Goodbye, 2024

As we come up on the end of the year and the first anniversary of my mom's passing, I'm filled with mixed emotions. Compared to this time last year, I'm not filled with overwhelming sadness. It's tapered into a dull ache, but I miss her every day. We learned we can get through golf and football seasons without her. We learned she has no pull in the afterlife (yet), since none of the teams she would cheer on hardest won any championships. We are constantly reminded of how much she did for us now that she's gone. And we're still shocked cancer took her so fast. I don't think we'll ever come to terms with that.

As for the second half of our year, July saw both kids have sports success. Felix's baseball team went pretty deep in the Legion regional tournament. Iris's club softball team went to Indiana for a world series tournament and made it to Saturday play. She tried out and made the team again for next year (no surprises there). Iris also got to play 7th grade volleyball at school this fall. Her team had mixed success (hard to win when they didn't run an offense like other schools and had equal playing time for all), but she enjoyed it overall. 

Felix got his temps in July and has worked on his hours of practice behind the wheel. So far, he's a pretty conscientious driver. He's also just about Nick's height. He's done well so far in 9th grade and has been working out to make himself a better athlete for the next baseball season. 

Iris has been crushing it in 7th grade. She still plays trombone and had a band concert in December. 

The bright spot of the last six months was the family trip we took to Italy. We found a week to get away between the summer activities and school starting, and made plans to spend five days in northeastern Italy. It was Iris' first trip out of the country and Felix's second this year. I wrote about our adventure here.

Nick's firm bought a new building for their WR office and hope to move in after renovations are complete this spring. I continue to work on work zones at WisDOT.

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving without Mom. We went to GB for Nick's side, and had four generations there with Nick's grandparents in attendance. My side got together for a subdued dinner that weekend.

We hope you have a safe, happy, and healthy 2025!

First half of 2024

Life and other distractions have gotten in the way of regular updates here. I will endeavor to try on two updates per year.

So. Here we are at the end of June. The beginning of the year was tough emotionally as we learned to live without my mom. I've been helping my dad as much as I'm able, and my sister is too.

Felix went to Germany with a school group for ten days at the end of March and had a great time. Iris, Nick and I took an unexpectedly snowy brief spring break trip to Minneapolis at that same time.

Felix made the JV2 baseball team and spent the spring playing (when it wasn't rainy and/or cold). Iris improved her volleyball skills until it was time to focus on softball instead. She's already played with three different teams this summer (subbing on one) in six different tournaments and currently has a 0.596 batting average and 1.369 OPS. :D Her teams have two 2nd place and one 3rd place finish so far.

Nick continues to grow his business, while looking for more hours in a day to get his workload done. Cara just had her 10-year anniversary in her present job.

And that's where we are so far.

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.

Goodbye, 2022

As we're mere hours from the start of 2023, I thought it time to catch up on our lives since the beginning of September.

We took our biannual family pictures with some gorgeous fall colors. The kids were being a little goofy at the end. :o)

Felix started 8th grade and Iris started 5th. Felix has been struggling to turn in assignments on time in some classes (we're working on that...), but he started taking German and is looking forward to his trimester with Art. He was also in Engineering Club this fall, building a neat miniature catapult with a friend. He spends most of his free time playing computer games (loudly) with friends. Iris has been having a good year so far, and is a captain on the school safety patrol. She's been working hard on the Y swim team again. In the two meets she's attended so far this year, she shaved seven seconds off her 50-yard freestyle time, which is impressive. She's already planning on doing volleyball, swimming and softball next year in 6th grade. She has also gotten hooked on reading the Harry Potter series. I've been making her wait to watch the last movies until she reads the books first.

Nick and Cara took a trip to Porto, Portugal, for a week, and enjoyed the atmosphere, the countryside, and, of course, the port wine. After we came back, Nick finalized the purchase of a second office building in Black River Falls, where he spends one day a week now working with the two staff there. Cara continues to be the region's work zone engineer and sees no reason why that should change anytime soon.

Much closer to home, we took a trip up to Merrill to see the "star" of our favorite bad movie - Giant Spider Invasion, showcased on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The kids went a little low-key for Halloween. Iris was a banana and Felix was Aaron Rodgers at a charity event (maybe?).

Our friends had their annual holiday party after a two-year COVID pause, so we got all dressed up and had a nice time there. My sister found that dress at Goodwill in the late 90s, and it got a lot of well-deserved compliments at the party.

We continued our tradition of themed Christmas pictures. This year, we went with Caddyshack. 

We took a trip to Madison yesterday to eat at an Indian buffet for the first time in years, and took a walk through the zoo. It turns out, we aren't very big birds.

We hope your 2023 brings you much happiness! Cheers!

Awesome things: MST3K's season 13 (and upcoming season 14!), What We Do in the Shadows, all the birds in my backyard

2022 Holiday Card

 

2022 was a good year for us. The kids finished their school years and both did well overall, especially with going back to in-person schooling. We took a family trip to Milwaukee for spring break, while Nick and I made a trip to Portugal in the fall. We're looking forward to more trips in the future!

The kids kept us very busy with their activities. Both played on their summer ball tournament teams, and between the first weekend in June and the first weekend in August, we only had one ball-free weekend. Between that, league ball, and Cara's assistant coaching duties, we basically lived at the ball park this summer. At least the weather was nice. Mostly. :D

In the fall, both kids started their last school years at their respective schools (in 8th and 5th grade). Iris has been busy with swim team and has done well enough to ribbon in several events so far this year. Felix spends his free time playing video games with friends.

Cara continues to put in good work with the State, while Nick has expanded his business to include a Black River Falls office. We're hopeful things will continue to go well for us!

We also wish the best for the coming year to you and yours!

With love,

The Abts Family

2022 Update

Goodness, I just realized I hadn't posted since April. Yikes! Let's get you caught up.

Spring was overall pretty quiet after our Milwaukee trip. We finished off the school year well, with Felix and Iris both having great endings to their respective grades. Iris received a certificate from her teacher for being "most likely to be the first female president." We can totally see it. :D I chaperoned Iris's field trip to a very soggy Heritage Hill in late May.

Felix played baseball with his middle school in the spring. It was a bit of a struggle getting him going, since he was so used to just camping in front of his computer once he got home, but he ended up enjoying it and got used to playing on the "big field."

That ball playing was just the beginning of what took over our entire summer. Both kids played league and tournament ball, and I was Iris's assistant coach in both as well (fun, but exhausting). Neither of their tournament teams were very successful, but each took home some hardware. They made some mistakes, but learned from them, so hopefully they'll come back stronger next year.

Covid finally found us starting in May. I got sick after attending a fundraising event. The cold I had just before catching it was worse than covid itself, but having to isolate meant I couldn't do my birthday/mother's day plans. That bummed me out, but my favorite show, MST3K, had a live event that night, and I got a birthday shout-out from the cast. It made my decade! Iris got sick with it a couple days after school ended, so she had to miss the first week of Y Camp. She was coughing, I tested her, and a couple hours later she asked if she could go play because she felt fine. She was grumpy about having to spend so much of her time in her room as a result.

Between bouts, we attended a family wedding, went to a Brewers game, and then spent nearly every weekend between Memorial Day and the first weekend of August at a tournament. (I'm not kidding when I said it took over our summer). Our first "free" weekend had us going up to Green Bay for a family gathering. Finally, we've been able to kick back and watch the grass grow a bit (which it has done, far too much!). 

Today's Iris's 10th birthday. I dyed her hair teal at her request (non-permanent, of course). I just had to disappoint her that we can't go out to get her choice for dinner (sushi) because the restaurant is closed tonight. :o( But, she gets to have her friends over earlier then for her dessert of choice (dirt cake she helped me make).

Awesome things: MST3K's 13th season