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.