Another day, another board game

We got Logan a new board game for Christmas: Stuffed Fables. It's a storybook and board game all in one! 👍🏼

Merry Christmas!

Callum woke up super early this morning and waited FOREVER for his big brother to wake up - who was sleeping in. I finally allowed him to wake Logan up so they could open their Santa (and regular) gifts, since I knew he might explode otherwise! :)

This year I decided to have a non-electronic gift giving Christmas - so all of their gifts are card and board games, crafts or books, etc. They loved everything they got and didn’t appear to miss the electronic theme one bit! Hurray!

The boys got me a very beautiful hand painted dragon ornament, that I absolutely love. After unwrapping, Jon made pancakes and I made crepes, and we all stuffed ourselves silly. Then, we decided to play a new board game that Logan received (called Stuffed Fables) - which we are still in the middle of playing but enjoying the time together! (We took a break mid afternoon to walk the dogs and have an early dinner but will start back up again soon!)

Hope everyone has had a lovely day with family and friends!! 

Rise Against Hunger

Logan’s school held a fantastic winter service project for his entire grade today, to close out the school year before their long holiday break.

Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief organization that distributes food to hungry children and families around the world. They took over the school’s gym to create massive assembly lines for the kids to package dehydrated meals made of rice, soy, vegetables, and packets with many vitamins and minerals! So cool.

The 5th grade class met their goal of making 7,500 meals (in just one hour!) - most of today’s meals will head to hungry kids in Asia, we’re told. The other (4) grades in his school worked on a different day, and made roughly 25,000 meals!!

Logan isn’t usually into the various events that the school and PTA sponsor. But this was one he not only had a big interest in, but had a lot of fun doing too!! I, along with several other parents, helped set up the space and monitor the tables, but the kids were the ones who did all the packaging!!

Music was blaring, kids were chatting while working, every time we boxed up another 1,000 meals we'd ring a big gong - to which the kids would cheer in excitement. They were on fire - it was such an amazing experience to be a part of and witness. What a contribution these kids, and our school, have made.

Learning how to use a wax seal

Logan bought this neat wax seal set when in London over the summer, but we kinda forgot about it! Whoops.

But, he remembered he had it when writing thank you cards for his birthday presents, so he decided to break it out to use. The end result was pretty cool - I must admit!! :)

Pajama Day!

I'm sure Callum was comfy and cozy at school today. 👍🏼👍🏼

Simple...

Simple, but perfect. Mexican food for dinner, topped off with brownies and our homemade candles, accompanied by some off-key singing! 😆

All of that equals one happy 11 year old.

Happy Birthday Logan!!

Today is Logan's 11th Birthday!! He's turning into such a great kid - kind, empathetic, observant, and so smart! He's got a great sense of humor too, which we're enjoying more and more. We love you kiddo!! Hope you have a terrific day. 🥰

A birthday party for an (almost) 11 year old!

Today, we celebrated Logan’s 11th birthday!! He has been wanting to do an escape room for awhile but they’ve always been a little too old for him. 

Finally, with a combination of finding one that was geared a bit younger, and he and his friends can now handle a little older content, we reserved a spot to celebrate his birthday today! 

The theme of the room was “Escape the Aliens” - we had one hour to solve it and sadly, we couldn’t do it!! :) We were on the last clue when we ran out of time. The kids had a ton of fun tho, and that’s all that matters!

After the game, we walked across the street to grab lunch, followed by an ice cream cone treat at Baskin Robbins! We gave the kids each a Rubik’s cube as a party favor, which they loved playing with and trying to solve, on the ride home. :)

Happy (early) 11th Birthday Logan!! Can’t believe how quickly time has flown by - and what an amazing person you are growing into!!

Move over Taco Tuesday...

It's Tamale Tuesday's turn!! 🤣😋

Decorations are up!

The boys and I spent last night putting up our trees - and sometime in the middle of it all, they snuck around and wrapped a couple of presents (for Jon and I) to put under the tree! Pretty cute. 🥰

Happy Chanukah Friends!! 🕎

I decided to give it a go with some traditional Jewish cuisine for dinner tonight since it's the first night of Chanukah!

I made homemade challah and latkes - both were a lot of work! But, it was quite a yummy meal that everyone enjoyed (I mean, who doesn't love carbs?) - so the hard work was worth it. 🥰

What a workout!

A few knuckles may have been cracked during the kneading of this bread. 🤪

It’s a good school pics year, I guess!

Logan's school pics finally came in 🥰

Native Californian sighting

I snapped this pic real quick, as we were out walking to lunch today. I got a real kick out of seeing Logan in a short sleeved shirt, shorts and flip flops..... while it's raining outside! 😂😂😂

Man. Such a Californian kid.

Thankfully, our air quality literally went from complete crap, to clear and healthy, overnight, due to some much needed rain that came in last night! We even ate outside because it was just so dang nice to breathe the fresh air again!!

Emergency Preparedness

Yesterday, I spent most of the day compiling a checklist and inventory of our emergency grab n' go bag I had put together last year. I added a few things and mostly double checked expirations dates, adding those into my checklist now so that I have a better way of tracking down the road! :) I also put together a second bag with change of clothes for all of us, since I had not done that before but thought it might be a nice to have....

I hope I never have to break this baby out and use any of it. But having it ready to go at least gives me - and the boys, who have been worried with the fires burning up our state recently - a little peace of mind.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

The house smells pretty amazing right now! 😋

Adulting

Who knew there'd be a day where I'd be excited to get, and install, an air purifier in our house?!? 🤣

Home improvement projects

Another day indoors due to shitty air quality. 😷 So I'm finally tackling a project I've been putting off for a couple of months: assembling our new Flor rug. 😩

It's been quite the chore to put together, especially when working with our old crummy uneven floor! 🤨 But, I'm liking how it's coming together. 👍🏼😅

School closed tomorrow

Northern California has been fighting a tremendous fire (the most deadly in all of our state's history!) for the past week. While the fire is hundreds of miles away from us - we have been covered in a cloud of smoke which has affected our air quality each day.

All week, the schools have canceled any outdoor activities and have been operating in a "Shelter in Place" protocol, keeping windows and doors shut, and turning off all HVAC systems. Slowly, and unfortunately, the air quality has worsened - to the point that our district decided late tonight, to close the schools tomorrow. I'm glad that they did.

I was out running errands today and was just shocked at how hazy and crappy our visibility has been. Normally, we have amazing views of the hills all around us. You can hardly make them out right now. It's so sad and heartbreaking, since it means if it's this bad here, it's unthinkable how awful it is near the site of the fire. 😩

Luckily, the boys don't seem to be too affected by the smoke. I've been the most sensitive to it - headaches, burning eyes, persistent cough, pretty much since the weekend.

They're forecasting some rain next week, right around Thanksgiving. We need it so desperately - I may try to get us all to do a rain dance, or two, tomorrow.

After all, there's no school. What else will we do? 😊