And All the Rest!

Here are the rest of the pictures from the last week or so that didn't get put into other posts!

Paige got a bubble tea kit for Christmas!

I made Griffin a kerchief!

We took Griffin to look at Christmas lights and Pat and I thought it would be a disaster but the kids were right and he loved them and we all had a great time!

We went sledding and Owen got a nosebleed when Pat tried to give him a boost down the hill but ended up pushing his face into the snow!

Family selfie from Christmas morning!

I used my new mug!

 

It's Christmas!

 Christmas!! Owen woke up pretty early in the morning but managed to fall back asleep until Paige got up around 8. We opened stockings, ate cinnamon rolls, opened presents, did a couple zoom calls, had a semi-fancy dinner (standing rib roast, cheesy potatoes, broccoli) and then we were done for the day! I didn't expect to feel exhausted from hanging out at the house all day but I did! 

Griffin had no clue what was happening but waited here while the kids were sitting on the steps

Waiting to be released down the stairs!

Time to come down!

Stockings

Griffin got a present

Pat's very own glass jar of Jelly Belly's

Check out that roaring fire and good times!

Paige and her very own personalized Starbucks cup

Family call 1!

Family call 2!

Christmas Eve

I wondered what this year would feel like with not seeing anybody and if it would feel any different than the days leading up to it. Normally we'd be seeing Pat's family and going to church but couldn't do either so we found a couple other activities to keep ourselves busy. We painted houses, made our traditional soup meal for dinner, prepped overnight cinnamon rolls to eat the next morning and finished off with a movie, Jingle All the Way. 

A surprise gift of goodies came in the mail from my aunt and uncle!

Owen named his Christmas house "Swag House"

These two took the longest!

Griffin got in on the action but we didn't have a house for him to decorate

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder!

Prepping cinnamon rolls and Paige munching on a candy cane

Movie time!

 

Spirit Week

Paige's dance studio had a Christmas-themed spirit week to celebrate the last week before Christmas. Most of these pictures are from Christmas Extravaganza Day but Paige also participated in Christmas Hair day, Red/Green Day, Santa's Helpers Day, and Ugly Sweater Day. 

This was Red/Green Day Paige had red and green knee high socks on but you can't see them here!

Santa's Helper Day. I thought that meant elves but Paige and Maeve interpreted it to mean Reindeer:) Pat made the girls antlers and Maeve's mom made their shirts!

Christmas Extravaganza day and the last day of dance!

With Ms Rachel who always does an amazing job dressing up

Buffalo Plaid for the win!

Paige, Maeve, and Maya ran out of class and exchanged gifts in the parking lot before we headed home:)

Shenanigans

Pat had seen some sort of 3-person handstand trick on the internet and thought it was something we could all do so we made some attempts and failed miserably:) But! It got us interested in trying lots of other tricks and we did a pretty good job I think! Poor Pat had to be the base for everything but we had so much fun trying stuff!

 

Christmas Baking

Normally this would be a combination post celebrating my mom's birthday and our Christmas baking tradition but this year they were separate and virtual (obviously). We opted to do roll-out cookies with store-bought mixes and then decorated them with frosting and sprinkles. I forgot how much work it is to roll, cut, gather the dough, reroll and on and on. We only have one small rolling pin so I had trouble keeping up with people ready to cut cookies! Once they baked and cooled off we set up to decorate. Owen opted for all Chelsea cookies-blue, and the rest of us went a more traditional route

 

Stills

Last post for the solo! I can't post videos on the blog so here are a couple of screenshots from the video. Paige made the first collage and I made the second one. It was interesting to see which moments she chose versus which ones I did. I had a picture of her upside down in her front aerial but she said she doesn't like pictures of her doing that so I took it out. She didn't mind the back handspring one though! Either way, I love going back through videos to steal some candid moments, even if they are sometimes a little blurry!

 

Intrigue Day 3

Paige had to get up early again on Sunday to finish up and take classes in jazz, ballet, hip hop and contemporary. She went in with a great attitude and ended up enjoying the day much more. She got called up in jazz and got to do hip hop which is one of her favorite styles. At the very end they announced awards and parents could watch it over livestream. Paige scored platinum and got 9th overall out of all the juniors! It was a great score and placement and a great way to end the weekend! 

We let the kids pull their masks down for a second to get pictures before they pulled them right back up!

I remembered to get a picture before she left!

Paige got a picture with the jazz teacher, Deana.

Also got a picture with the hip hop teacher, Kenichi

Paige with her award

Paige and Maya

Paige, Mikayla and Emma

Paige and Miley

I took another screenshot from a video when I spotted Paige