Happy Birthday, Colin

 And now he's 14 years old and definitely taller than his mother. 

Triplets?

He made an interesting request for cheesecake. 

This is my first attempt and it turned out pretty well. 

Christmas 2021

 A lovely low key Christmas as we all came down with the flu over the two week winter break. The kids and I masked at AJ and Kelly's for Christmas dinner to try not to cough all over everyone. 

It was an odd year for Christmas trees. High demand and severe droughts lead to high prices and limited number of decent looking trees. Bill found a good deal on an artificial tree. I miss the fresh pine smell, but it is a nice looking fake tree. 

Big gifts this year were a Nintendo Switch for Colin and a guitar with a School of Rock guitar camp for Sydney. 

Christmas Cookies

 Cousins Quinn and Parker had Colin, Syd and Lexi over to decorate Christmas cookies and ginger bread houses. It was a lot of sugar time which they ran off outside in the snow. 

 

We had Nana over the following weekend to make a pile of rum balls!

Thanksgiving

 Wonderful to be able to gather as a family this year. I don't think I have any group photos. 

I did take a picture of the gluten free rice krispie treats shaped like turkey legs and the apple pie. 

Halloween 2021

It was only after we carved the pumpkins that we realized they were similar to last year's designs. 

Syd was thrilled to find a tiger onesie second hand. 

Colin was not so interested in dressing up for Trick or Treating. 

I found a quick snowboarder idea and he went along. 

The neighbors, the Suris, threw a great kids Halloween party with scary snacks and spooky stories. 

Another Bath Time Attempt

 Bill and I took Milo to a pet store that offers wash your own pet stations. It was a lot easier to make a mess there than to try to keep the hair, soap and water from getting everywhere at home. Milo was not thrilled and really didn't like the loud blow dryer. So, we just toweled him off. 

He's nice and fluffy again. And, waaaay less smelly!

First Day of School 2021

 Sooo, we're going to try going in person for as long as possible...with masks. K-5 masks are required throughout the school. Middle and high school has masks recommended for students and required for staff. 

Sydney was so happy to be getting on the bus and start 4th grade. She and Tasha hopped on and sat together eager to begin the year. 

Colin was waaay less eager to go back to school, a new school, 8th grade middle school, with new schedules and lots of unknowns. But he handled it really well and I think got some sleep the night before.