January 2021

 Happy New Year! I know that everyone is excited to see 2020 come to an end. Most people start the new year out with a diet and good eating habits, but after this past year you just have to celebrate everything. I was excited about getting to have my favorite food again which is pizza! 

I started out the new year with one of my favorite meals ever, Giordano's deep dish pizza. It was delicious! I actually had pizza of some kind everyday for the first 7 days of the new year. 

We were finally able to get together with Jennifer's family to celebrate the holidays. With the pandemic we weren't able see each other for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It had been a really long time since we had seen each other. The kids loved playing together. They really enjoyed playing with the dog. They even took him for a little walk around the neighborhood.

The kids were excited about getting some more Christmas gifts too! 

I spent most of my time watching the UK football bowl game against NC State. I can't believe that it was a year ago that I was watching the CATS play in the bowl game win down in North Carolina. It was a wild year. 

MiMi always comes up with some fun games to play. This year she had a marshmallow stacking contest to see which kid could build the biggest tower.

I never held our first rabbit, Biscuit until I was handing it off to the vet for the last time. As most of you know I am not really an animal person but Brinley absolutely loves them, especially her bunny. With the Wildcats basketball struggling I made a bet with Brinley. If the Cats won then I would hold her bunny. It was so that Brinley could enjoy watching the basketball games with me. She has never been so interested in the games ever. It took a couple of games, but the Cats finally won and I am a man of my word. Brinley was so happy to see me hold Pepper. 

Landon's soccer team that he played on in the fall decided to play together in an indoor soccer league. It was a really interesting set up with what looked like a hockey arena with turf instead of ice. There are no out of bounds, you just kick it off the wall and keep going. With COVID precautions they didn't allow teams to practice so it was quite a shock for all the kids when they started to play. A little bit of a learning curve, but the kids all had fun. 

MiMi got Brinley a pet stroller for Christmas. Brinley thought it was awesome and was ready to take Pepper out for walks in the neighborhood. Landon even enjoyed taking her out for a walk.

On one of our days off we made a quick trip up to Perfect North for an afternoon of sledding. The kids loved it, especially Landon and I. Since the kids had school we went after it finished for the day. Since we went during the week we had unlimited time to stay on the slopes. There actually weren't many people there either. 

We ended up staying for over 5 hours. We brought our own snacks for the afternoon and night. Nothing like some hot chocolate to make you warm up!

While we were at Perfect North snow tubing I was notified that they were ready for us to get our COVID vaccine. I was able to schedule an appointment the next day to go in and get my first shot. I was so happy to get the shot so that I can hopefully be a part of the solution to a return to "normal". I did it so that I can soon hug my parents again without fear of them contracting this disease. I took this shot so that I can protect my patients at work who are battling cancer and have no immune system to fight off illnesses. I did this so that someday I can be mask free and smile at people once again. I did this because I love people and I want to see you all again. I will continue to wear a mask and abide by all of the social distance requirements to protect the people that I love the most!

Another Saturday means Landon had another indoor soccer match. His team is still struggling to figure it out. Landon is starting to find his way around the field and is turning into a more defensive minded player. He says that he enjoys defense best. I love it because that is the ultimate team player in my opinion because he isn't worried about being the person getting all the glory for a score. 

If you are looking for Brinley then I can guarantee that Pepper is not too far away from her. It doesn't matter what she is doing she thinks that Pepper needs to be a part of it. Having her rabbit has brought her so much joy.

The kids had seen a video somewhere about people that did a color challenge. The challenge was that they could only eat foods of the same color all day long. The kids thought it was awesome. We all picked our color for the day and then Jennifer and the kids went shopping to find stuff for all of us to eat. The biggest problem ended up being that we had to fix multiple different meals at each meal time. Jennifer chose white, Brinley picked red, Landon took yellow, and I had brown. This was all of our dinners. I couldn't use white milk so I had to have my cereal with chocolate milk. Landon was sad because he couldn't use ketchup with his fries. The girls both did fine with their choices. 

A friend had made some Greek yogurt soft pretzels. The recipe looked pretty easy so I decided it was something that the kids could make. They were really good. 

We also had family game night where we played a game of Clue with the kids. Every time I play this game I am reminded of a time that I played with my dad and my siblings. Dad just told us all the rules instead of reading the instructions to us. Well, he forgot that you had to actually show the person who guessed the reason why their guess wasn't correct. We were just saying to one another that they were not right. After about 4 hours of torture the game ended and none of us kids ever asked to play again. When the game is played properly it actually isn't too bad and most definitely doesn't take 4 hours to play.

I decided to try out the smoker one night. I put some chicken thighs in for about 4 hours and they were delicious. This was a trial since I had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to get a feel for it before trying it out with some more expensive types of meat. 

Well it worked good so the next day I tried out my first pork shoulder. This one I had a little more trouble with because I was having trouble keeping the heat up on the smoker. It was really cold outside and the smoker wasn't hitting the temperatures that I needed. I ended up having to finish it in the oven. It was delicious, but I learned that this isn't really a cold weather activity when you have an electric smoker. I will be doing it a lot more come spring.

I was finally able to find a new treadmill that wasn't outrageously expensive. After we set it up the kids really became interested in running on it. Landon loved it and was asking to run every day and sometimes twice a day. 

Landon decided that he was going to cheer for the Browns with me. It was the first time in his life that they ever made the playoffs. Hopefully this team turned it around and we can build on this for the future.

I was so happy when the Browns won their first playoff game since 1994. It was even so sweet that we beat the Steelers two weeks in a row. I had worn my Browns gear all around town before the game and even when I was volunteering at church. I had a lot of people  that said "Go Browns!" to me. Another volunteer said he never knew there were so many Browns fans in this area. I told him that I didn't think they were Browns fans but that they just didn't like the Steelers. 

To keep up with the times I tried my hand at putting Bernie Sanders into random pictures. Here is Bernie with our crew who cut their hair to raise money for DanceBlue. It worked out great because Bernie is already bald on top.

Landon lost another tooth and this one just happened to fall out while he was eating Doritos. We were getting ready to watch a show and Landon just yelled that his tooth fell out. 

I have always been clean shaven, but with all the masks that we are wearing now I thought it was the perfect time to try out some different facial hair options. I like the full goatee, but Jennifer doesn't like any of them. A couple of people at work were laughing hysterically when they saw it for the first time and just said "NO!". So I guess you will never know what you are going to get underneath the mask. 

We installed our ring doorbell and the kids love talking to me at work. The only problem is that they can't see me. I enjoy getting to see their faces when I am at work. Whenever they want to talk they just step in front of the camera. 

I was so proud of this little girl. Not only does she love to play with her bunny, but she has done a fairly good job of doing the other chore parts of owning a pet. One night while I was getting a run in on the treadmill she cleaned Pepper's cage.

Landon asked me to teach him the game of chess. I taught him and he picked it up pretty quick for a 7 year old. We played the next day and I was giving him little tips and tricks along the way. Well, turns out I got my king caught in a checkmate without realizing it and he beat me. He was so happy to beat his daddy.

This little girl loves her bunnies. Can you spot the real one? 

Our first real snow of the season just happened on a day I was off from work. I ended up shoveling a few driveways on my street. Landon asked if he could help me shovel. He was out there for about 5 minutes when one of our neighbors came out and said that we didn't have to clean his driveway. I told him that Landon really wanted to do some shoveling. He got his wallet out and gave Landon some money ($1) and then Landon quickly quit and ran in the house. He told Brinley about it and then she came outside and said she wanted to do some shoveling now. I think she was trying to get some money too. She didn't get as lucky.

We also happened to all be off together for a mid week snow day. We stopped for a cool treat before heading out to the hills of Jacobson Park. Jennifer decided to stay in the car while the kids and I slid down the hills. I even attempted to take a trip down while standing up. That did not work well at all. I was sore all the next day. 

Brinley made me a sign to cheer on the Wildcats. I am always happy to see the kids show some love for our hometown team.

Landon is really growing into a defensive specialist. I love it because he is playing with so much more confidence now. He is chasing people down and trying to help keep the other team from scoring. However, he still hasn't figured out the offensive side of the ball.

After his game we stopped into the North Lime Donut shop to pick up a couple of treats. The kids enjoyed them on our drive down to visit a couple of people.

We met Grandma and Grandpa in Elizabethtown. They have seen the kids every month since they were born. I would hate for the pandemic to ruin a streak like that so we decided to meet halfway. We had a socially distanced mask wearing Wendy's picnic in our cars. We even played a game of trivial pursuit on the Nintendo Switch with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids ran around in the grassy area to burn off some energy. 

We got to do quite a bit of stuff together in the month of January. We had a lot of snowy fun, enjoyed some indoor soccer, became a smoker, and continued on as best we could 10 months into the pandemic. Will it end in 2021? I hope so! I pray that we can get back to a somewhat normal life soon. The kids want to be kids again. I want to go on vacation again with my family. I want to smile at people and see them smile back. I want to have to awkwardly tell someone that they have something in their teeth. Praying that your family stays safe in 2021. Thanks for reading and God bless!

December 2020

Well, we finally made it to the last month of quite possibly the weirdest year of my life. We tried to make the best of it again with the kids being on virtual learning. It hasn't been the easiest, but we have all stayed healthy through the worst pandemic in this century. Here is how we finished out 2020.

It started out awful to be exact. I came home one night and saw Biscuit laying on the floor. He didn't seem to be able to move at all, even when fruits were placed in front of him. We took him to the vet the next morning and we got some pretty awful news. He had a broken hip and the vet said that he wasn't a candidate for surgery. She said we could take him home with some pain medications or per her suggestion we should put him down. We didn't want to take him home and see him suffer any longer so we chose to put him down. Brinley was devastated. She held him and we called and Facetimed all of our family and Miss Sydney, the person who gave us Biscuit. This was actually the first time that I ever held the little guy. Then we handed Biscuit over to the vet and were going to head home. Instead we went into the Wal-Mart to see if there was anything in there that we wanted. We didn't find anything so went out to the car. That's when the massive tears started flowing. Brinley climbed up into my lap and I just held her and told her that I was so sorry. Jennifer had worried that she was probably most upset because she thought Biscuit was her only chance at a pet, and now that he was gone she would never get another one. I told her that we could go look for a rabbit to replace the one she had lost. Well on the way home we spotted a Petsmart so I took her in to just see if they had any. They didn't but the worker told me that across the street at Feeder's Supply they have rabbits. 

Across the street we went to see the bunnies that they had to offer. Brinley spotted this small little rabbit and I quickly caved in because I couldn't see her heart broken any longer. We brought the little rabbit home, but two days later when we went to the vet for an initial check-up we found out that it was a little girl rabbit. Brinley decided on the name Pepper.

We were given a gingerbread cookie ninja set. I opened my Christmas gift a little early so that we could use it during the holiday season, a Kitchen Aid mixer. We had a lot of fun decorating the little ninjas, but Landon we more excited about eating them!

Brinley playing with some play-doh and working on her cursive writing. 

Last year for Christmas we got this puzzle as a gift from Taylor. I timed us last year and it took us 56 minutes. This year we did it again and we crushed our previous time and did it a little under 40 minutes. Looks like we found a new Christmas holiday tradition. 

Against the kids wishes we decided to head out to Raven's Run. We went to the Overlook and even took a little adventure off trail down to a little creek. We all tried to toss leaves into the water and were cheering them on to see who's leaf would make it over the waterfall first. The kids loved it and ended up saying that they had fun hiking. I love pushing them out of their comfort zone. I hope someday they ask us to go hiking!

When the kids are home for virtual school Landon doesn't have as much to do as Brinley. He gets done early in the day so I sometimes ask him to draw me a picture while I am at work. I came home one night and he had drawn this little Christmas Pikachu. 

Our elf, Nick Kringle, came back to watch over the kids. We were excited to see all the crazy things that he did for the days up until Christmas. Every morning the kids were up and running around the house seeing who could find him first. 

Brinley wanted to play with sidewalk chalk, but it was too cold outside. As a compromise she played in the garage. This is one of the things she made and I didn't even talk her into it. Maybe she is becoming a UK fan. Or maybe she is just trying to show a little love to her daddy's favorite team.

Decorating the gingerbread house is one of my favorite traditions that we do every year. This year we decided to make two because everyone likes to decorate. We decided to have the boys do one and the girls the other. We even let the kids pick out some extra candies for decorating.

It was time again for me to donate blood. Turns out that this was a special donation because it put me at the six gallon mark. That means that I have donated 48 pints of blood. That is 48 lives that I have been able to help. It's easy. You could do it too!

Brinley said after Landon's last cross country race that she wanted to run in one. I signed her up for the last race of the year which was in the middle of December. Thankfully it was in the 50's and the rain held off before her race. We even spotted a rainbow before her race. I ran along with her for parts of the race and am so proud of her for her first try. She ran for a majority of the race, but also stopped to walk about six times. She would pass some runners and then they would pass her when she started walking. Hopefully someday she will get that competitive spirit and want to beat more people. Until then she will just be happy to run the race!

Landon and the rest of his Grassroots 7-8 year old boys had an awesome showing. Landon ran a little slower on this day, but he ran hard. In fact he ran too hard out of the gate for the first quarter of a mile. He wore himself out and didn't have any reserve for the rest of the race. I could tell he shot out of the gate too fast, but he battled back to finish strong. I am proud of all the hard work he had put into his training. He was upset afterward because his time wasn't as good as last time. Sometimes this little man is too competitive. I love it because I am the same way, always trying to get just a second faster than my previous best. Soon the little man will be able to out run me. 

I told the kids that this year I wasn't going to make all the Christmas candies that I had in past years. I asked everyone to pick which one they wanted and those would be the only sweets I would make. Brinley picked divinity, Landon wanted chocolate covered pretzels, Jennifer and I both enjoy the turtles and chocolate covered Oreos. The kids helped me make some of the treats this year. Brinley is turning into our big helper in the kitchen. 

We made a little weekend trip up to see Aunt Andrea, Uncle Chris, and Olivia. We found out that they had gotten some snow so I brought one of the kid's sleds so that we could pull Olivia around the backyard. Maybe next time she will be ready to go down a hill. The kids also wanted to show Olivia how to make a snowman. We had a lot of fun playing out in the snow together. The longer we stayed out the harder it was to pull the kids in the sled.

The kids loved playing together. Olivia hasn't had much interaction with other kids over the last nine months because she stays at home with Andrea. She has so much energy, I can't imagine how Andrea keeps her occupied everyday. Landon read her some books. We had arts and crafts time. We also took a little trip downtown to see some of the Christmas lights. We were so glad to spend some time together, but Olivia lost it when we left. 

Getting ready for the New Year by picking up some of my favorite pizza ever! At the beginning of 2020 I had made a goal of not eating pizza for the entire year. Well, not the best decision I have ever made but I was able to do it. So excited for the clock to strike midnight on December 31st so I can eat my favorite food again.

My badge reel broke as I was coming into work after an extended weekend off. As soon as I opened my locker I saw exactly what I needed, a new badge reel. One of my patients had brought it on my day off. I think it is pretty awesome. I wear it proudly everyday now and it makes me think of that special little girl.

We took the kids to Cabela's to talk with Santa early in December and I asked if you could bring a pet and they said of course. Brinley really wanted to bring Pepper to meet Santa so we made it happen. If you look closely it seems that the North Pole got a tattoo artist at some point.

We typically go to see the Southern Lights at the Kentucky Horse Park, but all the extra indoor activities were not opened due to the pandemic. So, we made the decision to take a little trip to Louisville and check out the Mega Caverns and Lights Under Louisville. The kids loved it. Both kids sat up in the front with us and both even got to take a chance driving the car. 

This year I found out that I enjoy making and decorating cookies more that just once a year at Christmas. We have all gotten better with our decorating techniques with all of our practice this year. 

Our family finally decided to actually get together for Christmas. We had been debating cancelling because McKinley had to take care of patients on the COVID floors for the week prior to us getting together. He said that he didn't feel comfortable coming around everyone even though he wears the required equipment at work. In order to verify that I wasn't going to bring coronavirus to the celebration I decided to get myself tested. I was asymptomatic and didn't anticipate being positive but I was very glad to get this e-mail.

I had a surprise delivery that showed up on my doorstep when I was on my way home from work Christmas Eve. McKinley and Taylor got me an electric smoker as a gift for always being the host for most of the family get togethers. Looks like I got lucky that I live in the middle of everyone's homes.

Grandma and Grandpa made it up to Lexington in time for the online Christmas Eve candlelight service. I picked up some candles so that it would feel like we were there. 

Grandma and Grandpa were here to enjoy the last few things before Santa was due for his arrival. Grandpa read them the book, The Night Before Christmas. They also helped the kids make some picture frame stocking ornaments. Grandpa even walked me through Mamaw's famous recipe for peanut brittle. Grandma even got to hold little Pepper for the first time. The kids sprinkled reindeer food outside and sat some cookies out for Santa. We were so thankful that Mommy got to be on call from work so that she could spend Christmas Eve and morning with us. 

The kids were pumped that Santa brought them exactly what they wanted, Minecraft Dungeons and a soap making kit. But, I think Jennifer and I went a little overboard with all the gifts we got for the kids this year. I have heard that from many other people this year that they did the same. I guess we were kind of making up on all the missed experiences from this year. The kids both got their first BB guns, a bow and arrow, electric scooters, and Landon got video games while Brinley got arts and crafts supplies.

I am so glad that this lady got to be on call and spend the holidays with us. I love her so much and I don't need a single gift under the tree as long as I have her.

Sometimes lost in all the stuff around Christmas is what the true celebration is all about, the birth of Jesus Christ our savior. A co-worker of mine said that they usually get a birthday cake for Jesus and I thought it was a great idea so I picked one up. I also tried my hand at decorative pancakes for Christmas breakfast. I made some gingerbread men, Christmas trees and a Jesus pancake.  

McKinley stopped by to wave hello to everyone and drop off his gifts. Thankfully Taylor took a picture of all of us. Hopefully next year we will all be able to get together without having to worry about Covid.

Andrea, Chris, and Olivia made the drive down from Columbus for a few hours to celebrate Christmas with us. We had dinner, opened some gifts and just enjoyed talking with each other. Olivia loved playing with the kids and opening everyone's gifts.

The day after Christmas we headed back home to visit with Granddaddy Clayton and Memom. It was so good to see them. It had been so long since we had been able to make it down to see them. The kids heard that Granddaddy had a BB gun and they both wanted to try it out. It took Landon a couple times to figure it out and then he didn't want to stop. Brinley hit the target on her first shot! They were so excited to get back home and test out their own BB guns!

Granddaddy lives out in the country and they don't have cable or internet service. Well, it just so happens that we were there during the Louisville vs. Kentucky basketball game. I couldn't get any service on my phone so granddaddy let me borrow his transistor radio so that I could listen to the game. So that I wouldn't bother everyone who was trying to talk inside I paced up and down the driveway as I listened to Kentucky play awful and lose the rivalry game.

After we got home we spent some time playing with our new gifts. We also took down the real tree that we had cut down over a month ago. It had gotten awful droopy over the last few weeks. Jennifer actually wanted me to throw it away, but I thought we should stick it out because we had committed to it. The kids tried out their BB guns and we even got Jennifer out to shoot. Brinley also got to make her very first bar or soap, which was a kitty face.

The girls love them some Pepper! Brinley loves her bunny so much. She has had some days where she still gets sad that Biscuit isn't here. Mostly because Biscuit was already trained and loved cuddles. Pepper hasn't figured out yet that Brinley is her biggest fan. He has scratched her and even bit her once. It was her fault because she was trying to let Pepper eat out of her hand. Maybe with time Pepper will become as well behaved as Biscuit.

Last time walking out of UK for the 2020 year. I really hope that sometime in 2021 that I can take this mask off and smile at my patients.

Jennifer and I were both off work and ready to celebrate New Year's Eve with the kids. Jennifer came up with an awesome idea. She had balloons filled with treats and different activities for the kids. Every 30 minutes a kid got to pop a balloon and then we did what ever it said. We played the board game Taco Fight, Monopoly on the Nintendo Switch, made cream horns, ate appetizers and candy, watched X-Men, and I even picked up some pizza from Papa John's.

We called and talked with my family for the last time in 2020. We were so glad that we could see everyone the week before, even if it was different than what we had wanted. We were all excited to see 2020 end, but also so proud of what we had done throughout the year. At the beginning of the year our family decided to try and get healthier. We would have monthly weigh ins and at our final end of year weigh in our family lost 207 pounds total! Not everybody hit their goal so we are going to keep it going for the year 2021. Hope we all make our goal this year.

Also this year I had a goal to keep my eyes on God's word everyday. I successfully read the good book again. A lot of days the words hit at just the right time. Even just a few minutes out of my day spent reading the Bible made a huge difference in my attitude. It is something that I plan keep up with.

Goodbye 2020! Hello 2021!

At midnight I ate some of the leftover pizza that Jennifer and the kids didn't eat earlier. A year without pizza is too long. I will never wait that long in between my favorite meal!

The year 2020 will go down as one of the worst for many different reasons. We can sit and pout about it or we can try to live everyday to the fullest and with as much joy, happiness, and love. If we learn nothing else from 2020 is that life is short and we should love one another. I hope and pray that 2021 is better and that we can put this pandemic behind us sometime soon. I pray for better days ahead for my family and yours. Thanks for reading and God bless!