Erik and Mason have been into making bonfires lately.  Mason decided to take it upon himself to build his own little fire pit next to Erik's big one.  When Erik is out there with him that's no big deal.  However, a couple days after this picture was taken, Erik was inside working when he looked out the window and saw Mason had started himself a fire without letting anyone know.  And, that is when we had to have the fire safety talk (not that we haven't had that talk a million times already). 

Finally enough snow for tubing and snowmobiles!

 

Ice Skating

No sports, no in school learning, no play dates, no sleep overs with friends means hours and hours and HOURS of ice skating.  Did I mention hours?  To put it into perspective, we dropped Kade off at the ice rink at 9:30am yesterday and picked him up from the rink at 4:30pm.  He was there, and skating, THE ENTIRE time.  And that's just one day.  He's done that more days than I can remember.  Mason isn't quite that dedicated.  He's skated A LOT more than I ever thought he would but not nearly as much as Kade-O has.  

They get to see friends they haven't seen forever, they can't really get too up in each other's faces because none of them are that coordinated on blades, and they get hours of fresh air and exercise!  Never thought I'd be so grateful for ice!!

Mason showing off his "skills".

Kade is way too cool to let Erik record him.  

 

The last of the Christmas celebrations with Erik's family were held outdoors around a bonfire.  Thankfully we were all able to be together, the fire was hot and the kids had fun running around.  Of course we missed all of the delicious food and not being able to just lay around and enjoy each other's company for the whole day.  Hopefully soon we can have a day like that!  

The boys have been LOVING ice skating this year.  I can't tell you how many hours they've spent at the rink.  I do know that in one weekend, Kade put over 11 hours on the ice with his buddy, Owen.  That's just 2 days!  He's been there almost every day for the past 2 weeks!!  Mason isn't quite that dedicated but he has skated more than I ever thought he would.  I think they realized that the only way they're going to be able to socialize with friends is if they're outside and what better way to pass the time than skating and playing hockey?!

This is the first time putting their skates on for the year.

Christmas celebration at Erin and Kurt's

Baby Owen!

Their shed is every kid's (and dad's) dream!

 

Covid Christmas

Although this Christmas was a bummer because we weren't able to see everyone we love in traditional settings, we did manage to have a pretty memorable holiday.  I had the 23rd-30th off because we were supposed to be in Atlanta.  Instead we hung out at home and I'm not going to lie, it was pretty darn relaxing!!  I can't remember a Christmas being this stress free since I was a kid and my only job was to snoop for presents before they were wrapped!!  I'll take the stress though if it means we can be with family and friends again.  Fingers crossed next year is back to normal.

The boys helping prep some appetizers for Christmas Eve

Kade and I enjoying our holiday mugs!

Mason got his very own Comfy for Christmas!!

He's always trying to steal mine.

But of course it wouldn't be Christmas if Mason didn't take his shirt off!

Erik's ready for summer!!

It wouldn't be Christmas Eve without the dining room table full of legos!

The most relaxing Christmas Day ever.

 

One of the shows we love to watch at bedtime with the boys is "Nailed It".  It's a baking competition amongst people who have no clue how to bake.  Then they have to recreate these masterpieces and they fail miserably.  It's pretty funny and the boys love it.  I saw a cookie kit at Costco awhile ago so I decided we'd have our own Nailed It competition.

The picture on the box...

Kade's

Mason's

The pictures on the box...

Erik's

Kristi's

Yep, that's mine.  

Nailed It!!

Mason showing off the ship him and Erik put together.

Kade and I picked out gifts for the sharing tree this year at the last minute.

He was so embarrassed I made him take a picture but he did pose!

Christmas with my parents.

They ended up going to Atlanta to visit my brother's family.  We were supposed to go too but Covid changed our plans.  None of us had it, we just didn't want to risk it with kids/airports/etc.  So we celebrated with them a week early, since it'll be awhile until we see them again due to their quarantine period after they get back.

Nothin' says Christmas like Grandpa shootin' a gun!!!

 

I've been saying this a lot lately but what a crazy year!!  Last week we "celebrated" Christmas with Erik's family.  I say that in quotes because half of the family wasn't there and we made the plans, literally, an hour before presents were opened.  Poor grandma was frantically wrapping and throwing together a couple snacks at the very last minute.  

We have been quarantining with Erik's sister Jenna's family because of all of us, I'm the only one going in to work and the kids are all so close they're best friends/cousins.  It's helped us all keep our sanity! However, due to some of Jay's family members coming in from out of state for the holidays, our time was limited.  Add to that Grandma and Grandpa taking care of grandkids that are in daycare, we figured last Friday night was probably the last time we could be together before exposure to "new" people.  

Anyway, as confusing as that all was, I had to document it so we can look back and see how ridiculous all of these plans are just because of stupid Covid.  Just to be clear, we're all family but because of different exposures, different daily situations, governor's orders, etc. we can't all be together.  I'm sure we're still breaking some sort of guideline but we're doing the best we can with small children and mental health!!

That said, the kids had a wonderful Christmas sleepover with Grandpa and Grandma H!  Plus, they got to open some presents early and no kid is going to turn that down!!

Kade got set up with new hockey gear!

Can't go wrong with fishing gear for Mase!

After the Friday night sleepover we hosted the annual cookie bake.  Again, 3/5 of the family was missing and it just wasn't the same.  We did manage to make a lot of cookies though.  The kids played and had a great time and the husband's even helped a lot more this year due to the lack of our usual group of cookie bakers.