Christmas 2023

 I've heard from so many people this year that it just didn't feel like Christmas. I have no idea why.

Damien helped me pick out the 2023 ornament this year. They're magnets! So cute :D

I went to my squadron's holiday party this year and had a good time. Photo courtesy of Damien.

I ran out of time to finish my last oil painting in my class so I had to finish it at home. 

An early Christmas present to myself--insulators so my hands don't have to touch the cold can! My Raynaud's is terrible.

Christmas Eve--Ready to go for the morning!

Damien opening his first present

After all gifts were open, this is what Damien said was his favorite--a squishy ball lol

More presents to open

Damien opening his gift from Scott

Which was a new monitor. Here is both his old and new monitor for comparison.

Damien jumped on his computer as soon as I set it up.

Here is the breakdown of gifts:
- Great Grandma and Tom: money
- Grandma and Grandpa Hanks: money
- Great Grandma and Grandpa Whitehill: money
(Damien is excited about the money and says he wants to buy Robux and a new video game right away)
- Scott (and maybe others in his family?): 27" gaming monitor
- Sarah: 3 plain T-shirts without graphics in his favorite colors (red, black, and yellow), socks, yellow squishy ball, red stretchy stress man, candy to include a 1-lb chocolate bar, Five Nights at Freddy's board game, Dumb Ways To Die card game, an Alien dissection thing, a new cell phone case which has a hidden compartment to hold his new debit card (I opened him a Youth Spending account)

Playing Dumb Ways To Die after Christmas dinner

Damien has had a cough and low grade fever since Saturday, but is doing well and had a great Christmas. Thank you for everyone to sending money/gifts to make our holidays special. We love you all!

Fall 2023

 Apparently I haven't been keeping up with this blog at all. I've already missed a season and a half!

Damien is doing well in school and has a close group of friends. He's also learning a little bit about love and heartbreak along the way with his first girlfriend and first break-up. 

Back in October, UND had a Family Day to use their rock climbing wall. I've always wanted to try one and I only ever see them in very public areas. What I learned is that I don't have the upper body strength for such an activity lol. I could only get up off of the ground at the easiest point and I couldn't go very high. I have a new appreciation for it. Damien was excited for it when I bought the tickets, but when the day came he didn't want to go anymore. He ended up enjoying it, although it was a bit rough on the hands.

I'm proud of myself of making an attempt :)

A lot of those "pegs" are tinier than you would think. Also, the rocks start jutting outwards which makes it even harder.

To get back down, you push off of the wall and the cable slowly lowers you to the floor

Going even higher. He did well!

We had a low key Halloween this year. I decorated the apartment and we painted pumpkins, but that was it. I think it might have been cold and snowy around this time. I can't remember. 

Our pumpkins: Saitama from One Punch Man (anime series) and Jack Skeleton from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Speaking of painting, I signed up again for the fall oil painting class like I did last year. I really enjoyed it.

Even though I said I didn't like painting animals, I decided to try a bird this time and I think it turned out. I had a very difficult time with getting the feathers to look right. I was using a photo as the source.

I wanted to try a palette knife painting at least once. These next 4 pictures are the different layers of paint. I REALLY struggled with this one. This is the first layer here and I hated it at this point.

Finished the background in layer 2

Started the flowers in layer 3

Finished in layer 4. I didn't know if I even liked it or not when I finished. It's grown on me and now I like it.

Heading off to Thanksgiving dinner. Damien and I went up to base where my supervisor and his wife hosted a big event. Damien had a great time discussing anime and video games with one of my coworkers and I was exhausted lol

I Have a Teenager!

 It's been an eventful month. Not only did Damien start 8th grade, but he's 13! Wow...

In other news, Scott had decided to move back to Maine and left at the end of August, right after the school year started. No comment. 

Damien's Uncle Robbie came to help Scott with the big move. Here they are having fun at the park together :)

School open house. I had to practically beg Damien to let me take this picture lol.

First day of 8th grade!!!

It was a little bit disjointed, but I think Damien had a great birthday this year :D

Scott came over and we celebrated Damien's birthday a couple weeks early with pizza, cake, and a big surprise.

Singing "Happy Birthday" lol

Blowing out the candles

Yum!

Scott and I did a joint gift this year

A brand new computer! (Scott built it)

Excited to play some Roblox on the new PC

Then on Damien's actual birthday...

I grabbed a dozen macarons from a Fargo bakery. Damien had been wanting to try them for a while. They were so good! Out of all 11 flavors, my favorite was pistachio and Damien's was vanilla.

Me with the birthday boy! I'll never admit he's taller lol

We went to Pizza Ranch for lunch that also has an arcade

We had fun playing the different games

Damien reached his goal to get enough tickets for this toy shotgun

When we got home, Damien opened his presents from Great Grandma and Tom

He received a Roblox gift card for Robux, a shower bomb (since he no longer takes baths apparently), and some handmade soaps. The colorful one smells like Fruity Pebbles cereal.

Unfortunately Grandma and Grandpa Hanks' gift was delayed in arriving, even though it was initially ordered weeks in advance. Oh well.

It's a soft, comfy chair for his gaming room! Now he doesn't have to take naps or watch TV on the floor anymore.

As always, thank you to everyone who made Damien's 13th birthday special!

Just adding on a pic from last weekend. I love the fall colors!

Summertime Fun

Damien is starting 8th grade tomorrow! I realized I needed to give an update on our summer. It went so quickly. We had a brutal winter which led into a super hot summer. It's finally starting to cool down thankfully. 

I enrolled Damien into the IMPACT Academy this summer. It's for boys and girls entering into the 7th and 8th grades and it's a free program hosted by the GF police department. It was Monday through Thursday for most of June and July. It was AWESOME for Damien. He fought me on going, but he did have a good time and made lots of friends. They went on bike rides, went to the pools (both indoor and outdoor), volunteered (things like packing meal bags for needy kids, served lunches, and a car wash), gardened, went to lots of parks, played various sports, businesses around town, and interacted with a therapy dog. Lunches and snacks were included. They finished up the program by going to the Character Challenge Course Adventure Park in Minnesota. Seriously awesome program! 

They were given bus passes for transportation around town

Waiting for the bus

Riding bikes around town

Petting the therapy dog

Skate park

Tour of the National Guard armory

More time with the therapy dog

Typical Damien lol

Fire department tour

Playing corn hole

At the pool

Car wash where they raised $862 and donated the proceeds a Random Acts of Kindness event

All the IMPACT Academy kids had their school supplies donated to them this year. So awesome!

Rydell dealership tour

More pool time

Police department

Turtle River park

Play It Complex

Graduation day!

Here are some more pictures from over the summer. Not pictured, but I also made it out to Dickinson for a week in July and had an amazing time. We even found a new favorite board game--Scattergories! 

I went on a two week low carb diet over the summer. It went well, but it's soooo hard to maintain!

Damien and I watched the fireworks together this year--from our apartment!

I checked in on a coworker's Maine Coon, Korra, while they were out of town for a week. Super awesome cat!

It's been cooling off at night lately so I've been able to wake up to beautiful sunrises!

New symptom unlocked. My fingers are turning white and sometimes blue due to the AC. It's now a daily occurrence. Thanks, Raynaud's...