Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner on the couch, fondue this year!

No white Christmas for us this year. While it did snow about 10 days ago pretty much all that snow was melted by Christmas Day. It ended being sunny and 62 degrees which meant we could all get outside.

Nothing like lying in the sun on Christmas Day with a foot rest

Marcy was very keen to get us all outside to the park. She has been recovering well but has not been able to get outside much. With the nice weather on Christmas Day we all went to the park and Marcy reveled in the sunshine.

Christmas selfie in the park

Jude enjoyed catching the football at the park. He would run and I would pass him the football on the fly.

Another great reception from Jude

The weather was also nice on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) so we headed to the park then as well. This time Marcy went one better. When she saw a couple people setting up a blanket to watch the sunset and mentioned what a good idea it was, Anna ran home and returned with a blanket and a glass of champagne for Marcy to enjoy the sunset.

Champagne at the park at sunset

Yesterday, Anna decided to get her ears pierced. This will be the third time she has done it and she third time’s the charm. She is very excited about it and has some beautiful earrings to show off.

Anna just got her ears pierced

Today was a bit colder so no park time and we got a lot of errands run. We had our good friends Rich and Maggie visit which is nice and I made Jude’s favorite chili. To top off a great weekend the Packers won so Jude was a happy camper when he went to bed tonight.

Celebrating Mom’s 50th birthday, still able to cuddle on her lap

It was a big week for Marcy. On Tuesday she turned 50 and I took the day off work to celebrate with her. It was a pretty low key day because it was cold and we had quite a bit of snow on the ground. We went for a walk around Wash Park with Olive and watched a couple of episodes of The Crown. Marcy did not want anything special for dinner other than a chocolate cake which she wanted to make herself. We all watched My Octopus Teacher that night, with both Olive and Pickles joining us on the couch.

Enjoying a family movie on Marcy’s birthday

Now, two days after she turned 50 Marcy decided to get major surgery on her left foot. She has had a bad bunion on that foot for decades and has talked about doing surgery to correct it for years. Well, with nothing happening over the holidays and me not traveling for a while she decided now was the best time. So, on Thursday she went to the hospital to get it done. The surgery was a success and she begins the long, slow recovery process. This involves being on crutches for two weeks, and then a boot for 6-10 weeks after that.

Olive helps the healing processShe is supposed to keep her foot elevated for the first two weeks and obviously staying off her feet as much as possible. She is actually doing pretty well. She has kept the pain in check and has been surprisingly mobile, even volunteering to do the dishes after dinner tonight. She has also figured out a way to get a good upper body workout in.

Enjoying an upper body workout

We really didn’t do much this weekend. There is still a lot of snow on the ground so no runs or games at the park. Our big outing was to the farmers market for lunch on Saturday. And we watched a lot of football all weekend.

The kids are both officially on winter break with nothing planned other than one day of skiing.after New Year’s.

First ice skate of the season in Keystone

Saturday was a cold and dreary day. It felt like we were back in Iowa with clouds and high humidity. We had a little snow Friday and again on Saturday night but it was below freezing all weekend.

We just realized this week that the kids skis were still in Keystone and we needed to exchange them. So, Anna and I made the drive up to the mountains. We had renters and with the reservation system we couldn’t ski. So, it was just a day trip and a good opportunity to do some ice skating. And best of all, when you bring your own skates the Keystone rink is free.

A winter wonderland outside our front door

The second snow storm moved in Saturday night but we awoke to beautiful blue skies this morning. But it was cold, about 12 degrees when we woke up. It was a good day for watching football, which Jude did all day for the most part. Although we made him do some shoveling and he had a ride on the Peloton as well.

Peeling a pomegranate while watching Sunday Night Football

A maestro of the Rubik’s cube of all sizes

When Jude was cleaning his room a few weeks ago he found an old Rubik’s cube. He decided to try to solve it, watching some YouTube videos and working on it constantly. After about a week he had solved the 3x3x3. Then we got him a 2x2x2 which you solved pretty quickly and then just recently a 4x4x4. That was a lot more difficult but he got there in the end. He has been working on speed and his record for a 2x2x2 is 18 seconds and for the 3x3x3 is 55 seconds.

Snuggling with her favorite dog

We had a pretty quiet weekend here. Jude and I went for our weekly run, the kids spent several hours on the trampoline with the neighbors, Marcy put up Christmas lights and we bought our Christmas tree. And of course, Jude watched lots of soccer and football.

Breakfast with a friend

With LendIt doing layoffs as we have struggled this year with the pandemic we needed extra help but couldn’t afford more staff. So, Marcy has started chipping in. She is going to put in a few hours a day from now on which we are grateful for and she has enjoyed getting back into the workforce.