March came in like lion and went out like a panda!

One day we went on a family hike at Cranberry Lake.

On the drive back we were impressed to see the giant tents set up at the vaccination site in White Plains.

On St. Patrick’s Day I finally made the Nigella Lawson Chocolate Guinness cake I have been thinking about for a few months!  It came out looking like a pint of Guinness as intended, but the cake itself was kind of underwhelming.  Oh well, we still enjoyed it.

Another day we went on a hike at the Marshlands.

We had our first meal of the year out on the patio!

Also in March I took a last minute trip to Washington, D.C. for an urgent passport renewal!  My passport expired in January and I didn’t even notice.  I was very lucky to get an appointment (it was DC or Buffalo!) in time for our spring break trip.

I drove down on Sunday without stopping and stayed at the Park Hyatt in Foggy Bottom, across the street from the WWF building.

I didn’t see another guest during the short time I was at the hotel, but I did get a delicious takeout meal from the Blue Duck Tavern onsite.  Early the next morning I walked over to the passport office for my 8am appointment, and passed some pockets of very early cherry blossoms.

The appointment took about 2 hours and I walked out, passport in hand!  Then met up with Fran for a quick hello and bite to eat before driving back to NY under the 24 hour limit!  Phew.

Gram sent us a Bon Voyage / early birthday present for Andrew celebratory bottle of champagne and chocolate cupcakes, which we enjoyed that Wednesday.  Thanks, Gram!

Lots of snow this February!  We got our first storm on Feb 1, and there was snow on the ground through the rest of the month.

On Groundhog’s Day, Sarah wrote that she wanted the groundhog to see his shadow because she loves winter!

Once the snow got sticky enough we built a snow panda and the kids dug out a snow burrow in the large pile by the driveway.

In other news, Sarah lost another tooth!  This one was the second top right incisor, so she has now lost 7 teeth total.  It’s amazing that she continues to eat apples with so few teeth.

On Feb 6 the kids insisted that we celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, which they’d learned about in a Mystery Doug video.  I was skeptical but figured it gave us all something to look forward to!

The kids were committed to making it a good day and their behavior was wonderful for the rest of the day post-ice-cream.  So I guess we’ll be doing it again next year!

Moving on, here is Sarah setting a new record for jumping rope.

And here is a self-portrait she did for her school art class.

The snow fort continued to evolve as the snow melted, froze, then more snow fell on top.

One day Sarah helped me shovel the paddle court so my group could play that afternoon!  The group was very impressed and grateful.

We started up family game time again this winter and here we are playing Tenzi, a new game that Mom-Mom sent us.

On Valentine’s Day Andrew made a delicious dinner and we all enjoyed this box of chocolates from Gram and Grand-dad.  The box itself was also made out of chocolate!  Yum.

On Presidents’ Day the whole family went sledding at Flint Park.  The hill was completely icy at this point so it was a bit treacherous!

The paperwhites were in bloom!  Thanks again, Gram and Grand-dad!

For winter break we stayed in Larchmont this year, cancelling our planned trip to Sanibel to avoid air travel and quarantine on the return.  I signed the kids up for some STEM sessions at Macinspires with some friends, and they got to learn about video game coding, 3D printing, and how to build in Minecraft.  One day we went out after the class and went sledding with those friends.

And here’s another attempt at a snow panda.

The kids were back in school on 2/22, and on 2/23 Sarah had the honor of having a joke that she made up (and was credited with) read during morning announcements after the pledge.  Here is the joke:

Question: How did the panda steal her brother’s lunch?

Answer: She bamboo-zled him!

At the end of the month the kids were very excited that we got a Nintendo Switch.  The grown-ups have been excited, as well.  🙂

My photos are sparse for January 2021!  The weather got colder and we’ve had to spend more time inside.  But here’s what did happen… one day Andrew took the kids into the city to walk around Central Park and they had some pizza in one of the sidewalk dining huts!  I think I was playing paddle tennis, which has been my biggest source of fun this winter.

One day the kids made up a ton of campaign posters and hung them up all over the house!  I love how Sarah is wearing a red power tie.

We’ve been practicing our breathing and mindfulness in the morning with our breathing ball.  Sarah took this picture I believe.  The kids mostly complain about this but I don’t care, I keep forcing them to do it with me.  🙂

Sarah and her keva planks!

Another round of covid haircuts at Salon Sally!

One day we did try going for a winter hike at Ward Pound Ridge.  It was beautiful, though cold!

We made a pecan pie to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

I was very proud of myself for re-covering this desk chair.  Small wins!

The big event was the inauguration of President Biden, which was such a relief after the unbelievable violence at the Capitol earlier in the month.

We also made some valentines, which needed to go into school early to be quarantined before they were distributed.

Lastly, we planted our paperwhite bulbs that Gram and Grand-dad sent us for Christmas, to brighten this cold lonely winter.

After Christmas we had some (more) quiet time at home — here’s Blaine at his new desk which we set up in his bedroom.

Sarah decided it was time to move up to the top of the bunk bed and she’s been sleeping there ever since.

On 12/28 we went for a beautiful hike at the Marshlands.

And on 12/29 we got a dozen Duck donuts, yum!

On New Year’s Eve we ordered a fancy takeout dinner from Vintage Kitchen and got out the hats and noisemakers.

In the pic above you can just barely see the yellow bruise on my right eye, the remnants of the black eye I gave myself when I slipped in the mud playing Nerf guns with the kids!  Which seemed an appropriate end to this ridiculous year.  Goodbye, 2020!

On New Year’s Day Andrew made his traditional black-eye peas and collard greens soup to bring us good luck (and fewer black eyes?) in 2021!

It was a strange Christmas this year.  We decided to be safe and stay in Larchmont, so it was a quiet holiday with just our four here at home.  It ended up being pretty relaxing and low-stress, though it was so disappointing not to be with family as usual!

I went overboard on the cookies and made a batch of the chocolate ginger cookies I love so much, as well as the NY Times salted chocolate chunk shortbread cookies by Alison Roman, and Melissa Clark’s fudgy bourbon balls.  Andrew made homemade egg nog and had it curing (or whatever egg nog does?) in the fridge for a week!  We put together this spread for the Mahoney Christmas Eve zoom call.

Here’s a screenshot from the big event!  You can see our four, Uncle Hank, Aunt Jean and Moira, Annie and Jimmy, Aunt Denise and Uncle Jim, Aunt Jane, Uncle Peter, Tim and Liz and Maeve (Josie and Nate were around somewhere!), Kate (Jesse was putting Gus down for his nap), Sean, Mom and Molly, Fran, Daniel, and Janer.  I know Clare was on the call at the beginning but we seemed to lose her at some point!  So glad that everyone could make it!

In lieu of the usual bowling we did a round of Christmas trivia, in which the Wayne Mahoneys emerged victorious!  It was very close though, with everyone demonstrating remarkable trivia knowledge.  We also made donations to favorite charities instead of the usual gift exchange.  I was so glad we had the chance to see everyone despite the great distances between us.

That evening Santa came!

And here is the scene the next morning!

The kids had both asked Santa for nerf guns, and Santa delivered, with an extra one for the grown-ups.  This has been the favorite present overall!  But another favorite was this bouncy house we got for the basement.

We paused in the present opening to enjoy this delicious cinnamon crumb coffee cake from Seth Greenberg.

Around lunch time we zoomed with Mom-Mom, Aunt Molly, Tim’s family, Uncle Fran, Uncle Peter, and Aunt Jane for some more present opening!  The kids opened the presents they got from the Mahoneys and the grown-ups opened our Elfster gift exchange presents.

Later that day Sarah got into her legos and she was distraught when a critical piece fell down the heating vent!  Andrew managed to pry it open and we retrieved the lego (along with lots of other small toys and bits of snacks that had been collecting down there the last 5 years) using our vacuum cleaner.  I thought the picture inside the vent looked cool so here it is!

The rest of the day we played with presents and cooked, spoke with Gram and Grand-dad, Aunt Suzanne and fam, and had a nerf and lightsaber battle outside with the neighbors.

For Christmas dinner, Andrew made filet mignon, mushroom risotto, and a red wine reduction sauce.  I made the roasted cauliflower.

For dessert I made this lemon almond butter cake, and we also had more cookies and a chocolate Santa that was waiting to be smashed.

The next day Andrew made his second batch of egg nog for our post-Christmas Mahoney game night with Tim, Liz, and Fran.  We played a new trivia game called Half Truth which worked well over Zoom!  Andrew won by one point over Tim.  Sadly I forgot to take a screenshot, blame it on the egg nog.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Blaine had an assignment at school to make and present a series of Google slides on his families’ traditions and culture.  He’s really enjoying all the work they are doing on the computer, and I’m impressed how he can insert pictures and move them around.  I helped with the typing and some of the formatting!

His teacher sent us a picture of his presentation in class and said he did a great job!  Mom-Mom asked if we could post it to the blog so here it is.

We went and got our tree on Nov 28 and then it sat in a bucket in the garage for a week until we put it up!  Still going strong though, as of this writing on Jan 3.

The kids were very excited about their Lego advent calendars from Gram and Grand-dad!  They opened them first thing each morning in December.

We went to the eye doctor and Blaine got a prescription for glasses to help him see the board in class!  He only needs to wear them while he is in school.  We went to a local optician to pick out some frames and Blaine picked out 8 potentials and then ranked them.  Josie at Kurt Sauer Opticians was amazing, it was such a pleasant experience.

On 12/6 we decorated our tree!

We were disappointed there was no tree lighting event this year due to covid.  We usually walk into town, write letters to Santa, and have a cup of hot cocoa at Cocoa.  So we decided to make some drinking chocolate at home to make up for it!  We used up the last of our Christopher Elbow drinking chocolate so we’ll need to order some more.  So yummy!

On 12/12 we returned to Kurt Sauer because Blaine’s lenses had arrived, and Josie offered to show Blaine how all the machines work.  He loved it!

Here he is in his new frames!  Such a cutie!

A good friend was moving to London this month, and I was very sad to say goodbye!  Here we are on the paddle court, this was our third winter playing paddle together!

On 12/17 it snowed!  And the kids had an actual snow day!

We also used the occasion to construct this gingerbread house that Gram had sent us!  We made the frosting and then assembled and decorated it, using some pretzel sticks for support.

Both kids helped, though Sarah is only pictured consuming the extra gingerbread.  Yum!  Thanks for sending this, Gram!

In the afternoon we went out to Flint for some sledding.  It was kind of crowded but everyone was wearing masks.

On 12/19 I went for a goodbye walk with my friend moving to London, in lieu of our usual evening drinks, given the cold and covid.  Goodbye, Simone, we will miss you!  🙁

That afternoon we attempted constructing a snow fort on the back patio!  We used some trashcans and various sand buckets as molds for the snow.

On 12/20 the snow had started to melt a bit which finally made it wet enough to pack into a snowman.  Or more correctly a snow panda, as usual.

By 12/23 the snow had mostly melted, and we went for a beautiful walk in Manor Park on the kids’ first day of the holiday break.

Dad would have been 75 on November 29; it’s been 5 years since he passed.  On his birthday I was able to get out and play paddle tennis, which he loved.  I always think of him when I am playing now, and I’m so grateful our village has public paddle tennis courts to play on, especially this year.  Miss you, Dad!

Thanksgiving was a quiet holiday this year; we were sad that we couldn’t do the usual drive down to VA to spend it with Gram and Grand-dad.  On the day before Thanksgiving we went back to the Marshlands hoping to see the flock of wild turkeys, and we finally found them near the end of the trail!  The kids were so excited they let me try to take some more Christmas card pics.

That afternoon we baked a bourbon pecan pie for the big day, and made a centerpiece for the table.

On Thanksgiving day we found some time for a family walk to Flint Park.  Here we are avoiding the drizzle at the playhouse.

In the afternoon we zoomed with Gram and Grand-dad and had the traditional smashing of the chocolate turkey, which Gram had sent us from Cocoa Mill.  Yum!

The other important tradition that Blaine specifically requested was that we try to make Gram’s persimmon pudding.  Here it is, steaming away on the stove.

Dinner was delicious!  I was so happy that Andrew has lots of experience cooking turkeys since that is something I have never done!  He also made gravy, and tried a new dressing recipe made with cornbread and sausage that was quite tasty.  The kids asked for mac and cheese, and we rounded it out with roasted broccoli and cranberry sauce from Meateria.

After dinner the kids invited us downstairs for a dance party!

Then we went back upstairs for another light show, the flambeing of the persimmon pudding!  It was pretty impressive, and the pudding tasted pretty good, too.  Thanks for sharing your recipe with us, Gram!  We missed seeing you and Grand-dad in person this year!

The highlight of November was the presidential election!  What a relief!

Otherwise, November was pretty uneventful.  I have pictures of food — the kids tried some nigiri for the first time one night when we did takeout.

One night I attempted making shrimp and grits, thanks to the NY Times cooking email from Sam Sifton.

We got outside for a few more s’mores.  I couldn’t figure out why we were wearing masks in this picture… then I realized it was because Blaine was in quarantine for two weeks due to covid exposure at school!  We all had to wear masks around the house among other precautions.

The quarantine weekend we hung around the house.  Smashed some geodes in the garage.  Did a sand art kit.

One day Sarah made a “laundry panda” for her school art class.

On 11/19 we went outside to see the planets!  You can see the moon is the brightest light in the night sky above Sith Sarah.  If you look closely you can see Saturn and Jupiter forming a triangle to the right of the moon, it was some astrological conjunction?  We tried to see them again on Dec 21 but it was too cloudy!

Blaine was inspired by his America’s Test Kitchen Kids Cookbook (thanks again to Great Grandmommy who I believe gave it to him a few years ago).  We tried out this sheet pan pizza recipe (thanks also to Uncle Fran for the yeast!).

Here’s another pic from later in the month of Blaine preparing some pork chops for dinner, from the same cookbook.  (Andrew helped!)

And we went on some hikes, of course!  Here we are at the 13 bridges trail at the Rockefeller Preserve.

I also tried to get some Christmas card pictures!  Last one was the winner this year.