On the morning of her birthday she did a scavenger hunt to find all 11 (!) of her birthday presents. The final present was monkey bars that Dave had made to attach to the swing set that we have in the backyard. She also got a hoverboard, which she rode on for most of the day (thank goodness we had good weather).
And for dinner we had (of course) pizza from Tony Roni’s. The Sharps came over for pizza and cake and a movie.
The big 8 year old!
on her new hoverboard
new monkey bars!
She picked out the cake and I made it – a three layered chocolate malted cake with toasted marshmallow “icing.”
This amazing, hilarious, active girls has brought so much joy to our lives over the last 8 years!
Like everything this year, Christmas was very quiet. So quiet in fact that I forgot to take any pictures past the morning present opening.
We did our traditional seafood dinner on Christmas Eve. Dave decided to go with a Christmas in July theme (why not?!), so we had crab and corn chowder, shrimp cocktail, and lobster rolls. All were delicious, of course.
Lauren making sure the cookies and milk are all set for Santa
After setting out cookies and milk for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolf, we all headed to bed. The girls were up at 5AM and in my sleepy confusion, I thought it was later, so started coffee and stocking opening before I realized how early it was. Oh-well, why not?
The 5AM crew ready to go downstairs and see if Santa came
Sophie got some Harry Potter stuff and a makeup desk from Santa, and Lauren got a white Christmas tree for her room, pretend iPhone, and big outdoor swing. Since we couldn’t visit Santa this year, they girls wrote him a letter instead and some of these things are what they asked for.
first present of the day
Lauren got Sophie a Paris puzzle
Sophie with her new makeup desk and Gryffindor scarf
Lauren with her new “phone”
Big swing from Santa
Rainer family Zoom
The rest of the day was lazy – big breakfast, playing outside with the new swing, some movies, a family Zoom, and dinner with the Sharps. With just the six of us I didn’t even break out all of the Christmas china, just the plates and a few serving platters. While I missed the crowd, it was also nice to keep it quiet this year. But I look forward to the big crowd again next year.
It’s been a while since we’ve gotten to visit with Zoe and see little Maddie, who is already 14 months! So we planned a quick outdoor visit this weekend to drop of Christmas presents, catch up, and meet her new chickens!
Little Maddie
Lauren, Maddie & Sophie
Maddie is in full toddler mode, moving around the yard and following Sophie and Lauren around. Zoe got the chickens a few months ago and they’re big enough for their own coop in the back. They’ve just started producing eggs. Of course, as soon as we left Sophie requested that we get chickens too. While it would be nice to just go out back to grab some eggs – I’m not sure Petunia would be so good about not eating them 😉
It was a quick visit, but so good to see them again! It’s been a tough year not seeing family as much, and especially knowing that we won’t see everyone at Christmas, which also makes these visits all the more special.
It’s been well over a year since we’ve had any snow, so it was an exciting day when we got almost 6 inches! At this point we’re not going anywhere, so I say let it snow!
The kids are back to a hybrid school schedule, but because of the weather they were moved back to 100% virtual for three days, which allowed them lot of time to whine about school work while the snow fell outside. But we weren’t total grinches – we gave them lots of time to get out and sled. A lot of the neighborhood kids came by as well. It felt a little like the pre-COVID days with all of the kids playing in the back – with the exception of everyone wearing masks I guess.
Lauren geared up and ready to go!
The kids and Petunia at the ready
We think this was also Petunia’s first snow. She certainly acted like it at least! She was running around like a mad dog – chasing after the kids down the hill. She didn’t seem bothered by the cold and didn’t want to come in.
