Southbound Frontrunner!

Skyler got the operator to honk much to his delight.

Side note, this post marks the 10 year anniversary of the blog!

A very late #6.

We caught the eastbound California Zephyr yesterday morning zooming through the snow.

Today's train is even later!

Can you spot the locomotive?

We saw it on our walk yesterday in the horrific wind.

Remote controlled.  Although, I'd want to be in the warm cab on a day like yesterday.

Merry Christmas!

Norfolk and Western Christmas Eve 1957 Rural Retreat, VA

True story.

 

Sigh...

A new favorite.

Listening to vinyl records!

Alisha gave us a turntable and some records.  He set it up in his room yesterday and listened to records all day.  The cat seemed to like them too.

 

A bonus present that isn't a Christmas present.

A new TV!!

Now 65(!) inches!  Our old TV died suddenly Saturday afternoon.  A quick trip to Costco yesterday and we were up and running again.

Probably some good advice.

 

I'm working on it...

The most sincere tree lot.

I missed posting this picture of the Christmas tree lot we got our tree from 2 weeks ago.  There were goats that Skyler got to feed and pet!

He was rather delighted to walk through all of the various trees.

Snow day shenanigans.

He finished his online learning and got to play outside in the fresh snow.

Crawling under the giant reeds.

Digging a snow cave in one of the massive piles I plowed using the tractor.

Digging deep!

Snow Day!

Thankfully, Skyler's school had enough sense to go to virtual learning today.

Delivering neighbor treats in a wagon while drinking hot chocolate.

Altair put in a huge effort again this year to bake goods for the neighborhood.

Skyler's old wagon still comes in handy.  Note the can of Pringles in case he got hungry!

 

Birthday food.

Altair had a good day.  :)

Her Mom brought Crumbl cookies on Friday.

LOOK AT THE CAKE MY SISTER MADE!!!!!!!

Homemade chicken schnitzel with roasted garden grown beets and homemade rice pilaf.

 

Happy Birthday Altair!!

Having got my booster on Friday and feeling like shit all day yesterday, today we can celebrate Mommy's birthday!!!  I'm so lucky to have been able to celebrate 19 birthdays with her.  She completes me and 99% of the time, is right on so many levels!  I hate it but love it.  Happy Birthday Altair!  I love you.

She's so amazingly creative too!  She made her "Frankenweenie" costume for Halloween this year like all years.

POOP!!!

That is all.

He was laughing so hard!

Last day of Hanukah.

That meant donuts from Macey's!

Some of the best donuts we've ever had.

 

Decorating the Christmas tree.

 Despite all of the mentions of a "Christmas tree shortage" this year, we found a great one at a reasonable price Friday afternoon.

We found a Nordman pine this year.

Holiday program at school.

AKA, a super spreader event!

Packed in like sardines!  This was criminal.

The program itinerary.

Skyler had a mask as did we.  Not many others did though.

Pet advent calendars??

Yep!  Trader Joe's to the rescue!  Both animals go crazy for the treat in each window.  We had to hide the dog's because she was trying to steal it!

The dog's arrived a day earlier than the cat's.

Skyler gave the cat his.

The cat went bananas for the salmon treats.  Skyler was laughing so hard!

Now it was the dog's turn.

She was still licking the window the treat was in.

 

Hanukah.

We're not religious at this house whatsoever.  However, a few years ago Skyler was interested in celebrating Hanukah so we bought a Menorah and Dreidel.  He continued to show interest in celebration so now it's an annual tradition.

Latkes!

Spinning the dreidel.

  

Uh oh!

Skyler realized he's tall enough to reach the tractor pedals.  This means he wanted to try driving it.  I figured after I finished plowing the garden he could take a spin around the yard to knock the dirt off of the tire.  He did great!

Can you see his smile?!

He made a ton of laps around the yard.

After a 2 year hiatus...

I plowed the garden Sunday!

SO satisfying to see the fresh soil being turned over.

 

Taunting Chucky Squirrel.

The squirrel spent most of Saturday up in the cottonwood.  Skyler was convinced he was going to shoot him down using a Nerf gun.  (It never happened nor did he ever even come close to hitting the squirrel.) 

Using a stick to try to remove the squirrel.

Gingerbread village time.

Skyler and Mommy continued the day after Thanksgiving tradition and worked on building gingerbread houses.

Lots of concentration.

 

Ah yes, good ol' Thanksgiving letdown.

Epic fail.  The $100 heritage turkey was shit.  That is all.

The yard bird before roasting.

Midway.

Table all set.

Roasted yardbird.

At least it looked good.

Skyler had excellent manners and even cleaned his entire plate.

Skyler and Sarah playing piano.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Delicious!

Ninja leveled up!

Skyler moved up to a level 1 ninja last night at ninja class.  He was so proud!

At the end of class, everyone gathered for his award.

Accepting his reward.

Climbing the rope with his certificate and new shirt.

Rocking the "warped wall"!

Looking mighty grown up.

I had to take a photo of Skyler so we could use it to renew his U.S. Passport.  He sure looks like an adult now rather than a little kid. 😓

At least he still has his crazy hair!

 

My Fall leaf cleanup helper.

He got to run the leaf vacuum yesterday afternoon after I mowed for maybe the last time this season.

He's just barely tall enough to run it.

Safety first!  Hearing protection required.

Sorry kitty!

The dog was out back yesterday and I heard her barking.  Turns out, a neighbor cat had wandered into our yard and Maizey managed to tree the cat!

The cat was unharmed.  It left after 3 hours up in the tree.  I ran into this cat last week and I don't think it can hear.

Wurst!

It was German night the other day.

Boar's Head white brats and sauerkraut with homemade hot German potato salad.  Delicious!