January 2025

Another year as begun! 

We started it off by visiting Kelly and Melissa for the day at their Crystal Cove cabin.

Had to take a picture of this as they walked down the path.

We went to lunch at The Beachcomber. Delicious as usual. 

And then settled down for an afternoon on the deck

Can't beat this view for playing cards.

Teenagers.

Had to stay long enough to at least see the sunset.

Finished this puzzle Beth got me for Christmas. It was one of my favorites! 

No one else will help me peel bananas to freeze. Thank you, Kinga.

I went to visit Aunt Helen and Uncle Bob for a few days. 

Aunt Helen has breast cancer and is currently getting chemotherapy.

She's been my second mom my whole life.

This guy still takes care of their five acres, chops wood and fixes clocks at 92 years old!

While I was gone Melissa took all the girls to the Anime convention in Long Beach. 

Thank you for the tickets, Martyna!

Happy little waterer.

Anna gave me this bird feeder for Christmas. 

I love that it sits on our window so we can see the birds without going outside.

Hello house finch.

The girls went to the Winter Formal and had a great time.

Lisa and Mike (the tall one) were in town for the weekend from their new 

place in Tennessee so we all met at Liz's house for dinner.

Always great to see them!

Mia teaching Kinga to shake Hawk's hand.

There wasn't a whole lot going on in January which was okay with us!

 

December 2024

 Another year gone!

For the most part it was a really good year.  Both of the girls got straights A's, none of us are seriously ill and we have a roof over our heads and food to eat. There are some things I wish I could change but learning to deal with things and keeping positive is also important!

Our first activity for December was a trip to Boba Bear in L.A. The cafe was dolled up like a place from the show, Arcane. All these girls watched the first season in a marathon over Thanksgiving break and were so excited to find out about this event! They dressed as characters in the show.

I bought "elixers" for them. The drinks lit up which is hard to see in the photo.

Kelly didn't want to go to Melissa's financial planner's Christmas party.  

So I went. LOL And yes, I am wearing the same dress again.

This dress has been to two weddings, a funeral and now a Christmas party within the last two months. 

Our local library finally opened after being closed for almost two years! 

Kinga and I will be walking there every Thursday.

Kinga had her first preschool performance!

Not one of the two year olds sang, but they were really good at ringing their bells.

Anna ran in an open qualifying track meet. 

It was just for fun for her but the other girls ran to qualify for the track team. 

She plans on running Cross Country next year. 

It's hard to believe she will in high school soon!

She did the 600 and the 4x400 relay.

We all went on Kelly and Melissa's boat for the annual boat parade. 

Their dock is perfect for watching the parade.

The beauty of the decorated boats never shows through in photos.

I took Darlene, Sheila and Maureen on the Rossmoor Holiday Home Tour. 

None of us remembered to take a single picture!

We celebrated Dan and Tru's birthdays at Finbars!

We combined holiday sugar cookie decorating with gingerbread house making

 and decorated these Barbie Dreamhouse sugar cookie houses.

They never tire of this activity every year!

On Christmas Eve the neighbors came over and we had a pink elephant exchange. 

This apron went to the perfect person.😂

And then we exchanged real presents.

Christmas morning Dan opened his gift from Mia. 

Yeah, the fourth and fifth child get away with a lot more.

I'm no Marth Stewart but this was fun to make.

Another white elephant gift was Kids Against Maturity card game. 

The loser gets to give the winner a wedgie. Not everyone thought it was fun.😂

Dar, Sean, Matt, Lauren and kids came over for Christmas dessert.

We played a fun game where you had to roll the ornament onto the top of a toilet paper roll. 

Money, candy and gift cards were under the rolls.

So why in the video where I got this game from did the ornaments run smoothly down the incline??? 

We tried many ornaments and all ran lopsided. We switched to golf balls. 

Does that mean it was no longer a Christmas game?

We gave all the grandkids the Twelve Days of Christmas in gift cards this year.

They were pretty darn excited to spend their first cards at Subway!

The Martins got here on the 28th, just in time to celebrate Dan's birthday.  

We also celebrated Beth's but the pictures did not turn out.

Me: How old is an elderly person?

Google: "The National Institute on Aging generally describes older adults as people of 65 years or older."

Dan's the first elderly person in the household!

We have to have the yearly trip to the park with a stop at the big red chair. 

I'm thankful these neighbors put this chair out for the kids because I could never.

The next night we went to our old haunting grounds, San Dimas! First, dinner at Casa del Rey. 

It's one of the worst Mexican restaurants around but lots of nostalgia there.

Next it was Raging Waters for Lektrik light show!

Big chairs are the theme of this post.

Absolutely nobody was there which makes it really easy to keep track of a curious toddler!

Was it worse than Casa del Rey? Possibly. But it was nice having the place pretty much to ourselves.

Find Becky's family in the picture.

It's always nice to find something that brings all the ages together.

The next night everyone dropped off the younguns for the annual grandparent sleepover. 

Kinga's first time!

We started off with a trip to conveyor belt sushi. The sushi is almost as good as the Mexican food at Casa de...you get the picture. But the kids love it because they have total control!!!!

We came back to the house and the kids went night swimming - a first for a couple of them!

They all changed into their matching jammies and it was movie time!

But not without first making and drinking mugs of butter beer! If you don't know what butter beer is, just imagine how many types of sugar you can incorprate into one fizzy drink and there you have it.

I'm not sure who was more excited for Paige to read the bedtime story, Paige or Kinga!

The next night was the last night of the year and we all went to Becky's house for a party!

Little prizes got everyone off their screens and outside for a basketball competition.

And then another roll the ball competition! Oliver was good at every game - a natural athlete.

Our last night with these amazing people!

10, 9, 8,7, 6, 5, 4...

3, 2, 1 Happy New Year!! 

Well at least somewhere. It was 8:34 here in California. 😂

And for my first ever Goodreads book challenge I surpassed my goal of 100 books! 

Thank you to Beth who turned me on to Libby where I don't have to pay for the audible books any more.

And for showing me how to turn up the speed on the books!

But especially for rekindling my love of books which had gone by the wayside the last couple of decades. 

That's a wrap for 2024. Happy New Year!