On My Mind

 Good morning!

Popping in with a quick post today, since my New Year's Resolution of sorts is to do more writing.  I don't make official resolutions in mid-life, because the years have taught me they are made to be broken.  But it feels good to be making a fresh start on a few things.  Basically in 2026 I want to make more time for fun, and for doing the things that "light me on fire" as I keep telling everyone.  Things like running, music, reading, hanging out with M, and yes... writing.

I'll just give you a bit of life lately in the 15 minutes or so that I have here.

December was a crazy whirlwind as always, with possibly a few less commitments for me than when I was teaching full time, but plenty of family commitments that kept us running a mile a minute.

Mostly choir and orchestra concerts and rehearsals for the girls, plus one church gig for me.

The girls played this church gig with me-- it was a string quartet with me on first, N on second, L on viola and another cellist from the area.  It was super fun for me to practice and perform with the girls, but a lot of work for them in the midst of a busy season.  Because of snow on the morning of their planned choir concert, it was pushed to the following weekend, making a triple concert weekend for N and L.  We were in northern Delaware all day Saturday for their morning orchestra rehearsal and evening concert, and then Sunday morning we prepped for an early afternoon choir concert, and went straight to the church gig afterwards.  Crazy times, but they enjoyed themselves despite being tired, and boy did they make some amazing music!

The first of N's college acceptance letters came in early December, and by the Christmas holidays we had been notified that she was accepted to all three of the colleges she applied to, and a few with generous merit scholarships.  We are so proud of her, and it was a huge relief for this homeschool Mama that the work we're doing here at home was enough not only to get her in to college but to set her up as a strong candidate with scholarship-worthy qualities!  Huzzah!

Christmas was just us at home and there were a lot of cozy and festive times.

After Christmas we had a few days to rest, veg, and recoup, and then we were off for the girls' experience gift of the year: a trip to Williamsburg to visit Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg.

At Busch Gardens I mostly hung out with J who is not a fan of the big coasters, while Dad and the big girls had their thrill-seeking time.  J and I got to check out all the beautiful lights displays, shops, and Christmas shows that were happening (my favorite was the ice skating show pictured above!).

It was cold but we enjoyed it very much nonetheless!

We then headed back to Delaware to spend some time with family

...and then for J and me it was off again the following weekend to Philadelphia for one of her experience gifts-- a trip to see the musical Annie with a hotel stay overnight afterwards.  She brought her BFF!

Boy was it fun to watch them have a great time together-- and while they were hanging out doing facials and eating pizza in the hotel I was able to get some work done so it was a nice quiet retreat for me as well.

Last week we didn't start academic school right away but took some time to put away our Christmas decorations and do some home organizing and purging of old stuff to make room for new gifts.  My Christmas gift to myself was to purchase some new shelving for M's and my bedroom (Ikea Kallax FTW!!!) to help organize our closet and plow through unpacking our remaining tower of boxes from moving that was just sitting in the corner of our bedroom (and yes, we did move over a year ago... le sigh! but it's finally done!).  That was a huge win for my mental health and it feels so good to be making these little improvements.

This week we are beginning academic work in earnest, and making some adjustments to our homeschool schedule since my high school girls are done with all their heavy workload dual enrollment courses that we bulked up on first semester.  L is starting her online Spanish class soon but that's the only new thing for the winter/spring so we are looking forward to doing more outside time as it gets warmer, hanging with friends, jamming on our musical instruments and singing together, and traveling to museums for hands-on learning.  N's dance competition season starts in less than two weeks and so we're off to New Jersey for that, and then it's one competition a month until she graduates!!!  Eeek!  College decisions and auditions are also ahead-- wish us luck with that!

Must run, because my early morning writing time is up.  Happy New Year to all, dear readers, and here's hoping you're finding peace, rest, and joy.  See you soon!