The day after Christmas, we headed up to Saguaro National Park. Blake was in full photographer mode and we have him to thank for these great pictures.
Annie was sporting some candy cane ribbon braids courtesy of Breezy
"Look over there!"
"Don't look at him, look at me!"
"No, look at that cactus!"
To further delight us, Blake got creative with our ice cream maker. His concoction included strawberries and blueberries... and carrots and ginger. It was actually good, but then he topped it with a spicy chili sauce. It was... interesting.
The gals went to see the Nutcracker put on by a local dance studio! Annie kept asking, "why didn't you sign me up to be in this?!?"
Breezy did an awesome Christmas Gem craft with the kiddos! This was before we found them a more fitting display place. Isaac made one that was just green scribbles with gems glued on top. Annie took one look at it and said "maybe he should keep that one up in his room instead of down here with ours."
Breezy's winter wall decor was a group effort. Elliot is always glad to lend a hand in producing paper snowflakes.
We convinced the Johnsons to have Christmas in Arizona this year! It worked out great because Claudia and her kids were in Spain, meaning that Johnsons could crash at Stephen's house for extra room. The tragedy was that Mimi got a terrifying staph infection on her face a few days before she was supposed to fly out here. She ended up being hospitalized after being slow to respond to antibiotics. The infection was growing and getting close to her eyes in a way that could result in blindness or death. Fortunately the heavy duty antibiotics kicked in and she made a full recovery impressively quickly. This was extra sad because she had to cancel her trip last minute the last time we tried to have Christmas in Arizona back in 2020 because we caught Covid. One day it will happen, and this year we had the New Year's cruise to look forward to!
We ended up having Blake, Clio, Karissa, and Aunt Trisha fly into town. Blake had been around for a week already, but the others rolled in the day before Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year, so we got to start the day off with Church. I had the opportunity to give a talk. I based it on a line from a Christmas song that I love that says "Far away feels a little closer today."
The little kids in their Christmas church clothes
The bigger kids in their Christmas church clothes
Naturally, the little kids insisted on re-creating the classing Breezy-Blake pose
After church and lunch, we persuaded everyone to get out in the good weather and walk around the neighborhood harvesting some barrel cactus fruits.
De-seeding disaster zone! I meant to dry the seeds to store them, but forgot about it until they went bad. I candied the thinly sliced cactus fruit. I thought it was meh but Blake couldn't stop eating them so I guess that counts as a success!
This year's nativity was presented via shadow puppet theatre. Aaron read from the scriptures while Elliot acted it out with his carefully prepared puppets.
Everyone liked it so much that they asked for another story to act out after the nativity, which resulted in Blake crafting a version of A Christmas Carol with thick Jamaican accents.
Blake with meats. This guy is a true delight to have around.
Fondue feast!
On Christmas morning, the kids did an impressive job of waiting until 9 am for the adults to wake up and assemble from the other house. They diligently sorted the presents into piles for each person that completely covered the living room- I had to clear a bit of a pathway to the couches. It was good that we were at least able to have Mimi (freshly discharged from the hospital) and Grumpa participate in most of our activities over video call.
Christmas morning pullaparts!
Taking some new board games out for a spin
Beef wellington zone
Aunt Trisha make the most delicious stuffed mushrooms I have ever tasted out of ingredients we already had. Christmas was truly full of culinary delights this year.
And for the the true fans, here's a 3 minute snapshot of our Christmas morning. Shoutout to Mimi and Grumpa on video call and to Blake for excellent camera work.
Elliot's birthday was on one of the last school days before the break, so they had a celebration day with lots of crafts and activities. The best one was where they made parachutes for Santa. It was totally up Elliot's alley.
For his birthday this year, he wanted to take his friends James and Kelton (and his Uncle Blake!) to Defy.
Fighting for dominance. I was so excited to watch Blake fight these 9-year-olds, and he did not disappoint!
I love watching Elliot become increasingly daring.
Elliot contemplating his next daring exploit, while Annie happily poses for the camera
After Defy, we headed back to the house for pizza and cake. It should be noted that this party came with a document labeled "Elliot the Great's Birthday Party Planning," which included a detailed schedule and a cross sectional diorama of his cake.
Elliot at 9 years old is a fun guy to be around. He is so smart and creative. He loves making stuff, like this shadow puppet box:
Elliot is in the gifted program at school this year. He says he likes it "because I can use the bathroom without asking, and there are lots of kinds of rubik's cubes there." Their latest project involves programming Lego robots in Scratch, which is quite possibly the most Elliot-suited project they could have come up with. Well, maybe they could have incorporated hot glue somehow to capture that part of his essence as well.
We gave him a laminator for his birthday. He had been asking for one for months. He laminated a chess board, white boards for acronymania, and dry erase "roll a creature" boards.
He has finally made the transition to full blown chapter books. His gateway series was the Warrior cats series, and now he is branching out a bit. He still likes a good book of random facts.
He loves board games- the more complicated, the better. Lately his two favorites are Dicemasters and Magic the Gathering. I'm the only one in the house that knows how to play, and we are both perpetually frustrated that I have to do things other than play games with him all day.
His other favorite activity: stealing my phone and drawing on pictures.
He has a surprisingly high tolerance for hot sauce given how wimpy his parents are.
He is still a very independent person. He gets himself up and ready for school by himself, including walking to the bus stop in the dark. He's learning how to cook a few things on his own.
To end this post in the same way he ends most of his school papers, "Now you know all about Elliot."
Thanksgiving season started as all thanksgivings should- with superhero themed fall crafts.
Elliot and Annie coated one wall with leaf crafts. Isaac told Breezy to make him a Batman leaf, and boy did she deliver. It turns out that there actually is a bat-turkey adopted by Robin in a Batman comic! Breezy's superhero knowledge is vast and very appreciated in this household.
Annie's class had a Thanksgiving party that I went to! They had cute turkey hats and did a little skit/song for us.
They read a book about a turkey trying to convince everyone to eat pizza on Thanksgiving, so we made pizzas. Most people had normal shaped pizzas, but Annie and I made sea turtles. They were surprisingly delicious!
Max, Morgan, Blake, and his girlfriend Aspen rolled into town late Wednesday night. I slept in the next morning and woke up to Blake already cooking, with a very eager crew of kids helping him peel carrots. I took them down the street to collect some rosemary from the bushes around the park. The kids were positively bouncing with excitement. They made the cookie salad and shredded the bread for the stuffing.
My neighbors asked us to watch their chickens and duck while they are out of town. My brothers decided to do a heart warming photo shoot with Sweet Pea the duck (who really is the sweetest)
The love of these brothers is almost as tender as this bird.
Feast time! Blake even brought Spruce beers! It's like root beer, but it tastes like... spruce. Max is obsessed with it.
Double load of savory stuffing, Blake Mac, Morgan Mashed Taters, rolls, cookie salad, Brussel Sprouts (the crown jewel), and the tenderest turkey you have ever eaten. It was all so good!
The next day was Friday. We played games and wandered about the park and neighborhood trails. That night we watched the delightfully cheesy 1981 Superman II. My siblings have a unique energy that comes out when they get together- it was the most laughing I have done in a long time!
Max & Morgan left early Saturday morning, but Blake and Aspen stuck around for some more adventures. We decided to take them to the Desert mMuseum.
Just a little lad riding on a wild javelina
Annie was perpetually inserting herself into Blake and Aspen's pictures
Vulture girl!
Beautiful photography by Blake!
Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. The whole long weekend was full of good food, chats, and fun. We are blessed beyond measure!
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