Happy 14th Birthday Anna!

Today we celebrated Anna's 14th birthday!  We teased her in the days leading up to her birthday, reminding her that she could have been 14 already if she has just been born on her due date!  :-)  But somehow the 29th just seems to fit her just right!  She had a horse back riding lesson in the morning that started very late which means it ended very late and we got home very hungry!  After lunch it was onto gifts!  

Throughout lunch and the afternoon family stopped by to say happy birthday!  It is always nice to have family say hello!  We also played a mystery game similar to the game of Clue but where we each had a script and one of us what the "bad guy".  It was a lot of fun!  After dinner and desert we enjoyed a movie together.  

Happy birthday Anna!  Thank you for the blessing of you!  

And this year there are answers to my silly questions that Anna had a answer to this year, along with her prior answers.

• Favorite Color:  Pink (pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink) 
• Favorite Gift: jewelry box (Assassins Blade book, tall boots and Harry Potter movies, Hermione wand - from Harry Potter, pen pal kit, doll scooter, roller skates, wallet, pop charm bracelets)
• What do you want to be when you grow up:  Horse vet (Horse vet, Horse vet, Horse trainer or vet, horse trainer, horse trainer, horse hider, horse rider, librarian, librarian)
• Friends:  Lupe (Lina and Lupe, Lina and Lupe, Lina and Lupe, Lina and Lupe, Lupe from school, Lupe from school, Lina her cousin, Sydney from Cal Poly, Sydney and Brooklyn from school)
• Favorite thing to do:  ride horses (read, write and ride; read and ride, read, read, read, read, read, read books, play on the structure at school)
• Favorite thing to do at school:  band (sitting at a computer - a sign of COVID times!, read, science, science, science, science, write, play on the structure, write in straight lines)
• Favorite food:  Macaroni and Cheese home made (Macaroni and Cheese home made, Macaroni and Cheese, Macaroni and Cheese and ham casserole, macaroni and cheese, macaroni and cheese, Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni, yogurt)
• How old will you be when you grow up:  20 (21, 21, 21, 20 because she won't be a teenager anymore, 25, 20, 53, 34 - Same age as Mom, 16)
• Anna is still growing and is now 5' 3.25" tall!

Other than Anna's birthday, we are keeping a very close watch on the COVID numbers for our community.  The numbers are still climbing and although we are being told that the peak has arrived, it is a bit alarming.  The cases and the positivity rate are by far higher than they have been since the pandemic began.  We do our best to try keep the balance between staying safe and never leaving home.  The one piece we really want to make sure the kids have is school and we got multiple notices of COVID exposure this last week from the schools but thankfully our kids are fully vaccinated and aren't having to miss and haven't had symptoms.  Taking that as a major win!  

 

Half way through the school year

This week Anna completed the first semester of the school year (the boys are on trimesters).  In all the ups and downs and uncertainty, it feels a bit monumental to have gotten through half of the school year.  It is nice to have that bit of a normal routine back in our lives and to get to this point feels good.  Other than that it was a fairly normal week.  Anna did get her booster shot yesterday and had a bit of a hard day today but is thankful to have it to try and keep the impact of COVID down if she does get COVID.  And with more kids at school out due to illness, the weight of that worry is now just a bit more manageable.  

And this week is another "normal" week...but next weekend we are looking forward to celebrating Anna's birthday!  Yippee!  

Lots going on

This week the kids returned to school after the winter break and we held our breath after hearing horrible stories from other parts of the country about teacher shortages and many kids missing school due to the latest variant of COVID.  Thankfully their teachers are all there and the majority of their classmates.  The state provided home tests for students and staff to take before returning to campus and we are hopeful that kept the virus away from the school enough to keep the kids safe.  One week later and so far so good.  

This weekend was also a big one for my work.  We moved into the new facility we have designed and it took massive amounts of planning and although there were a few hiccups, it went amazingly smooth given all the hurdles that we faced.  And in all the shuffling I didn't manage to take any photos other that of the progress of the move!  So instead I will share this photo from mid December after the rain where you can see the bio-swale was hard at work and the facility was gleaming.  This is a huge accomplishment for our agency and to be honest, for me.  I played a vital role in funding the project and it has been a lot of work but the finished product is stunning!  

And today, we remember the inequities that persist around us and the fight to address those inequities still has a long fight to go but instilling in our family the importance of realizing and addressing those inequities give a glimmer of hope.  
 

Back to school tomorrow!

It is hard to believe the end of the winter break has come.  It was nice a long but also seems like it was short which is an odd feeling.  I think the main reason it feels short is that we are anxious about them return to campus with the sharp rise in COVID cases (it is worse now that January of last year).  Knowing that we are all vaccinated now does at least help ease some of those concerns.  Olivier returned to jiu jitsu in person this weekend after a long break now that he is vaccinated.  Trying to balance the risks we take with appropriate precautions.  

Since it is the last week of break the kids enjoyed a variety of activities, and on Friday I took them to see the elephant seals.  It was overcast and drizzly at home but it was sunny and nice at the beach.  And thankfully almost no one was there!  

We saw a lot of baby seals.  No fights between the males through, which I guess is good but they are interesting to watch!

Olivier liked the look this seal was making; it reminded him of the pitiful face our dog gives us.  

And this is a great video to hear what they sound like (this is a male):

And last night the kids enjoyed checking out an outdoor light exhibit.  It was a great special treat for them!  

 

2022 has arrived!

We celebrated the start to the new year in our normal fashion, at 9 p.m.!  We did stay up for a bit after and watched recorded firework shows from around the world before heading to bed.  It was a nice way to end a nice family day.  

We had a fairly quiet day on Saturday but it ended with a heartbreaking call.  Someone I work with passed away due to COVID.  They had been in the ICU and we knew the chances of a full recovery were slim but we held out hope.  It is a heart breaking loss that will be felt by all with our agency.  It is a heavy start to the new year, but also a reminder to not take advantage of your health.  Sending love and hugs!
 

Happy New Year's Eve!

Today we got out of the house and enjoyed checking out the architecture graveyard some more.  We have been before but since the trails that we would normally hike on New Year's Eve or New Year's are very muddy with the rain this week, we thought this would be a better option, and there was still a lot we hadn't explored.  

There was what Olivier called the pirate ship!

And a cool spot with an amazing view of the canyon.  And yes, the skies were really that blue.  I can't help but marvel at how it looks fake but it was that stunning!

Yup!

Thankful for another year with these amazing kids!

And this amazing man!  Yup, we are lucky!

 

Christmas!

It is hard to believe but Christmas has arrived!  With all the craziness that still surrounds us with the pandemic and all that entails we have arrived at the holidays with our health.  This Christmas Zert, our elf, joined us again.  Some days he must have been a bit naughty because on Tuesday he got taped to the bathroom mirror!

We got a lot of rain on Wednesday and Thursday which made us glad that we weren't traveling for the holiday, we not beyond a 20 minute drive!  On Friday night we celebrated Christmas Eve with my family.  

We had the kids redo the photo from 2014.  It was funny to see how much they have grown!

And are getting tall!  

We left cookies, carrots and milk out for Santa and reindeer before heading to bed.  And Zert was keeping watch!

And this morning we discovered Santa came and left us with even more goodies!  

The we opened stocking and gifts from Santa before having breakfast.  

Anna got hoop earrings!

And Olivier got white Vans slip on shoes!

And Mason got light up wire art kit!  

After breakfast we opened gifts to each other.  Some of the gifts included an interactive rubiks cube. 

And some new sunglasses!

And a unicorn pearl necklace!

The kids enjoyed playing a new game for the switch, and they played together!  Win!

After lunch we headed to Matt's family celebration.  I love the relationship Anna has with the youngest of the group.  They often play together!

And when the other two girl cousins arrived, they all were hanging out.  Makes my heart happy!

After opening gifts, Heather started working on a puzzle that they got and it was cute to see the teamwork!

And we got a rare group photo!

Merry Christmas to all!  And to all a good night!