Santa's Helper

I want to make sure and jot down a sweet Christmas exercise at Palmer's school.  The magic of Christmas was exhibited in full force every day for several weeks and the whole experience made the season extra special.

Upon returning from Thanksgiving break, Palmer announced that an elf on the shelf had arrived in his classroom.  Since we don't do elf on the shelf at home and Palmer hadn't had an elf in his classroom in previous years, he was super excited to finally experience a magical elf.  Palmer assured me that he was extra good in the classroom since the elf, "Pines Christopher Jeffrey," was watching.

A few days later, Palmer came home and broke the news that he may not be around much because "Santa needed his help."  Palmer wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but Palmer was willing to go to the North Pole or wherever Santa needed him.

Palmer learned that the North Pole was short on elves and all of the second graders were going to apply for the position.  Over the next few weeks, the kids put together resumes, wrote essays, application cover letters, and prepared for an interview with reps from the North Pole HR team.

The kids got all dressed in their best elf gear for the big interview and were so excited to have a chance at the job (although one of Palmer's friends was stressed because he would rather go to Mexico with his family instead of the North Pole on Christmas Eve.)

In the end, the kids were all designated "Very Special Elves" and given stickers to spread to people at Christmas time who seemed sad and needed a little extra Christmas cheer.  We were a little relieved to learn that Palmer would stay with us this Christmas, too.

-Bethany

November Recap

Although I mentioned, I am going to move this blog to a new space (@thejordanjourneys on Instagram) at the end of the year, I'm not fully abandoning ship just yet.

Allow me a moment to stop and relive our family memories from November...

Palmer wrapped up his first season on the DAC golf team.  We learned a lot from the experience and enjoyed the weekend tournaments.  I think Palmer is going to spend the spring semester doing some clinics and inter-club play to continue to refine his young game.  I enjoyed caddying for Palmer while Rick was out of town one weekend.  Palmer said I had very good advice and was a fantastic caddy, so I was pretty stoked about the experience.

Meanwhile Grace gave her all on a "pedal bike."  She is in that gray area between scooting around easily on her balance bike, but not quite tall enough for her new bike.  We'll keep working on it.

And Grace finally got her turn at a father-daughter campout.  A group of dads and girls roughed it despite a complete downpour for a few hours, they had some fun and soggy camping time.  Also, one of the dads is a legit chef and cooked a pretty amazing campfire meal after the girls went to bed.

The next few weeks were dominated by a few major local home tours.  Our house project was selected as an interesting participant for a Dallas-area architecture tour and also a neighborhood tour that benefitted local public schools in the hood.  We estimate that about 4500 people came thru the house over two weekends and we spent much of the fall in preparation for these tours.  A few snaps from the weekend...

 

And of course, the Lakewood Home Tour weekend wouldn't be complete without its thematic auction party.  Rick was out of town for that night, so I went solo as Anna Wintour for the New York theme.

Right after the last tour, we relished in the joy of making a mess in the kitchen once again:

Did I mention I am a new cub scout den leader?  Oh yes.  Three of us moms have decided to tackle the (quite large) task this year.  We've been working on our many badges and enjoyed a guest speaker,  the school's priest, and also a field trip to a Hare Krishna temple to learn about religious tolerance.  Grace and another little sibling are the den's mascots, complete with blue and gold matching cub scout bows.

Pretty quickly into the month, we jumped directly into Thanksgiving preps.  Rick and I decided to maximize the week off from Palmer's school and go to Rosemary Beach for the week of Thanksgiving.  By doing so, we missed Grace's Thanksgiving feast, so I got to sneak in on the dress rehearsal during the week before Thanksgiving.

 

Thanksgiving at the nursing home with GG:

We stopped by the lake for one of our last hurrahs (with the Stoltz family) on the way to the beach.  Side note: we've made the family decision to sell the lake house.  After giving it our best all, the family has decided to move on to new memories elsewhere. 

As mentioned, we went to Rosemary Beach for the week of Thanksgiving.  

 

On the way to Florida, we stopped in Mobile at the USS Alabama to explore the old naval ship.  The kids had a ball pretending all sorts of scenarios as we toured the upper and lower decks.

 

Once in Florida, it was such a refresher and good family time at the ocean.  Temps ranged from 50s to 70s and when the sun was out, the kids were happy to get in the pools and ocean.

 

Meanwhile, we were happy to sit and enjoy the sun

Nana joined us for a couple days, including Thanksgiving Day.  We enjoyed having her there and she endlessly read books to Grace.

We hit up the 5k and 1 mile fun run on Thanksgiving morning.  We were so proud to see Grace and Palmer both run the entire mile without flinching.  Everyone did so well.

Pre-dinner Thanksgiving photo shoot.

We went to the Pearl Hotel for dinner and loved not cooking this year.

 

Capping off the trip the same way as everyone else in town...

Moving onward to December!

-Bethany

2018 Annual Holiday Newsletter

Happy holidays from our house to yours.  I write this beach-side in Florida where we are spending the week of Thanksgiving with the intention to be present and grateful.

We have so much to be thankful for- our year was occupied with a few house projects, travel and some family bonding on a couple of cross-country road trips, and two kiddos who are growing into their own lovely personalities.

Palmer is seven and has a heart of gold.  He's fearless, independent, curious, vibrant, creative, happy, funny, easy-going, sensitive to others, and kind.  He loves life every single day and is always up for anything.  Palmer went to sleep-away camp in Arkansas this summer without knowing a single person when he arrived.  He sprinted into the cabin (leaving us behind), introduced himself, and had an amazing week.  We moved him to a new school this fall and have found him to thrive in the environment and expand his curiosity and love for learning.  We were so proud to watch Palmer hold his head high and march into the new school with the confidence to make new friends and be open to change.  Palmer played on a golf team this fall, loves mountain biking, snow skiing, chess, and sketching plans for his various inventions.  Palmer says he's going to change the world one day with his new ideas and we can't wait to find out how.

Four-year-old Grace is a big ball of sunshine and fun.  Her face is usually smiling and she spends her time laughing, singing, dancing, and tumbling.  She loves her friends and is incredibly fond of her big brother.  Grace is confident, matter-of-fact, and will always tell you her opinion.  She's creative, can memorize any song lyric or picture book pretty quickly, and always has a song in her head.  Grace started Pre-K this year and is starting to show interest in writing letters and is so proud of herself when she masters a new learning concept.  Grace does gymnastics and ballet and is so excited to join the local high school cast of the Nutcracker in December.

I keep myself busy with nonstop house projects.  We wrapped up our current mid-century project at the beginning of the year and prepped it to be featured on some local home tours for people who have interest in architecture and home design.  Meanwhile, we took on Rick's long-time family lake house and renovated it.  We got the lake property ready in time for the summer where we spent a little time enjoying the water.

Now that both projects are finished, I've been searching for the next big "fixer upper" project- it's safe to say I've got the remodeling bug. And with the projects done, I'm itching for another one!  I'm also still working part-time juggling news production, commercial production, and keeping the Jordan ship sailing at all times.

Rick dialed back his travel schedule mid-year, and continues to thrive at his new law firm.  He's actively preparing for a mid-life crisis by planning his pre-40 bucket list, which apparently includes helicopter skiing, destination golfing, and scuba diving.  Sigh.

We enjoyed a few trips to the ski slopes this year, and put Grace on skis. We are so proud of her success with ski school.  She can't wait to get back out, and hopes to join the rest of us on mountain this upcoming season.  Palmer, meanwhile, has been racking up stickers for his ski helmet.

We also bit the National Park bug this year and enjoyed the splendor of Joshua Tree National Park and many parks in Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, including Zion National Park.  Zion was a standout favorite.  We are consistently amazed at the beauty within our own country, and I love to continue honing my photography skills with the incredible landscapes.  It's not unusual for me to wake up early to try to capture some sunrise shots in these serene locations.

Lastly, some housekeeping for this blog...for those of you who have stuck with reading the blog over the past 8 years, thank you.  This platform was originally designed for me to document the children's early years so that I could compile the stories and memories into annual books.  Today, I'm moving to a new avenue to document the continued memories in quicker snippets and plan to stop updating the blog at the end of the year.  Feel free to follow us at our new home on Instagram at "thejordanjourneys" (I'm going to try to avoid over-posting on my own Instagram page and use the new page to create books to print.)

Love,
Bethany, Rick, Palmer, and Grace