the end of 2025 was a blur...

I have not blogged in so long!  Wow.  This may have been the longest stretch that I've missed.  But - I've been busy. soo soo busy.  I left off at the end of October detailing Mercer's 2nd (and final) baseball offer.  

Some other things that happened in October (abridged version!)

Isabella and I went to the COOLEST art exhibit.... a bug-lover's dream. (I wasn't into the bugs so much as I thought the artistry of it all was uniquely displayed.)  From far away - it looked like patterns on a wall.  

There was a sign at the door to the gallery - if you have a fear of bugs - probably best to not enter!  (or something like that!)

 

Isabella liked looking at the vignettes (where they had a "scene" depicted in bell jars).

Overall, I would recommend this exhibit and this artist.  (She exhibits all over the world... and...I read up on another one of her exhibits that she always mixes up a custom "pink paint" which is actually made of crushed up bug shells, then painted onto the walls!  

I had another unique experience that month: I got to ride in a jeep that was pulling a "float" in a Marietta City Schools parade!  

The homecoming theme was "There's No Place Like Home" with a Wizard of Oz theme.  There's a new (to me) club that I'm helping to run and this group decided that they wanted to enter a float in the parade! 

My SkillsUSA students made a yellow-brick road and dressed up like different characters.  We built "emerald city" using cardboard stacked against boxes that were on the back of the jeep (pulled by one of the moms).  

It was LOTS of work leading up to the parade.... but a fun experience in the end.

Mercer played fall baseball with a travel team.... this team includes the teammate that is also going to Young Harris.

Isabella "exhibited" a few of her blankets in our local art show. 

It took awhile to get her up there, but then when her shift was over, she didn't leave and stayed through the next shift until the festival ended! 

She didn't have much to show or sell, but she has all sorts of ideas for next year!

One thing that was really cool: the guy in the booth next to her (with the red cloth)... he's an artist, but decided instead of painting, to do something unique:  type compliments on antique papers.  

The banner says "Free Compliments" 

I asked him about it and he said he had a hard time talking to people, so decided to do this to challenge himself... and people have really opened up.  (Performance Art in a way??)    

He had discussion cards that we were supposed to pick out of the stack and answer so he could get to know us a little bit.

He talked to each of us and typed up a message / sealed it up for us to read later.  We opened them at home.

One final thing in October:  Halloween! 
Isabella and I went to a local pumpkin patch and picked out some beautiful pumpkins... but... we did NOT carve a jack-o-lantern this year!  :/

Isabella spent HOURS working on her make-up.  Mercer stayed home this year and actually was working on a college (dual-enrollment) project.

 

In November, we gained another TEENAGER in the house!  Izzy turned 13 years old.

We took her out to a fancy Italian restaurant up on the Square.... she LOVES alfredo sauce and we took her to a place where they make their version INSIDE OF a large wheel of hard cheese.

Caught M smiling when he wasn't looking!

Isabella had a rock-climbing party the weekend just after her actual birthday.  

cracking open geodes - glad the kids got to do it, as some have never experienced it!

...and opening presents

Mercer brought a speaker and was a "DJ" for the part of the party that was upstairs in the party room.

He played "brain-rot" songs to annoy the 7th graders!

(one funny story about M being there... a girl and her mom recognized him.  The girl saw him and asked "what is my camp counselor doing here?!"  (she has gone to the summer camp where Mercer has been working - haha!)

In November, we gained another TEENAGER in the house!  Izzy turned 13 years old.

She had a rock-climbing party the weekend just after her actual birthday.  (And we took rock / geode themed things there.)  

She had a GREAT time, but it took a toll on her / used up her energy.  (She took a nap before her party - she said to store her energy - and crashed out again afterwards.)

Even though she slept before and after... we celebrate - yay - that she made it through.  This time last year, she celebrated her birthday in the hospital, so this is a "win" even if it doesn't look like it!

At the end of November we had Thanksgiving break. I had a lot of grading to do, but we also got out of the house one day -- taking Mercer up to Young Harris (so that I could see it) and meet with the bursar to get some questions answered...  

It was rainy and cold, but we were able to get pretty much what we needed (all of the offices were supposed to be open, however, many were not staffed due to it being a holiday week). 

We may have to go up again to the college to visit day to finish touring some spaces we could not access before... I'm specifically interested in the dorms and need to plan out how to help him organize it!! 

We also went to nearby Blairsville to grab dinner and explore a bit - since this is the nearest town.  (the college is in the middle of nowhere. There's one or two restaurants -- not very good -- and that's about it.  

Luckily for him, he will have an UNLIMITED meal swipe... that will be the best $5800 spent!  On our impromptu guided tour over Thanksgiving, they pointed out that the ice cream machine and the cereal station are front-and-center.  I am afraid about all of the ice cream he may consume. haha!  

Of interest, Isabella and I took a slab ornament-making class.... it was fun, but stressful at the end that we would not get our ornaments glazed and finished!  She LOVED doing the class and wants to go to their summer camp for teens.  

Todd (mostly) and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner.  It was quiet - just the 4 of us.

Mercer has had an issue with apples lately, but he likes fruit pies (moreso than Todd's pumpkin pie) so he and I made a cherry pie with lattice - sort of.  ha!  the lattice was harder than expected and didn't start out right.  oh well!  He ate it!  :)

My mom had surgery before Thanksgiving & we tried to send food up through grocery delivery, but they only delivered about half of the items.  :/  My uncle took her some food, thankfully.  Also, people from her community helped to take care of her and stay with her after surgery.  (I offered to come up during Thanksgiving because I had the week off, but she said she was good.)  Grateful for the community of ladies that helped her out so much!

Speaking of Uncle Eddie - his son got married earlier in November -- actually the same week my mom fell.  :/   I don't have pictures of their wedding... but we were invited to a different wedding the same weekend and was included on all of the photos (hundreds of them!) This wedding was for Todd's niece that got married that same weekend but in California.  

We did not go because of the cost / the timing during school / and Todd didn't have the extra time off - since he had taken several days off of work to take trips to a several colleges with Mercer to meet coaches including the big trip to New York.  I wish he could have been there because his brothers and several of his "kitchen" cousins were there to support his sister and niece -- and they always have a great time at these big family events!! 

Mercer and Isabella were the only grandkids that weren't there. Todd's mom wasn't able to go because of her health. She had a group of ladies surrounding her that weekend / coming to stay with her while Tonia and crew were in Cali.  This photo has Tonia's 2 grandchildren - Rose Marie's great-grandkids who were also in the wedding. It sounds like (and looks like) it was a big event.

Other things that happened in November:  part of the White House got torn down. Seriously!  It's UNBELIEVABLE. It's a travesty. It's a historic building - a national monument.  I am afraid that the building that is being built to replace it will be a monstrosity.  There was no formal historic review, so there is no telling the size / scale / applicability of the new structure.  Our architecture industry is sick over this!  :/ 

I went on a field trip at school that was really unique - not allowed to take or post images of the building (a series of giant data centers north of where we live)   but I had to show the site -- we were off-roading in these ATVs.  

A group of about 30 students and 3 of us teachers went. Never did anything like that before. The architecture was blah (ware-house types buildings), the engineering was impressive, and the experience of riding around this giant was quite cool!

We went to a Harry Potter pop-up event at a restaurant on the square.

My drink was a "potion" - I let Isabella mix it and change the color of the liquid inside the glass.

We went to cut down a Christmas tree again.  Same place, but different kind of tree:  Carolina Sapphire (I think). it was a pretty light green color, but it had a weird smell once it was in our house!  Way different smell than the pine Christmas trees.... but the smell went away after awhile.

This place also has animals - it's a real working farm.

Isabella kept trying to convince us to get a bunny.  No thank you!

And - we took the dogs (and kids) back to see Santa & Ms. Claus at the same place we went last year. 

Saffy is sacked out after visiting the big-guy.

December was a bit of a blur.  The first (full) weekend is the Tour of Homes that I always "docent" and birthday - but Isabella was sick so we cancelled the reservations we had, but ordered food in.

We did the normal decorations - lights on the outside of the house / a tree with decoration / a little bit of things on the mantle.  

We did a LITTLE bit of things with the elves on the shelves -- there's "brain rot" stuff skibidi and 6-7 bug the new teen. She was annoyed - which I guess is the point!

It's a lot of work to decorate, but .... we want the kids to be able to open presents from under the tree before we start our journey north.

We did a couple of Christmas things at our church:  they had the live nativity event and Izzy wanted to go to it after her choir / handbell practice

.... AND... then they had the actual performance one Sunday at the "carol sing" service.  

The few middle-schoolers that performed really did quite well.  There were so many people that came up to tell her what a good job.  (And she seems to have made a new friend in the process)

We hit the road for our long journey north.  We visited my mom in North Carolina.  She did not have a tree this year  -- which is completely understandable because of her surgery.  But she did have this - that a friend gave her.   We ran some errands and got her out of the house for a drive to visit some of her friends.  

We continued up to New Jersey.  And- they have (as always) a big tree.  

We had to decorate cookies, as the family expects them!

Isabella got roller skates for Christmas.... and had to try them out.

And - they have ducks now at Tonia's - so she had to hold one or two or three.

There were at least 20 people in the house for Christmas dinner - this is just one area of the house where people were eating.  (Rose Marie is at one end and Westley and a doll are at the other end).

Both of these photos are from a drone!

Once everyone left, Mercer took some time to decorate an oreo "gingerbread" house.  What's up with the icing running?  

Looks like sad (or bloodshot in the case of Westlye's gingerbread house!)   We joked that this looked like the blood-shot eyes from the movie "Stranger Things" 

-- speaking of which -- we ended up watching episodes with a bunch of the family members up there.

We had a unique New Year's -- we watched the finale of Stranger Things in a theater instead of watching NYE events on TV.  It was a fun experience.  Isabella clapped at certain scenes.  There was woman who was crying after a certain scene.  I think she will remember this experience.  (I remember fondly a movie event I went to as a teenager!)