Holiday Hike

We got out and had a nice hike with the dog today.  There was only a moderate amount of complaining from the kids.  

This spot was especially nice because they had a big open space where dogs were allowed off-lease.  Mousse did a lot of running around after the frisbee.  There were a handful of other dogs playing as well.  Of course, we let Mousse off-lease for most of the hike but don't tell the park rangers that. 

 

Leo's first Gundam

A month or two ago, Leo remembered some robots he saw at a vender table at the tiny library Comic Con he went to four years ago.  A little internet digging got us to the hobby shop that carried them. From there, he learned the name of the robots - Gundam - and began a deep dive.  He watched YouTube videos of them being built and watched two seasons of the animated series.  

He wanted to build a Gundam, so when he got some money for Christmas he knew how he wanted to spend it.  We went to a very small hobby shop yesterday and he picked out a kit.  

Though his LEGO experience definitely served him well, the building process was quite different.  Even though it was his first time, he made rapid progress.  

By this afternoon, he was done!  It's hard to tell in this picture but it's a very intricate model.  

 

A Very COVID Christmas

In our continued effort to not let COVID ruin Christmas, we kept up some of our usual traditions and added some new fun stuff.  Wednesday night we went to a drive-through Christmas light show.  It was super impressive with the lights synced to music we played through the car radio.  There was a long line of cars to get into the place but we knew that was going to be the case and played a game to pass the time.  

Christmas Eve involved a lot of baking by me and cooking by Tom.  My mom came over and we had a very delicious meal of shrimp scampi.  I took my mom home after dinner and then the kids and I got to work on our traditional butter cookies for Santa.  

I didn't take too many pictures on Christmas day, but I'm glad I got this shot of Tom proudly holding his new chainsaw.  

Serafina chatted with her besties on FaceTime and they showed each other their gifts.  

Tom also got a leaf blower from Santa and put that to use immediately.  

He also took the chainsaw for a spin and hacked down branches of the neighbor's tree that are hanging over our fence.  That tree drops these annoying berries on to our beautiful green carpet...er, I mean grass. 

Serafina got lots of things on her list this year, including this cute matching sweat set.  

Leo got a laptop.  He was very surprised and excited.  He also got this oversized Baby Yoda pillow.  

Santa brought a beanbag toss game (a.k.a. cornhole) for our new backyard.  We quickly learned that Mousse loves to steal the beanbags while we play.  

He thinks we are tossing them for him.  

It was a nice quiet Christmas.  Most of our Christmases are quiet so it wasn't too different.  Maybe during a normal year we would have seen some friends but we feel lucky we are able to see Nana and enjoy good food.  
 

Family Cookie Party

I've been hosting a Christmas Cookie Party since 2008.  Sometimes it was in a different location.  Like in 2015 when my house was being remodeled so my friend Aida co-hosted with me and we held it at her house.  We decided not to have kids there and after that, there was no looking back.  It became a moms-only evening affair with a signature cocktail.  I didn't get to host a party this year with all my friends.  Just another tradition spoiled by COVID.  But we decided to have a family cookie party.  Each of us made a treat for the party and we ate all the yummy finger foods I usually serve.  

Here's Tom working on his cookies.  

Leo made fudge (with some help) from my friend Cara's recipe. It turned out smooth and delicious.  

Serafina made Chocolate Chip-Oreo-M&M cookies.  They were also very yummy. 

I made come Christmas sugar cookies.  They were fluffy without being cakey.  I was happy with how they turned out.  

Tom made amaretti cookies - soft almond cookies.  They were also very good with a distinct flavor from the almond flour, almond extract and orange zest. 

I made everyone dress in festive holiday wear .  Leo can't make a normal face in a picture apparently. 

Here's everyone enjoying the spread of my favorite appetizers that I usually serve at the party.  

 We ate ourselves silly while listening to Christmas music.  Then we watched Scrooged with Bill Murray which is one of my favorite Christmas movies.  It was a nice night and I'm very glad we did it.  Hopefully I can hold my usual cookie party next year.  

Foothills Park Hike

 Leo had this week off from school since his winter break has already started.  Serafina didn't finish until today and she was definitely not pleased that her brother has more break.  Of course, it's been this way for the past two years too, but Serafina is usually occupied with Nutcracker performances and class parties so it doesn't sting as much.  

Because Leo was free, he joined me and the dog for a hike on Thursday.  Foothills Park is much more than a park; it's an enormous protected open space that was private for Palo Alto residents only.  Then they got sued and they had to open to the public.  Thursday was the first day it was public and we were there to check it out. It was spectacular.  We're going back on Christmas Eve with Tom and Serafina to explore some more.  

Dance Boot Camp

Serafina had dance boot camp this weekend for the competition dance team.  Under normal circumstances, she would have spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the studio going to different classes, doing team building activities and watching other teams perform.  Instead she tuned into her technique classes from our house over Zoom.  She was a good sport about it.  On Saturday she had tap, jazz and contemporary.  Today she had hip hop, contemporary and the showcase where all the teams performed their competition routines.  

Here she is at tap class.  

Here's a video of the contemporary routine she learned.  

In addition to dancing for the competition team, she performed a dance for the school talent show and was picked as one of the top ten acts.  She also submitted a Reflections dance with original chorography, which won first place for the PTA council.  Her entry has moved on to the district level and will be judged in January.  

I'm so proud of all her hard work even though it gets her down some times that she's not in the studio where she longs to be.  

 

Mousse is 11 months old

Mousse is 11 months old.  He's a total goofball and we adore him.  He can be high maintenance and we are investing the time and money in training so he can be a very good boy.  

He's a good boy when we are hiking and I let him off his leash.  He sticks by me and checks in regularly. 

He loves the new backyard.  His favorite game is keep away. 

 

Backyard Transformation

 The backyard project has been a noisy, messy process, but we are so pleased with the end result that it was worth every pound of the jackhammer.  

When we got back from Tahoe two weeks ago, this is what our backyard looked like.  The deck was turned to rubble and there were three big drainage holes in the bottom of the pool.  

The inspector came and gave the project the green light to continue so the pool was jackhammered and filled in with rubble and dirt. 

The dirt was compacted over and over by this nifty machine.  

After more rounds of dirt and compacting, it looked less and less like our old backyard.  

I never liked this pool tile and I wasn't sad to see it go.  

The remaining rubble was cleared out and our new backyard was starting to take shape.  We were so amazed at how big it is without the pool.  

The pavers were delivered.  

And the artificial grass.   We discussed the fake grass/real grass issue quite a bit and Tom was in favor of fake because it is low maintenance and doesn't require any mowing on his part.  I was in favor of fake because I've lived in California all my life and I know there will be another drought in our future.  It would be such a bummer to watch our real grass go brown.  This way, we will have guilt-free green turf regardless.  

I took these pictures this morning.  Almost completely done!  We are so happy.  

We need to clean up some stray pots, plant some trees and buy some furniture, but that will all get done over time.  

We created a cool spot for a chiminea and some comfy seating.  

The turf looks a bit like a big green carpet but I love it.  You know who really loves it?  The dog.  He's so thrilled to have space to run around like a crazy puppy.  

Gingerbread Houses

Decorating gingerbread houses is an annual tradition, and in the spirit of a COVID Christmas, we have to do extra to compensate for all the crappiness around us.  So we had three houses, one of which was a Costco "mansion" and a ton of candy for decorating.  

Tom got roped in to decorating a Trader Joe's chalet.  He grumbled about it but he stayed committed to his art. 

Leo asked if he could write "boob" on the roof.  I told him no.  He is such a 13 year old boy sometimes. 

Serafina's creation. 

Tom's handiwork. 

Leo's family-friendly décor.