Lost Earring

 I lost one of my earrings when we were at the Peaden home for Christmas. I'm so sad. 

I inherited this from Blanche McAllister, David's grandma, and I felt such a connection to her each time I wore it. It's beautiful and it has long been my favorite set of earrings. 

The reason for writing about it, (other than to record how sad I am - you know I tend to dwell on how sad I am when I lose things I love - ahem, looking at you my favorite hat lost @ Multnomah Falls in 2016), is that I mentioned to Cal and Sue that I'd lost it and asked them to keep track of it if it turned up. Cal called me back a couple of weeks later telling me that he'd completely torn the house apart looking for it and then he'd spent several hours on top of that looking through jewelry websites like Etsy looking to see if he could find a matching set. It didn't turn up, but I'm just so grateful to have Cal as a father-in-law. He's kind and good and absolutely did NOT have to take the time to look so long and so diligently for something so small, but he did anyway and that's something that is quintessentially Calvin Peaden. I love him and I'm grateful that David has such a wonderful father to follow. 

Political Turmoil

Shantel came across this meme the other day and we both found it so hilarious. (Although the meme should say the Capitol, not the White house) Unfortunately, there are some truths to it that are also very sad. It has been such a crazy path the last year. Of course we have a separate post for COVID-19, but I thought it would be good to touch on these couple other things. 

On January 6 thousands of Trump supports gathered near the white house while the US Senate was planning to certify the election results at the capitol. Donald Trump continued to assert that his election loss was not true and that the election was a fraud. He instigated the group to fight against the election results and then the protestors moved from the White House to the capitol. The protest turned to a riot and then they rioters overpowered the capitol police and took over the capitol. All of the senators and congress had to be evacuated in an emergency to get out before the rioters captured them. It took hours before the National Guard came to clear the capitol and return it to the control of the US. 

It was very saddening to me. To see this kind of action in the United States, this is what you typically would see in other countries, but not here. What those people did is wrong. Unfortunately, I believe there will be more of this kind of horrible thing in the future, not less.  

The other random thing mentioned is reddit attacking Wall Street. Many big hedge funds had taken big shorting bets against Game Stock betting the stock price would go down. A group of people on Reddit decided to buy up Game Stop and push the price higher. On January 11, the price was about $20, and by January 27, it rocketed up to more than $400 during the day (closing at $347). The gambit worked and the hedge fund companies lost billions of dollars as they were forced to pay exorbitant prices to cover their stock bets. Many people made millions, many lost millions as the price jumped up and down. The reddit crowd is still going as you can see the price has bumped back up over $250. It has been a crazy thing to watch. 

I think that these are just two small examples that show the volatility, the turmoil and the signs of the times. We will just work to continue to take care of our family and serve others in the midst of all the turmoil. 

Homeschool January

I may be the only person in the contemporary world that loves the month of January. It's just so full of the possibilities of the new year combined with a deep breath of relief and quiet after the busyness of a packed holiday season.

A few highlights from this month:

-Writing thank you cards for Christmas gifts. I love to do this with my kids.

Family History Friday: 

One of our activities this month was to play a matching game with our family history plates then let all the kids pick one person to draw a picture of. Lydia picked Grandma Knowles aka Zuriel Ruth Elvin in in preparation for a more in depth lesson on our Knowles grandparents later that month, she helped shop for all the ingredients for Grandma's social chocolate cookies. I don't have pictures, but the next week we talked about Grandma and Grandpa Knowles and made those cookies together. For our FHF this year I've been focusing on one grandparent/set of great grandparents and talking about them and a little about their history. Then I try to give the kids 1-3 things to remember about them - I love hearing those tidbits pop up in our normal conversations. It's been really simple but also really meaningful. 

-100 Day of School

Celebrated with a 100 day of school party- cousin style. Counting to 100 in a dance circle, one hundred snacks, 100 physical activity challenge, writing a group story with 100 words, 100 dot art, and the 100 Number blocks episode.

(My favorite in these pictures is how clearly you can see Lydia's loop on the end of her y on her paper.)

-Austin LA Book & Movie Night

Austin finished his Level K Primer (Language Arts Coursebook) and earned a movie night with mom and dad. To be honest, his LA skills are already more advanced than this book- but I'm a believer in laying a solid foundation. The skills we practiced with this book were as much about building confidence and establishing routine as they were about introducing new LA skills. Austin is thriving in our homeschool and David and I were just talking about how amazed and proud we were of him and how well he is doing, especially compared to how hard this year could have been for him otherwise.

-Paint project from Primary Activities (formerly known as Activity Days.)  

I did an Art class elective for Austin and he only does the bare minimum even though the projects are sensory and open ended. But Lydia loves all things art and loved painting this for a distance primary activity. Because of Covid, primary activities aren't meeting - but her leaders have been really really good about dropping off activities for her to keep connected. I'm grateful for them. 

And painting on a canvas she got for Christmas using her easel from Aunt Brooklyn.