Looking Back on 2022
Our family started the new year with a trip to the Children’s Museum in Jackson. We met up with David’s childhood friend, Ross at a barbecue place where I sorely underestimated the size of their baked potatoes.
In January, I started my work as President of the Friends of the Greenwood-Leflore Public Library. I had a lot of ambition about the role and quickly began setting goals for the group. Isaac and David started practicing Taekwondo twice a week, which meant two nights every week on my own with Jesse and Ezra. Isaac also played on a basketball team for the first time.
In February, we took a trip down to Jackson to visit the Natural Science museum and spend some time with David’s parents.
We spent lots of time at the library participating in all of the nice children’s programs that the Youth Specialist had put together. I attended an open house for Classical Conversations (a homeschool co-op) in Cleveland. I went before the Greenwood City Council to talk about the Friends of the Library, attended a watercolor class at ArtPlace, and ran the membership drive for the Friends of the Library.
In March, we celebrated Shrove Tuesday at our church with a pancake supper. Then, we went to the Children’s Museum again and visited David’s parents and his sister Wendi at a cute little playground in Madison. The Library hosted a very successful Dr. Seuss party and I helped recruit volunteers. Isaac participated in a Tennis Camp in Greenwood. I started the process of getting the Library’s conference room renovated by talking with an architectural designer who is also a member of our Friends group.
David took Isaac and Jesse down to Rocky Springs for a day trip with his Dad, his sister Andrea and his nephew Lee.
In April, the Library had a ribbon cutting for two brand new Little Free Libraries that they installed at the main library and the Jodie Wilson Branch Library. We also made another trip down to Madison to visit David’s parents. His mom, Melva, had been staying at a rehab center due to a broken ankle. We drove over to Bull Bottom Farms for their Spring Homeschool day. Our biannual BBF excursion is something that all the boys really look forward to every year. Our church hosted an Easter Egg hunt and ice cream party. Spring burst forth and I tried my best to get my backyard garden back in shape.
At the end of April, David’s mother passed away. On April 30th, we attended a memorial service for Melva. Even though we were very sad, we spent a lot of time with our boys in nature at the Liberty Park in Madison and the Clinton Community Nature Center.
In May, I spent the whole month decluttering my house in preparation for a garage sale at the end of the month. It took up all my free time and I stopped being very involved in the Library’s happenings.
The carnival came to town and the boys had a blast! Jesse even made a new friend who we invited over during the garage sale. I bought a new camera this month so a lot of my photos started looking much nicer.
David and Isaac tested for and received their Gold belts in Taekwondo. We took a trip up to Memphis to visit the zoo along with our homeschool group. It was too hot to be enjoyable. We also attended a Strawberry Festival at a little family farm outside of Greenwood. Isaac started participating in the Tournament Team tennis classes for kids 10 and under. This is an invitation-only group.
In June, we shifted into full summer camp mode. Jesse and Isaac attended art classes at ArtPlace, Isaac attended Camp Bratton-Green for the first time. I signed up Jesse and Isaac for swimming lessons, but Jesse was not feeling it. Isaac learned very fast and was able to pass the swim test for the rec center. I finally decided to hire a babysitter to help me during the day and it was such a big help.
David traveled to Orlando for the Special Olympics because some of his Boys & Girls Clubs members were competing.