
With the new year upon us and January almost gone, I thought it would be good to reflect on all that 2020 served up, the good the bad and the ugly. Looking back on social media and blog posts from January of 2020 is like watching a car crash about to happen but the people have no idea what’s coming. Even if the rona (I don’t want to type the actual word and get some CDC stuff on my blog) hadn’t occurred I still think 2020 was a year of surprises.
January we had family visiting for New Years weekend and more family came for the January birthdays. We finally booked a VRBO with some friends for spring break in Florida. We traveled to a cheer competition in Omaha Nebraska and had no idea it would be the last cheer competition of the season we would be attending. So glad my parents were able to come, even if it was a crazy few days. To make it even crazier, our daughter’s cheer team qualified for Summit, the major cheer competition in Florida in May. We took a trip to Wisconsin Dells and hit up the waterpark. Towards the end of January my husband flew to Seattle for a job interview with Amazon. I started what would be one of our final projects in our house, the basement bathroom.

Best decision in January, to join our friends in another state and read through the bible together using The Bible Recap on the Bible App.
February kicked off with hosting our last neighborhood Super Bowl Party and probably our last large indoor legal gathering of the year. But we didn’t know that yet. Adding carpet back into the studio/basement hang out room was on our list and we got that done. Again, no idea how important that would be in a few weeks when things shut down. So I painted the ceiling, trim and walls.

Our daughter went to Texas for a cheer competition but I couldn’t go because I had jury duty. Took a little trip to Wisconsin, watched my hubby coach basketball for our son’s team and did a lot of nothing. Well we did spend a lot of time calling VRBO because our reservation was jacked and they wouldn’t give us our money back, that was fun.
In the beginning of March we were doing the same stuff, cheer, basketball, prom dress shopping. My husband had more job interviews so now we were getting the house ready in case we were selling. I painted the laundry room, our daughter came home for spring break from college. March 11 we went to a new restaurant to celebrate our friends job promotion. This is the last time we would eat out for a while. March 12 my husband had a job interview in the cities so my oldest and I drove around and checked out different suburbs. My friend who’s husband works in a grocery store chain called and told me to go stock up on food. So we went shopping while my hubby was in an interview. Emma had her last in person day of high school and I made her take a photo on the steps of our house just in case. We started cheer practice over zoom. I got sick with a cough, stomach yuck, low grade fever, body aches and eventually hives on my eyes. I also was so tired. I swear I had the rona the week we shut down. But apparently not as we had the rona a few weeks ago. College shut down so we went up and moved our daughter out of the dorms and into the basement playroom. We almost ran out of toilet paper but thankfully my friend in the cities found some, so we drove an hour for some toilet paper.

We finished up March by getting a ton of stuff checked off my list for the house. Our mindset was get it done and if we move great and if not, it’s done for us. My husband received three job offers the last week of March.
April we spent more time getting our house ready as we were now officially moving. The house was listed the day after Easter. So thankful for such a mild spring, the kids spent a lot of time playing outside with neighbors. Which was such a blessing but also made it harder to put the house up for sale. It was like when the kids were younger and would play kickball and yard games outside. I paid $.89/gallon for gas one day.

That was crazy. Our good friends/neighbors moved into their new home so we were able to hang at their house when we had showings which was a blessing because when everything is shut down where do you go? We did a lot of hiking in April. The 23rd of April we had two offers and one was for over asking price with no contingencies. Thank you Lord! I never would have guessed in the middle of a shutdown for a virus that we would have sold our house so quickly and for over asking price. So April 25th we started house hunting. We looked at probably 30 houses. April 30th, we had an accepted offer on a new home.
May was spent packing, cleaning and hiking. My husband started his new job May 7 virtually. Because we were buying a model home we could go to the house during the week without scheduling a showing. My friend met me there one day and when she got out of the vehicle, my new neighbor and friend knew each other. The Lord is awesome. It really felt like confirmation on our new home. We were excited that there was going to be a small graduation ceremony for our daughter. Then they said no. We did a drive up graduation ceremony which was weird. And we hosted a graduation party for our family and friends. Family came from out of town. Thankful that people came, even when we weren’t supposed to be gathering in large groups. We then packed up our house that Sunday and loaded up moving vans with the help of friends and family.

June 1 we said goodbye to our house and amazing neighborhood. Man that was hard. We spent two nights at our friends house and closed June 3 on our new home. My parents and some friends helped us move in. Most of June was spent getting the house unpacked, hiking, exploring and getting settled. I painted the front door pink and the island green.

Seeing as most of Minnesota was shut down still, we spent a lot of time at home in June.
July was full of beautiful weather, beach days, hiking, exploring, meeting neighbors, slip and slide in the backyard and just chilling out.

I spent a lot of time adding in some color to our home, trying to make it grandma cottage. It as fun but part of me loves neutrals so much, it was hard.
After a pretty chill summer, August was busy. We had cement curbing adding to our exterior. The back hallway was our first official “project” in the house. Vertical shiplap, beadboard ceiling with wood planks, coat hooks and a new light fixture were all added to take it from boring to functional and beautiful!

We had friends from Wisconsin visit us for a fun weekend. The preparations took place to send our second born off to her first year of college. The first born prepped to go back to college as well. My parents came to visit us. My mom and I canned tomatoes. The main floor got a fresh coat of paint. I purchased the green plaid chairs off facebook marketplace for the living room. Whew. All in all, a perfect way to end the summer.
September was the official start of homeschooling for us. We decided to try and have some adventures while we can with the flexibility of homeschooling. Our son actually was able to play baseball on a team for a month which was great. More hiking, exploring and time spent outdoors. Towards the end of September we headed to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where my hubby and I grew up.

The fall colors were pretty awesome and it was nice to get out of town. Although it was strange to be traveling with only two kids instead of four.
October was a repeat of spending time outdoors, hiking and exploring. At this point I think we were honestly getting a little tired of hiking. We celebrated my birthday with all my birds back in the nest for a night which was the best gift.

The weirdest part of October was the freak snow storm of 8 inches. Thankfully it melted. But it was weird that the kids were able to go sledding and there were ducks still on the pond.
November we started our second project in our new house, the fireplace. It was really going to be our first project but we waited for colder weather to work on it. We finished it up right after Thanksgiving so we were able to enjoy pretty fires during the Holiday season.

The girls were home before Thanksgiving so we went out and chopped down a beautiful Christmas tree. Secret guests came for Thanksgiving, as it was “illegal” to gather for the holiday. Rebels, I know.
December was a slower month compared to other years. We had a lot of fun baking cookies, playing games, doing puzzles and enjoying the Christmas lights. The girls came home from college for a few weeks. Christmas was very low key. The day after Christmas, the hubby and I went on a little getaway for two nights which was much needed.

We also did a lot of car shopping after Christmas but didn’t buy anything. New Years Eve was spent with friends ringing in the New Year with hopes for a better 2021.
All in all, 2020 was a strange year for everyone. Moving, a new job, homeschooling and sending another kid off to college made it even more strange for us. So much transition. We made it through this year with lots of hiking, hanging with friends and our faith. Hoping your 2020 brought you some joy and delight as we look forward to an end to the lockdowns and masking.