry from covid) which has been a year highlight -- we definitely plan to go back. Oh, and a Halloween sleepover! Big month!

NOVEMBER

Felix's hair finally was too tangly to handle, so he got his first haircut. He grew and cut all his hair in the span of like, 6 months! haha. We had garage Thanksgiving with my family, because it was just slightly warm enough to eat outside. More park play even though it was cold!

DECEMBER 

So far it's been the most laid-back December of all time. Cora turned 4 and we borrowed a bounce house from the neighbors to make her pandemic birthday extra-special! We went to take our annual Christmas pics at Mulhalls and to see the reindeer before they left, have been doing Christmas crafts left and right, went to the zoo, baked cookies on Zoom with my family, and have been going outside every day even if it's freezing and snowy (we all need it, me most of all).

Here's to hoping 2021 is a lot more like normal than 2020. Prayers for your health & peace this Christmas season from all of us Gokies to you!