Day 272

Hump day. And a birthday! And lots of e-learning continues. At least we hope they're learning something. Just saw news that some area school districts were considering the continuation of e-learning into January. The lack of wisdom and courage in our leaders is astonishing. Nana and Papa had a great "outdoor" lunch at P.F. Chang's in a tent they put up in the parking lot. Toasty warm. Loved the Korean Bulgogi Lettuce Wrap. Matt's out at Beaver Creek Lodge for a book-finishing retreat; says it's an amazing place. Lynn and Jamie are planning a stay out there next week...

View at Matteo's school-van stop at 7:15am.

Santa's workshop

P.F. Chang's

On the parking lot.

Two "smoked" drinks at P.F. Chang's.

Happy Birthday! from P.F. Chang's, card and all.

And from a real store.

AJ made the top for Jonny.
Still needs the stick trimmed.

Tada! Fina's handiwork, a pillow case.

Matteo and Papa were in line 50 minutes. Not bad.

AJ made cherry dump cake.

Nana made beef stroganoff from scratch.

Day 271

E-learning continues. Tonight's movie was Alien Xmas; don't bother. Puzzle work has been very limited since the foster twins arrived and e-learning began.

AJ's helping Jonny with a school project. Making tops.

Day 270

Monday. The good news is that Matteo went back to in-person school. He said it was a great day! But that did leave 5 at home doing e-learning. This Monday did go a little smoother than last Monday. Jamie started tech week this evening which culminates in final filming on Saturday (see It's a Wonderful Life on the Theatrics page).

Chick-Fil-A is always a hit.

AJ beat Papa.

They were cackling with each other the whole time.

Day 269

After online church in the morning (TimberCreek), many of us met up at Fox Run Park for some coffee, hot chocolate, and a little fellowship. Tracy had her Kids Bags ready to go with various Christmas activities for families including an Advent calendar and the makings of a birthday cake for Jesus. Nana's working on a little something-something in the quilting workshop. We had take-out dinner from the Club tonight (prime rib!) and Jamie followed a horse-drawn sleigh onto the Club grounds - being pulled by two of the horses (percherons) Jamie "knows" from the Foundation. The Teroldego from Wolff Vineyards went quite nicely with the prime rib. And maybe the best news of the day, the Chiefs/Broncos game was actually pretty good (not a wipe out).

Ready for pick up at our 1pm gathering at Fox Run.

In Santa's workshop...

Day 268

Wow, Saturday could not have come soon enough. A lot of energy went into e-learning and foster care this week. Would you drive 40 minutes one-way for a dine-in lunch? Nana and Papa did just that, a quick trip to Fiesta Mexicana in Woodland Park, CO (just a couple miles inside Teller County). And it was delightful. Jamie did another Parlor Car Chat this morning about the Fillmore and Western Railway that he and Matteo visited in 2014. Here's the video recording of the Chat. Jonny and Papa watched 48 Christmas Wishes before dinner.

Trevor always went for the biggest possible.
And it fit in their house!

Dining in at Fiesta Mexicana in Woodland Park, CO.

Two foster care families meet.

Video on YouTube

We're not at all sure where this was, or when...

Day 267

We made it to, and through, Friday! Jamie took the two older boys shopping a little (no success, but Starbucks!) and Tracy and Lynn got stuff for Crossfire Ministries (collecting through our church). Tracy also hung up the new stockings for any foster babies around at Christmas, like the two this year.

Self-made breakfast

We almost got the game finished. It's hard to get game
time in with 4 players with different e-learning schedules.

At Target... The ammo is a roll of TP!

We're set now for "visitors."

Great therapy!

Day 266

The TimberCreek Kids packets are done! Check out that list of sign-in times for e-learning. Good thing Fina and Matteo are entirely on their own and AJ needs only a smidge of reminder. The three littles on the other hand... AJ had us get out a new Monopoly version we'd not payed before. We didn't get to play more than a couple rounds, but it's definitely different enough to be interesting. And very appropriate for election season.