868 December 5, 2022 – January 2, 2023 Fun Winter Break

We have had so much fun visiting with David and his family.  We spent the first weeks helping with house chores and preparing everything for the holidays.

The very first week, Austin had a stomach virus.

He helped Poppop build a new workout bench. All the loveys had to come to watch!

I was able to go and visit Austin’s classroom.  He showed me the work he was doing.  He showed me rhombuses and parallelograms and all sorts of other shapes.  He demonstrated his knowledge of the sounds the letters make.  He loved having me there and I was so happy to be there.

David and Dre were able to go to Oliver’s Celebration of Learning. The kids sang songs, did animal yoga, and presented their animal research projects.

Pajama day before break.

We decorated a gingerbread house and made gingerbread men.

Dre and I tried to make Oreo reindeer cookies with the kids.  It looked so very simple…why didn’t ours look like the ones we saw online?  Dre and I laughed so hard that we cried!

Apparently, they tasted good!

Tim and I took the boys shopping for gifts for Mama and Dada.  The little one really had a hard time understanding that we were buying for others.  This was the first time that they experienced this part of Christmas.  We took the boys out for dinner after our gift buying was done.

Beginning on the 21^st, the children were out of school.  David and I took them for haircuts and then we took them shopping for one another.  Austin picked a book about a gingerbread man for Ollie.  Oliver got a Lego book for his brother.  It was sweet to see them choose something and they were too excited to wait for Christmas to open their gifts.

On the 22^nd, Kyle, Allison, and my mother arrived after driving for 13 hours.  What a wonderful gift to be able to spend the holiday together!

Dre had to work but the rest of us went to Steinbeck’s for lunch. 

Kyle helped the boys to construct a gingerbread train that my sister, Debbie sent along.  The project was a huge success!

Allison made elf cookies with them. We all decorated with frosting and sprinkles galore. Thank you Aunt Debbie!

Kyle and Allison and David and Dre all went out for dinner.  Gigi, Tim, and I watched the boys.  Tim and I had a sleepover with the boys in Oliver’s room…making memories!

On the 24^th, Oliver and Austin completed the annual scavenger hunt.  At the end, they each got new Baby Yoda Lego pajamas to wear for Christmas morning.

Our Christmas Eve celebration was at Dre’s parents’ house.  Ines was so gracious to host everyone even though Jorge was in the hospital.

Christmas morning was a frenzy.  The boys were so happy and excited.  We only have one picture though of Austin sitting on his bike.

The day was spent making Legos.

We finished the day with crab dip by Allison and steaks and potatoes and asparagus and a toast to family.

The last of Peter’s cranberry pie!

Kyle and Allison left the day after Christmas.  Thank you so much for making this Christmas so very specia; for all of us!

We played dominoes with Gigi but not the Mexican Train rules! Mom stayed with us for one more day and then she met Dana and John for the other half of her Christmas adventure.

David and Dre both worked all week and so Tim and I watched the boys.  We played home and lovey world and Wild Kratts.  They both have wonderful imaginations and they get along so well.  Pretending is fun!

In this picture, Oliver is checking the feathers of a wounded peregrine falcon (Austin)…so dear.

We did more Legos and read books and watched movies. 

We took a hike in the “stream woods” stopping at “snack rock” for munchies.  The boys got home muddy and happy.

We all washed Popop’s Jeep and then the boys sat on the curb to watch the workmen reapir a busted waterline.

Helping with laundry.

We had a low-key New Year celebration.  New Years Day we baked turkey and had a feast.

It was hard to leave this week.  Everyone was sad.  The boys know that we will be back in the spring.