Who would have guessed? This morning’s negotiation included an exchange between dog poop bags and vehicles…and dare I say poop bags reigned supreme.

Xanna brought life to the screen this weekend during the bank’s annual (virtual) Dinner Dance last night and this afternoon reading books on the Caribu app!

Thanks to one of our Twelve Books of Christmas books, “Hot Pot Night,” and our early pandemic meat slicer purchase (totally worth it), we leveled up with yet another seemingly superfluous pandemic purchase…a hot pot. Superfluous no more, hot pot night is FUN! And, it’s especially fun to yell “hot pot, hot pot” throughout dinner:)

Hot pot giddiness, umami belly yumminess, and Holmes was all funny business:)

Homemade bath bomb time! Lola and Meryl made bath bombs this weekend too.

Thank goodness they got a play espresso machine for Christmas! Doppio and a cookie, yo!

Meryl is obsessed with fuse beading at school. She makes all sorts of shapes out of teeny tiny colorful beads and then her teachers help to ‘fuse’ them together with an iron. Magically, we end up with seemingly zillions of shapes at home. Art project ideas? Meanwhile, roast chicken works well as an iron:)

What a day! What an era upon us, when diversity is expected, dialogue and discourse are celebrated, disagreements are embraced for the purpose of understanding each other, and doctors of all forms are recognized and valued. Conversations take practice, empathy unites, and possibility is all of ours together.

“For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it.” - Amanda Gorman

There are a lot of ‘firsts’ to recognize. Welcome to the White House, Champ and Major!

Meryl is all too eager to tuck Holmes in at night, mirroring all of our nighttime routines. Holmes quite enjoys the attention:)

New territory! Turns out, I started Meryl on the harder of the two green runs and there’s ‘another’ Magic Carpet run with a snake-like path to ski as well! (Thanks, Jenna!) Little Thunder quad chairlift with a cool safety bar, you’re our jam. This girl isn’t yet unleashed, but she’s well on her way.

Meryl has caught the skiing bug. Sadly, she caught it on our last run today, and when I agreed to squeeze in one last bonus run on the Magic Carpet…it broke down while we stood in line. So, I got to carry her and both sets of skis to the car because she attempted to ski and walk her way back up the mountain instead of heading home to my boring adult meeting. Hot chocolate and M&Ms quickly eased her sorrows:)

Holmes’ latest favorite game is to pile all the blankets and pillows in the house on top of Tito to hide him…and the peel them back to find him:)

Meryl snoozed through her weekly Saturday morning stroll with Lummi, but Holmes was happy to take her place! From wearing boots to putting on his mask and finding Lummi’s leash, he knew exactly what to do…these kids, they pay attention to everything.

The pandemic resurfaced our dehydrator last year and we are now experimenting with making banana chips…thickness and crunch factors are key. Though, Holmes’ contribution to today’s prep yielded more sampling than the spacing of banana slices:) Meryl agreed that this was an important step too.

Bonjour toes! Au revoir toes!

Still can’t believe she likes oysters, more for all of us!