It was time to go back to school.
Which means it was also time to pack up all the Christmas decorations.
Ugh.
That's the worst.
So depressing.
One thing was NOT depressing.
Pip got put back in his box.
Bye, Pip!
See ya next year.
The last few days of vacation were boring enough that Huzbend decided to make a cardboard helmet.
It didn't quite come out like he wanted.
But, the kids had fun with it.
It was a short week, just three days, before the first weekend of January.
We got together with some friends for a Mystery Murder Dinner Thingie.
Yes, it is quite dorky, but also LOADS of fun.
We each get assigned a character, we role play their part in the mystery and we get to eat a yummy three-course dinner and dessert.
This dinner's theme was "The Theater".
And, as usual, Huzbend was the killer.
He's ALWAYS the killer.
The next day was "Three Kings Day"
aka "Epiphany"
aka "Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos"
We were once again invited to celebrate at our friends house.
There was lots of delicious homemade Mexican food, drink, crazy fun and.....
....Marty the Moose eggnog glasses.
A necessity for any holiday gathering.
A hotly contested game of Loteria was played.
And, unlucky for me, traditional shots of tequila were done.
At least my friends husband says they're "traditional".
I think that might be BS.
They just like to see me squirm.
Blech.
The lime does NOT help.
After sustaining chemical burns to my esophagus, it was time to cut the Rosca de Reyes (King Cake) and try to find Baby Jesus.
He's hidden in the cake somewhere.
Katie had no luck.
Baby Jesus was quite elusive this year.
But, Mikey found one!
After filling up on sweets (and me eating WAAAY too much Rosca de Reyes), it was time for the Macarena and a fake snow ball fight.
I don't know.
That's what really happened.
Thanks to our friends for letting us join in their celebration each year!
Halfway through the month, I got a new point and shoot camera.
My other one was old and it had a burn mark in the lens from trying to take a picture of that eclipse that happened a while back.
Huzbend thought I was crazy since I have a phone that I can take perfectly good pictures with.
But, I like having a camera to fill up with pictures.
Better than filling up my phone.
And, the camera usually takes better pictures.
Here are some experimental shots....
This is how Katie spends most evenings now.
Either typing a story or drawing.
She was so resistant to having a desk in her room for such a long time.
It's a relief to see her actually enjoying it now.
My new camera has a super zoom on it.
I caught these two love birds making googly eyes at each other.
Sigh.
That means we're officially on baby bunny watch now.
Crazy Hair/Hat Day at Mikey's elementary.
He kinda had a Harley Quinn/Joker vibe going.
Another few experimental shots with my camera.
A close up of the ever-so-hard-to-photograph Ralph.
And Crazy Hair Mikey eating a special treat.
Most likely, a cookie sundae.
The sun came out, so we decided to head on out for some disc golf.
Another opportunity to get better with my new camera.
Mikey often finds himself way off in the middle of the woods.
I think he purposely throws it into the woods so he can crawl around in there.
That's a guilty look if I've ever seen one.
"What?"
Action shot!
And......back in the woods.
We spend a lot of time waiting for Mikey to get back on the course.
Hello.
Katie complains incessantly while we're driving to the disc golf course, but once we get there she seems to have fun.
Or, at least she very convincingly pretends to have a good time.
Watch out, Ralph!
After we finished our game, Katie was done and went to hang out in the car while the boys played an impromptu game of mud soccer.
I took more pictures of Ralph.
It's only when it's sunny outside that I can get decent pictures of him.
Relaxed Happy Ralph.
Semi-Alert Happy Ralph.
I'm Hungry And I Just Want To Lay Down Ralph.
I told you it was muddy.
Took a while for their shoes to recover from this.
Katie got a Candy Science Kit for Christmas.
First, we played with some of the chocolate molds.
She made a chocolate egg pinata.
It came out pretty good.
You smash it and sprinkles come out.
Next, she tried her hand at making gummy candies.
I think we messed this up somehow.
They were REALLY slimy.
And, the only flavoring I had was lemon.
So, yuck.
Ralph knows where the most crumbs will fall.
He always stations himself right next to Katie whenever we eat.
He's very hard to resist.
Katie decided that she was tired of her long hair.
It was time for a hair cut.
Tune in next month for the big reveal!
