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Happy New Year!


a socially distanced Covid 19 portrait

2020 
"It was the best of times, the worst of times"
-Charles Dickens
 :)

We have had hours and days and months together :) 

Lucy headed out for her first year of college at Cal Poly San Lis Obispo, declaring her major in Applied Mathematics. 
The school requires you to submit your major when you apply, and this was the easy part for her but I'm like...b x 2 5 +-*? 
haha...we love that math is her 2nd language!
She has a walk on spot for the women's basketball team. That spot got 
her on campus with a routine along with making friends who are either there for athletics or the absolute brainfest that is Cal Poly.
 It's a beautiful little town with lots of outdoorsy things to do.
 She loves it there and is thriving despite the pandemic :) 

 Audrey started her first year of high school online. 
She doesn't love it but she has done really well academically.
 Except for Mr. Stassen's class. 
AP Bio has officially been our family nemesis. 
Try as we might, it's the worst.
Audrey learned to surf this past summer and just bought herself the cutest wetsuit for the 52 degree water up north. She is a modern Gidget.
She continues to bake up a storm, her earbuds have only played Taylor Swift the past month and is sandwiched between two brothers...thus, providing the best smack talk in the house.

Henry is now a junior in high school but is making plans already for college.
It's been rewarding to watch him become more self disciplined and creative.
He even vacuumed the stairs for me today with no prompting. That's like a milestone in the teenage world of boys.
 His brain is still full of music and makes it when he can... which is a lot! We feel like we get mini concerts weekly with what he comes up with.
Hopefully he will show interest in getting his permit by senior year so he can drive to school. Henry has thrived at home in this pandemic by eliminating all the voices at school except now... he probably wishes to not hear his mother's voice so often:) He is definitely ready to go back and make some new friends!
Side note: he also surpassed Lucy in height...but she still beat him in weight :)

Chester is in 6th grade and will transfer to middle school in 2021! 
Hooray! 
He is excited about the future. Not seeing his friends, not playing on his football and basketball teams, and having 2 older teenage siblings can take its toll on a tween.
 It has been a difficult year for him but he said to me one day, 
"Mom, if I didn't like to read or have my imagination, this would be worse". 
Before we moved he would play big brother to our little twin girl neighbors. He also has played way too many video games with his cousins online but 2020 is a great excuse for bonding over Minecraft and Battlefront. 
 He did learn how to surf along with Audrey and is excited to live so close to the beach.

  The big news is: we moved to Northern California!
 What better time to move than in a pandemic?
haha

We relocated to Half Moon Bay while we await county and design reviews to build our home in Montara. 

Clay has been working super hard. His job was deemed essential after the first 2 weeks of lockdown in Los Angeles. Construction has never been busier. 
But he didn't travel for the first 3 months of the pandemic so that was refreshing for all of us! It was like a happy Groundhog Day situation. 
 He oversees multiple projects in LA, Fresno and SF but would rather oversee and build our house soon. 
He is eyeing a tandem sea kayak for a new hobby which we all fully endorse!

After boxing up an entire house and moving into another one, Jennifer is wondering what kind of life she is living:) 
 She has decided the family cannot move anymore.
Luckily everyone is on board with this idea.
More details to come from her mid-life life :)
2020 has been a year where many of us, if not all, have experienced loss.
Loss in our regular routines, school attendance, jobs, church, habits, etc.
 Everything we do on a daily basis has been impacted in some way and there were days we grieved those losses.
But we also made some gains.
We gained strength in our ability to just hold the heck on.
Empathy for people who have suffered at this time. 
Strength in our family ties and relationships.
And the opportunity to exercise our faith that there are better days ahead.

So here's to 2021!

(no pressure)



 





 

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