The kids have developed their talents with the Magformers (magnetic shapes) and their designs have grown more and more complex. Tanja made these first and then the kids did it later on.
Snoopy continues to be a very patient and loving dog - even when his nap is interrupted by Lydia squishing him to read a book...
...or when Derek gets too cuddly and excited to be around him.
Lydia was extremely excited for her half birthday so she could help decorate a yummy cake that Tanja made and then we could eat it. She requested a round chocolate cake with blue frosting on top, white frosting in the middle, and lots of candy decorations.
Every year, the Baltimore public library system has a partnership with the National Aquarium in Baltimore for kids to read ocean-themed books in exchange for free tickets to the excellent (but expensive) aquarium. It's become one of our traditions to participate in the program and then make a trip to the aquarium later in the month to look at all the fish and sea life there. Every time we go, Lydia and Derek always get super excited when they see clownfish or blue tangs (like Nemo or Dory from the Finding Nemo movies).
The aquarium also has a rainforest section with monkeys and tropical birds like this macaw.
At church, we had a Christmas party/dinner where we ate breakfast foods (hence the pajamas we are wearing), did some crafts, and enjoyed the spirit of Christmas through music and visiting with others. As part of the program, they had a photo studio set up for family portraits. This was probably the best picture of us. Karina was attending a friend's birthday party which is why she wasn't there.
Derek got an early Christmas present of Buzz Lightyear pajamas from the Toy Story movies. He has become obsessed with Buzz Lightyear lately, so he was extremely excited to wear them as pajamas (and periodically as his daytime outfit as well).
We went down to the temple to look at the Christmas lights this year. Unfortunately, the temple is still closed for renovations and as a consequence, they have an ugly chain link fence around the parking lot that kind of put a damper on taking any good pictures of the lights. We did end up taking some pictures of the nativity display outside the visitor's center and the kids climbed up onto the large camel (which I am pretty sure you are not supposed to do).
Pictures of the temple with the ugly chain link fence in the way.
No matter how old I get, there is still magic in the air for me on Christmas Eve. I took this picture of our nativity we got in Germany when Tanja and I visited there back when she was still pregnant with Karina, with our darkened fireplace and stockings in the background and I think it captures some of the magic I felt on Christmas Eve.
And here are a couple pictures from early on Christmas morning after Santa came (as usual, he and our families were quite generous with the gifts).
And a family portrait on Christmas morning before making a mess opening gifts.
Karina knows me well (with some help from Tanja). She got me coconut-flavored Lindt truffles that are delicious!
Snoopy is just happy to be part of the family on Christmas morning.
I have been slightly jealous of the backup camera we have in our minivan (and the cameras are becoming more and more standard), and there have been times when I have nearly backed into some of our trees at the entrance of our driveway. Tanja got us a wireless backup camera kit for my car that is working quite well.
Derek's Buzz Lightyear pajamas came in a 2-pack with Woody pajamas as well. So now he can be a Space Ranger or a cowboy.
Like I said earlier, he is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear now. He got a cool action figure Buzz Lightyear that has all the catch phrases, a shooting "laser", pop-out wings, etc. and he plays with it every day for hours.
The girls have taken to this Mastermind game where you can make or break codes. I am very excited to be raising some budding cryptographers and cryptanalysts!
Lydia likes Hatchimals and got another one for Christmas that she can raise from an egg.
Surprisingly, it hatched later that day and she got to teach it all kinds of fun games.
Derek also was excited to have a "green garbage truck" that he had specifically requested from Santa.
Each kid got to make their own Christmas craft over the vacation.
We took a quick overnight trip to Philadelphia so the kids could go to the Franklin Institute (children's museum) again, but in our rush to get out the door, we forgot to bring the camera. Oops.
On New Year's Eve, we went to the Maryland Science Center children's museum in Baltimore for their Noon Year's Eve party with a ball drop at 12 PM noon (instead of 12 AM midnight). We got to make masks, kazoos, and confetti poppers to help us celebrate when the clock struck 12 noon.
It was hard to get action shots of the confetti poppers.
We asked the kids if they wanted to try and stay up to midnight and they said yes, so we watched a few movies cuddled up at home. Derek lasted until 9:00 or so that night before declaring he was too tired and so we brought him to bed. Lydia made it until 11:15 or so before turning into this (she was so close!):
Karina was wide awake the whole time (and was much more alert than Tanja or me).
Snoopy had been noticeably drinking a lot of water for several months. We took him to the vet where they did blood work and got a urine sample. Snoopy's kidneys are failing which is why he had been drinking so much water and going outside to pee so often during the night. There is no cure for kidney failure. He is now on a prescription diet. The food is low in protein, phosphorus, and sodium, and supposedly is easier than regular food for the kidneys to process. His water consumption has gone down significantly since starting the prescription diet. Tanjs has been measuring his daily water intake, and it has gone from an average of 3.8 cups of water per day to 3.0 cups. Hopefully the new diet will continue to help him. He is in good spirits though and acts like his normal self.
Here's to a happy and healthy 2020!
No comments:
Post a Comment