We made it.
December. Finally.
After doing a little research, I determined that we'd be able to get our yearly Santa photos pretty safely.
We had to book an appointment (which had 15 minute blocks spaced in between) and we went in the middle of the week.
Santa was also located right next to an entrance/exit, so we wouldn't have to walk through the mall to get to him.
We couldn't pass up the chance to get a masked photo with Santa.
It was just so 2020.
And also, my kids always seem awkward when talking to Santa.
Couldn't be worse when wearing masks.
The first weekend in December was the last hurrah in regards to food.
On Monday, Katie would have to give up dairy, but she could add eggs back in.
Mikey would be going on a 6 food elimination diet - no dairy, wheat/gluten, eggs, soy, fish/shellfish, peanuts/tree nuts.
To celebrate (not sure you'd call it that) we made gluten free donuts with eggs and dairy in them.
The chocolate ones were yummier than the vanilla ones.
That Saturday, the kids got to choose their favorite meals.
Mikey chose pizza from his favorite pizza place, Pizzaiolo.
Katie picked twice baked potatoes.
These "twice baked potatoes" were loaded with so much dairy that I'm not sure that they could be called potatoes anymore. Seriously.
They were also ridiculously delicious.
That weekend, we decorated our Christmas tree.
Last year, we waited too long to cut down a fresh tree and ended up buying a "live" tree.
Well, here the tree is after one year.
Still alive! Unbelievable.
The kids took turns decorating.
Because, God forbid, Katie stands within two feet of Mikey for thirty seconds.
Maybe he smells?
I don't think so.
Katie says it's because he is unpredictable and will step on her or hit her accidentally.
I had to drop Ralph off for his ultrasound early on Monday morning.
It was such a beautiful sunrise.
I was happy that I got to see it.
While at the same time, I was unhappy that I was dropping my dog off at the vet hospital.
Again.
Ralph was taking baby steps towards acting more like himself.
He was still having trouble navigating the stairs and the hard floors.
He was still wearing a diaper so that we could hoist him up.
We experimented with doggie booties to help with the slippage.
Here are the first test pair.
They sort of worked.
They were too short and kept falling off.
They also looked just a tad ridiculous.
The results of Ralph's ultrasound were good.
There was nothing out of place and no mysterious lumps anywhere.
His liver levels were still elevated though.
The doctor agreed that the steroids seemed to be the culprit in regards to the weakness, muscle/weight loss and personality change.
As we continued the tapering to less steroids, his side effects would lessen.
This is a sure sign of a bad nights sleep.
Oh! Hi, Pip!
The second weekend in December, Katie had a Girl Scout meeting where they had a sugar cookie decorating contest.
This time we were able to find a sugar cookie recipe that was everything-free that did not taste like, or have the consistency of, cardboard.
We outlined the cookies to make them easier to decorate.
Let the competition....BEGIN!
She made zombies, karate guys and some standard traditional holiday cookies.
Here is Katie's crowning achievement: Demon Reindeer.
While she was busy, I decorated some of my own.
Here is Katie's crowning achievement: Demon Reindeer.
I am not sure why I am giving Mikey a piggy back.
Huzbend hadn't used all of his vacation time that year with the pandemic and all that.
He decided to use it all at the end of December.
He spent his first week, the week the kids would still be in school, completing various projects around the house.
His crowning achievement was unblocking the underground drainpipe that our gutter system flows into.
The underground pipe had about 14 years worth of pine needles and decomposing leaves sitting in it.
He had to dig it out, clean it by hand and with a hose, then reconnect and rebury.
It was quite the job.
Oh. That same week it was my birthday.
The kids and Huzbend made my favorite.
Happy Birthday to me.
I had to blow out candles while dealing with a sneak attack hug.
I had mine with lots of vanilla ice cream.
The kids had theirs with coconut whipped cream.
As an unexpected birthday present, we were able to finally take the diaper off of Ralph.
He was still struggling a bit, but he could make it up to standing on the hard floor and up the stairs (if coerced with a treat).
Since Ralph had lost so much body weight from the reaction to the meds, we were worried about bringing him along on our winter get-away.
No matter how cold its gotten here or how deep the snow, he had never shown that he was cold.
No shivers, no nothing.
But, he was also a lot beefier then.
So, we bought him a winter jacket.
Isn't he so handsome?
HAHAHAHA!
Another sign of Ralph's recovery.....
....digging up and eating grass, moss and dirt in the yard.
He tries to pretend like he doesn't.
VACATION!!
Winter break began after school on the 18th of December.
And, yes, even though we were all working/schooling from home, everyone needed a break.
At this point in the month, it had been almost two weeks of elimination diet for Mikey.
It was working!
His stomach pain was decreasing and he even wanted to try a judo workout with Huzbend.
We were elated. It had been since the first week of September that he had been in pain.
As you can guess, Western Washington in December can be a bit wet at times.
There was no way outside judo was going to happen this particular weekend.
So, the boys just moved some of the furniture out of the living room.
Yep.
This is what we found when we moved the smaller couch.
It was enough room to get both mats down.
You can see Katie and I prepping for our afternoon in the background.
More on that later.
They had a good workout.
Mikey was tired because it had been a while since he'd done judo.
That afternoon, Baby Yoda/Grogu came for a visit.
Ralph was not impressed.
THIS is what Katie and I were working on.
We were baking the cake to make this thing.
Another 'Nailed It' event, but this time holiday themed.
We were making a gluten free, dairy free toy robot cake.
This time we were able to use eggs in our cake.
(Mikey decided he was okay not partaking)
There were quite a few steps that we had to do beforehand besides bake and cut the cake.
We also had to make rice krispie treats and shape them.
Katie took care of the krispie treat shapes.
I took care of making the buttercream (with no actual butter) frosting as well as building and icing the base of the cake.
This time we made the frosting the same day and did NOT put it in the fridge.
It was much smoother and easier to spread.
It was time for the event.
It was just as fun as last time.
Good to see so many people having fun and goofing around.
The hour event was just along enough for us to decorate the cake.
First, we had to roll out our fondant and cut it into shapes.
No matter how thin we rolled out the fondant, it never seemed to be enough to actually cover the cake.
I really think they should always give extra.
Or maybe, that's the plan.
Give too little so that everyone's cake looks silly.
This time, I assisted Katie all the way through and we were able to finish the cake on time.
I was busy rolling out fondant and cutting shapes, which I would then hand over to Katie to apply.
We made a good team.
Still....nothing like the original.
After dinner, it was time to disassemble the robot and eat him.
Poor sugar filled robot.
Once again, our cake was dense and moist.
It was good to build with but not the best cake to actually eat.
Oh well.
One positive was that the fondant was thin enough that you couldn't taste it.
It was nice building/consuming you, robot.
WHAT?!?!?
We sent Ralph outside to investigate.
Yep.
It was snow.
Three days before Christmas, we went on an adventure to find some snow.
We had rented an Airbnb in Central Washington at the base of the Northern Cascades.
We were going to try snowshoeing for the first time and go tubing at a local ski hill.
We packed up the car, the kids and the doggo and off we went.
The recent snow left a pretty cover for the trees and mountains throughout Snoqualmie Pass.
All in all, it took about 4 hours to get there.
We had to ride through the Wenatchee area which is famous for all of its fruit trees.
As you can see, there wasn't much snow.
But lots and lots of trees.
We finally made it to the turn-off to the house.
The directions said that we would have to ride about 5-6 miles on a dirt road.
Didn't seem so bad.
A little nerve wracking with no guardrails though.
Well, it got much worse.
We made it to the "gated" community that the house was in.
I wouldn't call it a community. There were maybe three other houses in the whole area and they were spread very far apart.
AND, the roads were kind of plowed but still had about 2-3 inches of packed snow and ice on them.
The directions the owner had us follow led us to a dead-end.
The snow plow had quit plowing.
Huzbend got out to dig through the pile.
I decided to walk up ahead to see what the road was like.
Um. Yeah.
There's no way our AWD car was making it through that crusty snow with NO GUARDRAIL.
The road happened to circle the crest of the mountain.
So, we turned around and headed the other way to the house.
It was FRICKIN' scary, but we made it to the house.
How we would make it out was anyone's guess.
We were very glad that we had purchased snow chains, a packable shovel and other winter driving gear.
Ralph was happy to get himself out of the car and explore.
He wasn't quite sure where to "go" as everything was covered with a frozen layer of 5+ inches of snow.
There was also no fence, so I would have to physically accompany him out to do his business every time. Bummer. It was COLD out there.
I do have to say that the view from the house was AMAZING.
If I didn't just about have a heart attack getting to the place, I would have been able to enjoy it more.
I wasn't the only one stressed.
We decided that we weren't going to go anywhere until we were actually leaving this place.
There was no way that we could drive up and down that hill multiple times.
That meant no snowshoe adventure and no tubing.
We'd just have to make due with what was around us.
And, in case you were wondering, we didn't have to worry about food.
When we stay at an Airbnb we bring everything we need with us since we can't go out to eat anywhere due to all of the food restrictions we have.
We settled in, ate some pasta for dinner and watched Food Network.
I think there would've been a full on revolt if there was no Food Network.
Sunrise was just as beautiful the next morning.
What was NOT beautiful was having to take Ralph out to pee in the dark in 18 degree cold.
AND, HE DIDN'T EVEN PEE.
Ralph and his one piece of luggage.
The place was okay.
It was pretty dated and beat up (the bathroom tub was atrocious, the microwave had no power, the sink was falling apart), but the layout was really nice and, as I said before, the view was amazing.
As far as social distancing was concerned, we didn't have to worry about a thing.
I am pretty sure we were the only humans on the mountain.
Time to go outside!!!
"Ralph go outside too?"
Mikey was ready and raring to go.
Katie?
Not so much.
"Why go out into the cold when I have a TV playing Guy's Grocery Games all day?"
Told ya. We were on top of a mountain.
There was quite a bit of snow, but it was pretty frozen.
It didn't make good snowballs and couldn't be made into snow forts or snowmen.
Mikey did try though.
Since we were supposed to be going tubing, we didn't think to bring our own sleds.
Huzbend improvised with the collapsible shovel.
I made Ralph wear his jacket AND his snow proof booties.
Katie finally made it outside.
We decided to give snow shoeing a try using the snowed-in road at the end of the driveway as our trail.
Mikey was not excited.
See those trees?
The house was down the driveway between the trees.
Ralph was ready to go.
No snow shoes needed
Just purple rubber booties.
Off to explore!
Ralph was on turbo charge.
He smelled all the smells and ate all the poop he could find.
We hadn't seen any animals, but they certainly pooped a lot.
It was a nice hike.
It was pretty easy since it was on a snow covered road.
The sun actually made it quite warm.
We see you!
Mikey was tired.
He didn't sleep well the night before.
He said it was from the stress of the drive to the house and the thoughts of sliding off the side of a mountain when we attempted to drive back out.
We're such great parents.
We decided to turn around after about 45 minutes of hiking.
I handed Ralph off to Huzbend to hang back with Mikey.
Katie was kind enough to take my picture along with the fabulous background.
Thanks, Katie!
Katie ran off to catch up with Huzbend and our poo-hunting dog, Ralph.
I walked slowly back with Mikey.
Almost to the house.....you can see it in the distance to the left in the picture.
Katie, Ralph and Huzbend were waaay ahead of us and already heading down the driveway..
Mikey and I decided to really put our snowshoes to the test.
We took a right off the road and walked across the field to the house instead of down the driveway.
Everyone warmed up with a late lunch.
Mikey created a "meat sandwich".
A bratwurst wrapped in roast beef sandwich meat.
Um.
Yum?
Katie just had the rest of the roast beef, some dried apricots and Fritos.
Because, "You need something crunchy with your lunch."
Fritos are a food group according to her.
Maybe a vegetable since they are made out of corn?
After lunch, it was hot tub time.
Mikey and Huzbend were the test subjects.
They gave a thumbs up and so, Katie and I joined them.
Katie first.
Here's proof.
I got in the hot tub.
I was also a pillow.
With the sun going down the light got all dramatic and Mikey decided to do a bit of modeling.
Maybe a future career?
Katie tried to replicate.
She was a bit too giggly.
After the hot tub and a shower, it was back to Food Network watching under our warm blankets.
Ralph was exhausted.
I once again became a pillow.
Dinner!
It's really amazing what Huzbend can pull together in these Airbnb deadbeat kitchens.
Sausage, broccoli and latkes.
Some latkes were made at home with eggs for Katie and some were made AT THE AIRBNB without eggs for Mikey.
That night, the kids and Huzbend froze their butts off taking Ralph out for his pre-bedtime walk.
Time to go outside again.
There really wasn't much else to do besides watch Food Network.
"Do I HAVE to wear the booties?"
We spent a few hours playing in the snow.
The kids took turns using the shovel as a sled and perfecting their sled run.
"Mommy? I wanna go down the hill too."
So, we did.
Should've worn snowshoes to get down the way we did (the other hill was too steep).
The snow was still hard and frozen, so they were having a snow-butt fight.
The point was to try to hit the other in the butt with a "snowball".
All I know was that there was a lot of screaming....
...a lot of laughing....
...and a lot of "HEY!" being yelled.
Everyone had a good time. The kids were exhausted. Ralph got to sniff new areas.
"I"
"AM SO"
"TIRED."
Aw. So cute with the rosy cheeks.
Okay. Okay! I'll go away.
After another late lunch, the snow-butt crew decided to hop in the hot tub.
Meanwhile, Ralph and I went on an investigative journey to the end of the road.
Definitely scenic and definitely icy.
We made it to the end of the road.
It took about 30 minutes.
"Can we go back now?"
Me and my adventure buddy.
He's such a good boy.
I was starting to think that Ralph didn't want to "sit" for my posed landscape pictures....
"ENUF."
It took us about an hour and a half roundtrip to the entrance and back.
The roads were pretty icy.
We'd definitely need our chains to get out.
On the way back to the house, I spotted these deer tracks in the road.
I could definitely live in a house that had a driveway and view like this, even with how isolated it was as long as there was no snow on the dirt road, like, EVER.
Hey!
More local wildlife.
I looked them up.
They were busy running across the field as Ralph and I walked down the long driveway.
Ralph was SUPER interested.
Much to his chagrin, I did not let him chase the quail.
Back to the house we went.
We decided that we would leave a day early to beat a storm that was coming.
There was no way we'd want to be stuck up here in the snow and we didn't want to risk going over the passes in the snow.
For our Christmas Eve dinner we had delicious yakitori shio (shio means salt, so no soy in there) chicken, broccoli and rice bowls.
Merry Christmas!
Time to get outta Dodge!
After one last binge of Food Network.
Huzbend chained up the car.
We packed up and were ready to roll.
Although the roads were still snow and ice, it was a much less stressful ride out.
Not sure if that was because we had the tire chains on or because I walked the whole length of road the day before.
To make sure he didn't freak out, Mikey kept his eyes on his book the whole time.
As soon as we got off the snowy road, Huzben removed the chains and we were on our way home.
It was good to be home.
Ralph was especially happy to be able to wander his yard in NON below freezing temperatures.
We sent the kids off to bed, and then this happened!
The magic of Christmas.
MERRY A DAY LATE CHRITSMAS!
Ralph got to open his stocking first.
Two new squeaky toys.
Hurray!
The kids were up next.
Mostly candy in their stocking.
Who would do such a thing?
On to the presents!!
Mikey got his very own Sith Holocron with two Kyber crystals.
He could now glean knowledge from Darth Sidious, Darth Vader and Darth Bane.
Katie got a move on on her gifts.
A video game....
...an anime shirt....
...and a froggie dissection lab.
All the while, Mikey was STILL playig learning from his holocron.
Finally, he moved on.
Mandalorians!
A frickin' t-shirt with a frickin' E on it worth one million dollars.
Katie officially became a member of B.C.'s Body Shop.
She'd started lifting weight with Huzbend four days a week.
Ralph was still enjoying his gifts.
It wouldn't be Christmas without Lego sets!
A very pretty handmade glass art heart from Grandma.
A cloak, that she wore ALL DAY.
A book to help learn Spanish.
Can never have enough t-shirts.
Katie got lots of Hatsune Miku stuff.
Mikey got a statue of Kratos.
Along with a cosplay costume of Kratos' boy, Atreus.
Joint present....oooooooo...what is it, what is it?
Dance pads to play DDR.
Yep.
One more to go....
XBOX X.
Nice. "Santa" is awesome, isn't "he"?
And, "he's" double awesome because "he" hides PS5 controllers in kitchen drawers.
We ended up have a fancy ham dinner that evening and then a few days of han leftover meals after that.
Much to Katie's delight.
That was sarcasm.
She doesn't like ham.
The next day, the kids got busy decorating their gingerbread house.
It is always very interesting to watch.
Each kid has a distinct style.
Mikey is very slapdash and random.
At least this year he didn't have partially eaten candy on his side.
Katie is very deliberate in her decorating.
It takes her twice as long.
Here are the finished products....
Can you guess which side is whose??
It was kinda rainy the rest of the week, so there wasn't much activity.
Just playing video games, working on school projects and eating lots of candy and cookies.
On New Years Eve, it happened to not be raining.
The guys rode down to a local park and Katie and I met them there.
We took Ralph along so he could get a walk.
The rest of that afternoon was spent doing guess what?
Playing more video games.
Katie joined in to help the guys make their way through Gears of War 5 (for the second, maybe third, time).
They stopped long enough to eat dinner and dessert.
Everything free fondue!
MMMMMMMM.
Mikey is the messiest fondue eater.
Given the choice, Katie would probably just lick the bowl and not dip anything.
CHEEZE!
We watched the ball drop on 2020.
It was cathartic.
But, also, depressing.
There were no people in Times Square.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Fizzy apple cider and 12 grapes time!
And, just like that, they were back to finish the game.
After a successful use of the Hammer of Dawn to save New Ephyra, Huzbend went off to bed.
The kids and I stayed up to have a "sleepover".
We watched Frozen 2.
Mikey fell asleep.
Katie and I finished the movie.
She moved on to Beauty and the Beast while I fell asleep.
Hello 2021.
