A hug to the tree, a hug to the lights…and a nosh on the gingerbread houses:) We had to try them! (Holmes has been not so secretly snacking on them for a while.)

Chatting with Xanna:)

Raffi’s ‘Bananna Phone’ song came on and Holmes ran over to pick up the line:)

Meryl decided to make a bunch of origami butterflies and hang them around the house…necessitating sewing thread, painters tape, and the use of scissors to cut the tape; all the supplies! And a tall Tito to reach the ceiling:)

Tito’s dramatized falling always gets Holmes into a belly laughing fit:) Guttural giggles, the best.

Testing success! We got an FDA authorized over-the-counter PCR testing machine (so cool!) and used it today in advance of school starting this week - both schools require students and faculty to show proof of a negative result in order to return. When it’s positive to be negative! 

Always a favorite!

We celebrated New Year’s Eve at noon yesterday watching the Seattle Aquarium’s Rockin’ Rockfish Noon Year celebration. Lots of dancing and exploring the deep with their divers! And because we love a good pairing, Frank made fish and chips for lunch:)

Supply chain woes, the kids had to ‘wait’ for their awesome toy organizing carts…I’ll let you guess who they’re really for at the end of the day, like every day:)

We rang in the new year with great intentions! Our neighbor, Melody, traditionally burns her marshmallow wreath and also sends written intentions for the year up in the sweet smelling smoke. We did it too! We fired up our fire pit (which Meryl calls the Marshmallow Roaster, talk about a pairing), incinerated our wreaths, and dramatically read our intentions before dropping them into the sweet heat. We also made Rice Krispie treats to eat, and Melody brought homemade marshmallows and extendable rotating marshmallow roasting forks for a final toast:)

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett have nothing on these two!

I mean, we love hanging out with each other at home all the time! (Our goal here was to see if we could get a car to drive through the kitchen and into the entryway.)

It snowed again. But luckily, we picked up kids shovels while buying salt at the neighborhood hardware store this week…so, we embarked on a sidewalk project.

Holmes LOVES to shovel, and eat snow:)

…Notice also, Meryl’s dress, which is my dress from the fashion era of Jane and Gary’s wedding:)