2021 in review

 January 

- one month with Teddy!

- working from home

- decided to take boys out of daycare = saved a shit ton of money!

- navigating virtual school

- joe & kamala!

- started working on photobooks again :)

February

- return to in-person school!!!!

- surviving exposure quarantine

- the boys discovered minecraft

- organization station

- viral tiktok feta pasta

- still working from home

March 

- jack turns 6!

- school pictures

- michael connelly

- completed our 2017 photobooks!

- rosalle margarent wood art

- my first covid shot!!

- celebrated our 10th anniversary at home

- making the most amazing omelet

April

- April Fool's dinner

- easter baskets

- reading Simple Path to Wealth

- started 75 hard (didn't finish but know I can if I decide to do again)

- 2nd covid shots

 

May

- breakfast in bed for mother's day

- celebrated 10 year reunion at home, 8 months late. wish it was held in person

- lawn progress

- north liberty activities

- planted tomatoes

- DECORAH TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!

- more michael connelly

 

June

- Teddy's 1st haircut

- Owen in tennis lessons

- cousin time in strawberry point - 

- visiting Leta's grave site for the first time since her funeral

- Wold strawberries

- Kalona parade & eating a delicious pizza

- more cousin time celebrating great grandma's funeral (bowling and texas road house too!)

- boys back in daycare for the summer

 

July

- tomato babies coming in hot

- Coralville parade

- splashpads

- festive fourth of July food 

- watermelon

- Iowa city farmer's market and food trucks! OMG

- boys' first Kernal's game

- Jack in tennis

- homemade fish tacos

- daytrip to Bagley WI for camping!

- swimming pool w/ Gspice

- xmas in july

- tie dye

August 

- Des Moines trip with the kids

- tiki tacos in IC

- back to work in person 

- hybrid schedules

- 3/4 of us get covid after daycare exposure

- very mild cases of covid

- back to school night to drop off supplies and visit with teachers

- taking Jack to the fireworks to kick off the end of summer

- 1st day of school!

- fence install

- taste of IC on my own

September

- camping in Bagley

- food truck fight in Muscatine

- semi-private swimming lessons

- second camping trip to Bagley with cousins

- celebrating halloween early at the camp site; festive halloween food, trick or treat, haunted house

October

- watched Bridget in Matilda

- most epic solo Decorah trip - seeing an old friend/colleague who I thought I'd never see again, visiting my best friend, running into Bridget and the kids, eating a lovely meal with an expectant friend/colleague

- watching epic Iowa football game in strawberry point

- officially taking boys out of daycare :(

- BASP

- seeing Cassie again at the Iowa Football game 

- the most unintentionally expensive date night we've ever had. Oops.

- seeing Waitress with Bridget and my mom, dinner at Biaggis

- seeing the Robbins at Pinter's!

- going to Pinter's a second time to be there with Bridget and Cassie

- conference

- new professional of the year award

- trick or treating in NL

November

-I voted

- enjoying a day off from school with the boys - pizza ranch 

- NEIA high school musical tour and a delicious salmon from Old Rossville Store with Bridget and my mom

- Owen in voice lessons

- Owen turns 8

- potato leek soup

- parent trip to Minneapolis

- boys' first covid shot!

- 2nd annual HyVee thanksgiving meal - totally worth it

- my covid booster shot

December

- santa visits

- holiday lights

- Hawkeye basketball game

- Marquee Pizzeria

- holiday market in Coralville

- garage organization

- family Christmas in Strawberry Point

- boys' second covid shot

- Heartlanders hockey game

- finally convincing Gspice to keep temp down :)

- Sing 2 = perfect movie

Holiday Cheer 2021 {4} - Neighborhood Holiday Lights

We ventured out on the very foggy evening of Christmas Eve to look at lights around Johnson County. How could we resist after this gorgeous sunset? 

Gspice was not about it because of the fog but I'm glad I forced us to go (albeit very carefully of course). It wasn't the best trip ever when the boys decide to fight in the car for most of the trip but will I remember that down the road as much as the pictures? Not likely so I still consider this a win. After they opened and put on their new rainbow pjs, we took off!

Stop #1: Iowa City’s “Christmas Light Street” at Rita Lyn Court

This was my favorite stop of the night. It was fun to walk up and down the street and I was surprised that nearly all of the houses were decorated. We don't currently put lights up on our house but I may have a few ideas after seeing all of the houses on Rita Lyn Court!

Stop #2: Largest display in Tiffin! Railroad St

This was a quick stop for us as it was completely covered in fog.

Stop #3: New Santa House at Red Barn Dr (North Liberty)

There were a lot of people at this one so we didn't get out here either. We did our best at a drive by photo but not sure it was the best :) We came here in 2019 and walked around so totally okay with it!

Stop #4: The Gingerbread House at Troon Court (North Liberty)

This show stopper is one of the favorites in the area for good reason. It's a really fun display and they hand out candy canes (I'm assuming on warm enough nights). The boys were pretty much done by this point (as were we with their fighting!) so it made for a good last stop. 

 

Holiday Cheer 2021 {3} - Holiday Lights at the Lake!

Remember when we use to visit the Holiday Lights, Magical Nights up in Decorah? It has been three long holiday seasons since we've been able to do that and I have certainly missed it. When I heard about Holiday Lights at the Lake I was so excited.

This inaugural event took place at the West Overland Campground near us and had over 30 professional displays. They have been open since Thanksgiving and will run through New Year's Eve. Thursday-Tuesday, you will drive through and it will cost the following: $10/car, $20 large van/limo, $30 mini bus, or $50 charter/party bus. On Wednesdays, you can walk for $5/person. All proceeds of the event benefit the Bird House, Hospice Home of Johnson County.

Our original plan was to attend on Wednesday, December 15 but that night didn't turn out the way we all expected. Thankfully, not a lot of damage in our neck of the woods. Instead, we went on Wednesday, December 22 and also got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus! 

Overall, I was pretty impressed. The displays were really nice but it was the volunteers. They were like a well-oiled machine, directing traffic, helping hundreds of cars to park, helping people stay on the right path, etc. We will definitely be back!

Learn more about Holiday Lights at the Lake and the Bird House!

 

 

 

 

Holiday Cheer 2021 {2} - Gifts!

Here are a few highlights from the boys' gifts this year!

Lincoln Logs - both boys have gotten use out of this already!

Puzzle Cubes - it came as a set of five so they've had fun trying to work 

on all of them even though most of them are pretty difficult.

Pokemon Elite Trainer Box - We got both boys their own box and they had a lot of fun opening these with Gspice. Jack was pretty lucky with his box and got quite a few really good cards. 

Dot-to-Dot Books - Jack and Owen have really gotten into drawing dot-to-dot pages at BASP. 

This was a no brainer for them! They each got their own book.

Below are a few more of the gifts they got this year:

1000 piece Pokemon puzzle

Game Controller Fidget Bubble-Pop Toy

LED Light Fidget Spinner

Punching Bag for kids

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Cheer 2021 {1} - Santa Sightings!

We ventured out to a few spots this year where we knew Santa would be. I don't think we've got too many years left for the boys to believe in this big guy so I wanted to squeeze out as many as we could. Sadly, we only made it to two but that's okay. Less risky, right? Here's hoping that we still have Santa believing kiddos next year! Also, check out the last picture of Teddy!

Saturday, December 4 -  Breakfast with Santa  -  Photos by Sandi Spurrell

We missed most of the festivities with this event by accident - I got the time wrong! 

My bad but thankfully we got to the Rec Center with a few minutes to spare. 

And here's the picture I took of Jack as he was telling Santa that he 

wanted a Nintendo Switch but they are too expensive. 

Wednesday, December 22 -  Holiday Lights at the Lake  -  Photo by me!

We walked along the light display on this night and we'll post about that soon!

Saturday, December 18 -  Cedar Run Pet Boarding  -  Photo by onsite staff

We took Teddy to see Santa too! Cedar Run Pet Boarding hosted free pictures with Santa and thought it'd be so dang cute to take Teddy. I kind of wish we had one of her last year too because she was still so little then. You can check out the rest of their dog photos on their Facebook page. Every dog is looking at the camera!