December 2021: The Final Wrap-Up

 It's August 2022 as I type, and I'm putting together the final odds n' ends post of the 2021 year... only seven more months of blogging catch-up to the present!

Here are a couple more pictures of Gussie's indoor soccer session. We decided at the end that it really wasn't enough instruction or playing time to be worth the cost and drive so he's not going to do it again, but he did have fun. And he's a very fun soccer player to watch because he Never. Stops. Moving. He runs the whole game.

Agnes built this Duplo tower and was very proud of it. Pig tails. Princess dress. Goofy smile. I love having her around.

Lest anyone ever accuse me of whitewashing our life on the blog, here are some pictures I found on my camera after I left it sitting out on the kitchen counter. (Shhh... never tell the kids I do that on purpose.) Agnes is helping me make what looks like fried chicken strips for dinner. It's dark (both outside and in - that set of lights was the only set out of three in the kitchen that were working at the time). The kitchen is a total disaster. Agnes is a total disaster. And I'm pretty sure people are just standing around in the kitchen eating the food as it comes out of the fry oil, which means it was probably way past an appropriate dinner time and they're all starving. 

And in the midst of that household chaos (or I guess on top of it since she lives in the attic), Mary potters around creating adorable little things like this needle felted bear with a mushroom hat and a little froggie friend. 

Speaking of talents, look closely and you'll see Michael Jr riding his bike all the way down this narrow curb at the playground. He didn't even have to practice. I truly want him to be happy in his life, but if he decides that the best path for doing that is being one of those bike riders who straps a camera to his helmet and rides a 6-inch wide ledge all the way down a mountain, I won't be able to watch.

A video of the curb ride, for posterity:

And a video of the boys climbing a stone wall at the park on another (or the same?) lovely day.

What is Agnes thinking in this selfie with Mary???

I think at least three of our 12 Days of Christmas activities this year were Christmas movies. The kids just wanted to watch aaaaaaalllllllll the Christmas movies. They had hot chocolate for this one and I flipped our couch around and brought up the origami couch from the basement so everyone had a seat. It's like theater seating! So fancy.

I don't even know what's happening here. But this is how I'm closing 2021. Happy New Year!

December 2021: 12 Days of Christmas Ice Skating

Ice Skating was a new one that all the kids wanted to do as one of our 12 Days of Christmas activities. We have been roller blading a lot so they all thought they'd do pretty well on ice skates, and they were correct. It would have been even easier with decent skates and a clean ice rink, but I wasn't really sure how much we'd actually enjoy ice skating so we opted for the free day at the temporary rink at Keiner Plaza, which meant dealing with a rather torn up ice rink. But it worked well enough and they had fun.

Agnes didn't last very long but she made a few turns around the rink.

Some videos? Of course.

December 2021: 12 Days of Christmas Gingerbread Houses

I only remember a couple of the "12 Days of Christmas" activities we did this year. Decorating gingerbread houses is one of the kids' favorites and is always on their list of things we must do. Last year I happened upon clearance gingerbread house kits at IKEA and it was fantastically amazing that I didn't have to bake all the gingerbread pieces and also didn't have to spend $100 on gingerbread house kits, but I went to IKEA twice this year, once before Christmas and once after, and there were no gingerbread house kits to be found. So Agnes and I set to baking (by which I mean, I set to baking and Agnes waited for utensils to lick).

Then the next day we could decorate. I have no idea why Agnes decided she needed these safety glasses for decorating her gingerbread house, but it was her idea, and she kept them on the whole time, and I loved every second of it.

The trend did not catch on - none of the other kids opted for safety glasses. But they worked really hard on their houses.

But I kept turning back to the safety glasses. No offense, big kids.

It's an utter mystery how a bunch of icing got on her face...

Here is the completed Rennier Gingerbread House Village:

And a video tour of the village, in case you're interested. I think next year I'm going to have to make it a Tiny House village - the kids all ate their big houses and all the decorative candy way too fast!

December 2021: All The Christmas! (With Holes)

Apparently I went days at a time over this Christmas season without picking up my camera. Maybe I didn't even take it with me. Maybe I did take it with me but left the memory card in my computer (it happens more than I should admit). So I apologize for the events left out of the photos - the consolation is that perhaps I was more fully present without the camera.

Christmas Eve has always been hosted by Mamo and Papa, and since Mamo lives full time with Aunt Heather now, Heather and Rami hosted the family at their house for Christmas Eve. How many pictures do I have from the evening? One. It's a phone pic of Agnes with a ribbon she took from a present wrapped up as a headband, eating what was probably her tenth little cheesecake bite.

After Mamo's, we went straight to the 10pm Christmas Vigil Mass. The kids have all decided they prefer the vigil masses for Christmas and Easter rather than the morning masses, and at this point we can get through them pretty easily. Agnes and Edie still fell asleep, but the boys served and Catherine and Mary are pretty much in their normal schedule when they stay up until midnight.

The nice thing of course is that we have Christmas morning to lounge around, make breakfast, and have lunch ready when Daddy gets home from mass. It took most of the last fifteen years, but I think we've settled into a large-family-gifting process that everyone is happy with. I like finding little presents for the kids so I put together (overstuffed) stockings for them, and then they draw names and are responsible for one sibling present. Usually they make or craft these, although I went ahead and took Agnes to the store and let her pick out a present for her giftee. 

Edie and Agnes got lots of dance accessories in their stockings.

Edie looks happy with her fans, but she says the pringles were the best part of the stockings.

Catherine still likes little toy cars.

Gussie and Michael got lock boxes that look like books on a shelf. Obviously within a couple days Gussie put all his money in his box and promptly forgot the code, but it was solved eventually.

Gussie drew Agnes, and all she wanted was lollipops, so he painted a little treasure box for her and put lollipops inside.

Michael drew Mary, and spent an incredible amount of time carving a little bear for her with his wood carving kit. He declared it the best present he's ever made. It will be a high bar to surpass next year.

Edie drew Gussie and carved him a dagger with his name on it, because she knows how much he loves sharp sticks.

Catherine drew Edie and immediately knew she needed a pair of pajamas with a snap-down bottom flap, so she DIYed a pair.

I have wandered through Hobby Lobby with Michael Jr before, and therefore I know that he wants every single piece of animal art they have in the whole place. So I took Agnes and let her pick one out for him.

Mary drew Catherine and decided to try her hand at bleach dying. She drew a koi design and bleach-painted this awesome sweatshirt.

Some years, after getting lunch on the table I gather everyone together for a photo before we eat. Some years I get this:

After Christmas lunch we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for more Christmas with them, Thomas and Jena and Jo, and Chris and Sunny and Olivia. How many pictures do I have from this delightful gathering? One, and I didn't even take it. Aunt Jena sent it to me, and it's pretty fantastic.

I also have this video of Edie dancing. Agnes and Edie love the dressup at Grandma's house, especially this flower girl dress that was Heather's - they are usually fighting over it. We are treated to hours of these ballet shows at the house, but this one is a good view of Edie's current style. She likes bouncing off pieces of furniture while dancing - I think she might be the inventor of "parkour ballet."

And we still had Christmas with Dema and Grampy T a couple days later! I guess since we were at home I didn't have to remember to bring my camera anywhere so I have a few pictures.

Patiently waiting...

A bag of hair ties can make Agnes very happy.

The "why are you taking a picture of me" face. (Because I want to and you'll thank me later.)

Edie got her own tool set that is entirely pink.

And I forgot this video from St. Nicholas day earlier in December, so we'll just finish up the Christmas post with that. This is Agnes's "happy dance for chocolate money."