Not gonna miss my shot

A light on horizon of the dark night that is COVID

has finally started glowing.

The vaccine is here!

Mom got it today after a long night on call.

She said she wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion

or joy

or relief,

but she cried after receiving her shot.

You're going down, COVID.

 

These are a few of our favorite things

Christmastime brings all the fun traditions:

We LOVE opening our Advent calendars every morning.

This year we had metal puzzles and erasers

with our legos

We made some crafts for school

Jack had his Christmas concert--

our first virtual concert!

A new event was our Neighborhood Lights Contest

complete with a cocoa/cider/cookie stop

Our old favorite is Christmas in the Park.

We got there extra early--15 minutes before the park opened!--

but the line was literally 5+ miles long!!

We bailed.

We'll go after Christmas.

We can't break our 11 year streak!

We're in the spirit around here!

The Annual Jammie Pictures

This was a milestone year

in the Reed House.

Usually Mom asks for PJ pictures

and we don't fight it

but we don't love it.

But this year was different.

WE ASKED to take them

and then WE ORGANIZED the whole thing!

Tuck and I were tired of waiting for Jack and Wes

so we got started early

Trying to get the light just right...

OK!

Now that we're all here,

let's get this show on the road.

We each came up with a pose

And we even did a pretend-to-hate-this one

so Mom would feel like old times.

We're going to do this picture thing

until we're too old

to hold each other up!

 

A big Christmas surprise

Mom and Dad are known

for their holiday surprises.

When Mema and Pappo

showed up with Strouds,

we wondered if something was up.

Then they handed us these gifts,

and we KNEW that one was coming!

Matching jammies

for a limo lights tour!

We roll high class

Nothing but the best here

as we show Mema and Pappo a good time

Our classiness made our first stop

the Magic Potty

Pappo was impressed

They had a whole night planned:

the Magic Tree

a definite old favorite

and maybe a new favorite

the Mayor's Christmas Tree

and the Plaza

We checked out all the neighborhoods

off Ward Parkway

(the "laser houses")

and Candy Cane Lane.

 

We went to some new ones too--

like this AWESOME one off Antioch 

totally worth the drive

Deanna Rose had a heck of a show too

Thanks for coming Mema and Pappo!

Thanks Mom and Dad!

This was a night full of fun!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

All the good things of the season

have come around.

Farley came back!

He's apparently isolating for 14 days

so we can all safely be together.

We got out all the decorations 

We've been busy wrapping presents

and watching Christmas movies

(well, mostly watching Christmas movies)

We hit a few of our favorite light shows

Mom is obsessed with this one.

I think she could sit there all night.

We ate, I mean made, chocolate-dipped pretzels

Whew.

All this elf work is hard work!

We have a teenager!

A birthday like this calls for a lot of celebrations!

One at the cabin

with Mema's cupcakes.

A midday visit with Papa Kim and Grandma Phyllis

And then a gift from my family

A shirt.

Yay.

Just what every 13 year old wants!

Wait??

There's more??!?

My own phone!!!!

I mean,

it's not the Google Pixel I wanted

but I guess an Apple will do...

Top it off with Olive Garden

and a red velvet cheesecake

and I don't think it gets much better than this.

Or so I thought.

A visit from Austin and Kayla

as a night cap???

Being a teenage is starting out amazing.

Cabin shinnanigans

Cold doesn't stop the cabin fun--

it just changes it!

Four wheeling at the end of the road

is a must

Rangering is fun too!

I mean, come on.

How can you not want to make some mud fly?

And we make mud look good...

...really good!

The whole crew was there

because "tea time" is better

with some fresh air, blue sky and open land.

Right???

We also love getting dressed up

for poker night

Because turkey hats

makes me even luckier than usual

(and I nearly always win!)

We had fun today!

A twist on this weekend

was chopping down Uncle Steve's old tree

Cool!

Am I right?

A fallen tree

needs to be stood on

and then cut up

We all took turns

Weston did NOT make it look easy

All this fun, but the most talked about event of the weekend

was this:

Yep, that would be Jack,

learning to drive the Ranger.

He is nearly 13!

Whatever Jack does,

Weston is close behind...

guess 10 is old enough?

Definitely an unforgettable weekend!