Merry Christmas 2021!!!

To be 100% honest, Christmas this year for me was rough. As the first Christmas since my separation, I was pretty emotional. I am happy to report that Damien had a great one so I'm very thankful for that. I couldn't do it without the unwavering support from my family. 

Tablet time

Ready for Christmas morning!

This is hands-down the best present I could have ever received from Damien. I almost cried after reading it!

Damien also decorated a bottle and made a crystal for me at school. He's so sweet!

Merry Christmas!

First off are the gifts I bought myself from money I received from my parents and grandma. I used my new slow cooker for my Christmas roast and it turned out great--yay!

I also bought myself an AeroGarden which I've wanted to try for years and a bubble tea set with a cute cup.

VIDEO: Opening Presents

I also got a solid chocolate Hersey's kiss and a US themed rosary from my parents.
So the rundown of gifts for Damien are as follows:
From Grandma and Grandpa Hanks: a solid chocolate Hersey's kiss, a gold rosary, a voice changer (thanks for that), squishy eyeballs, and a 15 lb. weighted blanket.
From Great Grandma and Tom: Mario Party Superstars and two VR video games
From his friend Elijah: Roblox mystery boxes

Scott came over later in the morning for round two of gifts. From Grandpa Whitehill, Damien got new Switch controllers and rechargeable batteries.

Opening a gift

From Great Grandma and Grandpa Whitehill, a giant Hersey's kiss (this kid LOVES chocolate I think more than I do).

Lastly, from Scott and I: An Oculus Quest 2 VR headset with a carrying case.

Being silly lol

As always, thank you to everyone for the Christmas presents! Very much appreciated :D

VIDEO: Voice Changer

VIDEO: VR - Job Simulator

VIDEO: VR - Until You Fall

Trying out the new VR system. Damien picked out his two VR games already: Job Simulator where you can pick from a bunch of odd jobs (mechanic, chef, office worker, etc.) and Until You Fall which is where you fight bad guys with swords. Quite the workout!

We've had a lot of snow since Christmas! I don't think the pictures I take ever quite show it well enough.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 Almost another month later...I can't believe it's ALMOST Christmas. Wow. It really snuck up on me this year. Things at work have been busy, which isn't anything new. Damien is doing well. I'm just looking forward to a wonderful Christmas together. 

Damien cracks me up with his creativity. His use of the doge dog as a fast food worker who says "This job is torcher (torture)." LOL

It's been difficult to wake up in the winter months and a sunrise alarm clock was suggested to me. It really helps!

Thanksgiving this year went well. Damien and I were invited over to my supervisor's house to spend it with him and his family. Damien had a great time playing with the kids. Personally I found the socialization piece to be quite exhausting, but I figured it would be a nice way for Damien to spend the holiday. 

I got the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. I also bought a new star for the top this year

At the end of Nov, Damien's school held a Family STEM Night. They served us pizza and then they had various science activities throughout the school to do together as a family. Damien and I spent most of our time with the Spheros activity where you program a robot ball. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went.

Using the tablet to enter commands that controls the ball

Spheros Video

I created an edible soil (pudding, oreos, and marshmallows)

I asked Damien if he needed soap and he said yes and that his bar was getting low. I went to look and THIS was what was left. HILARIOUS! That is the smallest bar of soap I've ever seen in my life!

At the beginning of Dec we had a blizzard and got about 7 inches of snow.

Due to the blizzard I decided to start a puzzle!

Last min I decided to go to my squadron's holiday party. We didn't win anything, but it was a nice time. Damien just woke up from a nap right before this pic. I love it :D

After the blizzard it was cold for the rest of the week and the snow didn't melt so we went sledding. Damien FINALLY got to use the new sled he received last year for Christmas.

Sledding Video

I finished the puzzle this week! Damien helped finish it up, but otherwise wasn't really interested in it.

Winter is here

Time is moving by so quickly now! I was thankfully able to visit my parents and brother for a week at the beginning of the month while Damien stayed with Scott. It was the relaxing break that I needed. I also made it back home the day before we got a bunch of snow and the roads were bad. So it all worked out!

The Elusive Mia

I just have to brag about Damien a little bit. He's getting good grades, he's made good friends, and he LIKES his school. Also, just today Damien went on his first play date! A boy in two of his classes had been talking about Damien a lot to his mom so she invited him over today to hang out. They had so much fun together and I think this could be the start of a wonderful friendship. I'm just so proud of him. We've also been spending more quality time together which has been nice. 

Winter means indoor activities. Here's the basketball court at my apartment complex. Instead of "Pig", we played "Doge" haha

Happy Halloween 2021!

 Damien and I had a good Halloween overall. Damien watched Gremlins on Saturday with Scott (his first horror movie) and since that wasn't scary enough for him, Damien and I watched Jaws on Sunday. Surprisingly for a 2-hour movie, Damien was actually interested in Jaws the whole way through and even clapped at the end lol. I think he was a little scared at some of the more intense scenes, but I don't think he'd tell me that. 

Roblox was down for almost the entire weekend. Starting around Sunday afternoon, Damien grew increasingly more and more distraught. He tried to play other games but they were too "boring". He couldn't even get distracted with the merge episode of Survivor! There was just nothing I could do or say so he moped around. He even told me he was too sad to pass out Halloween candy. By Sunday evening though Roblox was restored and Damien was happy and all was right with the world...and he STILL didn't want to pass out candy. Oh well.  

My grumpy cat pumpkin! I decided not to carve it since Damien's didn't even last a week before rotting.

Decorating Oreo cookies

It was much harder than it looked...

Damien's zombie, I think.

Damien and I went through the "tunnel of terror" carwash! The carwash was decorated, of course, but the actual scary part was all of the employees walking around the vehicles in masks. I didn't like it, but I got a clean car out of it!

I got to try out my ghost light bulb this year! It spins on the ceiling. I bought it last year on clearance after Halloween.

Our Halloween dinner! The cat has onion whiskers if you can't tell. Damien thought this was the best pizza ever and said I should sell it for $20. What's wrong with that kid? lol

 We closed on the house this week and I've been living in my apartment for almost two months. Wow, it still doesn't feel entirely real. There is still more stuff to do towards our separation/divorce, but the house selling was pretty stressful by itself. Thankfully it worked out! I know my family prayed heavily for me and that's greatly appreciated. My family proves time and time again to be the best. 

Damien is adjusting well, it seems. He's nearing those teenage years though so he continues to give me whiplash daily with his mood shifts. Right now we just started a season of Survivor together that we're both enjoying. We both love to talk about the strategy of it and root for our favorites. 

I bought a U-shaped pillow earlier this year which didn't work out for sleeping BUT it makes a very comfy spot on the couch!

Prices, especially now, are so high, so I wanted to share that I got this meal at the chow hall for $1.40! And it tasted really good too!

Damien trying out the gym in our apartment building. He tried all of the machines and a few of the weights too.

Damien decided to name our lamps lol. His is named "Harold Buttcheek Bottom" and mine is named "Lampy McGee Chicken". 

 

Getting Ready for Halloween

 What can I say, I enjoy the festive-ness. 

I finally got to hang up my spider and web!

He's doing a dab. Damien says it's cool...except if I were to do it lol

Prepping the pumpkin for carving! I'll do mine a little later. I haven't decided on a design yet.

Damien did 95% of the prepping and carving himself! I offered very little assistance.

Working hard while I rested lol

The final product! So cool!

I love it! :D

Is It Fall Yet?

I'm getting really behind on my posts! Things feel like they've been SUPER busy between moving, work, appointments, and just overall trying to figure things out. Things should start to settle down again in November--just in time for the holiday season!

We already had parent/teacher conferences a little over a week ago. I wasn't really sure what to expect since Middle School is so different than Elementary School. Well I'm very happy to report that not only is Damien doing well academically (As and Bs with a C+ in Reading), his teachers said he's hard-working AND he's doing very well socially! I couldn't possibly be anymore proud of him. When he's not annoying me joking around about farts or back-talking/giving me attitude, he's so bright and caring and we have wonderful conversations that I hope he enjoys as much as I do. 

I can't believe how hot it's been this summer and into the fall. We're already almost to mid-October and we were in the 80s this last week. 

Damien finally tried his scooter again after YEARS. He likes it! Plus, it takes up very little space in the apartment. Win-win!

Damien enjoying one of his birthday presents :)

Carefully dissecting an alien lol

I found a local place that serves boba tea! YUM! And Damien and I split this delicious treat called "Cheesecake Delight". The outer part is a crepe.

My brand new welcome mat. It's good to be home. Well said.