Eve and I have started a weekend tradition of facials and Queer Eye, our current binge show. On Saturday nights both boys are generally out of the house, so Eve and I have our own fun.
Also, dragons!
Weekend facials
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Author Archives: Tessa
Presents for the pets
Eve took her pet store gift card and spent it all on presents for the pets. :) She’s so cute. She loves it there too. We had a really fun time shopping. The staff is so friendly and the girl helping us had hot pink hair. Eve will be working there some day!
Huxley is not impressed. 
He’s handsome though! 
A scratch pad thing for Jasmine. Covered in catnip, of course. 
A mossy tunnel thing for Maho. 
Jasmine likes Huxley’s booties way more than Huxley does!
Thanks for the gift card, Mema! We had a lot of fun with it.
Minecraft in School
Lex had a project for his social studies class (Conflict, Chaos, and Counterculture) and he used Minecraft to show three different examples. I am SUPER impressed with how cool this looks. He showed me his work along the way and I was so impressed at every step.
I have heard a lot about using Minecraft in education, but this is the first real project that I’ve seen that really makes sense. Lex did a lot of reading about the events and looked at a lot of photos to create these scenes.
COVID-19 hits home – Part II
We all tested again Sunday night (well, not Eve, but the rest of us) to prepare for back to school on Monday.
So Eve and I are home this week, isolating (not really) from each other. The boys each did a PCR test at school on Monday. Lex was kind of bummed that he had to go to school while Eve and I stayed home, but I reminded him of the upcoming FRC season that kicks off on Saturday, and he reminded me of his final exams next week, so we both agreed it was best he didn’t get Covid. Let’s hope his PCR test agrees!!
Eve and I both have mild symptoms. It feels (to me) like a head cold, one that in normal times I’d pop a Dayquil and continue on with my day. Stuffy nose, small cough, headache, she woke up with an ear ache this morning, I have a burny feeling in my nose, etc.
On the bright side, it’s beautiful and sunny this week.
The cat and dog show 
My lemon tree is doing well! 
Flowers and sunshine
COVID-19 hits home
After nearly two years of successfully avoiding the dreaded coronavirus, it finally hit our family. We enjoyed a lovely Christmas together, then Rose found out on Monday night that she was infected. We were all back in our own homes by then and scrambled to find testing options. I got free rapid tests (antigen tests) from a state distribution and the four of us in my house tested negative on Tuesday morning. I also scheduled more precise PCR tests for as soon as possible, which ended up being Wednesday morning. Eve work up Tuesday with congestion and a sore throat, which she blamed on swallowing too much pool water while swimming with Rose and Joyce on Sunday. I also developed a sore throat and by Wednesday morning was convinced I had Covid for sure! We all got PCR tested Wednesday morning. Results came back overnight.
Covid results:
Me ✖️
Lex ✖️
B’Lake ✖️
Eve ✔️ 😩
I cancelled all plans and now we are figuring out how to contain the spread. Fortunately everyone is happy spending all day on their computers and ignoring one another. Eve is masking, as is B’Lake. Lex and I decided not to. We’ll see how that plays out.
I took Lex to get his booster shot today as well. Unrelated. So I think we are going to finish out this vacation week very quietly. I hope her symptoms stay mild, I hope the booster shot doesn’t take Lex down, and I hope no one else gets sick. 🤞🏻
Merry Christmas!
Another one on the books. This year, despite the pandemic overhead, we were able to gather all together. 🎄❤️
Santa came while all the teenagers were still awake. They didn’t help though, and didn’t even leave any cookies for Santa! 
I think Eve had the biggest Christmas score! 
Mema and Grandpa Tom. ❤️ 
Legos! Surprise! 😂 
She’s so cute. 
Apparently I wrote a book many, many years ago. 
Christmas day Lego building. Some.things never change. 🤗 
A beautiful amaryllis from my beautiful friend.
Cookie time
Eve and I decided to host a cookie party this year. We decided many weeks ago, before the Covid case numbers started skyrocketing again. I did lots of internal debating and talking withy friends (who were they party guests!) and decided to proceed anyway. Everyone is vaxxed and boosted, so I’m hoping for the best!!
We had a really nice time. There were none moms and eleven kids, mostly teenagers but two younger ones as well. We had a lovely time and everyone left after about two hours. (Because I set the end time in the invite! ?)
3-Day Christmas Tree
This year Christmas decorating has taken a little longer than usual. We went on Friday afternoon to get a tree because Alan was here that day. When we got home everyone was tired from school and tree getting, so we just put it in the stand and left it. On Saturday all three kids had plans, which even overlapped by two hours so I had a little time home alone! :) I wrapped some presents, got out the Christmas decorations, put up some house decorations, and put the lights on the tree. This morning the boys put lights on the big tree outside while Eve decorated the porch (and I dealt with a broken water heater). This evening we were all finally together and ready to decorate the tree. You know the meme format “Tell me you have ____ without telling me you have ___.” Tell me you have teenagers without telling me you have teenagers. We decorated the tree at 9:00pm and no one is even remotely ready for bed. Myself included!
Friday afternoon tree cutting, trying to pick one and get done before dark! 
“No you can’t get an 10′ tree!” Alan has to remind me of that every year! 
Also, that he’s strong. 🤪 
Eve wanted a piece of the trunk for a craft project. Lex got it started. 
Eve finished it off. 
The next day I put up the lights. 
The following day (night!) we got around to putting up the decorations. 
Huxley was confused. 
Team work makes the dream work! 😄 
Lovely Christmas tree. 
💗💚
Tomorrow hopefully a plumber will come fix the water heater and maybe I’ll even get a few errands done as well. 🎄🎁
Thanksgiving 2021
We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at Rosy’s new house!! It was pretty awesome. We were all thankful for a warm house (and cozy where it wasn’t as warm) and loving family. Also, there were lots of dogs.
I’m a little late with this post, but we got a Christmas tree today and I need to get a Thanksgiving post done before the Christmas posts begin!
HBD to me
My birthday was the other day. It was pretty awful, but I gave myself a re-do and did much better the second time around! 😁
I got my Covid booster shot (Pfizer) on Thursday evening, then went to school Friday morning because I was feeling ok. I have a light morning on Fridays so I figured I could take it easy, do some stuff around the library, and be ok. Turns out I was NOT ok! We had 11 teachers out and I was called to sub in kindergarten. I said I’m not feeling well and probably can’t teach kindergarten all day, so the boss said, “ok, how about subbing for the para in the other kindergarten?” So I did that, until the chills set in, then the shivers and aches. I ended up in tears in the office around 10am and heading home around 10:30am (after crying in both kindergarten classrooms!). Everyone was super supportive (I love that about my school!) but I felt guilty leaving anyway since there were already so many people out. When I got home I crashed on the couch for the rest of the day. Teenagers came and went, and I dozed on. I had aches, chills, sweats, vomiting… it was awful. I was feeling much better by Saturday. Alan came down and did a bunch of jobs around the house, I opened presents, we all laughed and had fun, then we went to watch Cinderella at the high school. Lex is running the lights again this year and Eve did stage crew. It was a great show. I’m feeling close to 100% now Sunday evening. The kids did their final Cinderella production this afternoon, then Eve and I went grocery shopping this evening. I bought myself some birthday cake. :)
It was a miserable day, but an otherwise good weekend and 100% worth it to keep myself and others safer from Covid!