Nolans in a Nutshell 2021

I’m happy to announce that we confirmed the day after Christmas that our 10.75 year-old twins no longer believe in Santa or his obnoxious elf (or the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, etc.). (Apparently, Brody had stumbled across some stocking candy in one of my hiding spots, and he and Henry also realized that the elf failed to move on the occasions when Mom & Dad had partied too hard the night before.) I cannot tell you how happy this makes Scott and me. We have nearly zero remorse about the fact that we’ll no longer have to try to come up with clever things to do with a stupid, limp elf (who can barely sit up on his own, let alone be left in any position without being tied, taped, or glued in place) or that we won’t have to wait until all hours of the night when all the kids are finally asleep to put the presents under the tree, hide eggs, or slip money under pillowcases. Enough about that; you may now remove the earmuffs from your still-believing children’s ears…

Emma is a sophomore at IU, where she is majoring in interior design (and loving it!). After being mostly confined to her dorm room for the first semester of her freshman year, then going through rush in her bedroom at home second semester (students weren’t allowed back into the dorms until mid-February thanks to Covid), Emma joined Gamma Phi Beta and is now having the time of her life at school. She’s managed to find a balance between having lots of fun and making awesome grades. She also landed an awesome (although unpaid) summer internship at Mitsch Design in the Carmel Design Center; Mitsch was so happy to have her that they’ve already offered her a paid internship for next summer (and any holidays/other breaks that she’s available)!

Kellen is a sophomore at Carmel High School. He plays travel baseball, rec basketball, and lots (and lots) of Xbox. He also loves to watch (and commentate on) Purdue football and basketball and Indianapolis Colts games. He’s got his learner’s permit and will (hopefully) get his driver’s license in May (so stay out of the path of the kid in the gray 4Runner). The first of the three boys to have been brainwashed by his father, Kellen bleeds black and gold and loves to make fun of his mother and sister for being stupid enough that they had to “settle” for IU for their post-secondary educations.

Henry and Brody are in 5^th grade. Henry continued mountain biking and cross-biking this year with Midwest Devo, and Brody played his first year of travel soccer. Both boys are playing rec basketball, with Scott as their coach, and they’ve actually managed to win a few games (a first for Scott, as his team is somehow usually comprised of children who’ve never touched a basketball before). The twins are equal parts best friends and greatest rivals—which means they spend equal amounts of time playing together and trying to kill one another. Also, will each of them one day get his own paragraph in this newsletter, or will I continue to lump them together into the same paragraph forever??

Scott continues to work his tail off at UWBA Design. He was bummed to have to cancel yet another trip to Otino Waa Children’s Village in Uganda this past summer (just as he had to do in the summer of 2020) but he hopes to get there again in the summer of 2022. He remains active on the board of directors for PATH International, which has now branched out to include another children’s village in Egypt in addition to their Uganda location. Scott is still way into mountain biking (although he doesn’t get to do it nearly as much as he’d like to), and he just jumped on the Peloton bandwagon after deciding that Indiana weather and his work schedule are not always conducive to riding outdoors (Peloton to arrive January 6^th, despite the worldwide supply chain issues).

I am continuing to build my patient billing advocacy business, Clear Healthcare Advocacy, where I help people resolve issues with their incorrect/overpriced medical bills. (Insert shameless plug for you to get a copy of my FREE guide to understanding your medical bills here.) When I’m not fighting with health insurance and/or medical billing companies, you can find me carpooling kids, taking barre class, cleaning up after my kids and dog (and complaining about it), and volunteering for stuff at church.

We did manage to get away for a few trips this year: Longboat Key, FL for spring break; South Haven, MI for fall break; and Asheville, NC for a quick couple’s trip at the end of October. We are anxiously awaiting the time when we can make plans to travel outside the country again without worrying about the potential of a global pandemic-induced cancellation.😕

We were also able to host a college baseball player for most of the summer as part Grand Park’s College Summer League. It was a great experience, and Noah was an amazing kid (we’ll likely volunteer to host another player this summer, but know we won’t be as lucky next time). I’m including a pic of him with the kids so we all have proof that we knew him before he made it to the Big Leagues.😉