It's New Year's Eve! That means partying with sparking grape juice and going to bed shortly after the toddler (who will wake at the crack of dawn tomorrow).

My friend Lori gave us a ton of toys over the summer. So many that Quinn wasn't quite ready for yet. This was one of them that we pulled out to try. He loves the music it makes when it reads the letter and makes the sound, so it is a hit for as long as anything can be with a toddler.

Leki really, really likes this rug Quinn got for Christmas. He lays on it all day.

I didn't have a chance to try my gift last night, so tonight's the night. Tasty! I haven't tried a lot of the flavored vodkas but this wasn't bad. I'll definitely check out some of the other vokda options at some point.

I arrived at work today to find this from my supervisor. She's so sweet. I'm excited for delicious spiked hot chocolate later!

We enjoyed some Wallace and Gromit this afternoon. He's a fan!

In the words of Quinn, it's Christmases!
This train track/road table was an instant magnet. It was hard to pull him away to open any of the rest of his presents.
 Using skills he acquired last night, he helped everyone unwrap their presents.
He was especially fascinated by Leki's crinkle tunnel. The poor cat gets no peace. 
The whole day has been one of excitement, bouncing from toy to toy. I thought it would be a little overwhelming with him but he's had a great time giving everything attention.

We made our annual trip to the metro Detroit area to visit both Chris's family and mine. The first stop was Grandma Karath's house.
Quinn had a lot of fun running around everywhere, loving all of the Christmas decorations.
In early afternoon we opened presents. Uncle Scot helped teach Quinn how to open presents, which was a lot of fun.
Later we drove over to my parents house. The two houses are about 20 minutes apart, which is nice after a two hour drive across the state.
Chris's best friend Chris was in town (he currently lives in Beijing) and was able to spend the day with everyone. He's basically family and my parents really enjoy having him over.
Quinn was a real trooper. With only a 20 minute nap he went from 6:30am to almost 7pm without any serious meltdowns. Exhausted, he still wouldn't stop playing and started to lay down on this mat, putting cars around on it. 

Work closed early today, so that meant I was home before the sun set and able to take Quinn out to play in the snow. He was a little confused by all of the snow making it difficult to play on the playground equipment. He mostly just wandered up and down this fenced in path and was frustrated anytime he fell in the snow, since he couldn't really get back up.

These little ear buds have been a lot of fun to play with. Since they're bluetooth and with no cord, they're easy to wear out and about in just one ear and continue to listen to a book or podcast. They're also easy to lose, so I've been trying to plug them into the charging cable every time I'm not using them.

They were cheap and they don't seem to pair immediately with my phone every time I power them on, but for now they've been fun to play with.

A co-worker won $100 in an office lottery yesterday. The next day she came in with a bottle of bubbly for everyone so all could enjoy her winnings. She's so sweet!

We had an office potluck today, which means delicious food for lunch!

 AdaBox 002 arrived today!
This time the theme is robots, and the entire kit is contents to build your own robot with bluetooth connectivity. I started in on it this evening and made some progress.

I finally tried making Karen Krugman's delicious caramel corn. It's quite labor intensive (mostly because I don't have the right tools!) but the end result was deliciousness!

So much snow fell Friday night that the snow plow buried our driveway. Chris spent quite a bit of time digging the driveway out.

Meanwhile our neighbor was on his roof, shoveling.

Quinn had a lot of fun with his first hotel stay. We had to unplug the phone so he didn't accidentally call anyone, which lead to a lot of fun pretending to call and talk to grandma.

We drove across the state to Bay City for my grandmother's visitation at the funeral home. Quinn had a fantastic time with his second cousins. They really enjoyed having the little guy to chase around and hang out with.

 
He's really enjoying this kitchen set, which is wonderful. I loved mine as a kid so I'm glad he's having fun with his.

My maternal grandmother passed yesterday. She was the last grand parent I had living, although we live several hours away from my mother's family, so I didn't see her as often as I had when I was younger. She lived a long life and leaves behind a large family that will miss her.

They had a lot of fun with this blanket my aunt made for Quinn. There are two bears tucked into bed. Quinn insisted that he lay with them also.

Little hands helped me play Pokemon Moon this afternoon.

It's a snowy day today in west Michigan. The snow was an excellent excuse to use the sled for the first time, which Quinn enjoyed.

A co-worker gave Quinn her daughter's old kitchen set. I've really been itching to get Quinn one, since he really enjoys helping when we make food. I also really loved playing with the one I had as a kid. I'm hoping he has a lot of fun with this.

Every Thursday is treat day in the office. A co-worker's wife always makes a batch of treats and he brings them in for us to devour. I really look forward to Thursdays.

Hooray for markers! Especially special ones that only work with special paper and nothing else.

Every Christmas for the last several years the craze is Elf on the Shelf. All the parents talking about the crazy things that have to be done, and the work involved. Chris and I don't intend to have one when Quinn gets older.

Instead we have this thing. It's an elf from my parents that I inherited that is old and creepy and a lot like the current elf except, well, vintage looking.

I took the car in for some work. The place where I take it gives you a loaner if you need one, and the loaner I ended up with had a lever to open the gas tank. Since I've never had a car with that before it took me awhile to find it. On the floor isn't where I would have guessed it would be. I kind of assumed it would be up by the instrument panel.

Quinn helped me make cookies this afternoon. He ate cookie dough whenever I wasn't looking. Stinker.
Since it was snowing in the afternoon I took Quinn out for a stroll in his new winter boots. He enjoyed being out of the house and trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

 
We were originally going to visit the zoo today, since it is the only day they're open for the winter. When we arrived the place was packed and there was a long line, too line for a toddler.

So instead we headed over to the Grand Rapids Public Museum which was pretty empty compared to our last visit during the maker faire.

I made a few felt ornaments this evening for the toddlers Christmas tree.

One of the sales guys at my work brought in a bottle of wine for everyone. Hooray for wine!

This morning I finally cut out a Christmas tree from some leftover felt my mom gave me a few months back. Now to mount it on something!

The toddler has a hard time giving up all of the cat treats. He'll hand over all but one. Then he'll spend the next five minutes running around pretending to give it to the cat and snatching it back.

That cat is far more patient than I would be in that situation.

I really enjoy sitting with the lights off next to the Christmas tree. It's especially peaceful when I'm all alone in the living room and I can just enjoy the quiet.

Made some cookies this afternoon, without too much help from the toddler (which means everything went a little faster than usual).

We put up the Christmas tree today. There was a lot of excitement at all of the lights and ornaments. He's really enjoying the decorations so far.

 As is tradition now, I made our second Thanksgiving today. Making a turkey breast is a lot less work than a whole turkey, so I'm happy it's just the 3 of us and a single breast will suffice.
The evening was full of all kinds of shenanigans. The little guy had two naps yesterday which meant no naps today. By 6pm he was tearing through the house like a whirlwind.

We drove to the east side of the state today to visit my mother in law first. We typically stop there for a few hours in the morning.

Quinn had a lot of fun running around and getting into all of her delicate decorations.
We headed out to my parents house in the afternoon for thanksgiving dinner. We tossed a little of everything on Quinn's plate, which he promptly turned his nose up to. He's been very difficult these last few weeks and refusing to eat much of anything. Today was no different.

He did eat cheesecake though. Because of course he'd eat dessert.
He also enjoyed his pick of water and milk from two different cups. Who doesn't like a variety of beverages?
In the evening we headed home with his blanket and a Sesame Street DVD. He fell asleep after 20 minutes or so, which made for a peaceful trip back to the west side of the state.