December 2021 began with a wish list left by Wren - I believe for the Kindness Elves who probably had not yet made an appearance. I texted this picture to Jim and noted that Wren wanted wings. He said something like, "I'll figure something out." In the end, we were unable to give her wings to fly.
Scott and Rebecca drained their pool, and it made a pretty cool place to play. (Luc and Amelie were over that day.)
All on their own, the girls got a whole pine cone painting session going, which was fun.
Inside, Luc and Ever made a mess doing another craft. I was very pleased that everyone was coming up with fun things to do without any help from me.
Ever got her first blister (left thumb) from burning herself in the kitchen. If she's anything like me, it's the first of countless such burns.
Just a small glimpse into our Tiny dancer, who dances all the time.
When I saw Wrenzy and Tiny mysteriously pulling out items and putting them into backpacks, Wren and I had this exchange:
Me: "What are you girls doing?"
Wren: "Getting spy backpacks and flashlights and binoculars and that sort of thing!"
Then I overhead them telling Nathan, who was waiting for them to gather their supplies, "We have backpacks and things to open doors, and . . . Oh, I need a water bottle!"
Ever's wish list:
I don't remember how we ended up at Baskin Robbins with the Karners.
Wrenzy gave Tiny a ride down the hall and into their room.
We made some lovely, minty Christmas cookies for the girls' teachers.
This was the package for Tiny's teacher, Ms. Mozo, all done up nicely. The second Tiny exited the car at school in the morning, she fell and dropped the cookies. Even if they were broken upon delivery, it's the thought that counts, right?
The girls had fun at Luc and Amelie's (and Ever and Tiny matched in flannel).
This festive headdress that reminds me of the Statue of Liberty has not gotten much play since it was given to us, so I was pleased when Wrenzy sported it.
Ever's tenth birthday was on a Friday. We did presents in the morning. She got a LOT of clothes (because she desperately needed clothes), but a lot got returned.
Friendship bracelet kit from Coco.
Sweet note from Bear.
Tutu's card.
And Tiny Tot's.
We had some friends over for cake that night. (Ella Rondo and Alina Karner are pictured.)
Ellis Martindale and Lelei Thompson weren't available for the party on her birthday night, so we had them over for waffles and a play date Saturday morning.
Things were going OK at fist. Breakfast, legos. Then Ellis and Lelei saw the new room and the mess therein, and they decided to clean it. (Lelei's mom, Amy, is a world-class organizer, so it's probably in her genes.) Ever came to me very upset - there were tears - because she did not want to clean, but apparently Ellis and Lelei were all excited and insistent. So the rest of their time together was cleaning, and it was a disastrous birthday playdate.
That afternoon, Wren and Ever had a piano recital. Wren was incredibly nervous and almost didn't play. Her performance was . . . not her best. She played the first half of the song in the wrong place but didn't seem to notice.
Ever's piece ("Yesterday" by The Beatles) went more smoothly.
My presidency decided to do ornaments filled with M&Ms for the Primary kids for Christmas. The day before we were to distribute them, the whole family pitched in to help me prepare them, and I was most appreciative. Many hands make light work.
I knew they would open easily but forgot to warn the kids when we passed them out. Within moments of distributing them that Sunday, ornaments were being dropped or otherwise accidentally cracked open, and M&Ms were spilling all over. I was an idiot for not taping them or something.
Ever used her new friendship bracelet maker.
Sweet Bear touched the Kindness Elves and then became super worried that she had taken away their ability to move. (She'd heard that if you touch them, they won't move anymore. That's what parents say so their kids won't mess with visiting elves.) She wrote them this note:
That Sunday night, Wrenzy chanted and played drums on Ever's birthday chair balloons while Tiny danced and jingled two little bells they'd been given at church.
Wrenzy continued writing the cutest notes to the Kindness Elves.
Tiny also wrote them a note about her Christmas desires.
This note is the best. The mean friend, of course, is Nathan Cikanek. (Bella and Lionel are the names of the Kindness Elves, as revealed in correspondence between Wren and them the previous Christmas, I believe.)
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| Translation: "Bella, Lionel: Our friend says you are fake and says you are farting. That is very mean. He says a lot of other mean stuff, too. - Wren" |
I was in the (home) office on my computer when Ever came in and showed me her ear - which had an earring in it. Shocked, I said, "Did you pierce your ear?" She said yes and burst into tears. She said she had just been curious and started pushing a needle into her lobe; she hadn't really intended to pierce it, but she just kept pushing until it went all the way through. It was crazy. I couldn't believe she had done that. I think I was nice and calm (and I had to calm her down and reassure her it was OK), but I told her that you can't just put a dirty needle through your ear; it can get infected; I hoped it wouldn't leave problematic scar tissue; you also need to make sure the hole is in the right place. We took it out and cleaned her ear.
I texted Jim, and he was alarmed and worried about infection. It ended up being OK, though. There was some scar tissue, but when we did finally pierce her ears, it wasn't a problem.
Wrenzy escalated her correspondence with the elves by leaving a present for them (and a note pointing them to the present).
Inside the package were a drawing she did of them and a coloring page.
Also inside were notes and candy.
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| I don't know to what this note refers, but I assume it has to do with something Nathan told the girls about his elves. |
The elves responded with this note:
Wrenzy and Tiny took hammers to something - rocks? I don't remember why. As Jim says, "Those two are always up to something."
Tutu and Papa came for Christmas. I think we had them about a week, and then they went on to the and the littles wrote them sweet notes on the white boards.
We headed to Big Bear with Tutu and Papa and spent the holiday there. Much to Jim's and my dismay, we found the cabin much less clean than we'd like. I hate that we spend so much for cleanings and are able to sweep this much up when we arrive.
We complained multiple times, but nothing changed. Our co-host, Emilia, is crazy cheap and provides the cleaners, so we worried we couldn't do anything about the cleaners without losing Emilia.
We took Papa skiing one day. The road was snowy/icy, so we weren't sure if we'd even be able to get to the resort. It rained and sleeted on us on the mountain. We were soaked through and freezing. We got a few runs in and were glad we went even though conditions were atrocious. Meanwhile Mamo stayed cozy at the cabin.
The girls attempted pool with Papa.
We did a really quick trip to the zoo during the half hour before they closed. Berry posed in front of the snowy owl enclosure.
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| Snow leopard |
We went down to the Village.
It's pretty there in the winter with the Christmas lights.
Wrenzy started doing a wobble-knee walk but got furious when I started filming.
We ended up at a new Italian restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner. Jim got started with hot chocolate.
Back at the cabin, we read The Happy Prince and the Bible story. Then the girls each opened a present. Wrenzy got a book in The Sisters Grimm series and started reading immediately.
I think we had only taken the one present the kids had chosen to open on Christmas Eve, and then Santa came to the cabin. The rest of the presents waited for us in Oceanside. So Saturday morning the girls got their Santa presents.
We had to get out that morning by 11:00 so the cleaners could prepare the cabin for incoming guests. We stopped at the lake on the way out. It was so incredibly cold.
Toots and Pops opened their presents in Oceanside.
We had Grandpa Kringel over for Christmas dinner and a little more present opening.
Then after he went home, we caroled.
Tiny was so tired, she couldn't make it.
Ever got knitting supplies for Christmas, and Jim - nice father he is - searched for instructions the next day (Sunday) to get her going.
Monday we went for a walk at Batiquitos Lagoon.
The girls collected a ton of sourgrass, and we introduced Tutu and Papa to it.
We also walked the trail around our neighborhood.
Wrenzy got creative with lunch, pushing Goldfish into the bread of her sandwich.
We took a trip to the library. I encouraged the girls to get only what they can read in a week, promising we'd return the following week before winter break ended. They got 13 books. As soon as we returned home, the olders disappeared upstairs to start making their way through them. Later that day, we had an organization system by Ever and two books ready for return.
Toots gave us this kitchen towel for Christmas, and it's right on.
Our last day of 2021 consisted of some Riverside County hiking. First we went to Ortega Falls - an interesting and incredibly graffitied place.
Then we did another hike nearby. It was by a rustic candy shop that seemed fun until we saw the prices. Nobody has ever charged so much for sweets in all the world. Jim let the girls pick something anyway.
Most of the insanely overpriced treats we got were terrible, so that was really sad. They were eaten anyway.
When I tried to take a picture of the fam on this tree, there was a lot of movement and singing (if one can call it that).
