December Randomness, Part IV: Post-Christmas Fun

Here are more fun things we did at the end of a fun, stressful, enjoyable, weird, crazy, and annoying 2020 year:

Dec. 21

Erik took this picture of me because he thought I looked like an 80's lady. I think I just look like a huge dork.

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Dec. 26

I went to Walmart's post-Christmas sale and bought a bunch of goodies, including this yummy assortment of chocolates.

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Dec. 26

Elisa enjoying her new Christmas gifts: Hoverboard, gloves, and camera! Oh, I almost forgot to mention--the water heater went out (what else can we expect in 2020?) so we had to replace that. We saved money by having Erik, Grandpa, and Bryce install it themselves.

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Dec. 26

We all went out to Abuelo's. We got an entire room to ourselves! I shared a large platter with Erik--while Makayla got one all for herself, haha I don't think she realized how much food she was ordering!

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Dec. 29

I cut up the very large sheet of rice krispie treats I bought at the post-Christmas sale at Walmart. I counted about 30 squares. Not bad for $5. And the squares are bigger than what comes in the box at the store.

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Dec. 30

Gabe and Elisa got these 3D sculptures that they're supposed to color before assembling in their stockings. They took forever to color! Oddly, it was stressful and relaxing at the same time to color these. We all took turns coloring. We made and eagle and the Eiffel tower. 

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Dec. 30

The boys got into the Legos and made a huge mess. Again. Mostly it was Ian enjoying his new Mario Lego sets. I bought Ian a Lego advent calendar. He loved it so much and was really good about opening only one door per day. Of course, that also made a huge mess. We have issues with Ian taking apart every single Lego creation. He also takes apart Mini Figures--even the arms and legs! It drives us nuts because it makes such a huge mess and then all the pieces end up getting lost. 

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Dec. 25

Here is a picture of the moon that Erik took from the telescope that Gabe got for Christmas. Cool!

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Christmas 2020

For Christmas 2020 we got to have Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Bryce, and Aunt Makayla over! They didn't stay too long--maybe 4 days?  I can't remember if they came Christmas Eve or Christmas Adam. Haha. Bryce and Makayla stayed in my craftroom and enjoyed trying some of the local restaurants (Angry Crab Shack, Lamar's Donuts, Niccoli's, Coconut's Fish Cafe). I believe they enjoyed La Piazza al Forno the best. We had a good Christmas. Erik took call Christmas day, but luckily he didn't have to go in. Here are the pictures:

 

Christmas Eve. Bryce volunteered to give the kids a little lesson. He also taught them how to make "chickens" out of a towel and they thought it was hilarious. We also watched an LDS Christmas video on YouTube.

Santa Came! Here is a pic of before the kids got to the gifts and before Bryce and Makayla organized the gifts

After Bryce and Makayla organized the gifts, but before the kids tore into everything.

Christmas day! Of course most of the kids we up half the night even though we warned them that they needed to sleep through the night and not be awake in the middle of the night waking us adults up. But they didn't listen, and Gabe was the main culprit. I figured they'd at least wake up far earlier than I wanted to so I put earplugs in a slept the night away while poor Erik dealt with putting Gabe and Elisa back to bed. In the middle of the night. Twice.

We let the kids open their stockings first. Gabe always get skittles!

Erik opening his stocking. It was filled with exciting things like toothpaste.

The kids stuffed their stocking candy down their gullet as fast as possible.

Opening the presents--The kids wait all year for this moment!

Bryce and Makayla on Christmas morning.

Ian is the youngest so he got to open the first present. We like to have some semblance of  order on Christmas morning, so we open gifts in order of youngest to oldest. With Bryce and Makayla there, I didn't go right after the kids this year haha.

A gemstone dig kit that Makayla and Bryce bought him.

Elisa opening her present from me---a $50 nail spa certificate. We haven't used it yet.

These lock safes were a big hit with the boys.

Bryce and Makayla opening some gifts

For Christmas dinner he smoked us some prime rib. It turned out well I thought. I made stuffing, green bean casserole, more cranberry sauce (which I actually canned previously) and mashed potatoes. Erik also made the tropical acini (aka frog eye) salad. All very delicious.

My plate. Yum!

I got bar stools a month before--they were nice to use since we didn't have room at the table for everyone to sit. The kids pecked at a few pieces of food on their plates and then ran off to play with their new toys.

The table

Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Makayla and Uncle Bryce left a day or so after Christmas. All in all a very fun Christmas! 

Christmas Video 2020

Here is the kid's annual Christmas video! This year they chose to sing "Let it Snow". They didn't really know the words too well so I wrote the words down on paper and had Grandpa hold them up for the kids to see. I think the video would have been even better had they smiled more! 

"Let it Snow" by Gabe, Elisa and Ian Nelson

Bonus: Here are take 1 and take 2. Had to cut the video short for obvious (and hilarious) reasons:

I've watched this video many times and its funny every time! Haha silly Ian!

Whoops. My bad!

December Randomness, Part III: Pre-Christmas Fun

Here are pictures of more fun things we did in December 2020:

Dec. 20

Pictures of Elisa in her cute Christmas dress after church (from two years ago-just barely fit yay!). Ian as usual wanted to be included in the picture shoot.

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Dec. 20

Elisa and I made sugar scrub together. It was easy and fun--but very messy--to make. I used coconut oil, Vitamin E oil, coarse organic sugar, essential oils for scent, and a little bit of food coloring. We gave them out to a select few and kept a jar for ourselves. I still have plenty ingredients leftover to make more!

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Dec. 20

Erik made delicious smoked salmon for dinner. The fish itself tasted great but the glaze he made slid off so I couldn't really taste much of it.

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Dec. 21

After almost 15 1/2 years, my wedding dress still fits! Barely! Haha.

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I made Elisa a shirt out of this neat (but awful to work with) fabric I found in the cheap-o bin at Walmart. I think this is the only time she's ever worn it. I made it a size 10, so it will fit her next year too.

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Dec. 22

I made labels for my homemade vanilla and put a bow on it, to pass out to a select few.

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Dec. 22

Dec. 2020's cookie plate I gave to a select few. 

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Video #1

Video #2

Video #3

Dec. 22

These videos are too large to upload on blogger, but her are the youtube links. They're of Ian being silly. He acted so embarrassed when I watched them! Goofy kid.

Dec. 23

Elisa looking cute and silly 

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Dec. 23

I found Elisa sleeping, propped up on her arm.

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Christmas Piano Recital 2020

The much-anticipated Christmas piano recital finally arrived! Lots of practicing before hand, and I think about half my students changed their performance piece at the last minute. I decided to have the recital at my house, since there really wasn't any place else to have it at this time, unless I was willing to follow CDC guidelines, in which I was and still am not haha! I did offer the option of performing over Zoom, and only one student decided to take that route, all the others and their family came in person. I like using Zoom, that way extended family can watch the recital. Next time Erik will have to man the Zoom (I wanted him to do that this recital but he didn't) because I had to keep walking in front of the performer to get to Zoom because old ladies would unmute themselves and start talking really loud and I'd have to get up and mute them. Or add latecomers. So next recital, Erik will be taking care of all that. I think the recital went okay. I think a lot of the kids were nervous. Most played well. I had the kids go in order of age. Ian was supposed to go first and he said he was okay with going first before the recital, but at the recital he refused, so he ended up going towards the end. Silly boy. Here are the pictures:

Makayla went first. She forgot her music, good thing I had a copy.

Grant. He typically performs well. 

Elisa. She did a good job!

Eliza-a new student but not new to the piano.

Gabe. He did well!

Lydia-she always plays quite nicely.

Carson, he played well

Dylan who performed over zoom. He is an enthusiastic player!

Allison. She is usually a near-perfect performer but she was extra nervous this time around.

Camden, one of my old boys. He impressed everybody with Maple Leaf Rag.

Ian finally was willing to go up. I'm sad I only got one of the songs he played on camera.

Kaiden. He has improved quite a bit since coming to me about a year ago.

Hannah, my oldest student who played her Piano Ballerina song so nicely I had to get a recording of a little bit of it.

One of the highlights of the recital...a duet by Carson and Gabe. The piece was March of the Toy Soldiers. It was so cute and they did such a good job.

I decided to perform at this recital, and despite the fact that practiced my butt off (Chopin preludes 1, 23, and 10),  I couldn't get through the 2nd line of my 2nd piece (???) so I cut it short and ended the recital, haha. How embarrassing. After I shut off Zoom, I made a second (third, actually) attempt at the preludes and played them perfectly, go figure. After the recital we all congregated in my newly-renovated kitchen and ate treats. 

P.S. nobody caught covid from my large group gathering. Ha.