Merry Christmas!

This is how we rolled most of the year - at home in our jammies!    We miss hanging with friends and family, otherwise no complaints as we're all happy home-bodies. 

We needed some parent-less time at home so they went to SF on a date without us.  Sounds like they had a great time visiting the Japanese Tea Garden, hiking Lands End and getting yummy take out to eat in their car.  

Meanwhile we thoroughly enjoyed our cup o noodle for lunch, a rare treat for us!  

In and Out for our Dec 1:1 date.

Hawkes - thanks for visiting and for all your nice gifts and dessert!  

Santa visits our neighborhood in a convertible. 

Mom says this is all she wants for Xmas - health and family!  

We all had to help with Xmas dinner - mash potato and roasted sweet potato coming right up.

Well seasoned prime rib ready to go in the oven for 3 hours. 

Mari's specialty - Yorkshire pudding. 

Xmas meal - prime rib with yummy sides & cider 

Mom has been trying to make different dim sum dishes - this week she made sticky rice in a lotus wrap to add to our weekly dim sum Sunday brunch.  

Family tennis match ... sometimes we forget we're not playing baseball. 

Annual Wang sibling 1-5 photo ... this year they're standing a bit further apart but that's ok they're all healthy and still "together."  

 

Surprise visit to the Chans - nice to catch up and check out Uncle Roo's new woodshop. 

Mom's "swiss cheese" plant had triplets since they joined our family less than a month ago.  She gets so excited to see her babies grow.  

Our newest hobby - making a life size clone trooper helmet with our 3D printer.  All parts are printed - now we can assemble and paint.  

Raccoon snack party

We leave snacks by our front door for the package delivery team.   4-5 raccoons got the memo and threw a party at our front door for 20 minutes!  

FedEx staff took 1 snack and left a note, raccoons took almost the whole stash and only left us the wrappers. 

Work hosted a fresh wreath making virtual party lead by a professional florist.  

Final product.  Mom loves the pine smell (we don't).   

They played tennis 6 days this week!   Seems like they enjoy tennis much more than running.  And we appreciate a parent-less house for an hour ;) 

Teddy vs. Mari Twister match. 

Mari's FFF dinner - Panda Express followed by games.  

Other meals this week - pork belly & marinated soft egg ramen.

Salmon poke bowl. 

Totoro in the house!   Thanks Uncle Michael & Auntie Sarah, I love it!  

 

I made macaroons for my cooking club this week.   

I'm quite happy with how it turned out. 

Tennis Buddies

Mom and Dad dusted off their tennis rackets and hit the courts. 

They had so much fun, they went 3x this week.  

Since I can't have lunch picnic with my girlfriends right now, we're having lunch virtually from our backyards.  Teddy likes to have lunch with us too.  

Dad showing us a funny tik tok.  Mom snapped this photo while she was cooking.   She said seeing us laugh and smile together melts her heart.  Simple SIP joy she doesn't take forgranted. 

Friday afternoon PE class in my living room. 

FFF has turned into FFFFF ... fast food family fun friday.  Since we're a bit "deprived" of junk food due to SIP (no bday parties, going out to eat with friends, school parties, spoiled by aunties/uncles etc), parents are allowing us to get take out for our weekly FFF dinner until pandemic is over.  Ethan picked McD and we were in heaven.   Appreciate mom's meals but fast food is a nice rare treat. 

Speed tournament - Ethan needed to beat mom to secure his title ...  he was close but didn't get it. 

"Attending" mom and dad's pre-marriage counseling mentees' wedding.  

Such a beautiful wedding filled with so much love for each other and for God. 

BBH Vietnamese noodle soup ... before 

After ... comfort food for the cold and rainy weekend 

"Snowy" December

"Snow flurry" surprise gift from our awesome neighbor! 

Date night in (with Teddy as a 3rd wheel).  They tucked us in bed, turned on xmas music and just chatted all night in front of the tree.   Sounds boring to us. 

Their view from the couch on date night.  So simple but brings great joy with all the memories on the tree.  Not that exciting for us ;)  

Plant mom has more babies on the way ... 1 leaf opened up, 2 more getting ready to unfurl.  Mom gets so happy seeing her kids grow each day.  

Happy early bday Gpa!   Hope RBG and Obama keeps in you happy during SIP. 

Father-son bonding walk

My social distant hang out with my buddy.  She's on the tree top while I talk to her from the bottom.  So nice to be outside together chatting away.  

Part of Dad's FFF activity - sing and dance to a Christmas song. 

Check out my awesome poker hand (Mari) ... if only I had another 10 or 4 to sweep this deuces game!  

 

Thanksgiving, just the 5 of us

Simple Thanksgiving dinner - just the 5 of us.   Low key but very special.  

Mom's 24 hour brine ingredients for a juicy turkey. 

Rosey apple tart to end our turkey meal.  

Football date - our Thanksgiving tradition is to play football with all the cousins, aunties/uncles to work up an appetite.  Gotta continue the tradition, just the 2 of us this year.  

Taco Bell date, a rare treat 

Monthly "visit" to our hair stylist.  She has 4 monthly clients (including Teddy) and Mari once in blue moon.    

Saturday morning "cartoon" - Mandalorian.  Teddy doesn't think it's very interesting.  

Thinking about Auntie Tracy in Singapore while we use her holiday hot chocolate mugs 

For part of Mom's FFF, we had a scavenger hut - find something around the house that sparks joy for you?  Tyler: Teddy,  Mom: new "swiss cheese" plant, Ethan: Star Wars Lego, Mari: green "blankie" (had since birth), Mark: kidless getaways memories ;)    We hunt for many other items and learned some new things about each other. 

Another competitive game of Ticket to Ride ... congrats Ethan on the win!  Always a couple steps ahead of all of us.  

Macaroon Chef - working all by myself.  Macroons approved by Dad and brothers.  As with most desserts, too sweet for mom.  

Wang Thanksgiving / Logan's 9th Bday celebration

Happy 8th Birthday Hailey!!  

 

A rare sighting of mom running (she loves to walk but not run).  She joined our PE class a couple weeks ago and runs a mile every other day with us.  Her mile time is slowing getting better. 

Weekend date to get  our favorite boba drink ... Boba Guys macha strawberry.