Other Fun Little Things

A video I watched today called this time of year 'airport time' and I agree.  It feels very surreal.  Fast and Slow.  The kids are off, but Billy is working, and stores are open weird hours.

This first picture I guess could have gone in the Christmas post, since it actually happened Christmas day, but it didn't make the cut.  I made up some leftover containers for my mom, sister, and cousin.  Since my mom was sick, I just bagged it up and stuck it on the porch.  This was a wise choice, as Sarah and Acea went down sick not long after, with whatever my mom had!

Grace wanted to go shopping for some organizational items, so the day after Christmas, we met Daddy for lunch, then went to the thrift store.

She found exactly what she was looking for, and used some of her Christmas money to buy it.

Then she came home and set up her new 'art station.'

I made a big mistake and bought some rose bud fertilizer to help some of my indoor plants.  Unfortunately for me, when it got wet, it smelled like rotting fish. ew.  So, after a week of the smell not really receeding, I added repotting my plants to the to do list, and did manage to make it happen!  My succulent has lost most of it's leaves from the trauma, so hopefully at least one of them will propagate!  

Despite picking a warm day to work, so that the stinky soil could go in my raised garden beds, it was cold and I worked inside in my kitchen sink.  It was messy!  But worked well and I think both plants will enjoy their new pots.

The following day, we ended up going back out, because we forgot to bring Emily's Eb Alto Saxophone to get the register cork replaced.  While we were out, Grace wanted to go to a thrift store, but as we were in the same area as we had been the day before, we opted for an international market instead.

Google lens makes things so much easier, and we bought this "fairy tale cake."  Oh.my.gosh.  it was soooooooooo good.  Very rich, you really only needed a tiny piece.  I cannot get over the fact that frozen and thawed cake could taste that good!

In the mood to host a tea party, so took a picture of some of the options available for later reference.

Grace and Emily picked out some things to try, and I bought this paste that I'd read about in a book I read (earlier this year? last year?)

Building a Squishmallow fort was a fun activity for Emily, Grace, and William.

Heleena came over for the night, and they had a good time with makeup and dressing up!

My mom found a free organizational solution for my cousin, but wanted to spruce it up a bit, so I cut some vinyl.  She applied it today, I thought it looked pretty good.  

She did it after he left for work today, so I don't think he's seen it yet.  I might not report back, unless he is supremely unhappy with the result, which would be quite surprising, and I would want to record the reasoning. lol.

Stacking stuffies in various piles and popping out of one has been a pastime for the girls (excepting Alice) the past two nights!  I have a few videos too.

I'm glad they are enjoying their Christmas gifts!

I am anticipating this being the final post of the year, shy of New Year's Eve, which might go on next year, and the year's weather log!  See you in the new year!

later days

Christmas 2024

On Christmas morning, Alice was the first up, and had the gifts sorted into piles before she woke everyone just after seven.

We were all moving slow, but the kids quickly woke up as they went through their stockings.

William and I found this big pack of Reese's on one of our adventures, and it started a 'wow' candy trend for everyone.  I tried to get a giant quantity of candy for each of them, that they didn't have to share with anyone.  I think everyone ended up sharing or trading anyhow, but they didn't have to!  So Alice had Reese's, Emily got Haribo, William's was a giant container of peanut butter M&M's, Grace got the largest container of Ferro Roche that I could find, and Juliet got an entire box of Kinder Beuno.

A wheelchair for their American girl dolls was one of the few gifts that I bought new, but it was definitely a favorite!

Emily didn't get any needles or yarn for Christmas, but found the inspiration to start crocheting Amigurumi.

Not a bad first attempt!

Much to Emily and my disappointment, when I opened the freezer to get out green beans for Christmas dinner, we had none. = 0  So, no Christmas green beans for us.  I also neglected to order bread, but that was easily remedied.  They weren't amazing, but they were pretty good for a quick job.

The pressure was on my kids now to start eating the contents of their candy canes, so that I can use them again next year! = )

Once the bread was finished, we sat down, popped our Christmas crackers, and ate a ham feast!  The jokes were as corny as ever, and I think mine had the best trinket, a tiny screwdriver set!

It was a lovely Christmas for sure!  Merry Christmas y'all!

later days

12-30-24 backdated for continuity.

Christmas PJs

With the Exception of this year's Escape Room gift, the only gifts we open before Christmas morning are Christmas Pajamas!

I ordered these forever ago, like August or September I think, definitely while they had old stock.  I ordered adult smalls for Alice, Emily, and William, and [unspecified] larges for Grace and Juliet.  When they arrived, it turned out that they were Adult Larges, not child larges, despite their placement on the drop-down list. 

In any case, I contacted the company to return the two large ones, and was going to order two more adult smalls, even though the twins would swim in them.  When I filled out the form to return them, they indicated for me to just keep them! 

So, after dark, on Christmas Eve*, my children opened their very large, but also very cheap, pajamas!

Everyone approved of the Christmas dino!

But getting a good group shot this year was extra tricky!

"William, show off your shirt!" lol.

But after many outtakes, and lots of laughs, we did finally get one that fit the bill!

Alice was a good sport, but didn't care much for the material, and changed out of them as soon as the pictures were settled.

Thankful for another year of matching pajamas!

later days

*my mom had planned to take anyone who wanted to go to Christmas Eve service with her, then have a sleepover, but came down quite ill, so we didn't see her for the entire week!

backdated for continuity 12-30-24

Escape Room

This Christmas, Haley and I decided to mix things up a bit this year, and instead of buying physical gifts for one another's families, we would take that money and buy an adventure for our family on their behalf!  We did an escape room!

I found a Christmas themed room, and was able to schedule a convenient time online, though it was before Christmas, so we opened our gift early, which is something I don't usually enjoy, but this seemed like perfect timing!

We arrived our 15 minutes early, and had time to enjoy some of the amenities in the waiting area!

In the room, the kids listened well to our host, were very gentle with the props, and started solving puzzles!  This was the first room, that Billy and I had played, where we were truly 'locked in!'  There was a key if we needed it in an emergency, and our host said he'd come to our rescue if we needed it, too.

The room was listed as "hard' on their website, so I was nervous about the potential for failure, but we succeeded with over nine minutes remaining!  

We escaped!

The kids had a great time!  We got to peek in one of the other rooms, and it was filled with sand!  They can't wait to go back and do it again. = )

In the lobby, there was a 'mini' escape game, presumably to solve while you are waiting, but the kids worked on it after our game, since we were in no hurry to leave.

Another success!!

When we got home, Emily and Grace were playing a virtual Escape room on the computer.

Safe to say, we'll be doing this again!

later days