Balloon Volleyball

 Aunt Jolene gifted the kids cash dispersed in balloons for Christmas. Since Christmas our family has been engaged in fierce balloon volleyball matches. I am not kidding about he fierce part, either. Cut throat, people.  We actually had to buy a gross of balloons to keep us supplied. It's been a great way to connect with the kids and keep our bodies moving during the cold months when we really don't want go outside. I love that we've found hours of play given a piece of latex and a span of yarn.

Texas Snowmagedon

 And it snowed...and it snowed some more. But with the record shattering temperatures, we had to enjoy it in small spurts at first. On the 15th of February the high was 14 degrees. The kids were brave enough for a quick snow angel to disrupt the smooth blanket.

February 17th - Neighborhood friends and family snowball fight in our yard

Feb 19th was the last day for decent snow before it was slush so we built a very tiny snowman. Rhys has always really wanted to build a snowman since Sophie and Kira did in Colorado a long time ago. So we made it happen. I think the size was pretty comparable to theirs too. We tried for bigger but just couldn't make it stick. Wins the cuteness award.

 We were extremely blessed during this cold time. For us, it was enjoyable. We had fun. We were sorry for those who didn't have power for long periods or rolling outages, including Oma and Opa. They hunkered down near their fire as their pool became a frozen pond and stayed with their dogs. We invited them over but they only came for an afternoon. We never lost power. Our pipes stayed in good shape thanks to my husband's good efforts and God's blessings. Lots of families were moving from house to house to stay warm. It was a good reminder for preparedness for us. Thinking over "what would we do if" situations.

Here is a picture of Wall-E doing snow days right.

Valentine's Day

 Sophie heart attacked Rhys' door.

Oma sent Hot Cocoa bombs our way.

And of course we already had our own sweet plans. We made dark chocolate covered honeycomb with our real honey rather than sugar--we are beekeepers.

And we had our traditional "fancy" dinner of "never on a date" food. This year chili dogs.

It started snowing heavily today. We are to have a snow like we've never had here. We are thrilled and yes the outdoor faucets are covered.

Lunar New Year

 We celebrated Lunar New Year entirely in food. It was really cold out and we like food, comforting food.

So Asian inspired pastries for breakfast. (ube bun yumminess) Thank you 85 Degree Bakery.

Pork buns and tapioca sweet buns (Sophie's choice to try--we no likey) for lunch. Thank you 99 Ranch Market.

Americanized orange chicken, egg rolls, and pot stickers for dinner. Thank you Trader Joe's.

My Asian culture loving girl enjoying her pork bun.

Sophie hanging out with some ducks at the Asian market.

Dad Passes Away

 Dad started a steady decline when Mom went in the hospital for her heart attack. With a fairly quick decline starting after Christmas. I'm glad I helped Dad and said goodbye when I visited in October and November. I said that I loved him over the phone and decided to come out once he'd passed to help mom, encouraging her to use the available help we'd set her up with when I was there earlier. She really struggled with knowing when and how much help to let in as his decline was quick. Dad was not really eating, drinking, or talking so we got our tickets. Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer that night on 25 January 2021 with mom by him. Jolene came in to be with mom while hospice took care of removing Dad. 

Neal and I showed up the next day. We spent 10 days there. We removed the house of his things and spent hours and hours taking care of the clerical changes that come with a death. Jolene juggled her family and helping as well. I spent an entire Sunday going through all the genealogy stuff Dad had from grandma and his sister, that he had moved from California about a decade prior. So many photos and memorabilia. We only got out twice. Once to Port Townsend to walk the beach where I clearly saw bald eagles for the first time. The other day was to spread Dad's ashes and sight see. 

We spread Dad's ashes near the Olympic National Forest where he wished them to be. Mom shed a few quiet tears and was pleased we did it the way he would have wanted. We visited a favorite bridge he liked called descriptively enough as High Steel Bridge. We also visited Rocky Brook Falls. While driving we saw two large bobs of seals along the coast, a bald eagle, and a herd of elk. We ended the day having dinner from Panda Express so basically the exact way dad would have had it. 

I had a pow wow with mom about living with us. I communicated my desire to have her around us and the kids, my belief that a team around her was the best way to help her live a healthy and longer life, and that though she had taken care of her diabetes to this point, it was not humanly possible to be perfect 100 percent of the time. She communicated that she'd had a good life, she'd do her best to visit, and that she wanted to live alone. That this is what she wanted and that I needed to let go of my fear. We compromised by having her monitor alert us when her blood sugar levels were too low. I have her police department on speed dial in case Jolene is unable to intervene in her behalf.  So certainly not ideal in my book but mom is living the life she wants to and that part make me happy.

We are super grateful for the support family showed us--Oma and Opa giving up their lives for two weeks to take care of the kids, since they attend school online. Kira for her helpful information about dad's decline. David for jokes he texted to keep us smiling and lightening the mood for my mom when we shared them.