Roku Marble Run

I got this Roku Marble Run for Joe for Christmas.  We really enjoyed putting it together!  It took about 5 hours for us to assemble.  I punched out all the pieces and Joe put them together.  It's really well designed, great quality, and the instructions were clear.  I love how well it works!  I've noticed that Arien comes running whenever she hears us cranking it because she likes watching the marbles.  😊

These pictures are already a few weeks old, and Laurelin looks much older now.  Her hair keeps thinning out and getting much lighter.  I don't know how much time I'll have left with her, so I'm spoiling her more and more with her favorite treats.  😊

These are the last pictures I have of Fili and Kili together.  😭  They've been separated for a while now and are both doing well and enjoying life.  😊  I'm hoping to get new pictures of the hamsters very soon!  I am not confident that I'll be able to tell these two apart afterwards when editing pictures... I guess we'll find that out soon enough!  😅

Fidget Toy and Dice

One of things I love about gift giving is when you can find that random, unexpected, and yet perfect gift for someone you know well.  This fidget toy I got from Joe and this set of dice I gave to Joe are great examples of what I mean.  Neither of us needed these, but they are fun and thoughtful, and we are enjoying them.  😊

I thought it was adorable how Laurelin inspected everything.  She's so precious!  😍

To be clear, the hamsters didn't shrink; these dice are just quite large!  Hahaha!  😂

Puzzles

Joe really likes puzzles and got quite a few of them for Christmas.  So far, his favorites are the metal ones.  I've been enjoying these as well.  In general, getting them apart is very doable, especially given enough time to tinker with them, but then the hardest part is getting them back to the original state.  I find that I like them so much more after I've watched YouTube videos that show how to put them back together.  😁

 Laurelin loves broccoli but doesn't get it too often because I don't buy it that often since I'm the only other one in the house that eats it.  I think broccoli is delicious as long as it's cooked!  Laurelin is happy for a little piece of it raw.  😊

I'm still trying to convince Fili and Kili that broccoli is yummy, but they keep ignoring it.  They are still fairly picky eaters, but that doesn't stop me from still offering this and many other new foods to them in hopes that they'll find out they like treats other than just walnuts.

Board Games

My husband and I both love board games and we received some good games for Christmas!  One wall in our basement is basically just shelves that are nearly full of games (don't worry, we have room for the new ones!).  😁  We didn't get to play as many as I would have liked to over Christmas break, but that's okay.  We did get to play all of the new ones and we really like them!  Pendulum is pretty unique in that it doesn't have set turns but instead you do whatever you can and want to do within a set amount of time.  For our first time playing, we didn't use the timers which was nice.  I don't know how well I'll do at the game when we do use timers since I can be fairly indecisive.  😂

I've never played Disney Villainous, but I really liked this Marvel one.  I'll admit when the game first started, I was a bit frustrated because everything was going so well for my husband and it looked like I didn't even stand a chance.  But then, I got into the hang of it, things slowed down for him, and I came back to win.  😊  Hues and Cues is such a simple concept, but it works so well and is so much fun!  It's a great party game!