A peek into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 531+ hours (of 1000)
I got nothing. BRRRRRRRrrrrrr.
Reading and finishing Outlander by Diana Galbaldon (finally!) I will not be continuing with the next book in the series but I am going to watch the television series. It was worth the read, but I think I've had my fill of the brutality of the Highlands for the time being.
Smiling / rolling my eyes at Marco our elf. This week he was in the tree, drew faces on our eggs, shot ketchup at a target, sat on our giant Santa's arm, wore wrapping paper stilts, and made a toilet paper snowman on the kids' snow day.
Finishing Christmas cards with the help of the girls. Pre-apologies for upside-down and misplaced return addresses, wonky stickers and stamps. Yeesh, what a big task, but it's always a relief and feels like actual Christmas magic to send a little snail mail love to people we care about all over the world. Furthest card this year went to our cousin Becca who is stationed with the Navy in the Persian Gulf (we miss and love you Becca!)
Going on a secret mission with Brandon to pick up Violet's Christmas gift. We headed out to WheekCare Guinea Pig Rescue to adopt two piggies! (exactly what we need - more mouths to feed, hahah!) Violet has been wishing for two LIVE guinea pigs from Santa (she knows better than to not specify that they be alive lest Santa brings stuffed animals!) They are so sweet I can barely stand it. There names are Toffee and Queen Barb (or Queenie). For now they are staying with my sister Kitty until Christmas Eve (THANK YOU!! Best piggie babysitter ever!) Miss Hannah stayed with the kids and helped them with zoom school, bought the kids Christmas gifts, and even made us dinner! (you are the sweetest, we love you and thank you!)
Proud of Grey and Violet for pulling their own teeth out this week! Both of them have had loosey-goosey teeth for over a week and we have been bugging them to just pull them out already! Finally they made a tooth-pulling pact one night this week and did what needed to be done! Hahah, those two wild skips have such a weird, strong bond.
Laughing hysterically when Violet whispered to me before going to bed, "I hid my tooth from the tooth fairy so that I can leave it under my pillow on Christmas Eve because I think I will get more money because a tooth on a holiday has to be more money, right?" Omigosh, that chick. I told her maybe that the tooth fairy would think that was sneaky but she insisted on hiding it at least until she could show her teacher and classmates on zoom school. So she hid the tooth for two nights (snow day) and then finally left it under the pillow for the fairy.
Cookie baking! Getting a start on my Christmas cookie stash this week. The kids and I made chocolate covered almond clusters, peanut butter blossoms, and almond spritz cookies. I attempted for the first time ever to make potato candy (posted to my insta-stories) and despite turning out horrific-looking, they tasted great. I got some great tips on fixing my dough (more sugar! let the potatoes cool first!) and so many people commented that they had never heard of potato candy! It was also made by my great aunts at holidays and family reunions so it literally jolts me into childhood every time I see/taste it.
Playing catch up on the kids' specials in zoom school. We have been doing the lessons all along but not realizing we had buttons to press and mini questions to answer on the classwork stream. Oops. I think we are all caught up now but it was a little hectic at the beginning of the week.
Relishing in a good 'ole fashion Snow Day! The kids' school decided that after weeks of hard work in zoom school the big snow we had this week called for a day off for students and teachers. They were so happy. The kids spent a big part of the day outside and drinking copious amounts of hot chocolate.
Visiting with people we love. Mimi and Kuma stopped over to say hello and give us all squeezes. Mimi brought us a 5ft singing Santa (!!) that the kids all kind of our obsessed with. It took a few days to get comfortable with coming around the corner and not be startled by a humanoid standing in the living room - hahha! The boys' preschool teacher Miss Nell also stopped over to surprise us with Santa (her dad dressed up!) They stayed for dinner and dropped off tons of cookies and even some buckeye brownies! It was so nice to get a visit with her before her last day at the preschool next week!
Relaxing on a semi-quiet Saturday night as Gemma had a sleepover with my parents (and a visit to Aunt Uch's house for winter solstice) and Grey had a sleepover with cousin Caleb for Caleb's birthday (thank you Heather!) They both had a great time and so much fun to get special one-on-one time and the little kids were excited to be home with just us. Brandon and I built a fort in the girls' room and put the mattress on the floor and they were tickled to watch Christmas Chronicles 2 on my laptop.
Teaching almost nothing! I left all my lessons at school with the sub and made sure my Schoology was up to date on Sunday night and I was done until Thursday when our students got a Flexible Instruction Day due to the snow storm. So I hopped into Schoology to provide instruction for that day and then had a nice chat with the sub that morning about thoughts for holiday lessons and games to keep the kids engaged next week for the few days before winter break. By Friday, we received notification that with more positive cases in the high school we will be virtual again next week....so I'm back again to teaching for the last three days before the new year!
Making chicken quesadillas, meatloaf (a family favorite!), spaghetti and garlic bread, eating leftovers, and ordering in wings from tollgate one night. We got to enjoy cheesy chicken in the crockpot from Miss Hannah (thank you!!) and Brandon and I ordered dinner from Balance to share with Aunt Kitty for watching the piggies (so so yum!!)
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