Second favorite present

A fishing pole. And when you are landlocked but have cats, what do you do?

Drones

Eric and Diane bought each Mason and Ermias a small drone/quadcopter for Christmas. Mason's lasted two days before he broke it, which is longer than he had the last one. We had forgotten that we bought him a larger one off Amazon so he was thrilled to open it. Yesterday, exactly two days after Christmas, Randy came in the house asking how tall our tallest ladder was to get the drone out of the tree. It was saved, however. So, imagine our surprise when we drove into the driveway today and neighbor Ed and his friend were in our yard with a chainsaw. Mason had called Ed (but not us) out of an exercise class to come rescue him. We lost a tree (and almost our neighbor as he fell backward into the blackberries) but, alas, the drone flies on. For now at least. 

There...up at the top...

Indoor

I thought Mason's game started at 5:30, so we stopped for a snack for him and strolled in...10 minutes late to the 5:15 game. He scored six, including one at kickoff with a direct shot over the keepers arms. Ermias was the substitute player again, and got a couple of minutes when another kid was hurt. They won 11-10!

Madison

Today we had to put our 19 year old Madison down. He had cancer of the jaw. It was a hard decision because he was still eating and able to walk, but he was barely able to open his mouth and was deteriorating steadily. He is raiding the cap nip fields with his brother Zeke. We miss our Fatty Maddie. 

Christmas 2015

Christmas is in the books. Kids got up later but we still hadn't wrapped all the presents yet. We seemed to be a little bit slow this year, probably knowing it's the first Christmas without Grampy. Grammy came up last night, spent the night and got her first ever stocking today (who knew Santa could never find her?).  Kenzie is going to France and Germany with us in February, so that is her top present. Mason got two amazing trips but Mr. Instant Gratification loves his drone above all else. Ermias loved every moment of opening every gift, even the socks. 

Triple threat

Triple sweat is more like it. #dinganddong

More Cinderella play pics

Mom cut my hair

Tree time

Ding and Dong reunited

Basketball....they're back

Cinderella

Kenzie is playing a lead role in the school production of "Cinderella Rocking the 80s". She is the adult Cindy and gets to boss her kids around. She's also learning a lot about music and dress from my high school days, which is entertaining to me and horrifying to her. 

Thanksgiving

Without dad here this year it is our first time through the holidays without him. It was nice to have our special beach that he loved to celebrate Thanksgiving. Janel and Ryan flew up so it was extra special. Plus we caught 31 crab!

Auction night

Every year we attend the Ethiopia Reads auction. Mason almost won the golden ticket this year!

Cyber security

Today I moderated a panel on cyber security at the UW. Kenzie skipped school, helped me prepare and kept time for me. The UW recruited her, giving her a bag full of books, a silver bookmark, water bottle and a name tag. The professor asked her to consider the University when the time was right. It was a special day!