Halloween classics, mummy hot dogs
Nicole was very proud of her mummy creations
All the kids ready to go and Nicole staying behind to hand out (and consume) our candy. This year nobody answered their doors, anyone who wanted to participate had a table set up at the end of their driveway. It was pretty crazy!
Fall tasted wonderful with pumpkin bread topped with caramel and sugared pecans
We are still working with the pool company to fix this 2.5in dip in our pool shelf.
And get rid of dirt that we've had in the same place for 6 months. If inefficiency had a name, it would be Premier Pools.
John on the kissy couch when he and I decided to leave the kids to their online schooling for an hour and just hang out together.
Church from home is sure different. I'm so grateful for the dedicated teachers that navigate all the zoom meetings to bring spirituality to our family.
Nicole with her young women
The youngest doing singing time
Nighttime pool swim! The pool heater is delightful. We turn it up to 91 degrees and it feels amazing. As long as the weather is above 62, we've found you can swim for an hour or so at night, longer if daytime and sunny. It's amazing to swim in fall time!
We went to a trampoline park with the cousins after finding a great groupon
She made the solar system out of pumpkin cookies!
Kathryn was here for a few weeks of wonderful Grandma time! Jacob had been waiting for months to play the monopoly game he created "Fishopoly" with her.
Kathryn was here for a few weeks of wonderful Grandma time! Jacob had been waiting for months to play the monopoly game he created "Fishopoly" with her.
One unexpected perk of taking down the huge half dead tree in the back yard was that sunlight finally hit some bushes we'd planted years ago. The survived the shade but didn't grow. This year we got some beautiful flowers!
Kathryn even came for a swim a few times, so wonderful to be swimming in November.
I made a Thanksgiving escape room and the kids enjoyed cracking all the codes and puzzles.
John's preschool teacher sent some pictures. I love seeing him at preschool thriving socially.
For yet another project Diana had to make a teepee. I gave Jim this one and they made a very nice one out of rakes and a bed sheet.
My little cyclops Turkey so proud of his hat he made at preschool.
Nicole and Kaitline discussing (I am sure it had to do with their current favorite book series Keeper of the Lost Cities) poolside.
We sanded, primed and painted the front railings on a beautiful day. It was a lot of work but really needed to be done. Jim is happy because now I don't want to decorate the railing for Christmas for worry of scratching the hard work we did.
Oil based paint is the toughest to get off. We learned this the hard way.
Love my morning running partner. Keeping physically active helps me so much when I am stressed or not eating well. It gives me that extra strength to do better. I also love the time we spend talking about work, kids, life. It has strengthened our friendship doing hard things together.
Half of why I send my kids to preschool is so they can make messes somewhere else. I love seeing John come home splattered with paint or markers and knowing he had a blast and I didn't have to mop the floor as a result.
Diana and Katy helped make the pumpkin pies for thanksgiving. They are really figuring things out!
Jacob had a school project to make the respiratory system. So of course we made a huge gingerbread man.
It looked and tasted epic.
Nicole and Kathryn made minute-to-win-it games for the kids and it was a delightful afternoon watching them do all the tasks!
Park time
Marian's daughter got sick the night before, so sad! So to be careful especially with Kathryn, we opted to do separate Thanksgiving celebrations. We dropped off some pies, stuffing, rolls, etc to help and thankfully Marian's daughter recovered quickly. Diana was devastated so we had them skype to connect for a little bit. 2020 has not been for the faint of heart!
After racing around town within a few minutes of Marian's phone call, Kathryn and Jim secured a thawed turkey!! They are amazing. We peeled potatoes and whipped up everything else and we able to have a great feast.
The day after Thanksgiving, Jim and I went for our longest run yet to Marian's house and showed our sad faces that we missed the time with them.
I took Nicole for a haircut on Black Friday (so I could look at sales in Ulta while she shopped) and she had the best hair stylist who gave her compliments, chatted about all kinds of things, and somehow accomplished something I haven't been able to in many many years. Nicole voluntarily wears her hair down all the time now. It is amazing and I love seeing her confidence grow.
We didn't want to have Jim hand out boxes of fudge to doctor's offices since they are eaten community style. So we came up with something else that would be individually taken and still fun to receive. Hot Chocolate Bombs! Drop them in a mug, pour hot milk over it and the chocolate melts open to release marshmallows and hot cocoa mix. Stir and you've got a decadent mug of hot cocoa.
I made 300 of these bombs, which means 600 shells. It was a big undertaking but hopefully worked to allow Jim to spread his name and good cheer around his company referral sources.
I took a tumble thanks to stepping mid-stride on a big round pinecone in some leaves during a 4 mile or so run. I was determined to not be hurt, so after walking a bit, finished the run. Of course, my adrenaline wore off and I hobbled around for a few days in pain but finally can run again.
Love these little princesses.
For some reason, John wanted to look like a wookie all day at preschool, hood included.
The kids decided to have a traditional English Christmas meal while watching Muppet Christmas Carol. So I made yorkshire pudding for the first time and it was so cool!
Nicole had her cousins over to do the Tday escape room and they were hilarious popping balloons while covering their ears.
"polar plunge" in December...at 91 degrees of course!
Writing Christmas cards for a local nursing home
At Costco, they were selling these cool fruits. They totally look similar to coronavirus and Katy didn't want me to touch them.
I made a super cool Grinch escape room and John was helping me set it up for the kids.
Nicole has been called as a ward organist and we've practiced for hours during her school lunch breaks learning how to play and what stops to choose.
I forgot to have John dress in Christmas or pajama clothing. It was laundry day and so he wore what was a the bottom of his bin.
The treats for the Grinch escape room!
The end of the escape room was slithering and slinking to the treasure chest without waking Cindy Lou Who.
The Monday before Christmas we made gingerbread houses. I told them I wasn't doubling or tripling the recipe to make a grand village as in years past (a lot of work and a lot of sugar consumption!) So we did one batch and made a smaller house plus a train.
Michael with his traditional shark frenzy backyard scene since we can never pass up those gummies.
For the first time visible in 800 years, we saw the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter.
Jacob loves making crepes for breakfast, but I only let him every now and then. Diana is his devoted helper.
The cousins came over to do the Grinch escape room too!
After a friend suggested it, I decided to sell my next escape room online. I made a new years escape room about how the old year didn't want to go (sound like 2020? haha) and it's already sold a few on Etsy. Pretty cool.
The kids testing another escape room about escaping the Tomb of Hasani.
For Christmas Eve we acted out the nativity and sang carols
John felt very special to be Joseph and kept kissing this little nativity we used as our baby.
Christmas morning they all lined up with their baskets, with high hopes they'd be filled with presents!
Jim got a surf skateboard, I had fun finding a toy to give him!
John's favorite toy has been his stomp rocket. He has now figured out how to hold the launcher, walk near someone, aim and jump to propel the rocket straight at the person. Very clever and he thinks its the funniest thing he ever saw. He also thinks if he freezes in place, we won't see that it was him who launched the attack.
Christmas Day dinner of ham, spaghetti squash (new family favorite), a Jello-ring (Nicole's favorite new tupperware) and Baked Alaska for dessert! What a crazy year this has been!
