Everything you need for a perfect night

It's Valentine's Day!

How should we spend a

snowy, pandemic date night?

With some great sous chefs,

a few gifts

(Jack got them for us!),

a great new kitchen table

set with our fine china,

some great company

dressed in their finest,

tasty drinks

to toast,

and an amazing meal

topped with music

to jam out to.

Yep,

everything we need is right here

Best. Valentines. EVER!

 

Normal

With all the strange "new" normals

like wearing masks while playing soccer

or socially-distant, mask-clad shopping

it was nice to throw it out the window

and do some "old" normal

for a bit 

like taco night with our cousin

along with a few games...

Um,

we think this is normal...

 

Run It Back...next year

Well, we had our Spirit Days at school

(here's the bus stop crew on Hat Day)

and made all our Spirit Signs

We had a Super Bowl party

complete with red gear,

special drinks,

and chicken nachos

but all this good mojo wasn't enough

to get our Chiefs their victory.

Sigh.

There's always next year.

Game nights

We have a lot of Friday and Saturday nights 

at home these days.

I think they are every bit as fun as 

going out.

We've been putting the new air hockey table

and shuffleboard table to good use

And we've been playing through

all the games we got for Christmas.

Nope.

Don't miss going out much at all.

No more snow days

A "silver lining" of COVID is that

we don't have snow days anymore--

as in, we can do virtual school

and then not have to make them up at the end of the year.

I guess that's a silver lining?

Although,

days filled with hot chocolate making

(I had to write a paper about it),

Magnatile breaks,

and Art Hub for Kids projects

isn't too bad!

Ok, maybe it IS a COVID silver-lining.

Our little Hef

I got this robe from Grandma Phyllis

for Christmas.

I wear it a LOT--

after my shower,

during books,

to bed,

in the morning,

during virtual school days,

on weekends,

while I play Minecraft...

You get the picture.

A new "sport"

Ok, it's not really a sport.

I decided to join the Scholar Bowl team

at BCMS after the encouragement of Mom and Dad.

We had our first meet today

against SLMS.

I helped out the B team

with 2 correct answers.

I knew a lot more but was too slow on the buzzer.

Mom and Dad were excited to watch

the livestream!

My next meet,

I got 10 questions right...

and a move up to the A team!

I'll keep you posted

on my trivia prowess...

 

Some R&R...and 4s...and Cs...

Between soccer and work and holidays,

we haven't been to the cabin

since Thanksgiving!

We couldn't pass up a 3 day weekend

to escape.

Saturday, Mema and Pappo said there was

some work to be done in the barn.

So we headed up the road

and got ourselves ready to moves some...

somethings.

It wasn't really clear what we were moving.

Hat, "shacket," backpack, light--

Tuck was ready to go.

Turned out,

trick's on us!

Pappo got a good deal on a new 4 wheeler,

so I got a new one

(with lots of new features!)

Ready to roll!

Along with that,

Beckett got my old one

which is bigger and faster than his old one.

So fast--Mom couldn't catch a picture.

I think he likes it.

This also meant Tuck,

who was riding my original

now 7 year old, lots of miles and hours one

got a newer ride too!

Needless to say,

we were all gone most of the day.

We were sure to be home for dinner though--

we celebrated Mema's 69th birthday

with her spaghetti

and Aunt Mandy's chocolate cake

It was GOOOOOOD!

Sunday brought more 4 wheeling,

some archery,

and all our red gear.

We all got to cheer on the Chiefs together!

The sunset must have known

the Chiefs won

because it was all reds!

We decided to tromp down the path

for an evening stroll

to see the sunset a little better

It was a lovely night

and the sunset just kept going

There were lots of rocks to be thrown,

slingshots to be shot,

and rocks to be climbed

Right, Rang?

Like I said,

the sunset just kept getting better.

We didn't let the evening fun end there.

We had lots of crafts to make

and craps to learn!

Pappo got this great idea

to teach us to play craps.

So he set up this simplified game

and we played for hours!

There were a lot of great payouts

where we really thought we were beating the house

But we learned,

the house ALWAYS wins.

No matter.

We're already counting down until

our next craps night at the cabin.

And maybe until our 21st birthdays.

And we're back...again...for now

Ah, COVID.

It's been so much fun

constantly changing plans

and wondering what will happen next.

This week?

Us Smalls are back to in-person school.

The community numbers don't look good

but we'll take it while we can!

 

A big (mouth) Saturday Night

We got a TON of new games

for Christmas.

This one,

although rather disgusting,

may be a new favorite.

The disgusting definitely adds to the fun...