2024 Year In Review

Taking some time this Christmas break to write up a year in review post. If you want a brief recap of all the things, keep reading!

January

It was a quiet month. I didn’t blog any updates. We had fun during the 12 days of Christmas as usual, and we got snow (and snow days) which everyone enjoyed. I was feeling pretty tired most days due to anemia, but was focused on optimizing my time and energy to try to get more done (which is my typical MO in January).

February

Edie was accepted into college and I started writing behind a paywall at KoFi to detail some of my problems with public schooling. We had several deaths at the very end of 2023 and Tony’s uncle passed away suddenly this month; almost exactly two years after his wife died. We watched the Chiefs win the Super Bowl…again, and geared up for Lent. We held a murder mystery dinner party which was more fun than I expected, and lost all of Fulton’s weekend nursing hours, which felt as terrible as I imagined. Addie was busy with fencing tournaments again after a slew of injuries put her out of commission for the end of the previous season and fall.

March

I didn’t blog any updates in March because I had other projects going on at home. With the help of Heidi Indahl, M.Ed. from Work and Play Day By Day, Accepting the Gift started work on it’s Confirmation curriculum. Tony and I also bought our first website as part of a new side hustle we wanted to try. We had a lot of nice weather and so we snuck in a beach trip early in the month. We also attended our parish’s St. Patrick’s party. I continued feeling run down and made a mental note that it’d been one year since my symptoms started and things had only gotten worse in that time despite trying several “natural” solutions. Byron came home for a quick Easter visit, we ate a huge lamb dinner and still managed to squeeze in an egg hunt.

April

During the boy’s Easter break from school we took a trip to visit Tony’s parents in Virginia. We did all the usual; fishing, museums, and eating lots of delicious meals I didn’t need to cook or clean up after. There was an eclipse, and Cleveland, where Addie now lives, was in the path of totality. She sent us pictures while we tried to catch a glimpse with special glasses and a homemade cereal box pinhole viewer through clouds at home. At the end of the month, Fulton got sick with a stomach bug and spent a few nights at CHOP. No sooner was he feeling better than Teddy starting throwing up. On the same day my dad went into the hospital with heart problems.

May

Thankfully Teddy recovered without a hospitalization and so I was able to visit my dad in the ICU and Teddy was able to participate in his Confirmation. Byron finished up his spring semester in time to travel with us to Cleveland for Addie’s graduation from Cleveland State University with a BA in Social Work – summa cum laude! We had a great visit that also included a stops at the Hofbrauhaus, the Football Hall of Fame and a graduation party.

June

After months of back and forth with an editor and tons of revisions, I learned a children’s book I was working on was a no go. But I couldn’t mope too much because Edie got her drivers license, and graduated high school! And Fulton turned 16 – SIXTEEN- on the day of our Nativity of St. John the Baptist party. The boys wrapped up school earlier in the month, I signed them up for a new homeschool co-op and I tried to figure out when to tell the school I was withdrawing them.

July

I started getting iron infusions to deal with my severe anemia and we started the process of trying to bring in home health aides to assist with the boys care (in addition to the nursing hours Fulton still had).I was invited to appear on EWTN’s ‘At Home with Jim & Joy’ show, as well as speak in Houston, and guest host the Catholic Sprouts podcast – I was feeling like I’d arrived! The weather was hot and sunny for the week of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel festival. Addie came home and Tony’s parents and oldest brother came to visit. The older kids spent a lot of time in Ocean City with my mom, and I made some day trips down with Fulton and Teddy. I had a UAE procedure at the end of the month to try to deal with my ongoing symptoms, and it was pretty much a nightmare.

August

I felt terrible going into August, but thankfully was able to rest and recuperate during the boys’ week at MDA camp. Addie finally began working as a social worker after delays in her hiring paperwork. Tony turned 46. I started lesson planning for the new school year while also trying to wrap up production on the Confirmation curriculum. The highlight of the month was flying to Birmingham, AL to film two episodes of At Home With Jim & Joy. Even though I was pretty sick, the taping went really well. We started up homeschooling at the end of the month and Byron went back to Kutztown for his final semester.

September

We went to Cleveland over Labor Day weekend for the city’s large Oktoberfest and had a great time visiting with Addie, her boyfriend, and his family. Once home, Tony and I tried to switch up our caregiving duties. For the last couple years, I had gotten up and gotten the boys ready for school solo (with Fulton’s nurse helping finish up when he or she arrived). Tony got them both ready for bed. I’m a morning person so getting up at 5:30 a.m. wasn’t that hard for me, while Tony wasn’t actually that helpful at that hour. It was the opposite for me; I was so tired by the boys bedtime, I was grumpy and just put everyone in a bad mood if I tried to help. So we each took a shift and it worked great. But since homeschooling meant the boys could sleep in a bit, we switched shifts and even thought he’s still a bit tired in the morning and I’m a bit grumpy in the evening, it suits us both and allows us to work on our own things a bit when we’re most energetic. Meaning now that I’m not terribly anemic, I’ve been able to regularly exercise in the morning – something that was hard to do when the boys were home before and I was helping with the morning routine.

My EWTN episodes aired and I made a quick trip to Houston to speak. We made a trip to the Oktoberfest in Lancaster where I came in second in the stein holding competition (for women over 40). I turned 46, Addie turned 22.

October

Teddy turned 14! After about six weeks of feeling great, I thought I was coming down with another bad cold, but as new pain developed, I realized I was experiencing a rare side effect from my UAE procedure. It took weeks to get to the bottom of things and get help so I didn’t get much done in October. Homeschooling and making dinner zapped all my energy. My grandmother turned 94, but her health took a turn and I travelled to Lancaster to say my goodbyes. (She has since rallied, and is still hanging in there.) We attended a football game at Kutztown and squeezed in a trip to Ocean City. Byron turned 21 and I threw together some Halloween costumes that weren’t too terrible before having another procedure at the end of the month to hopefully resolve all my new problems. (So far so good!)

November

Thankfully I was able to rest while visiting Tony’s parents in Virginia. We fished, found more museums, and watched football. I started feeling well enough to get back to the gym by the middle of the month. Addie’s fencing team came to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, so we were all able to go and watch. I did a last minute interview on Relevant Radio and finally released Accepting the Gift’s Confirmation curriculum. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Lancaster and Addie was able to join us for the first time in a couple years.

December

After several delays, the boys had their annual SMA clinic appointment at CHOP and both are stable and doing well. Edie started a two week stint on a tugboat the same day. Fulton finally got his wheelchair tray and we entered round three of appealing for Teddy to get the same tray model. (Currently on round four.)

Byron graduated Magna Cum Laude in Professional Writing from Kutztown University on my dad’s birthday! His health has much improved over the last few months. My parents and Byron’s girlfriend (who graduated in May) attended, along with Fulton and Teddy. Tony’s parents, Addie, and even Edie (from her berth on the tugboat) got to watch him walk on the university’s live stream. We all went out to eat afterward to celbrate. Edie turned 19 (on the tugboat) and her crew mates got her a small cake. We celebrated with family once she got home. We attended a Philly Orchestra performance of A Muppet’s Christmas Carol and the accessible seating was great, the trains were running on time, and the elevators/ stations must have just been cleaned because there was minimal urine smell. The music was fantastic, of course, and I sang along during the entire movie.

We wrapped up school on the feast of St. Lucy and I’ve been busy with last minute shopping, etc. since then. No Christmas cards this year, so consider this post my yearly greeting! All the details on our Christmas season will be in a forthcoming post-promise!

All the Family Tradition Posts are available to view HERE. All other family updates from the year are HERE. If you’ve written up a year in review post somewhere (IG, FB, Substack, blog, etc) drop a link in the comments below; I’d love to read it!