Merry Christmas, COVID edition

Merry (belated) Christmas!  We thought that it'd be better late than never as far as documenting our Christmas last year....

In the beginning of December, the kids got their advent calendars.  They got both their calendars with little chocolate morsels that they get every day and also they got a Lego advent calendar too.  Eliana, however, isn't into Legos so she got a Lindt advent calendar with even more chocolate.

It is pretty exciting to wake up on December 1 and explore the advent calendars waiting for you.  If you notice to the right of Gabe, there is an advent calendar with dogs.  Elvin got an advent calendar for Lucky and it had treats inside made of salmon.

Here is Lucky's canine advent calendar.

He is a very picky eater however,  The kids gave him his first treat and he spit it out.  We gave the advent calendar to some friends who have a dog with a less refined palate.

Xiao's Lego advent calendar is City themed and had a bunch of city-type items such as trucks etc.  Karina got a Harry Potter advent calendar and Gabe's was Star Wars themed.

December is also the time that we make Christmas cookies.  The kids enjoyed making spritz cookies using the spritz gun.

They also made gingerbread.

They rolled out lots of shapes.

And they made molasses crinkles.

And then it was time to go cut down a Christmas tree.  This time the Christmas tree farm actually had trees to cut down.  (Last year they ran out of trees, so we called this time just to make sure.). And we also picked a day it wasn't raining, which makes the activity so much more pleasant.

Lucky came along to help us pick out the perfect tree.  The road was a little windy to get to the farm and he actually threw up a little bit in the car because he got carsick.  He felt better after he got out.

All the kids had differing opinions about which tree was the best one.  Eventually we narrowed it down to one.

The boys wanted to help cut. 

Karina also tried her hand at it.

And then it was down!

And then it came time to decorate the tree.

Gabe was really into it this year.

Everyone got their boxes of ornaments out and hung them up on the tree.  And then Karina got the honor of putting the star on.

Gabe also wanted to put the star on too, so Elvin took it off and let Gabe do it.  They are all getting pretty heavy and Elvin is not sure if he will be able to lift the kids up next year.

Karina put together the glockenspiel.

We actually have two glockenspiels and she also put together the second one too.  

And Gabe hung up the stockings.  They were on the staircase this year because we wanted them out of reach from Lucky.  We were afraid that he would jump up and grab them in the living room, and pull everything down.

So there's the tree all decorated!

As Christmas approached, Elvin got really busy at work because that's when the COVID vaccine arrived at the hospital where he works.  He had to help coordinate some things there and wasn't able to take time off work like normal.   

So to keep the kids occupied, they got some early Christmas presents on the 23rd and 24th.  We picked out some board games that we thought they would like.

One of the games they got is a game called Hotels which Emily played when she was a kid.  It's sort of similar to Monopoly and the kids enjoy playing it.  Although it can also be quite cutthroat and sometimes people end up upset when they are forced into bankruptcy.

The kids let Lucky open one of the presents.

They also got some illustrated Harry Potter books.

And then came Christmas Eve.  Which means it was time for "Santa" to fill all the stockings with loot for the kids.  You'll notice that even Lucky got a stocking this year.  His first one!

Santa outdid himself this year.  There wasn't even enough room in some of the stockings for all the mini-presents.

And then it was time to open the stockings!

Amongst other things, Karina got duct tape and a spray bottle, which she asked for. 

She also got a hair brush, lots of gummy candy, some chapstick and silly putty.

Gabe got bubble gum tape, some padlocks (which he asked for), a morse code decoder, and a flashlight.

Eliana, who likes to organize things, arranged her loot very tidily on the couch.  She got chewing gum, earrings, Lindor chocolate and other goodies from Trader Joes such as chocolate and peppermint bark covered pretzels.

Lucky got a fleece blanket which he likes to lay on.

We also let him play with a paper bag, which he likes to tear up.

Xiao Yu got Fruit by the Foot, which he loves, a recorder instrument, and some fidget toys.  

He enjoyed looking through the kaleidoscope.  

And this is what he saw...

After that we had breakfast.  Our traditional Christmas breakfast is bacon and cinnamon rolls.

The chickens had a special breakfast too....oats mixed with sunflower seeds and beef fat.  Yum!

They devoured it.

And that was Christmas morning.  Gabe spent the day reading his World Records book.  He likes knowing facts about things.

During the day, Grandpa came to visit and say hi to the kids.  Lucky met him for the first time.

And then it was time to open presents!

Gabe got a drone!

It's a little one and has only enough battery to last a few minutes.  But it's pretty fun, easy to control, and can go in lots of different directions.

The kids got each other some presents.  Eliana and Karina ordered Gabe a t-shirt.  It's merch from a YouTube star that Gabe really likes watching...it's videos about Minecraft.

He immediately tore off his shirt and put the new one on.

Xiao Yu got a robot.

He could control it using a remote control.

He also got a book that talks and makes animal sounds when you press buttons.

Lucky got a very plush dog bed.  Sometimes he will sleep on it and sometimes he prefers the hardwood floor.  Go figure!

Karina also made him a dog jacket.  

We're not exactly sure he appreciated all the time that Karina put into making this present for him.

Eliana enjoyed opening some of her presents.  She asked for and got a cash box.  She has a suspicion that sometimes some of her money disappears every once in a while.

She also asked for and got a Binx box, which is a monthly subscription of snacks, treats, and toys for rabbits.  It arrives by mail regularly and now the rabbits get new toys and treats on a regular basis.

She also got some earrings, now that her ears are pierced.

Here are some chicken-themed ones, which is very appropriate for this past year.

Here they are...

Karina also made off with lots of presents.  

She got a little LED tree, which is made of wires and have lights at the end of the branches.  It now lives in her room and lights the room every night when she goes to bed.

Eliana made her a picture frame with a picture of Karina's rabbit, Starlight.

She also got a little potter's wheel.  It's tiny and designed to make tiny pots.

The kids also got the parents presents.  Gabe spent some of his own money to get Mommy some of her favorite candy bars.

Eliana got Mommy an ornament, that symbolizes a gift made to help girls in developing countries.  Really sweet idea!

And the kids all got red envelopes from Elvin's parents.

Karina for a present got these things called Diamond Dots.  It's a pattern and you use a stylus to glue colored plastic dots (the "diamonds") on to the pattern.

The pattern itself is coated with stickiness to hold the dots in place.

Everyone was curious about it.

Doing it is quite mindless, on a certain level, and therapeutic and so Elvin got into it too.

And then came time for dinner.  Elvin made dough for rolls.  So Gabe took a portion of the dough and brought his culinary creative genius to bear.  He grabbed the bacon bits from the fridge, which is usually reserved for salads or omelets and kneaded a bunch into the dough.  The result were rolls that had salty bits of bacon inside and the whole roll was infused with the smoky aroma of the bacon.  They were delicious!

The chickens also got a fancy dinner, courtesy of Eliana.

And the rabbits got a fancy Christmas dinner as well.  Looks like cucumber peels were on the menu.

Emily's sister from Seattle and her kids, our kid's cousins, came down to spend Christmas dinner with us, for our pared down version of Christmas.  We, however, forgot to take a picture of the dinner itself, which was comprised of roast chicken and steak.

We did, however, capture on camera, an inter-sibling arm wrestling match.  Later on, an inter-cousin arm-wrestling match took place between Eliana and her girl cousin.  And then Elvin also arm wrestled with his nephew too!

Later that week, Karina tried out her miniature potter's wheel.

Because Elvin knows how to use a potter's wheel, he coached Karina through the process.

She ended up making a little pot that was quite cute.

Well, that was how our COVID-influenced Christmas went.  We hope you are well!

Chicken Update

Our three chickens have just about reached adult size.  Here they are taking a dust bath.  

They are now consistently producing 2-3 eggs per day.  We are pleasantly surprised that they are laying so consistently.

And then one day, one of the kids found an egg that was huge.  Karina is holding it up and comparing it to another egg that's more normal sized for our chickens.  Their normal sized eggs are much smaller and also smaller than store-bought eggs.

However, even when you compared it to a store bought egg, it's still bigger!

When we cracked the egg open....voila!  There were two yolks inside!  No wonder it was larger!

Rainbow Cake!

Eliana is the baker in the family.  She is not into cooking very much or baking savory things.  But, she likes baking desserts!

The other day, she decided that she wanted to bake a "rainbow cake".  So using cake mix and a round tin that she inherited from her aunt, she set out to bake this layered cake.

It had all the colors of the rainbow and she had to bake each layer separately.  Also, she only had one cake tin and had to wash out the cake tin in between each baking.  To make each layer the same thickness, she weighed out the batter into six equal weight portions.  It took her the whole afternoon!

Then came time for making the icing and the assembly.

And then it was done!  We apparently have never taught Gabe that he should let the baker have the first slice.  After dinner he dug into it without telling anyone.  All the layers were there!

It shrunk in size pretty quickly, day after day.

And it didn't take long for it to disappear!

Eggs!

We have good news!  We got our chickens back in August and have been waiting expectantly for them to start laying eggs.  

It's been six months now and Eliana, our researcher, says that they start laying between five to eight months of age.

Well, on Tuesday, Eliana decided to check the coop and found one!  It was a pretty exciting moment in our household.  The egg was cold so it must have been laid a while ago.

The kids think it's Chippy that laid the egg because they saw her go into the coop a lot.

Then Karina saw Chippy go into the coop and decided to check the coop again.  And she found another egg!

So now we're the proud owners of two freshly laid eggs.  We can't wait to try them!

Now, whenever the kids hear the chickens clucking, they go out to check for eggs.

Nothing this time!

Here are the ladies, all grown up!

Puppy Update!

So Lucky has been with us for several months now.  Here is a picture of soon after got him, so he's gained quite a bit of weight since then.

He is less of a little puppy and more of a teenager doggie member of our household now.  We are happy to say that he is mostly potty trained and only rarely has accidents indoors.

The kids love playing with him.  And also accessorizing him.  Karina made a bandana for him, and put it on him.  Whether he appreciated that or not, we're not sure.  But overall he is a pretty laid back dog and tolerates things like this pretty well.  

Gabe likes to pick him up and cuddle him like a stuffed animal and Lucky seems to tolerate it ok.

He likes to lounge around...a lot.  He spends most of the day lying around, napping.  We have other friends who have gotten COVID puppies and they talk about how their dogs can't stay still.  Lucky, on the other hand, has staying still down to a science.  

And sometimes he feels snuggly and will lay next or on top of you.

But he does like to go to stretch his legs.  We went out to the local track to ride bicycles and he enjoyed running along.

Here is his meal.  He gets a couple of scoops of kibble in the morning and a couple more at night.  He is not too crazy about it and will only eat it if he's starving.  To make it a little more enticing, Elvin saved some chicken liver and heart that came with the whole chicken from the store, then fried up the organs and mixed them in there.  He loved it!

We signed Lucky up for a manners class.  In the first class, he was VERY distracted by the other five dogs in the room and couldn't do anything but whine because he couldn't go play with the other canines. 

By the second week, he calmed down and was able to learn some stuff.  Amongst other things, he learned how to sit and lay down.  He also was taught to "wait" which is useful so that he doesn't rush out from inside the house to the outside.  And we're working on leash walking, but it's still a work in progress.

On the last day of the six week class, here was a mini-graduation ceremony for him.  They put a little graduation cap on him, which he found very distracting.

He also wanted to eat his graduation certificate.  (He likes to tear up paper.)

Since we've had him, we've given him haircuts twice.  It was sort of a trial, but he ended up not being too weirded out by the clippers and complied well if we kept him distracted with treats.

It took a while and he got bored and did what he does best....lounge on the ground.

We also give him baths weekly.  He used to hate it and go absolutely berserk and try to jump out of the bathtub.  Now he's gotten used to it and is willing to sit there quietly if we feed him little pieces of chicken.  You realize how fluffy his fur is after we get him wet--then he turns into a skinny chihuahua.

And here he is after a bath!

He does do some naughty things, which we try to correct with varying degrees of success.  For one thing, he likes chewing on shoes.  The smellier the better.  Elvin got a new pair of shoes and left them accessible.  They were straight out of the box, with still the new shoe smell and they did not interest Lucky one bit.

Gabe's stinky old tennis though....

And Eliana's clogs are also tasty.

He also likes to get up on the couch.  He knows he's not supposed to so will jump on and then jump off if you approach him to get him off.

He also likes to lick the dishes if you're loading the dish washer.  We are really trying to wean him from this bad habit.

And like most dogs, it seems, when he smells something tantalizing he will try to get it from our dining table or the counter.  

He does like going into our backyard.  We've trained him to ring a bell (shown in the picture) when he needs to go out to go potty.  Well now, he just rings it non-stop when he wants to go outside, even if he's gone potty just five minutes ago.

Once outside, he likes to do various things, like play tug of war with the rope tied to our big apple tree.

He also likes to run around like a little crazy jack rabbit.

He also likes to search around for his favorite snack--chicken poop.  Yes, he loves chicken poop.  It's one of his favorite foods and quite disgusting.

We used to free-range the chickens all over the yard, but to keep them from pooping just anywhere, Elvin built this low fence to keep them contained.  Also, this way, the chickens can stay in the back part and not get chased by Lucky. 

This is the whiteboard in our kitchen.  Usually it lists out our menu for the week.  However when Gabe was in time out recently, he took it upon himself to write a menu out from Lucky’s point of view.  What is Lucky having for dinner on Monday?   Apparently, according to Gabe, chicken poop.  

At night we have him sleep in his crate.  It's not his favorite thing, but he tolerates it.  

The kids do like going into the crate and say they would sleep in there with him if we let them.

So that's our Lucky!  He's growing up quickly!