2019 - That's A Wrap

We didn't sing as many Christmas songs as in years past or read as many of our Christmas books, yet our house was still full of music and dancing thanks in large part to Lily and Santa.  5 months of rehearsals, 8 shows, fighting through a nasty cold, and never complaining once highlights the joy and commitment Lily showed being part of her first community musical theater cast for Alice in Wonderland, English Panto style.  It was a damn good show and Lily truly loved the whole experience and the new cast family she really felt a part of.  It was contagious and Paul and Elise have been quite into performing at home for us to songs like Time Warp, Old Town Road, and There Are No Cats In America.  Santa gifted the kids headphones to use on their tablets to explore Amazon Prime Music library.  It's the first time they truly have the freedom to explore music and figure out on their own what they like.

We missed seeing Eric and family for Christmas this year but very much enjoyed having the rest of the Biegansky crew together in Portland. Right when you think Oma and Opa have reached the pinnacle of hosting mastery, they one-up themselves and spoil us yet again a bit more.  I have no problem admitting there is a very wide gap in cooking and hosting skills between us and while I strive every year to close the gap just a little bit, I'll always thoroughly enjoy their spoils.  Thanks Oma and Opa.

Nate turned 43 a couple days ago.  He's not thrilled but like many years in the past, at least we weren't on a plane.  It's safe to say he had a great day seeing Star Wars with Paul and Lily, choosing to go extra fancy for a dinner out with me, popover breakfast with the family, and a tough spin class.  It's been fun to have him home the last week or so for the Holidays.  In the not too distant past, I would have said helpful before fun because I really just wanted help at home with the kids but this current phase we're in having 8 and 10 year olds has put us back into fun mode.

It's the end of a decade in just a few hours.  Our Christmas stuff was all packed away today.  Fresh start tomorrow...whatever that means.  Almost every single morning gives me a sense of hope that it will be a great day and even though it usually wanes by early afternoon, just try again the next day.  As for New Years resolutions, all I'll say is that I hope to write more again and let the process take me in whatever direction it wants.

Cheers to 2020!  It's going to take a little bit until the year doesn't sound so futuristic to me.


A clip from the play.  This was at the very end of the show with the entire cast.

Cast - Lily is in the lower left corner in the green dress.

Family dinner out with Jeanne and Keith.  Thank you for making the trek down to support Lily.

Tradition - Decorating Christmas cookies with Oma

Paul is ready for Christmas - Elton John style

We may be outgrowing Playmobil (that's a tough truth to swallow for me) but their last Advent calendar gift was Santa's bakeshop that I was pleased to see they enjoyed getting.

One of the many random performances we got in our living room

Christmas Eve Dinner - Steak and Great Oma's "pink" salad.

Quiet before Christmas morning enjoying the view

I'll enjoy looking at these pictures of them over the years on Christmas morning in years to come.

Had to do one family snapshot

No questions or doubts when Christmas arrived.  Lily stayed quiet and twins seemed to still be believers.

Christmas Day Dinner - Oma outdid herself with a delicious homemade dessert

You were missed Ken.  Ski (and snowboarding for Elise) day at the mountain was a success.

Meanwhile, we enjoyed exploring the town while the others played on the mountain

First Christmas with 6 month old Moxie.  

November Birthdays and Paul & Elise turn 8 on December 8th

After an action packed November full of family birthday celebrations, we kicked off December with Paul and Elise's golden birthday, turning 8 on the 8th. We went big (I think I say that every year) with a private party at a Ninja Warrior Gym (they love the show American Ninja Warrior), old school video games, and movie night.  

The Ninja warriors

 During a very funny game of Telephone at Elise's get together

video game playing with his oldest friends

Paul is a sports maniac.  He loves playing and watching sports. We wish he'd read more than just before bed and play with Legos more but he's doing great in school and stays on top of what we ask him to do... most of the time.  He's more knowledgeable about fancy fast cars than I am by a landslide and it is often a topic of conversation during car rides.  He'd rather do push ups than hug his sisters but the moment a teammate scores a goal or hits a run in, he is all about initiating celebration hugs.  What I really didn't expect from him is how much he enjoys and is good at playing with babies and little kids.  He's that kid who will play peek a boo with a baby he doesn't know. Go figure.  He is a Nike loving, shorts in cold weather wearing, whistling, goofball.  

Elise keeps me guessing.  She wears her emotions loudly.  Every facial expression you can imagine is exaggerated.  She does not hide her feelings, only candy and her tablet from time to time to sneak screen time.  She's a complete ham when she's in the comfort zone and likes to provide the element of "what did she just do and say?" on a regular basis.  Whether it's saying she wants to be a boy so she can pee standing up, saying blood is her favorite food, saying she wants to change her name to Malificent or defying something Mom and Dad ask her to do on a daily basis.  She loves to read, listen to music on her boom box, and come up with random things to create and do on her own. Elise is a jean shorts over tights wearing, book loving, homebody.

Paul and Elise won't admit they love each other yet love playing together.  They wrestle and make up creative games regularly.  They fight like crazy but make up quickly.  Paul is quick to walk away and cry and Elise is quick to yell and get mad.  They continue to be in the same class at school but with different friends and different interests at choice time and at recess.  Elise says he tattle tales too much on her and Paul says Elise shares too many secrets about him to others.  

Turning 41 this year was heartwarming.  I enjoyed my entire Birthday week by spending time with my favorite people.  Watching the sunrise after a morning tennis session with Lily and getting surprised by a breakfast get together with friends were definite highlights

My Dad turned 82 and he loves good food and family traditions.  He has great taste.  Jake's Crawfish is fantastic.  He definitely dined exactly how he wanted and we were all happy to take part.

 Oma turned 78 and she definitely deserves a do over.  Knee pain mixed with agonizing tooth pain made it hard for her to enjoy the day.  She's a trooper and rallied as much as she could to enjoy a very low key day with family.  Moxie decided to jump on Oma's lap on her Birthday for the first time.  I truly believe cats can sense when something is off.

We hosted Thanksgiving this year with my parents, just the 7 of us.  I'll remember Nate made really a moist turkey, we enjoyed a visit from friends for dessert, introduced the tug toner to my parents, and got an improv silly performance from my kids after dinner.

Our yearly Girls Night crew family get together, friends for almost 20 years.  13 kids between us in the last decade.  Boof.

Moxie is ready for the Holidays.