My husband and I decided to get a puppy just before Christmas. She is a cute bundle of chaos and so very spoiled (my fault!). We named her Emmie but I think Brat would suit her best. The kids no longer cuddle with me as much anymore so it is nice to have a sweet little puppy who is always overjoyed to see me. The kids tell me she even howls at the door when I leave. The cat does not like the puppy and so far has refused to come downstairs since she arrived. Poor kitty.

We spent several hours in Lexington on Christmas Eve with Oldest at the hospital. The halls were eerily empty for such a large and normally busy place. But, nobody wants to be at a hospital during Christmas anyway. We took him out to lunch before heading back home. Not that it was easy to find a place for lunch in Lexington. So many places are closed for indoor dining because of the crappy virus. Sometimes we have given up finding a place for lunch and just return to Frankfort where most restaurants are open. We had to wait another month for Oldest’s results. The doctor’s told us he has “active essential tremors”. His condition currently has no cure and will eventually worsen or spread over the years. So far he does not need medication and the impact is minimal at this point. We are relieved to finally have answers and grateful his condition is manageable.

Just as we got Oldest sorted…Sparkles developed more difficulties. Over the past couple of weeks she developed a severe stutter. Tomorrow I will be on the phone making appointments with a speech therapist and a psychiatrist. She never stuttered in the past. She has so much going against her already and I am just heart-broken over her. There is a part of my heart that can only be as happy as my most miserable child.

The end of this month will bring us to the half-way point of our school year. I kinda miss all of the cute fun projects and pictures from the elementary years. Sparkles is working on a few art projects that I can share later. We are just getting into the years just before WWI in history. I have been looking forward to studying modern history with my crew. We have some lovely projects coming up that I hope to share later. Middle Boy is working on an electrical science project this year and I plan to share more about that later. Littlest just started fourth grade and is plugging through his work. He really wants to learn to code and create games so I am spending some of my spare time trying to find a coding program for him.

Currently, I am only working on the weekends at Kroger. I worked too many hours during the initial virus months. Then I ended up working nights. Corporate pushed a heavy work load on us trying to keep up with consumer demand. Morale is really low in the store I work at. E-commerce in grocery is a terrible place to be these days! I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to work anyway. I will have to see the doctor soon about my foot. I only work twelve hours over the weekend but I end up limping before my shift ends on Sunday. My plantar fasciitis is getting worse unfortunately.

Life is good. We love our new home and where we live. I am ready for warm sunny weather though.