 Welcome to the Wallach Way. I'm Jessica. I'm Kevin. Merry Christmas. Today's video is going to be a wrap and chat. We have not wrapped anything yet. No, not at all. So we are going to spend the next 30 minutes with you guys wrapping everything that we can and answering as many questions as possible. We put all of the questions that you guys asked in a bowl so we're just gonna randomly pick them and answer while we wrap our gifts. This video is a collaboration with Abby and her husband John from Root and Arrest. So when you get done wrapping and chatting with us, head over to her channel and wrap and chat with her because that will give you almost a whole hour of wrapping and chatting. So we'll keep you company this season. No doubt. You ready to start wrapping? Ready. All right. Let's make some room. All right, let's make some room. No, you already got the first question. You're ready to go. I do. Why aren't you waiting on me? I'll take them all and do the next question. Okay. Go back and forth. How about that? All right, let's get some wrapping paper. What color would you like on this one? Whatever you pick. Okay. All right, so our first question is how did you and your husband meet? I'll let you take that one. So we, in previous lives, well I in a previous life, was a full-time photographer and as most of you probably know, he is an artist and he wanted to do a piece of work, like an art piece, based off of one of my photos. And so he had to obviously, you know, legally have all the, yeah, he had to have all of the legal stuff for like the copyright release. And so we started working together on a regular basis and we had a ton of stuff in common. Neither of us, I say neither of us, I'm pretty sure. I wasn't. Were you looking for a relationship? No, not at all. No. He had just recently lost his wife to cancer. I had just gone through a divorce or was going through a divorce. And so we were just kind of hanging out, like doing work together. We had a lot in common. So we started doing like all of the things together that you don't want to do by yourself. Go to dinner, go see a movie. We went to a movie together. We were just just kind of hanging out. And then six months later we got married. That's exactly how that works. And I went and changed it. We've been together 10 years. We were surprised when we fell in love. We were surprised in the timeline. We got married and we were surprised with the child. So yeah, when they say it's meant to be, sometimes it's meant to be. Yeah, with us, it definitely was. It was against everything that we said we wanted. And yet I wouldn't have it any other way. So there's that. There's that. All right. You want to answer the next one? Sure. Let's see what we have. Did you always know you would homeschool? If not, when and why did you make that decision? Let's see. I was working at the time. We definitely did not always know we would homeschool. Like we for sure thought, in fact, when we bought this house and we was like 18 months old, and we didn't move into the greatest school district or the school that she would go to was not the greatest. And we were hesitant to buy this house because of that. And with my my work schedule, and I was working like a county over, that's not an option for moving her back and forth school back to home. That kind of stuff. So my stepmom worked at a magnet school, which ensure it guaranteed Emily entrance into it. Yes. So we bought this house knowing that she could go to a different school. So like we had every intention of sending her to school. But with that being said, she was a preemie. And she was rather small. And her birthday where it fell in the year. It kind of put her right in that it could go either way. Yeah. So we initially said, Okay, we're going to hold her a year. And so that she would start preschool the following year. But around here preschools on like three hour days. Yeah. And we live about 45 minutes to an hour from the nearest from anything but from the nearest preschool. So it was kind of like, honestly, you guys, I'm not a morning person. I wasn't ready to let go. I didn't want I don't know, I just didn't want to have to let go. I don't want to send her to school for a few hours. And so I talked to him and say, Oh, I was like, you know, it's just ABC is a 123, like, come on, it's preschool, they're just gonna play anybody can do it. So you agreed to preschool? Yes. I well, my thing was I agreed and said we would go through it. And we would revisit it after a while and see how things were going. And honestly, have we ever revisited it? No, not at all. This has kind of been like, this is what works for us. Yes. But we did agree that we would revisit it. We did. We did. We just have it. Do you want to pull another question for me? Sure, I can do that. Leslie, do you wrap what goes in the stockings? That's a good question. Now, we only wrap the gifts that are from us that fit under the tree. So if they're not from us, they don't get wrapped. And if they do not fit under the tree, like let's say a bicycle, yeah, it wouldn't get yeah, it would just get a bow like it would just we would just buy a really big bow and stick it on it. Because I ain't got time for that. And the way I've always done it all my life was you wrapped everything. Basically, you pick the day and the time and you got everything all your things on your list together. You took time you wrap them. And then I'm talking about presents for uncles and aunts and kind of like what we're doing today. But they were doing it with new friends and family. That's right. And then we would stick that all over the tree pack it all in. It looks impressive. It's beautiful. And then each Christmas party you go to you just slowly doing it. Yeah, clean it up. So it quit spreading across the living room. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay, that one's done. Okay. I'm gonna set this under the tree. Alright, there we go. Let's go find another one. Let's try a different paper. Alright, I want to wrap these two in the same because they're to this and then these two in the same. It can all be in red, but I just want them to match so I don't forget. Alright, and I'm going to go ahead and pull another question. Okay. Oh, I have my own scissors. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Nice. Perfectly found by me. Have you ever considered putting your child back in school? Or would you consider? Due to finances? That's difficult. I don't want to tell I like I don't want anybody to feel like we're tying them what to do. But so I'm going to speak from what we personally, there has been times that I mean, obviously, we both work from home and running a company and there is a lot that could potentially happen. Oh, anything can happen. Anything can change. Yeah. So this is definitely something we've discussed. And the the short answer is no, we would not but only because we have a lot of friends and family and systems in place that we could still work and count on and be able to go to work and still be able to homeschool like and I wouldn't say and like can't go to public school. I mean, that's if that was what was best for her, that's a bridge we would cross and get there. But if it was just because of finances, public school would not be the answer because of finances. Like we would work opposite schedules. Yeah, we have grandparents that would help. That wouldn't be a deciding factor for us. I guess is what we're trying to say. And I've both I've worked both local and over the road. So making that sacrifice is something our families used to in the past. It's wonderful that we don't have to do that name at this time or anymore. But if it came back to it, we would do what we had to do. And what was best for us and her at the same time. So I feel really confident. I do too. And I think I mean, like I said, we have, even if we both had to go back full time, we have grandparents who would help and we've homeschooled in such a way that we know that you only need a few hours a day to get things accomplished. And in our situation with her age and everything, and we're at with her, it, I think she can handle it. If we had to do some type of schooling where she was with the grandparents, we could lay it out. She's not that she could be somewhat independent. I mean, that it might be different if she had been like if we were having this discussion and she was four years old for sure. Totally different because she could definitely handle. I mean, I can make it to do less than she could get quite a bit of things done. So he's right. That is definitely part of it. I think I think I can get quite a few out of this one. All right. Isn't it funny the things that excite you when you're an adult? Yeah, like when the paper and when the scissors slide, like all of the things that get you so excited. Like that was not something I even bought a new sharpener just so I could do that. He did. He sharpened my scissors. Wait, what did I just do? That does not fit that. That's pretty cool. One side. One side. Just let me come back. Wait, I think we'll just fit this. But wait, let's see if it'll fit this. Maybe it might. But I'm gonna get confused. We need to save that. Okay, let's wrap this first. I can't believe you let me do that. I know, right? It was all my fault. Oh, goodness. Okay. Are we ready? Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Maybe I can't multitask. There's one stinging on the floor to make sure we haven't already done this one. We have not. I don't think I can wrap and talk. That's all right. I can't I can't talk. How do you this has got to be for you? How much how do you have so much energy and positivity in doing all the things? Okay, first of all, I don't like I'm just gonna be honest. I don't what you see is energy and positivity because I am not ever gonna post myself laying in bed and pajamas like all day long because who wants to see that? I mean, if you want to see it, let me know and I'll post it. But I would imagine y'all don't want to see you know me laying in bed, vaging out, watching Netflix. But I will say that I am positive and energetic because I have a lot of help. And because I really honestly love like 99% of everything I do. I love homeschooling. I love creating resources. I love being here with you got like I love everything about it. So that helps. Let's see what we got here. Hmm. Interesting question. Have you seen a change in Florida because the influx of people moving here? Honestly, especially this time of year? No, I don't think anything really feels any different. We have a saying we kind of laugh about while other states have the changing of the colors on the leaves on the tree, Florida. This time of year we have the color change in the tags coming to Florida. We're used to it being busier this time of year anyway because of this year. This year is the temperatures have even been higher than what I would suspect they've been in a long time. We were having that there's been even more ladies. We've been going to the park, the beach and that means everybody else wants to go join that and have fun with that too. So yeah, I would say not really. It's that time of year. We expect an influx of people. So yeah, I don't think it feels any busier here than usual. Um no busier than like when it just happens to be like you said winter or summer and you get used to it. Yeah, they'll say that we have a so season on the beach but like like I'm saying right now with the warmer temperatures and we just went and ate on the beach the other day and it was we didn't even wait and we didn't even wait for a table. I mean it was busy but we didn't wait. Yeah. So that was nice. Alright, there's part one of that and let's see. Part one. Part one. Oh yeah, let me put a number on her. Alright, do you want another red? You want to change it up a little bit? Do a green wrap or what do you want? No, let's do red for this so they match. Okay. And then we can change papers. That gives us another roll. Because you know, I can't not match. I know this. Instead of looking at Emily let's do a sock of this color and a sock of that. You want to cut that one for me. Hand me a question. I'll read. I'll get you a question. You got it. I hate you. You wanted to read. Oh, this question is for you. Uh-oh. Are more kids in your future? You want to give the short answer to that? Absolutely. 100% Equivocally. So if you don't know the story, um Emily wasn't planned. I was told in a previous life that I couldn't have kids. She was a total surprise. Um and then was the absolute worst pregnancy that you can ever have. It was scary. And he they weren't sure that either of us were gonna make it. Yeah, we we talked about it and yeah, it was bad. We weren't sure if either one of them gonna make it and when it was all said and done it was adamant by family members myself. I was told it wasn't an option. Yeah, we all made the decision for her. They did. And then I went to multiple doctors to try to see if there was a way that we could basically make sure that it it wouldn't happen again that I could, you know, have a pregnancy and there's not. There's no way to ensure that what happened with her wouldn't happen again. So we did just decide that it was best for her uh that she have a mom and not a sibling. So that's where we ended up. Yeah, I kind of likened to the fact that she's just one of those perfect accidents and it was it's a beautiful thing. She's like what I would have picked if I could order that out of the catalog. She really is but I'm afraid if I ordered again, I would not get the same package and and you know it's funny. She doesn't want like if you were to have asked her that same question, she would have given you a resounding. Absolutely not. She likes being only child. She doesn't want a sibling. Um so it's a no from all of us. No more kids in our future. Sorry. We'll be an only child in the school for but then again, if it had been a great pregnancy, then I say this with confidence. If it had been a great pregnancy, we would have definitely had more especially knowing then what I know now we would have uh yeah definitely. I wanted a football team like I literally wanted to be like the little old lady in the shoe and have like a whole herd of children originally but I'm content and happy with what I was given. I got my girl. Yes, you do. That was a funny story in itself. The boy who was going to wear pink. Yeah, she was supposed to be a boy and I told her I said, well, it's a girl because but the doctor said it's a boy. I said it's a girl. He told me if it wasn't, we were putting it back. Yeah, I said bye and we bought nothing but pink and she goes but what if it's a boy? I said it's not. It's a girl and it better be a girl and it was a girl. He was right. Luckily for her sake. Luckily for my sake. All right, Leslie. All right, you want to give me green paper before we answer that one? Yes, I will. Oh, that's a good one. What is both of us? What yeah, what are each of your favorite Christmas traditions? So what's your favorite Christmas tradition? Mine would be cooking um the Christmas dinner. The that is kind of like you know what I mean? I mean, I love to cook anyway but that's something that I can remember finally um growing up was when the grandparents and the parents and uncles and everybody got together and everybody brought dishes and you just had it was it was just big. It was big. Okay, short people problems. I can't reach it. Um so while you finish cutting that. Oh wait a minute. You felt to say I complete you. Oh, you do complete me. You totally complete me in my short time. My favorite Christmas tradition um is funny because yours is something you remember fondly as yourself as a kid and so is mine and it's going to look at Christmas lights. I have many memories um of my mom driving us through well I mean in years we couldn't afford it. We made our own but then when we could afford it driving through Dunkin Donuts and getting um like hot chocolate and then just randomly driving around looking at Christmas lights. It was never quite as planned as what we do now where we go looking you know for specific lights. It was definitely more spur of the moment and it was whatever neighborhoods had available is what we went and looked at and we didn't know any different and we thought it was amazing as kids but we would we would wear Christmas pajamas and we would put you know hot chocolate in a cup and we would just go drive around and we would haul her out lights on my side lights on my side the whole time we were driving um and now we do that with them late although we say lights on the left and lights on the right because she gets easily confused and it helps her make sure that we're you know reviewing which side is left on which side is right so that's my favorite Christmas light and tradition that we still do now. I like the fact that times have changed and you have like smart devices and all that um and ways for people to tell you about lights in their area and um it gives you more opportunities to see some mega displays. Oh you mean like the ones where the lights are synced to music because those are your favorite. Those are my favorite. Absolutely bar none. You like music. When the people dress it on top of the house and all the way around the house and they got the music blaring and everything's the lights are there. That's my favorite. You mean like the house that had over 150 of inflatables that I thought was gaudy and you absolutely loved. Yeah it was pretty cool. Yeah I'm gonna be the old man with every inflatable known to man. I'll start in July and put it all up and it'll probably be February and March before I get it all packed back up. Are we gonna be living in separate houses at that point? No. I don't know about all that. Uh huh. Yeah I love Christmas. Yeah. Okay you can start in July outside if you let me start in July inside. Christmas in July through December. I keep you behind that. And we already did that. No. Two years ago. It was November. It was early November but it was November. I promise it was. What color book you want to read? Uh whatever. Surprise me. We have red, silver, and green. Surprise. I'm not much of a surprise when I was up. No. You know I'm waiting for me to forget what I wrapped and who it's to because that's inevitable. You know what that means? Surprise. You get to open it and re-wrap it. No I open it and you re-wrap it. No no no I get to open it. Oh I don't think so. Alright you ready for another one? Sure. Let's see. And the winner is what have you learned to most appreciate appreciate about each other in the recent years? Put that on the tree. I'll give you a second to thank. Oh I got this. Oh well then you can go first. What have you what have you learned to appreciate about me? Well the fact that I'm standing here and I'm not packed off to bed knowing I have to get up at 4 30 in the morning and I know if y'all can hear it right now but outside it is pouring cats and dogs. It really is. I don't have to go out in that to go to work every day. So I'm going to say that I appreciate your skills and abilities and the beautiful mind you have and the fact that what I help support you do by saying go for it. Grew into something that we could do together. That we're now doing together meaning I get to do my artwork but I don't have to go outside the house to do work. So I get more time with my daughter. I get to raise my daughter which is amazing in itself because you think about it and I'll say it time and time again. If you're a mother and you're able to raise your kids and you're in the house with them whether they go to brick and mortar or their homeschool if you're spending time and raising them you get a different experience. If you're the father that stays home and raises them you get that different experience. You get to enjoy all of the things. There's so much you miss. I mean it's the little things. They can have pictures colored for you. They can tell you about their day and it's wonderful no doubt and you look forward to it but it's not the same as being there in the morning no lunch time dinner time. No it's not. You know what I mean. So that's what I appreciate. So you appreciate the fact that I'm an entrepreneur. Yes. Okay so can you remember that next time I'm like knee deep in a project? I'm just kidding. I think the thing that I appreciate about you most especially in recent years and this is probably because I have been building a business and you've been so supportive but it's that you seem to know what I need even before I know I need it. So that could be that I have a headache and maybe I haven't eaten well enough so it's you making me lunch. Like hey this will this make you feel better and I didn't even know that that's what I needed. Or that I'm super duper stressed out because I haven't left the computer in three days and it's hey let's go for a walk because I just need to get away or I need some vitamin D. You need the details you do. Or it's planning a vacation because we all need time together. It seems that especially not that you weren't supportive or didn't know what I needed before because you kind of always have but it definitely seems like in the past few years it's become something that I've grown very dependent on. Like it's been really nice to have that so you want to grab a present from your side this time? Yeah I've been eyeballing this one anyway. Oh I'm so excited about this one I found it at Sam's the other day and I picked one up for like every kid we know. It's a worry monster. It includes a story book and a soft toy and the soft toy eats your worries. Isn't that cute? That's cute. Don't you want them to eat your worries? I don't have any worries right now. Well if you had any wouldn't you want him to eat your worries? Okay so we'll have one you can have him yeah he can eat your worries. You know what would be appropriate for a monster that eats worries? What? Brown paper. Okay that would be appropriate. All right he can have brown worry monster paper. Brown paper. Let's make sure he's the star to show but then we're gonna wrap him in brown. Okay. Actually my favorite packages are always brown butcher paper and twine. Really? Yes. It's just something organic and natural about it. You ready? You ready? Oh these are short. You got it? Yeah because that paper is shorter than the other I can read. You gotta grow to an inch. Did you just say I grow to an inch? Yeah grow to an inch. And this is why you don't teach language arts. All right you want to grab another question? Yeah I can do that. You feel like a guinea pig? You are a guinea pig. That way if I don't want to answer it I'm just gonna be like I didn't see that question. Top favorite one day attractions in Central Florida say around 8-10 Orlando. I got one. Okay. Sanford Zoo. Oh that's actually called the Central Florida. That's like is between. It is. It literally is. How'd I do? How'd I do? That is between the two. Although if you're looking it up it is called the Central Florida Zoo. It is in Sanford Florida. Yes it is. Oh we need packing tape. Remember this tape doesn't hold this this paper. Okay but you know what that is. I know. Sorry you guys it's gonna be really loud. No partially I'm gonna roll. Oh it's still loud. Sorry. Okay you're going to cut that piece off first. Do not stick it to me. I won't do it. I thought about it. You see me looking. I did. This is awkward. It is. Oh this tape is interesting. Maybe it'll hold. Maybe it won't. No it'll hold. It's just not heard. Okay so that's your top attraction. That wasn't really good. Mine in Orlando would be the Crayola experience. Okay that was a good one. I really really enjoyed that one. Do you like Edward tape hands? I'm gonna make a movie about you. I'm sticky. Really? Okay get another question because we're starting to run short on time. We're not gonna be able to answer them anymore. Okay okay okay hurry up. Is that what you're telling me? Yeah hurry up. Hurry up. So many questions so little time. Boy were either of you homeschooled? No. No I was in a cave. No we both went to public school for our entire educational career. Yeah I did. My mom was just when it was one school room in the prairie. No you was in a pterodactyl. And pterodactyls were flying overhead yeah. Which is hilarious. Okay I need a green bow and then another question. Man if I was homeschooled that'd been the blind leading the blind. Wait why oh because you're parents? Yeah I was like wait a minute. Love my parents but Lord had mercy. They would done the gizintas two gizintas four two times. I'll stop and read the question. What would you have done differently in homeschooling if you could go back and do it all over from where you're at right? Okay I'll answer that if you get me a present and pack paper. Okay. If I could go back. What kind of paper? I don't care. If I could go back and do it all over again the thing I think I would do differently would be um to go easier from the beginning. So in preschool I was really really relaxed with Emily and we had the time of our life. In kindergarten it felt like things got serious and when things got serious because it was kindergarten at least it felt like I did what I thought I had to do or what I should do which means I started with curriculum and resources and just all of like the things that you think you have to use right? Like we had a math curriculum we had a language arts curriculum and we had a phonics curriculum and we had just all the things and it was stressful and it was too much and we quit having fun. Not only that but think remember what the downstairs looked like. Oh yeah it looks like a little school. It was it was a pretty good school. We had we had the numbers on the walls everything was a bright rainbow colors and hey I still like the rainbows but anyway um and like school and so I would have honestly I wouldn't have I would have been easier from the beginning. Like I would have homeschooled then the way we homeschool now. More relaxed using games, strewing, not necessarily using you know curriculum the way it's written doing things myself. That's why they say hindsight is always funny. Yeah I would have done with the way we do it now. I feel like is there anything you would change? Hmm I think I wouldn't have made the mistakes to push so hard for proof. Yeah okay so part of the reason why we were so stringent in kindergarten is because you won't not all of it it was both us. I was insecure I didn't have a confidence in myself so I felt like I needed more guidance. I feel like you gotta prove something. And Kevin wanted like he would come home from work and he wanted to see a stack of papers like what did you do today I need to see it and it only counted if it was papers. Well military wise accountability. I wanted accountability. I wanted to know that we were crossing our teeth and dotting our eyes because ultimately you're responsible for a little person's well-being their knowledge their future. I mean there's it just it's a snowball and it just keeps growing and you have to keep pumping stuff into it and building it and making it and it's like you're afraid you're gonna fail or you're gonna forget a piece like a piece of a puzzle and it's just not complete without it and then you like for homeschooling we you send a letter of intent and that makes it real and it makes it serious and then you go what kind of a snowball. Silver. Okay and then so you've done that and so at the end of the day you're looking towards the end of the year and you're saying okay have I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish and then they're talking about okay well we're gonna do a review we're gonna have somebody look at what you evaluation which sounds really fancy yeah but you know what if you're in Florida and you're worried about it let me just go ahead and ease your worries your evaluation is honestly just to prove progress that's it all you have to do is show proof of progress they don't care what grade level your kid is in they just want to know that your child has progressed from last year to this year from the beginning of the year to the end of the year that's it that's all they want to know and as long as you're progressing and moving forward then you're doing good then you've met the you've met the obligations I mean you you as the parent are gonna take it further of course and you're gonna you're gonna want the most for your child but that's why have we but what have we learned about gaps they're gonna happen they're going to nobody can ever learn everything you're how old and don't know everything I know quite a bit you do know quite a bit but you don't know everything okay I think we have probably just about hit our 30 minutes but we will do one more question I actually close your eyes and you big okay okay in the winter good let's see what we got here let's do you and Abby live to each other good question so I was on the coast of Florida and we live kind of in the middle of the state it is about I'm not really good with geography yeah I said probably about three or four hours um but neither of us have ever been to each other's hometown so we normally we normally meet in locations that things are going on in between us so Daytona or Lando you know somewhere in that area we just kind of hang out and do stuff it used to always be Disney but neither of us have Disney past is right now um so we're gonna have to come up with something different thanks I always appreciate it when you anticipate my needs that's right all right what color bell you want on that hmm let's do a green one okay all right you guys thank you for rapping and chatting with us and we hope y'all have a very very merry Christmas happy new year we do happy holidays whatever you celebrate we hope you enjoy we hope you had fun rapping with us um if there was a question that you really wanted or needed answered and we didn't get to your question leave it in the comments and I will try to answer a few more in the comments before the holidays and again don't forget to head over to Abby's channel so that you can get a little bit more rapping and chatting done with her