bath, beyond

 You can clearly tell the rooms in this house that I've paid attention to, and the ones that are still pretty much the way they were when we bought them. Take the downstairs bathroom, for example:

Now, there's nothing wrong with this space. It's perfectly tasteful and perfectly functional. It's all that, but it's just not quite mine yet. BUT with a week spent contorting my body into spaces where it's not meant to fit (aka painting), some new fixtures, and a lot of help from Mike mounting things onto the wall in ways that mean they (probably) won't fall off, the bathroom is finally done. It's now a palace that completely reflects me. And maybe the Jetsons. 

candy review

Last year, I bought the boys a fancy advent calendar from the candy company Sugarfina, and each day I posted their reviews of that day's candy on Facebook. The reviews were smart, sweary, irreverent, and so much fun. And the other day, I got a care package from my cousin Cassidy, who is in the Air Force and currently stationed in Japan. She thoughtfully included Japanese Hi-Chew candies for the boys, so we decided to do a special edition candy review. As a bonus, my brother J and nephew John were here visiting, so J got to join in on the fun! (John isn't quite at candy-reviewing age yet, but we'll rope him in someday.) Here is their review, which also will give you a taste of what last year's advent calendar reviews were like.

Strawberry

Liam: Shit kinda bussin.

J: Did you say bussin? I hope that one dies soon.

Liam: It’s ON, bro. What are you talking about?

Max: Pretty chewy.

Liam: Weird but good.

Henry: It’s meh. Tastes like a chewy sweeTART.

Max: He’s lying to us.

J: I can’t read any Japanese but I feel like the number one ingredient is wax.

Liam: What gave you that idea?

J: The texture … but the flavor is there.

Green apple

Liam: It’s green apple time, baby!

Liam: Yuh [nods]

Max: Smells bad, looks bad, flavor is bad … let me taste it real quick. 

Henry: No, just not a good flavor.

Liam: Flavor is strong, can feel it in my nostrils.

Henry: I give that a flat 27 x 10 to the negative fifth.

Liam: That’s still positive, bro.

Liam: Imma give it a 3 x 10 to the eighth meters per second.

[forgive my transcribing skills, friends]

Grape

Liam: Yeah, Imma take one of these for myself. [takes a whole package]

Max: The smell alone puts it over the other two.

Henry: It’s not even a good grape, 8/10.

Max: You said not even good but you gave it an 8?

Henry: It’s still grape tho so it's good.

Liam: This battery acid really burns my throat, 9/10.

Max: Battery acid?!?!

Liam: It’s called satire.

Max: Satire’s supposed to be funny.

Liam: No, that’s parody, goof.

And the final word goes to my favorite brother!

J: The grape ones taste like cat pee smells, but I’m too committed to spit it out. Must maintain the uncle flex.

Thank you so much, Cass, for all the goodies! We love them!

headband

Godzilla fan

Campfire tiger Cass got from a vending machine.
I adore it!

candy candy candy

coffee, then nap

John!

fun with napkins

a self-portrait by John, cameo Aunt Hol

phs winter homecoming

 Y'all, Liam was part of the homecoming court! What a lovely way to mark his final semester of high school. He escorted Olivia, who is in National Honor Society with him. He didn't end up being the king, but we all had a blast watching him be acknowledged by his peers. My dad, Bethany, and my aunt Laura came out to watch too, so he was definitely feeling the love. Check him out:

amari rain

It has come to my attention that in my utter neglect of this blog, I have also failed to mention the arrival of my second great-nephew. Amari joined us in September, and like his big brother, he's an absolute delight. I got to meet him in November when Bethany and I spent a weekend in St. Louis with them. I got to see both boys and Klaudia again last night, now that they're recovered enough from having covid to come for a belated Christmas visit. Amari was perfectly content to snuggle with his great-auntie while Emeri ran around the house with Bethany. Especially in these pandemic times, I'm so grateful for every last visit I get.

Gram with her boys in November