Month: December 2020

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Christmas Night 2020 🎄🌟

We went to Jake’s parents’ house for Christmas dinner. Two of his sisters, one BIL, and our nephew were able to join us there as well. The ham dinner was delicious and afterwards we played a few games before opening presents. It was so much fun to have a toddler in the mix again – they bring such joy to the holiday and are very helpful with tearing wrapping paper.

Shecklet #4 gave out massage certificates at the end of the night. They never expire and can be used an infinite number of times!

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Christmas Morning 2020 🌟🎄

The Shecklets were up before the sun this morning and discovered the surprises in their stockings. After a breakfast of eggbake (Grandma Patti’s recipe,) muffins, and juice, we opened gifts as a family.

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Christmas Eve 2020 🎄

It was a snowy, chilly Christmas Eve. We finally received a substantial amount of snow yesterday along with strong winds. Today the whiteout conditions subsided enough for us to have one of Jake’s sisters join us for the second half of the day. We went to 5pm mass and then came back to the house for pizza soup (Grandma Fran’s recipe,) garlic bread, cookies, and a movie – Elf. (The church was almost empty so we took the opportunity to take a few pictures – masked and non-masked.)

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On the slopes ⛷ 🏂

Shecklet #2 went skiing for the third time in two weeks. Today, Shecklet #3 joined him and Jake, but instad of skiing, she chose to give snowboarding a try. She loved it! And unsurprisingly, made a friend while practicing on the bunny hill after her lesson.

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Gumdrop cookies

While Shecklet #2 and Shecklet #3 went to ski/snowboard, Shecklet #1 and Shecklet #4 helped me in the kitchen. We made a batch of one of my favorite cookies from childhood – my Grandma Fran’s gumdrop cookies.

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Grouchy Zero 😠

One of the “tricks” to learning how to borrow when subtracting is remembering the “Grouchy Zero.” Shecklet #4’s teacher had her students draw a picture to help them with this new skill.

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Teacup ☕️

December’s Handmaidens meeting was in person for Shecklet #3. This month she learned about St. Kateri, spent time in the chapel in prayer using Lexio Divina, heard a talk from a high school senior at our church, and decorated her own teacup. (Part of the project involved baking the cup and saucer after she decorated it, so we did that step this morning.)

She came home from last night’s meeting so excited about everything she did. She even volunteered to give next month’s saint presentation on St. Teresa of Avila!

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Suprise Sundaes 🍨

My Aunt Ann, surprised us with a box full of sundae toppings for Christmas! The kids were SO excited to see all of the options!

We didn’t have any ice cream in the house on Monday, so they had to wait a day to make their sugary creations. I think they would all tell you they were worth the wait.

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Haircut 2020 💇🏻‍♂️

This guy hasn’t had a full-on haircut in over a year and a half. My friend (who dyed my hair last month,) trimmed him up a bit prior to Astrid’s funeral, but other than that, he has let his locks grow non-stop since mid-2019. After scrolling through some ideas on Pinterest, we came up with a few options for him to show the same friend/stylist. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to give him such a major transformation. He looks like a new kid! I mean, teenager 🙂