I can hardly believe it, but it's been about a month since I last wrote a blog post! One minute I'm writing in anticipation of Christmas, the next I'm sitting here with a cup of chai tea and a little pile of Valentine's candy hearts as I attempt to catch this blog up. The above photo is of my Christmas wreath, now packed away, and we've been getting little snowstorms off and on between Christmas and New Year's, which makes me happy. I love a good, white January.
Our Christmas was lovely, if a little different than a typical year. Since Christmas Day fell on a Sunday, we did venture out to our church service that morning. It was kind of fun to celebrate Christmas a little differently than in the past, and it actually made the day feel more relaxed and laid back. We opened a few gifts in the morning, and then finished up in the evening. Stretching out the presents a little longer was actually rather nice.
On New Year's Eve we visited my grandpa, which was special, and then on New Year's Day we did a little adventuring in the mountains. The kids are finally getting to a stage where they can walk a fair way by themselves, and I think more hiking days are in our future. I actually love getting outside in the winter as well - the air is so crisp and refreshing, and the mountains are particularly beautiful blanketed in snow. We topped the day off with a saltwater taffy shop.
Alot of my mental energy right after New Year's went into planning a talk for our January homeschool meeting at church, about the history of our state. The topic was my idea, and it didn't take me long to regret it - it took so much research and time to put together a presentation on such a broad topic as the history of an entire state! I think it turned out alright, but I'm glad to have it behind me. My brain can finally relax a bit.
We finally started up homeschooling again, and the week started wonderfully, and ended in a somewhat disastrous day. When you are sitting down with your child to finish his grammar lessons at 8PM, you know something has gone wrong. I'm hoping we won't have a repeat of that anytime soon. However, I am excited by how much we are accomplishing in general this school year - I think as far as the amount that my kids are learning, this might be our best year yet.
Aside from the mental load from my presentation (I don't love public speaking, can you tell?), I've been feeling a little emotionally weighed down as we start 2023. Typically the new year is a fun time for me, and I love making plans and setting new goals, but I know this year is going to be hard for some reasons that I don't want to go into here. It doesn't feel like a particularly happy activity to plan right now. But I'm trying to force myself to make a few goals anyway, because I think setting my mind on some creative and uplifting intentions will be healthy for me. So I'll probably write a post about a few of my goals soon.
How's the family doing, you ask? They have enjoyed Christmas break, but a couple of the kids expressed to me how happy they were to be doing school again, so that's a win. Derek is spending all our free weekends finally finishing the trim work in our house - we've lived here four years now, so I guess it's about time!
My oldest is starting his orthodontic journey this month, and our savings account is sad about it. When I found out how much braces were going to cost us, I had a bit of an anxiety attack. Where we are, it's probably going to cost us around $9,000 per kid. That's before insurance, but let me tell you, even the best insurances don't cover much. I immediately regretted not starting on saving for braces years ago.
I was desperate enough that I started googling "how to get braces cheap". And let me tell you, I did find an organization that gives out grants for braces. I was sure we wouldn't qualify (and we didn't), but would you believe it, we were within throwing distance of qualifying? If we'd had one more child, I think we may have qualified (which kind of amazed me, but that's how expensive braces are here). Anyway, just bookmark this site if you are financially stressed about affording braces, because you never know.
To wrap up my little braces story, to put my mind at ease my finance-major of a husband whipped up a spreadsheet projecting how much we could save starting now, when each kid would need braces, how much help we'd get from insurance, etc, and it looks like we'll be able to straighten out everyone's teeth when the time comes. So I can sleep in peace again.
How has the start to your year been? I hope your start to 2023 has been joyful and lighthearted enough for the both of us!
Happy New Year! That is so cool that some of your kids were looking forward to school starting. That has to be a good feeling as a home schooling mama. On that note, good job on your speaking topic- doing the work of research and the stress of public speaking. Regarding braces, I am glad those years are behind us financially. Only two of our three kids needed braces but those two were not covered by insurance at all. Maybe all your kids won't need them?? Our ortho gave the option of an interest free payment plan or you could pay upfront at a discount. That program for poorer families to afford braces sounds really nice. When I was younger, I was the only one of the five of us kids to get braces only because my teeth were the worst (though all of my siblings needed them). My dad was dead at this point and my mom was very poor. The ortho felt bad for us and charged my mom way less than he charged others. Still it was a hardship for my mom to give me braces but I am very thankful that I got them.
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