Jennifer's 365 Project

It's New Year's Eve and I still dont feel 100%. But I'm out of bed and hanging out with a grouchy toddler.

I spent last night and all day today with food poisoning. The toddler fluttered in and out of the bedroom, napping and watching videos on his tablet occasionally. Even the cat came to keep me company for a bit.

Lolo came over this morning and the two kids played together. Lolo was very excited about all of Quinn's new toys and Quinn was very serious about not sharing. I imagine it's like this every time they get together.

We finally visited this fun exhibit at the Grand Rapids Public Museum about the history of mythical creatures. It was nice to see old and new myths. The toddler was a little frightened of the exhibit so Chris left and let me peruse at my leisure (which almost never happens).

Quinn wanted halloween pancakes the other day, so we've been enjoying leftovers today.

We've had a lot of snow in the past few days.

 Quinn had a rough night sleeping but he finally slept for a stretch. When he got up he was ready to play with his new toys.
 He gave Leki the toy he'd picked out for the cat, and the cat was very excited.
 And he had lots of fun playing with his new toys from the last several days.
It's snowed most of the day, so it's really good that we drove home when we did. I suspect it would have been even worse if we'd waited till the morning.

 In the morning after breakfast we headed over to grandma Karath's house.
We had tasty lunch, which Quinn had a hard time sitting through, knowing there were presents in the next room.
 After lunch we opened tons of gifts. He was so excited to open everything!
 Later we headed over to grandma and grandpa Oslund's house for an early dinner.
After dinner we opened presents.
 And all the excitement of unwrapping everything started all over again!
When we left it was snowing pretty badly. It took us over 3.5 hours to make the normally 2 hour drive, but we finally arrived home safe and sound.

 In the morning Chris's best friend Chris came over to my parents house with his new wife Amy. They brought a fun train for Quinn.
 The packaging looks suspiciously like Thomas the Train.
In the evening we met up with Grandpa Karath for a delicious meal out.
Then it was back to Grandpa Karath's house for toys and cookies!

We tried and enjoyed clementines together this evening. Hooray for new foods!

We pulled out his table from last Christmas and he's played with it a lot more than he was earlier this year.  He really enjoyed playing the alphabet game.

The toddler really enjoys playing with these Animal Crossing amiibo.

I'm still in love with the form factor for the Nintendo Switch. It's nice to be able to take it and play a little on my lunch break at work.

Chris printed this adorable Tardis for me. I'm going to use it in a craft when I have more time after Christmas when I'm on vacation.

I traded back the Companions of Xanth game (which came with Demons Don't Dream) that we've been swapping as a box to wrap gifts in. We've been doing this in my family for decades. I'm so happy the box is so sturdy.

We've received a lot of snow in the last few days but unfortunately none of it has been great for making a snowman. So instead we played a little outside and made some snow angels.

After work I raced across town to make it in time for showing of Star Wars. I met Corinne there and after the movie we headed back to our house to hang out a little. Chris raced off to catch his showing with some other friends so it was just the three of us (me, Corinne and Quinn).

She brought some nice gifts for everyone and Quinn was especially excited for the art she brought him and a fun book to read.

There has been some emergency construction at a major intersection near where I live, so traffic is being diverted through the neighborhood. I was mere blocks from home when I ran into a line of cars that ran all they way around several corners and right in front of my house. I guess the wait gave me more time to listen to my book.

New mittens I ordered Quinn arrived today. We ran outside when I got home so he could test them. They worked great!

We've recently started walking Sarah and Duck. Quinn loves it. Chris noticed that his two favorite characters (Pocoyo and Sarah) have duck companions so he sketched a quick drawing of them. Quinn loves the picture and wouldn't put it down all night.

I brought in to work the mini crock-pot I bought Chris a few years ago. I used it to heat up some packaged Indian food and it worked wonderfully. It will be good for warming up tasty leftovers this winter.

After swimming this morning we headed out for some pancakes. The little guy was convinced he was going to put salt on his pancakes (he didn't).

It's snowing!

There are some interestingly designed chocolate creme doughnuts.

Snow has finally arrived in west Michigan.

Quinn woke up very early so we made a batch of banana muffins before I went to work.

We had to do just a little more setup and decorating for today's work party in the morning and then we were good to go.

Today was a lot of party setup for a work event tomorrow. Lots of moving, taping and rearranging things!

We frosted some cookies. There was a lot of taste testing going on. We had to make sure the frosting was just right.

We went to a local toyshow this morning and snagged something for Chris.

It's the first day of December and the first day of the advent calendar we got Quinn. He was pretty excited!

The toddler made a line of tented books in the bedroom. He was very particular that they remain where they are.

I made two strips of lights last night for Quinn's felt tree. He saw I was taking a photo so he had to take a photo on his "phone".

Some co-workers brought in delicious biryani rice. I could eat this all the time.

Saw a cute little car today.

This is the ornament Quinn picked out this year. He's such a huge fan of cars and the characters from the Cars movies especially, that it seems fitting.

 We had a fun afternoon playing with Play-Doh.
Quinn wanted a frog like the one on his box, so we made a frog.