The Big 1-4

Fortunately, the 14th birthday weekend did not disappoint. T-man thanked us over and over again for such a great weekend. We skied both days with very good ski conditions for mid-December - Sunday even had 4 inches of fresh powder on a (cold) bluebird day. 

In addition to skiing on the 12th, we caught up on some shows, opened presents, played Exploding Kittens, had pizza and cake and T-man talked with several people wishing him a wonderful birthday. It was a really a great way to celebrate our wonderful son and the kind young man he is becoming. 

Baby Yoda! 

Breakfast waffles! 

Family skiing

Only one family per gondola (good for Covid, but bad for lines) 

Birthday presents 

Walking into the village to get pizza - love the lights 

Pizza delivery guy 

Happy, happy birthday sweet son 

The Rudolph nose from the bath bomb birthday present 

Bluebird day! 

Met up with some neighbors for a few runs - fun! 

Last Day of 13

Friday was the last day we spent a day with a thirteen year old in the Peavy household. A couple weeks ago, he threw out the idea that he wouldn’t mind skiing on his birthday. So, we booked a slope-side place that night. 

We arrived late Thursday and were able to manage the work from home and school work fine before the boys cut out of one class to hit the slopes. While Covid sucks and there is no hot tub open, skiing is one thing we can do and without Covid we would not be skiing for T-man’s birthday. 

He’s been very cute in his anticipation of this weekend - what are having for my birthday breakfast (waffle cabin slope side)? What are we having for my birthday dinner (takeout)? I’m going to search for my presents on the way up in the car. 

So, we will embrace this weird world we are in and hit the few runs that are open for a bit and celebrate T-man!!

Village view from the condo 

Last day of 13! 

Ready! 

Joining big bro 

You can see the gondola going up the mountain (only 1 family per ride which makes the lines long) 

JOY

Apparently, joy is a word that I associate with the holidays. And the holidays are truly a joyful time for me. 

Some of the simple joys these days..... 

• Hearing D-man putting away the dishes while I’m working in the living room 
• Playing euchre as a family 
• Hearing the boys laugh as they play snooker downstairs 
• A “date” with Marshall to go get gas and pick up our Target order 
• Trying a new recipe for dinner - quiche 
• Starting a new holiday puzzle 

Christmas Chaos

Being home over Thanksgiving weekend allowed us to get all of the Christmas decorating completed. All of the boys were good sports and helped out when asked. We started decorating the tree on Saturday, but D-man got called into work so we finished it on Sunday. T-man informed me that he didn’t like our themed tree because it is too organized. He prefers our more “chaotic” tree with ornaments from all facets of our lives. 

There were more walks, show watching and eating leftovers. We even made ice cream cookies on Sunday evening. The beauty of this time together is that we can actually be together. When we are all working and doing school from home, we are all here, but aren’t together. 

Here’s to surviving the next few weeks as we head into Christmas. 

The nativity is making an appearance after many years of 

Neglect. We didn’t want the pooping man to be lonely. 

Not sure what they are doing, but they are participating 

Oh how they love the big blue ornament 

Um....... 

Loving the lights 

The chaotic tree 

Turkey Time

This is only the second Thanksgiving we have spent in our Louisville home. In the most recent years, we have been in Spain, the Dominican Republic, Seattle and Minneapolis. While we are missing family this year, we worked hard to embrace the situation. D-man was excited to finally be having turkey on Thanksgiving Day after a three hiatus.

We watched our TV shows, enjoyed making the meal together, chatted with family over Zoom, played snooker and played cards online. 

Marshall made a delicious turkey with stuffing and gravy, I made green bean casserole and  D-man and I made homemade rolls and mashed potatoes. T-man got the table ready, poured the wine and found the electric knife for the turkey carving. We talked about what we were thankful for - T-man for family and the ability to learn; D-man for his health and living in a free country. We laughed about jello salad recipes in the VFW cookbook. 

Getting the bird ready 

Jiblets or giblets?? 

Brining Nebraska to Colorado 

Potatoes! 

Yum! 

Getting the table ready 

These actually turned out well! 

The table ready with the good China 

Small but special 

Thankful 

Karlen zoom gathering 

Peavy zoom gathering 

Mini ping pong while the adults play snooker - there were some laughs with this! 

Trying to remember where we were on Past Thanksgivings 

How much our dinner cost 

It was definitely not the Thanksgiving we planned, but we had a great day and a made the most of it. 

Snooker and Crumbl Cookies

This week, we tried a couple new things - snooker and Crumbl Cookies! With the boys off from school, they had some free time and and we sent them on some errands which included picking up cookies at the recommendation of coworkers. I have to say that we made a good decision picking those up! They also completed some returns, took library books back, walked to a local coffee shop a d just spent some time together. 

We also learned the game of snooker (a birthday gift for Marshall). I’m pretty terrible and T-man went 4-0 against Drake yesterday. Will be fun to continue practicing our skills throughout the winter. 

Delicious! 

Ready to play!

Runza Road Trip

We continue to look for different activities to keep us busy during Covid. This weekend was no different. Many times, that activity is simply getting in the car and picking up Target curbside orders or grabbing drive through coffee. T-man accompanied me for these errands on Saturday morning. While not a good thing and not a new experience, we watched the Huskers lose again. Fortunately, D-man and I put together care packages for the There with Care organization during the game so we had something else to keep us busy. 

On Sunday, we had a wonderful breakfast cooked by Marshall before putting up the Christmas lights. I loved that we all helped out and it looks wonderful! D-man and I then drove up to Longmont to get Runza and made a stop to pick up a couple trees to finish off the front porch decorating. I loved that our trip was his cherry at dinner. We also played a game of Euchre on Sunday night. We watched all the episodes of Ted Lasso as a family within three nights

I am continually thankful for such wonderful people to be stuck at home with. We laugh. We support each other. We try new things together. I obviously can’t wait for life to return to “normal,” but our Covid reality is not bad. 

Lights on the tree this year 

Always a big help with the lights 

Runza happiness 

I’m getting in the holiday spirit