Mmm, tacos. Addie quit her job because she's been stressed and spread too thin. She says the worst part about quitting her job is that she won't be able to stop at Taco Time on the way home and buy tacos at 9:30 at night. Also, she's scared she won't have any money to buy tacos. She does have a fairly lucrative babysitting gig up the street, and now that she doesn't have a job she can babysit more. It's quite possible she'll be richer from babysitting than from lifeguarding, so tacos4ever.
December, eh? It's been a wild one for sure, what with all that holiday cheer. This week has been a week off, with no pressure to accomplish anything. We went to the store last week and stocked up on essentials with the goal of not leaving the house this week. It's worked pretty well! Nils has played a lot of video games, we've been trying to eat our way through all the neighbor treats, we've watched a lot of movies, and we've had plenty of food and toilet paper to get us through. We may be ready to get back in the saddle next week, but we also may cry about it.
We've had a video go a little crazy this month, which was very unexpected and super awesome. It's gotten 584K views since 12/11. This is, according to YouTube analytics, 112 times higher than normal, and we've been entertained by this situation. If you want to watch it, you can do so here. It's a 1 minute video that was an afterthought- more proof that we don't know what we're doing. 💃👯
Alright, to the pictures of life:
Ava's amazing birthday cake made by yours truly. It sunk in the middle, and just got uglier the more I tried to make it look less bad. Good news is that no one cared, and it tasted delish.
B-day breakfast with Daddio. When Ava was little, she would point one finger in the air, and with her crooked mouth say, "Good fing!" and "At least!" all the time. It's a family classic that will live on forever. It's what they're doing in the picture, see?
She had a party, where we learned that 11 girls is way too many in one place. They get unruly fast, and the night ended on a sour note, but we won't get into that. We did try, and that's what matters, right?
Got a Star Wars advent from Nana!
We had our RS Christmas dinner, and it was stupendous, if I say so myself. How lucky am I to have the best of the best ladies?? I failed to take any pictures of the actual event- I felt like my head was full of bees and was so busy making sure things were going well. But it did go well thanks to many people's efforts. It was a lovely evening that we were proud of.
Nils and I went on a li'l date, and decided to go to the Draper Tree of Light. We see it all the time on social media, but had never been. It's impressive in its scope and amount of lights, indeed. We looked at it, nodded, did a check mark in the air, and left.
The last Christmas sing at the elementary school!
Swim meet fun: Nils and I timed at the last meet before the break. Timing is crazy and busy and you really have to pay attention, thus the only picture that was taken was this of Aani's wrist detailing her events.
Pip is going to audition for America's Next Top Model because she's such a hottie.
Addie bought this amaryllis bulb, and we've all been scared of it and entertained as it has evolved and bloomed.
Addie knows how to effectively wear a Mandalorian helmet.
Nils and some neighbor guys have started mining crypto. What does that mean, I know not, but we have lots of this going on now.
Nils visited Mount Pleasant where his friend lives and owns a solar company. 100 more ideas have been born in his brain...
While Nils is having entrepreneurial ideas, I made baked potatoes on a Monday, and on Friday I found this rogue potato hanging out in the oven...baked how many times we'll never know. It was so soft and wrinkly. So glad I can contribute around here.
FACTS:
The youth had a holiday party, where they went ice skating and had dinner, white elephant, and games at the church. Nils works with the teachers now, so he gets to go to the things. :)
2nd annual company Christmas party. We went to Summit Pizza, which was delicious, and then sibling present shopping. The kids love sibling present shopping, and they love Christmas jammies, too.
Chocolate log roll, uh huh!
Christmas morning was fun! Most of us got to sleep in, and everyone seemed happy with their bounty. We saw the new Spiderman movie in the afternoon, had homemade Costa Vida for dinner, and relaxed in the evening.
I managed to kill the Christmas Eve white elephant tradition by suggesting we play Christmas Eve bunco instead. It was fun! Everyone even said it was fun, and everyone even said it was time for the white elephant to die. Everyone also left with a prize they were happy with! Hooray for killing traditions!
2021 has been good to us. We've had some crazy times, hard times, and great times. We have spent an awful lot of time together, and we still love each other.
Nils says, "2021 was the best year ever. I love my new life. I've never slept so much."
Thanks for reading! Happy New Year!
