Mark Turns TWELVE!

Mark turned 12 years old this year! Wow! Our youngest kid is TWELVE! Unbelievable. 

Oh yes! The annual birthday tradition to tape the kids’ bedroom door with some streamers so they feel like they “enter” into their next year officially. 

Because everyone was home (although it fell on a Monday) we opened gifts in the morning.

We always try to make it special for him although his birthday is during Christmas season. And Mark is the most gracious gift receiver. He was so humble even during the opening of his Christmas gifts although most of them were kind of not great this year. We were really hoping to surprise him with a big gift for his birthday.  

And we did! He is holding a paper that has the order confirmation for a Slingerbag, his coveted gift. It’s a portable ball machine that he can take to the tennis court and practice with it. It was his main gift, but it takes two months for it to arrive. He was soooo excited! 

Otherwise, as you can see, he got a bunch of tennis stuff (more strings anyone?), books, ping pong balls, tennis calendar, Mandalorian underwear (of course!), cream soda and Ballgoyles (handmade charming little tennis balls that ward off negative energy).

Our kid is growing up! 

And our traditional picture together. 

Katya made Mark a yummy Dunlop tennis cake! 

Mark posted the video of him blowing out candles on his Dunlop cake on Instagram and Dunlop Tennis Official account reposted it (so that was a fun thing for Mark!).

We went to a birthday lunch at Red Robin for lunch. And for dinner we went to the movie theater (!!!) to watch Wonder Woman 1984. So that was our family birthday celebration. 

Days earlier, Mark had a limited edition birthday party this year that was more of a hang out with Noah, Tommy, Caleb and Garrett. The boys had pizza and pineapple and veggies and watched “Sonic” movie. 

Happy birthday, Mark! Hope this next year is going to bring a lot of amazing things to your life! 

And last but not least....

Annual Check-in:

Height: 5’ 1''

Favorite Sport to Play: Tennis

Favorite Sport to Watch: Tennis

Favorite Book: Spy School

Favorite Movie right now: Mandalorian

Favorite Color: Purple

Hobby: Ping Pong

When I grow up I want to be: Tennis Player

Christmas 2020

 This year you get a plethora of Christmas Eve pictures because we had guests! Natalia and Anton came over for dinner and we were able to take a few pictures. 

These are a bit funny, but you get the idea! 😂 With Mark in his joggers. 

We had lots of fun! Katya looks fabulous no matter what picture! 

Here are Natalia, Katya and I. 

Isn’t this a gorgeous picture?

We exchanged gifts admiring Natalia’s ability to “dedicate” the gift with such exquisite description that makes even a bar of soap sound magical! hahaha

One side note.... We managed to do our “adjusted” Secret Santa where we dropped off secret packages to different people every other day for 12 days (the Woolstenhulmes did the other half of the days). This is the Woolies’ Ring camera that captured Mark dropping off the gift for them right before Christmas. The kids had a blast doing it this year! 

All ready for bed in their new pajamas (except Alex’s pj’s didn’t come in the mail on time so he had to wear Robert’s onesie;).

And then...Christmas morning came! 

We had our traditional breakfast bake and some sugary cereal for breakfast. I believe the kids didn’t wake us up till like 8 am! So no more early Christmas mornings for a while:) 

We had a lot of gifts...a bunch of little ones that I wrapped up as well. 

Robert received at least 10 polo shirts, his favorite cookies, running shoes, hiking shoes, disc golf bag and a disc. I am sure I am forgetting something.

Alex got a bunch of t-shirts, cologne, Dr. Squatch soap (don’t ask...), a couple of books and a BIKE! 

Mark with his fuzzy socks, traditional gifts like the Guinness World Records, baby yoda stuff, Sugarpova and ping pong paddle and balls. He was waiting for his big birthday present (or hoping for it at least). 

Katya received her coveted Adidas shoes that were most expensive pair of shoes she has ever owned. A nice Nike backpack, a sweater dress, heated blanket and a journal that says “Sorry, I wasn’t listening, I was thinking about Tsitsipas” (a tennis player from Greece).

Suspiciously there is no picture of me. To be honest, I just remember getting TRX and and socks that’s about it;). 

A goofy picture of the three kids, Mark is wearing a fuzzy sweatshirt bought for Katya that turned out to be too small. 

Post Christmas abundance of new things!

And here is the best picture I got from our Christmas walk. 

Merry Christmas!

Emerald Isle Getaway

 A few weeks before Christmas I decided that we all needed some sort of variety in life and booked us a place on Emerald Isle for a short getaway to the beach, for the weekend before Christmas. We rented an awesome huge house that was just bought by the lady who usually rents out a cheaper smaller house. But she still let me rent out the new house for the small house price! 

On the first day, the weather was simply fantastic! It was warm (ish) and sunny. We spent a few hours on the beach.

The kids actually got in the water, but promptly ran out. 

Oh yes, they tried. 

The best we got! 

Look at this lady with no ACL;). I don’t go around jumping and hopping, but it was pretty good I could jump a bit...lightly.

Katya sending herself good vibes by wearing a BYU sweatshirt. 

Lots of four square.

And then we went for a LOOONG walk all the way to where the beach sort of ends and an inlet starts. 

They actually think this is an awesome picture. 😳

Nice wide beach, almost all to ourselves. 

No make up on Robert or me, feeling light and simple. 

Winter beach picture at its best. 

We all loved this picture of Mark but he thinks it’s too silly. The funny thing is this is exactly what he looks like when he is having a great time! 

My four favorite people! 

How to do a family picture on the beach without a tripod using some big pebbles. 

Photo session for Katya. 

Trust me, when I try to copy this same pose and face, somehow it doesn’t look this cute at all! 

This is all I am left to work with. 

Look at this gorgeous sunset! 

That night we had some yummy take out dinner and watched a movie till late. 

And then we woke up the next morning to pouring rain and cold weather (in the 40s). This is Katya getting dressed to go out for just a stroll with an umbrella to go see the ocean. 

We spent the day doing VERY relaxing things. Look at this--glorious!!! Nowhere to rush and nothing on the to-do list.

More movies, food, and a puzzle! I bought a puzzle just for the trip to see who would actually like to do it.

 

And they are done. 

We had a slow cooked dinner and stayed up watching another movie. 

In the morning, before we checked out, we walked to the beach and enjoyed some cloudy but calm weather. 

Pickleball didn’t really happen this time. 

But four square did! 

I finally got some pictures of Alex and that was quite an achievement! 

We spent this usually very busy weekend by getting away from all the last minute errans and get togethers. And it didn’t even really feel like we were missing out as this is probably the best year to not be busy hanging out. The biggest motivation was the fact that Katya is leaving very soon and I wanted an extra excuse to be together as our family. I just love when it’s just us! 

The End.

Lyana.