Christmas News 2019

Greetings one and all! 
As the year is drawing to a close, I must take up my pen (figuratively speaking) and compose the annual Kannely newsletter. It’s a time to reflect on our accomplishments and triumphs.  I got all of my kids to do their own laundry for the duration of summer break.  It was pure bliss.  Plus, the momentum of all of that laundry has somewhat continued and the girls often still wash their own laundry. Folding, on the other hand, still needs continued guidance.  But then, so do the dishes.  And putting shoes away.  Maybe let’s scratch that “triumph.”  On another note, Ryan and I managed to convince our children we really do mean what we say when we say, “We love our children more than stuff.” This previously had been challenged by broken dining room chairs, jammed cd and dvd players, un-washable art on our kitchen table, and other general child mayhem. This year the stakes were raised to a broken car…
Emma (16) is a junior in high school, taking three College in the Classroom classes through CWU and Eastern.  She is also broadening her horizons by taking pottery, yoga, and French 3 classes, and is the junior class vice president.  She has performed in three plays this year and is currently cast as Wendy in Peter Pan, debuting early next year. Emma has taken on some chauffeur responsibilities and groggily drives herself and Elizabeth to early morning seminary. (Cue parental fist bump.)
Elizabeth (14) was this year’s recipient of the gift of orthodontia, just as Annie and Maddie were getting their first round of braces off.  As a freshman in high school, our reluctant reader was placed in Honor’s English and is doing quite well.  She thoroughly enjoyed her drawing class at school, enrolled in Irish Dance, and is doing Peter Pan with Emma.  Elizabeth still loves art in many, many forms, and is not above cooking dinner.  She is following in Emma’s French class footsteps and can be heard singing “Vive le Vent” around the house. (That’s Jingle Bells.)
Annie and Maddie (11) are in 5th grade, and final year in elementary school.  They love having their dad as their principal, and frequently make jokes about going to the principal’s office.  (“May we go, pretty please?”)  Annie and Maddie are avid readers, and each has read over 2,000,000 words in AR just since the beginning of school.  Annie’s competitive streak is keeping her ahead of Maddie in the race for Most Words Read.  They joined the Irish Dance class with Elizabeth (the three of them making up exactly half of the class) and are still taking AcroDance. Annie and Maddie wanted to get a head start on learning to drive at their tender age, so Ryan taught them to use the ride-on lawnmower.   They do a decent job mowing the sheep and chicken pasture, and an even better job of shedding hair to obstruct the vacuum cleaner and sink drains.
Ryan, The Master of Un-Clogging Sink Drains, is in his second year of being an elementary school principal.  He was again the mastermind behind our garden.  We were able to give away about 100 pumpkins and have stored more onions than any one family of 6 could possibly consume in a year.  Ryan gave making his own sourdough starter another go and was finally successful in making really yummy sourdough bread, through much trial and error.  We purchased rising baskets to give the bread dough cool patterns as it rises, and the end product is professional looking.  No one at work believed that Ryan had made the bread.
Danae has been deposed as the primary bread maker of the house due to Ryan’s enthusiasm for sourdough.  (Not really.  The kids still like mine best.)  Unfortunately, no other family members are looking for the dinners-every-night title, which is the job she’d prefer to give up.  She is the Keeper of Everyone’s Schedules and Appointments and the one who makes sure the library books go back on time.  Danae volunteers at a couple of elementary schools 3-4 days a week and teaches a church class of 9 and 10-year-olds every other Sunday.
This year we took our first airplane transported family vacation, and we spent 9 days in Kauai.  It was everything we hoped it would be: lush foliage, the most fragrant and tasty pineapple, sunshine, snorkeling, splashing, hikes, smiles, and sandcastles.  Ryan’s favorite part was the kayak trip and hike to a hidden waterfall, which in Danae’s mind was filed away under Character Building Experiences.  Steering and paddling a kayak with a child in the front seat just did not come naturally to her.  At. All.  Wading through the mud in Waimea Canyon was infinitely preferable. 
Our cat Merlin met her demise early this year following a dog attack, so we welcomed a couple of new kitties to keep the rodent population down.  Dickens and Vinnie are well-loved and well-fed.
We are so thankful for our many blessings, and cherish our time with family and friends.  We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 

Love,
Ryan, Danae, Emma, Elizabeth, Annie, and Maddie Kannely 

It's Gonna Be Okay

Our dryer died.  I feel fairly certain this is the final appliance in our house that hasn't been replaced since we moved in 7 years ago.  Seriously.  We have replaced SO many things: stovetop, double ovens, microwave, dishwasher (keeping our fingers crossed that 3rd time is the charm), washer, refrigerator, well pump, pressure tank, a/c and heat pump.

I insisted this summer that the kids DO their own laundry.  They already knew how, but it's good for them to do all of the steps.  It's one more skill that they can master in our effort to raise independent kids.  I was expecting some backsliding heading back into the school year, but there really hasn't been.  Annie and Maddie noticed they needed to wash their shorts last night, and so they started a load of laundry.  I can't say enough about what a lovely reprieve it has been not to have been the recipient of, "Hey, where is my [article of clothing]?  I put it in the laundry room last night right before bed and mentioned in passing when you tucked me in that I needed it today..."  This morning Maddie switched over last night's wet clothes into the dryer, cleaned out the lint, put in the dryer sheet, and started the dryer.  An awful noise immediately rumbled out of the laundry room.  I asked if there were rocks or shoes in the dryer, and with eyes wide in confusion Maddie answered that she didn't think so.  We gave it 30 seconds or so, but the noise didn't stop.  I stopped the dryer and shook out all of the clothes and towels, looking for any kind of culprit.

Nothing.

Hm.

I started the dryer again, and again the loud noises rang through the laundry room and kitchen.  I stood next to the machine trying to identify what on earth would be making that kind of racket.  My best guess what the band thingy spinning the drum of the dryer sounded... off?  So I did what all non-handy wives do, and called Ryan.  I wanted to know how serious of a problem this was.  Can I still run the dryer?

Ryan said sure, as long as I keep the door to the laundry open and watch for a fire.

I'll take that as a "no."  One of my childhood reoccurring nightmares was a house fire.  Thanks, but I will pass.

Annie still wanted her shorts, so I set them out with a fan blowing directly on them.  The rest of the items were draped over chairs and benches at the table to air dry.  It's not glamorous, but it gets the job done.

After I dropped the twins off at school and made it back home, I was feeling rather sorry for myself as I was surrounded by this:



Isn't that cute?

I remembered a text message from my mother-in-law from early this morning (yippee, seminary started this morning...) with a photo of the sunrise through her bathroom window with the reminder to watch for the beauty in life because sometimes it is fleeting.  At 6 am I am rarely appreciative of anything besides my bed and sleep, and I'm afraid I rolled my eyes because, you know, early morning seminary is a sacrifice for students and parents and blah I still strongly dislike early mornings.  But as that message ran through my mind again, I realized I did find something beautiful.  Ryan and I were very, very blessed with a check to buy that dryer (along with a washer we replaced 4 or 5 years ago) from his grandparents when we moved to Sunnyside 15 years ago.  We were as poor as church mice with a one-year-old, and that first paycheck from working was a solid two months away.  We had an itty bitty rental house and because of that gift, I could do laundry at home as many times as I have needed since that day.  Trust me, with as much laundry as we have done since, with babies and toddlers and stomach flu and a husband who had a dirty job and the general filth of every day, that was an enormous gift.  And now we are in a place financially where we can take care of this type of thing ourselves which is no less of a beautiful thing.

Don't get me wrong.  Not having a dryer is the pits.  Likely having to buy a new one- that stinks too.

::Cue the Piano Guys: "It's Gonna Be Okay."::

First Day

The Desired and Dreaded Day finally came: school begins.  The older girls were up early and ready to go in enough time for me to snap a couple of photos before heading off to school.  Seminary won't begin until next week, thank goodness, so we can ease back into these early mornings.  Elizabeth had Grizzly Academy and Freshmen orientation last week, so she has had a little bit of exposure to the high school, but she is still extremely nervous about everything.  Her biggest worry?  Getting lost.  I would be too.  It's a high school of just over 2,000 students.  The commons area at lunchtime is crowded and loud; not an easy place to be. Ryan made sure he walked Elizabeth to each of her classes yesterday, so hopefully, she has an idea of how to get to where she is going today.  Emma is a junior this year with a driver's license, and she's totally ready for this.  She's a bit nervous about AP and college in the classroom classes, but I think she is going to do well.

 I guess I should say, Emma has a driver's license and a car to use.  My heart gave a bit of a painful squeeze watching them drive away, all big and independent.  Sniff.

Annie and Maddie were excited about school- not nervous in the least.  They are 5th graders, and their dad is the principal.  Worry is for lesser mortals.

 I took the girls shopping last week for their new, back to school t-shirt.  Emma opted for new slip-on shoes instead, so they are all wearing at least something new.

One of Ryan's students won a ride to school in a fire truck from National Night Out.  It was newsworthy, so here's a screenshot of the district Facebook photo of Mr. Principal, student, Mr. Superintendent, and a fireman.  I don't know why the photo quality is so terrible, but c'est la vie.  This little photo shoot had to be discussed in advance, with Ryan and the fireman having a discussion about where exactly would be a good place to park and turn around in the confusion of the first day of school.  The student appeared to have brought all of his near relations to school.  There was a party of about 14 who all wanted a photo with the firetruck, and then they all walked the student to class.  I glimpsed the party when I brought Annie and Maddie to school.

What a zoo though.  I had to park across the street in our church parking lot because there were no parking places at all in the school parking lot.  But I didn't know that until after I drove through the parking lot.  Consequently, Annie and Maddie made it to class just after the first bell.  We've never been that late on the first day.