So long 2020

November brought us some great weather, Covid free school and work for students/employees & a quiet Thanksgiving.

This kiddo is so photogenic.  💕

From our backyard.  Outstanding

Our Thanksgiving was just us 3. 

I shook life up a bit and we did an upside down Thanksgiving.

Starting with a 2 hour Zoom with family.

Apple & pumpkin pie for breakfast

Broccoli casserole and potatoes for lunch

Hand delivered smoked turkey from Korryn and Wayne (so good!  I was not going to cook a turkey, just a chicken - grateful they did deliveries!) and mashed potatoes.

By the end of all that, everyone was ready for more pie.  

Along with a mammoth monopoly game (Ryan schemes and buys hotels as soon as he can, basically bankrupting the rest of us quite quickly) we had a great day.

December again brought us a Covid free school and workplace for students and employees.  Given the high rate of infection all around us, this is a small miracle.

Like the previous months, it was low key.  The decision to not gather at Christmas time was well known to all of us, but not verbalized out loud.  It was not going to be a Christmas without Kerri and Sam here.

About 10 days before Christmas Eve, we all admitted it was not going to happen.   The kids and me were able to see Mom and Dad for an outdoor only visit.  It was cold, but a beautiful crisp day.  Mountains out on all sides.  We did brief yet priceless hugs.  Ryan got to snuggle with his BFF Carson the cat.

This year we tried a different route for Gingerbread houses, using pop tarts instead.  It was an experience and experiment the kids both asked I not embark upon ever again.  🤣

Pop tarts are not stable enough to hold up to the usual handling that gingerbread could withstand.  In the end, however - they turned out well.

Wish I had gotten a picture with Mom and Dad.

Our small but delightful Christmas tree.

The massive red wrapped box in the box was a gift to the neighbor girl Mira from Kathryn.  A gift basket full of fun stuff, in a massive box to make it even more fun.

Our Christmas Eve family (my immediate family, Aunt Karol & Uncle Doug and Jade (Wayne's adult daughter) all did a 3 hour Zoom.  It's not the same, but better than being alone.

We also had a visitor for 10 days. 

 Ryan called the place under the tree the breakfast nook for Cookie Dough.   Chewing on paper or cords is one of his favorite things.    🐇

And Christmas morning.  🎄💞

Love our time together.

Seems fitting to end this post and 2020 with a picture of my Demeter-kitty.  

She is hanging on and seems to still enjoy life.  

Let's hope 2021 is good to her and everyone we love.  💖

Welcome 2021  

Fall 2020

Fall started with a little worry for our 18 year old Demeter-kitty.  She was losing weight, not eating, looking generally unwell.  She's had kidney disease for years, we all kind of thought this might be then end of her era.   Fortunately, she was able to turn around.   Found out she had fleas - which is very puzzling as she is an indoor kitty only.  We blame the rascal neighbor cat who will walk in the house whenever he see's a chance.  Flea treatment immediately made her feel better.  A little tweaking of her food routine and giving her Sub Q fluids a few times a week seems to be working.  We will keep loving her for as long we are blessed with her.  🐱💖

2020 school pictures.  

So happy the school returned to the photographer they've used for years.  Last years pictures were so terrible and incredibly expensive, I skipped the purchase.  Kathryn had two good poses.  Ryan, just one.  The other option looks like a mug shot.  🤣

Halloween 2020 was a bit of a downer.  Ryan didn't want to dress up.  He went to a friends home and somehow came home with candy.  Pictured is his mini haul, although deceiving because there are some small bags filled with candy in that pile.  Kathryn did dress up, as Harley Quinn. She made her costume and took possession of some boots I no longer wear.  Her Halloween was not what she'd hoped as she got in a little bit of hot water and was grounded/had to stay home.   It was brutal, but necessary.  

The sunset picture is compliments of Ryan.  

His view when walking to his friends home on Halloween.  🌄

Lastly....  the kids are in school 5d/wk after a trial of 3 in school/2 at home. That didn't go well - too much transition and too hard to keep up.  We've been very blessed to have the entire school avoid COVID so far. The upcoming holidays will be interesting.  

School days - September 2020

2020-2021 school year is a go!

I hope we look back think what a crazy year this has been.

My kids are some of the very few in the community that have the opportunity to attend in person school.   Kathryn loves it so far.  

Ryan is the only boy in his class and there are only 6 other students, all girls obviously.

 He's not loving it.

Strict standards for attending.  Completing an app before arrival, attesting they are illness free.  Temp checks as soon as they arrive on campus and no locker use to avoid congregating.   

All worth it!

These are "1st day of school photos"

Actually taken on day 6 of school.  

That may or may not reflect the chaos in my life right now. 😁

And, since 2020 isn't messed up enough...... 🔥🔥

We are socked in by smoke from local wildfires.  It looks green outside right now.  Very odd.  Picture of the sunrise from my office

                                                    

Taken from my front facing window.  

That's not clouds or fog.  😧

                                                     

And just for fun on Labor Day  🍔

Summer 2020

Jim Creek did not disappoint again this year.  I put my phone aka camera down for the majority of the trip.  That was healing and refueling.  No work texts, no email.  Just fresh air and free time.

The kids ran and played for hours.  Nothing was open except for the little store, so no planned activities.  Some of the other Mom's put together and intense scavenger hunt that had the kids biking for a couple hours.   What I enjoyed the most was seeing the kids find things do to on their own.  They'd come in for food.  In the end the whole group stayed healthy.  Fresh air can make dreams come true. 🌅

 July 2020 Seaside trip

This year - like everything else in 2020, the trip was different.  

It was just us 3.

Karol & Doug generously kept the condo for our use.

So. Much. Fun.

The pictures below are in random order, here's a run-down of our trip

We stopped in Burien to see Karol before we left and to get some sand toys/water toys.

We stopped just after the Washington/Oregon border to capture the beginning of our adventure.

The weather offered everything and it was perfect.

The water was warm.

Plentiful Dugeness crab at our feet!  If we wanted to catch them, fantastic. We wanted to swim!  Knowing and seeing crab at ones feet adds another dimension to swimming in the ocean!  I've never seen crab while swimming at Seaside.🦀

We did a lot of what we would normally do.

Ordered pizza from our favorite place. 🍕

Spent a day in Cannon Beach, including hitting up the candy shop & bakery

Walked the Promenade.

Ate Elephant Ears.

Expressed sadness that the Tilt-A-Whirl, bumper cars and mini golf was closed.

Found an AMAZING gelato place.  Memorable dessert for sure.

Played in the water a lot.

On our final day - ate in a restaurant for the first time since the pandemic started.  Pig N Pancake.

Then hit the road home.

This trip will stay in my memories forever.

                         💕   I LOVE this picture. 💕

July 26th

Ryan turns 13.  🎂

French toast for breakfast

Mac N Cheese for lunch

Cookie cake

Out to dinner with his Dad 

His gift:  a new pair of Nike's.  Per his request.  👟

He's a teenager.

July 31st

Kathryn turns 11!

Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, with ham and bacon of course.  🥓 My meat eater in the house

I think she skipped lunch because she was so full from breakfast.

S'mores Cheesecake by request.  🥮

The remaining time together this summer was low key.  Lots of afternoons at Greenlake.  When the neighbors got home from Alaska we collaboratively put a 'only outdoor play' mandate in place, since the neighbor kids were on a plane.  It was brilliant.  The boys made their own lawn care business that they did for about a week and made I think close to $400.   🌳  Their poster is shown below.  

They pitched tents in our backyard and slept out there. ⛺

In mid-august, the kids left to spend their vacation time with their Dad.  Cookie Dough stayed with me.   Demeter-kitty has really started to show her age these past few weeks.  She needs a trip to the vet, but I am dragging my feet.  I don't really want what they'll have to say.  Her kidneys are failing, I know this.  I just want to soak up every minute I have with her.  For a few weeks, she made the dining table her home.   Didn't love that, but also gave her grace. 

What's to come:

School starts Tuesday.  🎒

Paul and I had different ideas of what school should look like for the kids.  I wanted all in, 5 days a week.  He wanted all remote or at most 2 days a week.  We compromised at 3 days per week.  I can't be there for their first day back.  Strict protocols on students/parents on campus for social distancing. (and it's Paul's day)  Have to complete an app questionnaire every morning about the status of their health.  Temps taken every morning by school staff.  Masks worn all day.  😷  Definite risks to on campus school.  However, the benefits supersede the risks.  They need their friends, teachers & structure.  This first semester will be very interesting.