Well, hello 2025 and all my wonderful readers! I spent the end of 2024 extremely busy with the launch of The Wizard of Roz, selling books, shipping books, starting (and ending) a new job, continuing to work at my part-time job, and taking care of Greyson and Roslynn. The New Year has been much of the same too, but with lots of fighting with insurance companies and Greyson’s school.

Greyson recovered well from his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in October and his sleep has improved significantly, as far as the snoring goes. Despite not snoring, Greyson’s overall sleep hygiene has really gone down the drain- no pun intended. He went from waking up once or twice a week in the middle of the night, to every single night, waking up between 2-4 am and not going back to sleep. Because Derek is out of the house to work, I try to wake up and stay up with G so that Derek can sleep and have some uninterrupted rest before he has to work. Since I have a difficult time with my own personal sleep, I am averaging about 3-4 hrs of sleep a night, at most. The lack of sleep is finally starting to catch up to me, noticeably with my patience level easily decreasing and the fact that I fall asleep during conversations and while trying to do activities at home.

Thanksgiving was an interesting day this year. We had staff on the calendar for the day and they accompanied us to my sister’s house for our family gathering. It was nice to have help with us, so Derek and I could actually enjoy a hot Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in years. Greyson ended up falling asleep and we had an overall nice day.

December was the never-ending month! Roslynn was in her first orchestra concert, after being selected as an elementary school student to play with the middle school kids. She has been playing the violin for less than 6 months. She has made Derek and I very proud with her wonderful musical abilities. I am typically very prepared for the holidays and have gifts planned and wrapped in advance, but this year, I was quite a procrastinator. I waited till a week before Christmas day to finish shopping for things, then didn’t finish wrapping until two days before the “big morning”. We were a bit more frugal than we have been in the past when it came to our kid’s gifts, but they have so many toys already that I didn’t think it was necessary to buy more. Roslynn got a Nintendo Switch, which she has been asking for, for about 2 years, and a LOT of clothing. G got some clothes but his favorite items were a Darth Vader voice changing mask and a Chewbacca speaking action figure doll. He really is into Star Wars right now and is enjoying all the merchandise associated with the franchise. After Christmas, both kids spent their time off school with me and I somehow managed to work a few hours a day while both were home and demanding my attention at almost all times. I was more than ecstatic when they went back to school on January 2nd.

I also made the mistake of taking Roslynn to see Wicked while there was a nicer day out in the beginning of December and despite me not having very high hopes for it, it was fantastic! She was so hype to see it already, since her cousin had seen it already and loved the music, so she was pumped when I told her I was taking her to see it. We both really enjoyed the movie and are looking forward to the second half that is set to come out in November. The only downside to seeing the movie is now she sings all of the songs from the album and I was forced to purchase the movie when it became available on Amazon Video. Basically, we have watched it about 25 times since it was purchased and all of Greyson’s staff have officially seen the movie and can recognize all the songs.

2025 is off to a busy, but interesting start. We are in the process of trying to move Greyson to an IU classroom in Manheim, rather than the classroom he is in now. That’s been a headache within itself……AND book two in the book series is in the works! So exciting that people are really enjoying The Wizard of Roz and I can’t wait to see how the second book will turn out! If you are interested in ordering, or have gotten a book from me without paying yet, just follow the link www.wizardofrozbook.com and select “preorder now”. Though it’s not a preorder, you can pay for any books or order any books that you want! I hope everyone is enjoying reading it as much as I am reading everyone’s reviews of the book!