Dental hygiene mass production

Can you see why we love this dentist?

6 lb catfish

Gramps often puts out jug lines ahead of our visits so that the kids can check them. Graydon decided to check the last jug line with the kayak today and got to paddle home snuggling a 6 lb blue cat.

Boys’ Talk

With Wiley and Portia in bed, it was suddenly super quiet in the house. Found Graydon and Daddy in the garage having a long conversation about a million different things. Came back half an hour later and they were still at it. Not actually doing anything, just talking... about confidence, education, future jobs, how to not be a jerk... and those are just the parts I overheard!

Kindergarten Spelling is the BEST!

KamPeenk, anyone?

Nerd shirts

Daddy isn't the only one with nerd shirts anymore!

First harvest

Portia helped harvest the first set of lettuce leaves from our New Year's Day planting. We also still had a few garden tomatoes left, so together they made a yummy salad!

Birthdays during COVID

Graydon's class just "sang" him Happy Birthday on Zoom. He had a big goofy grin on his face that I wasn't quite quick enough to catch. Birthdays are a big deal for kids, even BIG kids.

Happy Birthday, Graydon!

Graydon baked his own birthday breakfast: super-gooey bran muffins! Our big guy is now 11 years old.

Pandemic Hoarding Continues

Guess what is in one of our kitchen drawers?!

Learning manners from her big brother...?

Tonight, Portia tried to snort tomato soup!

It’s melting!!

We awoke to a frozen moonscape of snow craters on the deck but it's melting now. Every once in a while you hear a "th-wump!" as another section of snow slides off the solar panels onto the deck some two stories below. And, for the first time I've come to recognize one of the additional wonderful things I miss about a snowy winter - how, once the snow stops and the sun comes out, everything is bathed in a bright, warm light reflecting off the snowy surfaces. Our house is as light today as it has ever been!

The top fell off

One downside of real snow is that the trees around here are not built for it. We'll likely lose the top ~6 feet of our Monterey Oak - the weight was just too much for a tree that still had leaves on it.

Snow Day!

I was skeptical when the forecasters predicted snow today. Boy was I wrong! This is the most snow I've ever seen in Austin. It snowed quite literally all day, starting before 9am and still going a little now at 4pm. The kids loved it!

Let it go!

Portia is all dressed up in her "Elsa Dress" waiting for the Google Home Mini to start playing "Let it Go..."

Wow!

We just found out how tall the crane arm is on Wiley's present from Santa. He just asked me whether I was going to send Santa this photo!!

All set up

Wiley is very proud of his laundry sorting system. Socks into one basket, undies in another, and Mami gets the shirts and pants (they are harder to fold).

Beautiful Winter Day

It looks like summer, but it's windy and the rest of us are wearing jackets. Graydon is enjoying the sun and wind on his face. It's much better than the stale indoor air to which we've become accustomed.

Modelling in front of the giant madrone

Winter fishing!

Legos, Legos, Legos!

Portia has been having fun building her McLaren Senna race-car.

Portia says:

Our neighbor brought these over this morning. She, her son, and his partner had had a little three-person celebration last night and she thought the kids would enjoy them. She was right, of course!

Planting in the new year

We planted some lettuce today. Seems metaphoric... here's hoping for a better, greener, and happier 2021.

Tanner Family 2020

Happy New Year!

Here's to a better year ahead!