The Amazing Adventures of Tiny T: December 2020

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Extra Time with Nate and Debbie

After Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Maddie and Uncle Eddie left, we were lucky that Uncle Nate and Aunt Debbie were able to stay a few extra days. We did lots of cooking and baking -Debbie made Soup Dumplings, Homemade Friend Chicken and Mashed Potatoes, and Fruit Tarts. Avery helped a bunch and all were phenomenal. We stayed up too late playing more Among Us and watching silly SNL skits. Tay had some epic battles with Nate and Debbie and also created a at home version of Among Us that was confusing but we all went along with it! And Avery spent her time cooking and baking and doing facials with Debbie. They left this morning and tears were shed - It was super hard to say goodbye. I told Avery that on the upside she could now play with some friends and her response was "But my Aunts and Uncles are my friends." Melted my heart - So sad to see them leave but also so lucky that we had such a wonderful Christmas together!! Very blessed!

Soup Dumpling Time

Taylor not liking the smell and plugging his nose this a chip clip

Tart Prep and Tay setting up his Among Us/Detective Game

A Tart is Born!

Final Product - Avery decorated ALL of them herself. They tasted as amazing as they looked!

Late Night Snuggles

SO sad to say goodbye - Avery made a special art piece for them to send since we miss them so much already!

More X-Mas Eve Family Pics

Debbie was able to edit the photos from her nice Camera so wanted them captured here!

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Covid Christmas 2020

With Thanksgiving cancelled, we made sure that Christmas would happen! We all quarantined (outside of school) and got Covid Tests to make sure we could all be together. Nate, Debbie, Maddie, Eddie, Grandma T and Grandpa all made the trip to Indy to celebrate. Some highlights include:

Decorating cookies with Uncle Nate and Aunt Debbie, Grandma T and Grandpa. We had 196 to decorate so it was no small feat!
We had Christmas Eve dinner at G and Papa's which was lovely. It makes me so happy to have my big, blended family all together. G and Papa had an AMAZING spread for us with lots of my faves like deviled eggs and Grammy's stuffed celery along with on delicious baked goods. It was a great night! We got home and put out cookies and milk for Santa. Avery, Tay and G headed to bed and the adults spent some time hanging out.
Christmas day was truly perfect and magical. We all got each other stocking stuffers which included sweatshirts from Nate and Debbie with all our names on it showing we are one big family, frames from Grandma T with "Brave, Strong and Bold" on them to celebrate Avery's song, Maddie had these hysterical portraits done of all our pets in old fashioned regal attire. We also did adults secret Santa so everyone got some great gifts - G drew Grandma T and got her tons of family canvases for their new condo which were amazing. Avery made everyone photo gifts capturing the year of Covid and Tay made everyone a Aquabead craft. The kids loved their gifts and the magic that is Santa. Tay got a new scooter from G which was a big hit as well as lots of clothes and crafts. Tay was really excited about all his gifts including hotwheels, pretend grill set from G, new Ukulele from Grandma T, and lots of cool games. We will have lots of awesome things to keep us busy over the Covid winter.
I made brunch which everyone loved and Eddie was able to stay before heading home to see his family. It was a super relaxing day minus Maddie going to the ER for pelvic pain (ovarian cyst rupture) and Teri starting a small fire in the oven when the broiler was momentarily forgotten. We now know our fire extinguisher works and all was OK. WE had an awesome dinner of steak and crab legs. G had rented tables and chairs so we could all sit together for all the meals which was really nice!
Besides eating WAY too much we had tons of laughs, played lots of games, watched funny TV, and did silly pretend play with the kids. The Old Fashioned Bingo Game (where Tay called all numbers in the 30's - 3 tens - Example: 3 tens and a 6 and then an N), Speak Out had us all laughing, Cracker Barrel Golf T game was another favorite (Cullen got this for everyone and we had competitions - most of us got it down to 1!), and the biggest hit was "Among Us" which Avery introduced to all of us and we spent HOURS all playing together in our own game. Even Tay got in on the action and ended up being a good player and fooling us as the imposter a few times. Maddie was by far the best Imposter of the holiday!
There was just so much love and happiness over the visit - Not even a little, ridiculous, untruthful accusation on X-mas could soil the mood. Avery and Tay are lucky to have such a wonderful and generous family. It was hard to say goodbye to Grandma T, Grandpa, and Aunt Maddie and Uncle Eddie but SO happy they were here. Nate and Debbie are sticking around a few days which we are thrilled about it!

Playing with toys from Uncle Cullen and Aunt KJ and making Chex Mix before everyone arrived