Governor's Mansion for the Holidays

Another holiday themed event we enjoyed this year after a several year hiatus: a tour of the governor's mansion all dolled up (the house, not us) for Christmas. We were only allowed to take pictures in one room, but it was worth it because we were able to catch up with this beautiful, smiling face!

 Michelle was also in town, so we got a group photo with her and Elisabeth.

And another selfie

And another another selfie

A lovely way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Christmas Trees

Apparently the Christmas Trees at Providence Hospital is an event I can only get Jason and the boys to go to once. Since we already went (years ago), it was just me, Mom, and Rachel this time. 

The trees do not disappoint. While red and gold balls with white lights is about as far as my decorating skill set goes, I can admire the incredible skills of others. Some of my favorites:

Peter Pan

 This wreath I volunteered Mom to make for me

The Grinch

Elf-on-the-Shelf (who might be evil, but the tree was fun)

Rachel helped me out so I could get a picture of the boys with Santa and Mrs. Claus

And we even got Mom in a selfie!

Death By Chocolate

There is ::ahem:: a lot of testosterone in this house. Sometimes I feel like I am drowning in it. The poop and fart and penis and deez nuts jokes can be unrelenting.

So I decided to have a ladies' night murder mystery party. The kit comes with the characters, storyline, and detective Hercule McClue - all I had to do was invite the people and make the food. The kit also had a recommended menu, but that included 48 quail eggs (HAHA!) so I decided to go with a chocolate themed menu: Crunchy salad with cocoa vinaigrette, chicken mole, three chocolate ice creams (dark, milk and white), and hot cocoa. 

I don't know if it was the game, the company, or the chocolate, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

Some notable characters: Little Fitz and Ziggy (aka Isaac's Pikachu Rachel grabbed from his bedroom)

Dr. Doris Johnson, eccentric archaeologist

And Mike Bison, the murderer of the evening

I think I will do this again!

November on FB

Our amazing family photographer Rebecca Cornwall Photography is a genius who mixes serious with silly when working with our boys.

Dear Professor,

I apologize that I did not turn in my assignment on time. I did not have access to my computer. Unfortunately, I made a poor life choice: I let my 8yo use my computer to create a digital avatar of himself with Bitmoji.

With all the body and clothing options on the Bitmoji website there are probably millions of possible combinations. 

I'm pretty sure he went through them all.

Michael's Piano Recital, Featuring Ben on Cello

Michael's lovely piano teacher held a recital showcasing her studio of piano students. Her students run the gamut of darling little beginner to the impressive Michael Miller. At one of his lessons I had asked about duet music for Michael and Ben which then somehow translated into the two of them playing a duet at Michael's recital. 

If you combine this:  

with this:

you get Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. Despite (or maybe because of) the grimaces of intense concentration on their faces, they both played beautifully. 

Then Michael showed us his wicked piano skills and played the intense, athletic, and amazing Csikós Post by Hermann Necke. 

Of course they were hypercritical of themselves, but the audience thought they did a great job - and not just the audience members who are related to them. I have always enjoyed watching the kids perform their instruments but they are just getting better and better and more impressive all the time. 

Turkey Day, Now Without Turkey

Once again we have lived on the wild side and rebelled against societal norms by having ham for Thanksgiving. You're welcome, Meleagris gallopavo!

The Millers were not hosting this year.  So after creating a schedule for our contributions to the main meal, I decided that Isaac and I needed to get some wiggles out. He may have more wiggles than I do, but it was good for both of us. I also decided that we were going to go on a "trash" walk and spend time making our little corner of the world a bit cleaner. We grabbed a bag and our grabber tool and went out the door. 

While I enjoy having a positive impact, it is also disheartening to see all the trash people just dump outside. It is so weird to me that some people thing the world is their trashcan or maybe that there is a cleaning fairy? In any case, we found a lot of stuff.

On to happier things - the amazing SPREAD!

Gotta dig in!

Our after meal activities this year were: photo scavenger hunt (see examples below), Airhead/Laffy Taffy taste testing, Kahoot, and JackBox games.

"Group selfie"

"Jumping"

"Hugging a tree"

Ben and Social Media

 Ben is not on any social media. Well, he doesn't have any accounts. Well, he doesn't have any personal accounts.

BUT

I did see this picture of him posted on one of the Timberline Instagram pages.

Michael and Ben collaborated and played Pachelbel's Canon in D at the school talent show today. I liked the post (I am pretty sure I didn't use site-specific terminology there, my bad!).

Then, because Instagram is constantly trying to show me new things, this showed up in my app:

This page was created by two of Michael/Ben's friends. Which is either hilarious or invasive or disturbing or Gen Z typical. 

I did the only thing I could and asked to follow the page because, after all, I am a fan of Ben,