December 31, 2017

December 30, 2017

We hit the road to Charlotte yesterday to see the grands.  

Had our Christmas celebration with them this morning, and it was grand.  :)

I tried to make a gingerbread house with the kids but the icing wouldn't stick and the house kept collapsing.  

My honors-studio-art son took over and did a spectacular job, but his roof kept sliding off.  :)

My mom had made stuffing and sweet potato souffle for our Christmas dinner ahead of time and we brought it with us.  The stuffing took a really long time to cook and it was getting late, so when it was finally ready I put the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes and popped them in the oven to melt, but even that didn't happen quickly so I asked my daughter-in-law to turn the oven to broil.  I checked on them just a couple of minutes later and they were on fire.  Literally.  I screamed and immediately ran from the room, ala George Castanza, but with a better motive - I held the door closed so the kids couldn't come into the kitchen from the playroom upstairs.  It was a madhouse.  Thankfully my daughter-in-law has a good sense of humor.  We scraped the marshmallows off, put on another batch and posed for pictures.  :)

They survived, thanks to my quick thinking!

December 27, 2017

My dad's sister passed away a few days before Christmas, so we headed to Richmond today for her funeral.  

So thankful we were here for that.  

The sun setting over the James River on the way home was really nice. 

December 25, 2017

On our way to Virginia to see my parents for Christmas!  

This is what eastern Colorado looks like - why??  

What are these different colored squares?

Norfolk, Virginia at twilight from the air.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, linking the mainland to the Eastern Shore.  

I didn't remember there were two tunnels until I saw them from above.  

Or rather, didn't see them.  :)

The plan was to celebrate Christmas a little later in the week, 

so it was Eastern Carolina bbq sandwiches for Christmas dinner today.  :)

December 21, 2017

Jed found these sweet little bird tracks in the snow as he was shoveling.

December 14, 2017

 Jed chose a science fair project that involved fire...of course.

Magnesium is a really interesting combustible.

December 8, 2017

I took Jed and a couple of his friends to an escape room in Golden this evening 

to celebrate his birthday (rather belatedly), 

since we were in North Carolina during his actual birthday.

It was so funny to watch them...they were sure they would escape within 10 minutes.  

The confidence of 14 year old boys knows no bounds!   

Even when they didn't manage to escape at all, it wasn't their fault.  :)

December 7, 2017

Jed getting the leaves raked up.  

He was smiling because he thought he was almost done.  :)