A Look Back on 2021

 Even amidst COVID spikes and uncertainty, 2021 was a good year for our family. We entered our second year of homeschooling, took advantage of affordable travel and rescheduled vacations, made new friends, and rejoiced the salvation of two of our children. I'd call that a good year!

January

- Matt spent all his free time refinishing our kitchen cabinets

- Samuel started his first season of basketball

February

- We experienced record cold temperatures, snow and ice for two weeks

- We celebrated Valentine's Day as a family and hosted a small homeschool Valentine's Day Party

- I turned 36

- After some crazy job change/relocation discussions, Matt was promoted to manager at his company

March

- Samuel turned eight and celebrated with a couple of his best friends at Urban Air

- We took a quick Spring Break trip to Dallas to go to Six Flags. 

- We visited my grandparents in Weatherford for a few days- our first visit with them since July, 2020

- We met new neighbors who recently moved into a house across the street and started a dear friendship with their family

April

- We celebrated Easter with our church family

- Nathan, Samuel, and Elisabeth attended a field trip at Rose Hill School House

- We vacationed at Universal Studios in Orlando for a week

May

- Nathan turned 10 and celebrated with all his friends at a backyard birthday party

- Elisabeth and Katherine danced in their Spring Recitall

- Matt and I celebrated 15 years of marriage with a long weekend staycation

- Matt turned 38

- We spent Memorial Day weekend in Weatherford for a mini family reunion with cousins

June

- We attended/helped with our church's VBS

- The boys spent a week in Weatherford attending Camp Invention and the girls and I had a fun girly week complete with a dance camp

- Nathan participated in a Hamilton theater camp

- Summer play dates/ zoo trips/ and pool days filled up the rest of our month

July

- We hosted our fifth annual Fourth of July party

- We soaked up summer fun with more pool/play dates

- The kids and I spent a week in Weatherford visiting family and attending the Evetts' VBS

- Erica, Mindy, and I had our annual girls' weekend

- Nathan went to his first church camp for a week 

August

- Elisabeth prayed with me and Matt to accept Christ as her Savior

- The kids' Fall activities started/continued- Karate for Nathan and Samuel, Gymnastics for Samuel, Elisabeth, and Katherine, and dance for the girls. Nathan also started a new season of flag football.

- Elisabeth turned seven with a fun gymnastics party (that had to be rescheduled because of COVID)

- We spent a wonderful week at our favorite beach

- We entered into our second full year of homeschooling with a first, third, and fifth grader

- We watched all the Summer Olympics coverage and even had our own Baugher Olympics one weekend

September

- We spent Labor Day with the Millers and Evetts

- The kids participated in a KJAM musical at our church

- We started a homeschool co-op

- We and the Shondelmyers celebrated a belated anniversary trip to San Antonio

- Katherine turned four and celebrated with a mermaid birthday party

October

- Samuel prayed to receive Christ with our kids' pastor on a Sunday morning at church

- We celebrated Cousin Abby's second birthday

- Matt and Nathan attended the OSU/Baylor football game

- We took an epic "Homeschool Field Trip" to Williamsburg/Washington D.C.

- We celebrated Halloween at the Shondelmyers' 

November

- The boys participated in a Lego League Challenge with our homeschool co-op

- Nathan, Samuel, and Elisabeth participated in a Living Wax Museum as Orville Wright, Ben Franklin and Laura Ingalls Wilder

- My grandparents were able to come to our house for Thanksgiving

- OSU won Bedlam!

December

- We enjoyed all fun Christmas parties, performances, and play dates

- We had a magical Christmas with family and friends

- We rang in the New Year with the Shondelmyers

As always, we are grateful for the many, many blessings that we experienced in 2021. 

Christmas Day and the Rest of Christmas Break

Our Christmas morning was much lower key than usual since we celebrated a day early. It was the first time in years that we slept past 6:00am. We all got up, finished packing, showered and ate a yumy breakfast while we watched the Disney World Christmas parade. 

After breakfast, we went over to Grammy and Papa Joes' house to celebrate Christmas with them. The kids wasted no time opening presents. 

Nathan got a big football toss game that we was excited about. 

Katherine has been asking for this stuffed Cheetah for months. I didn't realize how special it would be to her until she opened it. 

She was also excited about getting a Gymnastics Barbie Doll

Nathan had a football theme for his Christmas gifts this year. 

Samuel's big gift was a new bike!

Elisabeth got a lot of art/craft kit and supplies. 

Thankfully, it was a beautiful day on Christmas, and Samuel got to practice riding his new bike. It's a little big for him, so it took a little bit of getting used to.

While we were playing outside, Katherine insisted on driving my parents' go kart. That girl always has us laughing!

We ate a delicious lunch together and spent some time playing games and with the kids' new toys for the afternoon. 

We left about 4:00 to head out to Edmond to celebrate another Christmas with Matt's family. The kids were so excited to celebrate with their cousin. 

They were so cute playing together. Katherine adores not being the little kid when she's with Abby

We opened gifts on Sunday morning. Elisabeth picked out a toy picnic basket for Abby at a consignment store and insisted she had to have it. Katherine wrapped it for her all by herself. I love their thoughtfulness. 

Katherine was excited for even more gifts- She got a lot of barbie dolls/accessories this Christmas. 

Elisabeth got all the Little House on the Prairie books. She's been working hard on her reading skills, and I know she'll be able to read them by herself soon. 

Nathan got Legos, of course. He got fewer than normal this Christmas, so he was especially excited for a new, bit set. 

Samuel got the biggest surprise of the day- a keyboard! He had expressed an interest in learning to play the piano several times in the last few months, so I added a keyboard to his wish list. He never directly asked for one for Christmas, so he was happily surprised. 

He immediately started practicing. I'm hoping he sticks with it!

Our family got Abby a beloved ice cream cart. The girls had a ball playing together with it. 

We spent the day playing at the park and eating lunch together with family. 

That evening the kids and I continued our travels to Weatherford to spend a couple of days. We enjoyed the quality time with Granny, Grandaddy and Aunt Sydney. We played lots of fast track and watched The Price is Right. It was a great visit. 

Monday afternoon we spent a few hours playing at the Evetts' house too. I'm glad we could squeeze that visit in. The kids love playing with their friends, and I love catching up with Mindy. 

Tuesday before we left town, we spent a few hours with Momoo. The kids opened their last Christmas presents and got to play with them at her house for a bit. 

While we were there, the kids also got to play with their cousin, Kolby and try out his Christmas present- a VR headset. There was a lot of user error, but they still had fun.

We drove home to Broken Arrow Tuesday evening after a marathon of Christmas celebrations which were wonderful.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday getting the house in order, Christmas taken down and everything unpacked and put away.

Friday, we were ready to celebrate again. We spent New Year's Eve with the Shondelmyers. Brooke cooked us breakfast for dinner, and the kids played video games for most of the night. Their kids got a Nintendo Switch for Christmas, so they all had fun playing together. 

The adulst pllayed board/card games for most of the night too. It's one of our favorite things to do, so we were happy. We played Quix, Code Names, and Blokus.

The big boys spent the evening playing Roblox of course! It's their thing.

We rang in the new year with New York at 11:00 with sparkling cider and some of our favorite people.

We are thankful for a healthy, happy 2021 for our family and looking forward to what's in store in 2022. After our toasts, we split up kids for a sleepover- We took the boys (and Katherine) and Elisabeth slept over with Kaydence. We reunited the next day for lunch and a Cowboy Fiest Bowl (nail biter) victory. What a great way to start 2022!

 

Christmas Eve 2021

Since we decided to do our family Christmas on Christmas Eve, it was an early morning. We don't allow our kids to come down before 6:00 which is extremely generous, right??? Well, who knows how long they'd been awake, before Matt woke me up at 5:40 and told me he heard all four of them upstairs whispering and watching the clock. Their excitement for Christmas is magical. It's something I'll definitely miss then they get older and start to appreciate sleep. 

They opened their stockings first. They goth their traditional toothpaste and underwear and some small, fun surprises too. 

I surprised Matt with some Jocko Fuel in his stocking. He could use it after the early morning. 

Then we moved on to the present opening. We usually wrap three presents for each kid to open. They took turns somewhat patiently. 

Katherine's reactions are always the best when she opens gifts. 

Elisabeth got some craft kits and a make your own blanket kit

Her biggest surprise was a Precious Moments ornament and a note for a date to visit the Precious Moments Chapel with Mom.

Nathan got a "Lego" OSU football stadium, Madden 2022 and a new watch. 

Smauel got a Knex set, a new watch he'd been asking for and a Switch classic board game game. 

Katherine got her suitcase, a Barbie Camper and Pizza Shop Osmo

Again, with her reactions- there's no beating them (Nathan might come close though). 

They also got to open their gifts from their Iowa cousins who always give them the best books. 

Matt got me a new board game and a Cricut press that I specifically asked for. 

I got him John Christ tickets and a new game. 

After the gifts under the tree had been opened, we planned a puzzle/scavenger hunt for the kids for one last surprise. That's become a tradition for them on Christmas morning. 

Their puzzles led them each to a unique location where they found a wrapped gift with a clue inside. They figured it out pretty quickly. 

Matt and I booked flights for Disney World a couple of months before and decided to keep it a secret until Christmas for them. They were as excited as we had hoped they would be. 

We spent the rest of the morning assembling and playing with their gifts. 

Elisabeth helped me make our traditional waffles for breakfast. It was a joy having her help this year. 

Christmas morning breakfast is the best. These people make Christmas so special. 

After breakfast we played some more. 

We all enjoyed not having many plans for the day and being able to relax and enjoy each other and the new gifts. 

We played all morning, had lunch together, watched a Christmas movie and played some more. 

Later that afternoon we got dressed and attended our church's Christmas Eve service. 

It was a special time to center our hearts on the true meaning of Christmas. The gifts, family time and traditions are so special, but without the hope of Christ, Christmas would lose all its meaning. 

I teared up listening to the songs and seeing the candlelight fill the room. The joy, hope and love that Christ brings to Christmas- it's everything we need in this world. 

Katherine was proud to wave her "candle" during Silent Night. 

That evening after the service, we invited the Pashkovets to join us for dinner. 

We had a special night visiting and playing with them. They also let their kids open gifts early and went to Christmas Eve service at their church. 

 While the kids played, we taught their mom and dad how to play Settlers of Catan which was so much fun. We had a great night with these sweet friends. It was the perfect way to end a perfect Christmas Eve.