Goodbye, 2023

I'm not going to bury the lede: my mom died unexpectedly just after Christmas. We had less than 18 hours from cancer diagnosis to when she was gone. It's going to take some time to process our loss. Here's her obituary.

Goodbye, Mom. I love you and miss you so much.

As for the latter half of 2023...

The kids finished up their summer ball seasons. Iris's softball team finished no worse than 4th, and won a total of two tournaments. She tried out for and made a club softball team that played in three fall tournaments, winning the last one. She's also been hard at work with extra hitting and pitching lessons. Felix has been working on his pitching and took up weight lifting with Nick to build his strength.

Both kids started at new schools: Felix in high school and Iris at the middle school. Both have been doing well in their classes. Iris also participated in volleyball through the school, which was practices-only for her grade, much to her chagrin.

Nick's business keeps growing and things are looking good. Now if only they could find their next office space. My work and job have continued without any changes, which is just fine with me. I continue to telework most of the time, which is my preference.

Nick's grandparents celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, and the entire Abts clan got together for it.

We did get to celebrate one last Christmas with Mom. And I'm thankful for that.

Halfway Through 2023

I just realized a few minutes ago that I haven't been doing a very good job keeping up on this blog. Whoops. Let's get caught up.

Iris finished her swimming season strong, qualifying to swim at the State YMCA meet in the 50y backstroke and 50y breaststroke. The grandparents joined us in Brown Deer to cheers her on.

Iris was also in volleyball from January through April. I helped coach and we had a lot of fun at our second tournament.

We took a trip to San Francisco with Steve and Vicky over Spring Break. It was the kids' first trip to California. We had two rainy days and two clear days, and we made the most of them.

In March, after months of putting things into motion, Nick joined up with two other attorneys in town to form a new law firm. It's been a bit of a roller coaster starting it up, but business keeps rolling.

The kids finished off their school years and experiences at their respective schools. Both will be attending new schools next year. I still can't quite believe Felix will be going to high school next year. Iris is excited to make the jump to middle school.

Once the weather finally got nicer, the whole family has been occupied with baseball and softball. The kids are each on two teams, and Nick and I have been helping coach them. Both kids' tournament teams have had success already this season. Iris's team has earned 1st and 2nd place tournament finishes in our two tournaments so far. Felix's team placed 3rd in our home tournament, but sadly went winless over the past weekend (though the rest of the time up north was fun).

Cara's job hasn't changed much, though the kids are home for the summer. It's almost like our virtual year all over again. 

Iris is very much into Harry Potter now, having read and reread the entire series over the last year. She will be starting the trombone next year. Felix plays baseball on the Xbox and yells at the game. 

Awesome things: the US version of Ghosts, being married for 15 years.