She bought her own iPad!

She had an old one that was handed down to her but it was too old to do what she wanted so we told her she could buy a new one if she had the money. She thought they were much more expensive than it was, so she actually had most of the money for it! She used Christmas money from Gramma Jean (which I had made her save) and found a bunch of money stashed in multiple places. Of course she didn’t want to do chores to earn anything (because that’s not fun) so we had some discussions. But she was able to get it pretty quickly.

Bah humbug.

Katie tested positive for Covid (her second time!)—she even took two tests. I blame the cesspool of middle school. Tom and I are as boosted as we can be so fingers crossed we don’t get it.

She was super upset and crying when we got the results—she really wanted to go to Gramma’s house. I’m just glad we decided to test her at all because we thought it was just a cold.

Here we go again.

Look what I found on Katie’s phone…

A YouTube account.

Sigh.

I guess I technically knew about it because I’d heard her and Owen talking about posting things and about how many views they had (I think they were having a competition). But long story short, there more videos on her account than I’d thought — not quite as bad as her TikTok account but still some things I didn’t like — so we had a rational discussion. She could keep the account but had to change her username and delete some of the videos.

I’m hoping that this will give her enough room to feel older without being dangerous.

Time will tell.

Yes we have a dog stroller.

Katie has been begging for one and we finally told her she could buy it with her own money—thinking it would put a stop to it. Nope. She had most of the money and said she’d pay off the rest. Okay then.

And they liked it. They let Katie roll them around the house.

The next day Tom and I watched them sniffing around it and trying to get in it. So I helped.

Thanksgiving Day 2023

David helped me prep the chili board for lunch!
Grandpa made the green pozole and Gramma made the red chili.
It was a hit!
The 1,000 piece puzzle finished at 12:15.
The next 1,000 piece puzzle started at 12:50!

Friends of ours—Scott and Wendy—also joined us this year as she was visiting from Seattle and they didn’t have other plans! She loves Thanksgiving and cooking so she brought most of the sides to go with Tom’s smoked turkey and smoked ham!

Thanksgiving tip? Gravy in an insulated pitcher! Pourable plus it stays warm!

Dinner is served!
We were all gathered around the kitchen for grace…and I looked over and both dogs were in the circle with us!
Three drinks going at once (water, rum punch, and wine)!
Helping clean up!

The evening was spent watching football, playing cards, puzzling, and visiting!