While advances were made, 2015 was not the year of self-sufficiency. After two weeks of being home from school, mom was nearing the end of her rope with us. It is not that we were acting that bad but we just never gave her any breaks. Our favorite thing to do is to wait until she sits down and to ask her for stuff. It's like we have a radar that remotely detects when she sits down, takes a deep breath, or opens something to read. We also know immediately if she is trying to eat or drink something hot, trying to relax, or trying to go to the bathroom. In these circumstances, Chris and I both alternate yelling at each other, yelling across the room at Mom, or bursting through the door to ask her for something that often, we can get for ourselves if we just thought about it. In any event, Mom was not able to get anything done for work (e.g. grading papers, submitting grades for her four classes of students), for nearly two weeks and was definitely at the end of her rope with us. We know that we are a complete and total blessing, but we are still learning to take care of ourselves and have resolved to take better care of our Mom in 2016.
We closed out New Year's Eve with a lot of our favorite "lasts". Since New Years was on a Friday this year (great for the weekend), Dad stayed home on Thursday to get us out of the house--literally all day--and to do some fun stuff to close out the year. We began the day at the gym, which I have started going to with Dad on a daily (6:00 am) basis to shoot hoops while he works out. After making breakfast, we pumped-up the bike tires and headed for the beach. We road on the new beach bike path for about five miles, stopping along the way for a tour at Primal Alchemy Kitchen, had lunch at In-In-Out, took our last climb at the Mother's Beach playground, and went shopping for all the supplies we would need for New Year's Eve and our Pancake Breakfast on the 2nd. On the way home, we used our last free points at Dunkin Donuts, and came home to the world's biggest Pirate Ship bounce house.
Christopher's legs and butt were already super sore because of riding 5 miles on the hard, steel, Silver Bike. After jumping in the bounce house and climbing the slide for another couple hours, he was in for a world of hurt. We went to the Armstrong's house to celebrate New Year's Eve, and put on the "Big Show" that we had been writing and rehearsing for weeks. This was the first year that we actually scripted-it-out and rehearsed ahead of times with lines, costumes, and props. It was definitely progress but we have a ways to go before we go to Broadway.
On New Year's Day 2016, we went to the Rose Parade for the 2nd time. This year, we left a little later and went farther down the parade route. It was exciting to see the floats and the bands, the sky writing about Donald Trump, and all of the excitement for the new year. It was a beautiful sunny day and a lot warmer than last year, but we still did our fair share of complaining about being hungry and having the sun in our faces. Later, we had the Hodgsons and Armstrongs over for some special Mexican soup and more bouncing! On Saturday, we hosted the first annual "Pancakes for Day" breakfast. We cooked 80 sausages and a bunch of pancakes for everyone to celebrate the new year and reconnect with the friends of Dave Wodynski. Of course, we also bounced!
As we close the book on 2015, we wanted to say thank you to all of our family and friends that have taken care of us, sent us cards and gifts, and babysat throughout the year. It was a wonderful year but 2016 looks to be even more fun and exciting. Our goal for 2016 is to make it "The Year of Gratitude". Hopefully, you will see a picture or a card from us soon. Happy New Year to everyone!
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