New Superhero on the Block

Meet: THE BULL
A.K.A.: Graysen
Association: Marvel
Super Powers: Lasers shoot out of his hands and he can run SUPER fast!
Nemesis: Still under construction, but you'll see one of the henchmen below (he's got a Mr. Coffee body and a laser sword--intense!).




Don't tell anyone this little secret, but Graysen's computer desk opens to reveal his secret superhero suit! I don't know this for sure, but I'm guessing the strategically placed hamster is The Bull's side kick and trusted lookout.

I think this kid hero has got a pretty SUPER imagination!

Seasonal Items

I appreciate the flexibility at this time of year to step away from some of our activities, and rest. That sounds crazy during this season, but for our family it is so necessary and healthy! So, we are taking a karate break for November and December and enjoying the time at home--not having to run out and about town every day is really a good thing.

We're also continuing our every-other-week schedule for guitar/piano rather than returning to every week. This started out *temporary* for financial reasons, but it actually works well for us in other areas--like school. We can finish our lessons before the entire day escapes when there aren't commitments elsewhere. It's good! In January, we'll likely resume karate and hopefully start back into the homeschool choir, so our days will fill again . . . but at this time of the year, we choose rest!

So, here are a few pics of how we're spending our days . . . Gabby illustrated this picture of her favorite Adventures in Odyssey character, Wooten. He likes licorice, so he has some in the picture. I also really like the polka dot wrapping paper she drew; I'd like to have that in reality size :)



Last year, I saw a cute idea for stringing Christmas ornaments on ribbon and hanging them in the windows. Well, I ran out of windows when we put the Christmas tree in front of them :) So, the ornaments never made it out of their plastic cylinder. THIS year, I decided to string them up and put them on our biggest blank canvas--the stairway wall. I think it looks pretty! (But it was a challenge figuring out the string lengths, spacing, tying and all the rest! Good thing I have good helpers :)





Amongst our activities--Christmas card preparation! It took a few minutes to determine who was the folder, the stuffer, the stamper, the addresser, and the worst job of all--the licker, but once we got into a rhythm, card works were on a roll! We took a short break for lunch, and waited for texts to come in as to new addresses--people move so much! Here's a pic of my happy helper elves :)

Below is a picture of irony . . . or common sense :) First the bulb on the left flickered for a few days. Then it decided to give out. Before I got around to replacing it, the bulb on the right went out. They stayed thus for more than a week, perhaps longer. Finally, I drug out the step stool, moved all the chips off the top of the fridge, dug into the tiny cupboards above where the lightbulbs live, replaced all the chips, climbed down off the step stool, and successfully replaced the two burnt out bulbs.

And then the one in the middle burnt out.

The next day.

Lol!! It is now replaced along with its friends, and we no longer have any spare bulbs in the house. Maybe I'll put illumination on my Christmas list :)

The Things You Learn

Our boys had their well checks rescheduled three times. When we finally got the boys in to see the doctor, we discovered that Brennen has grown five inches in the past year (and "has not yet hit his stride") and that Graysen has GIGANTIC tonsils . . . but they don't remove these very often anymore, so he's stuck with them--even if someday he snores (he doesn't now :)


Brennen accepted two shots and turned down three (seriously, the things they want to load into kids these days!) His arm is a bit sore from the tetanus, but nothing like I remember feeling myself. He took them like a champ! I bought him a candy bar at the grocery store afterwards, because I used to buy them a treat (always non-edible) when they were little after they had their toddler shots. Graysen got candy too, for good measure :)

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We started our day with the chickens being released from the coop to their breakfast, the boys heading next door to tend the pups, and me frantically trying to find bags to wrap all the gifts that I knew I needed to wrap, but hadn't quite finished the process of wrapping :)

Once the van was loaded (with the bike rack stowed in the back), I realized how smelly the old van truly is--however, it is the only one with a hitch and we had bicycles to collect--eventually you adjust to the stench ;) I had a stack of books that I thought I might read on the way over, but I mostly just read those in the grocery store parking lot, before we left town. We needed to return a redbox movie and fill the tank with gas. Stopping by Starbucks for a minute didn't hurt either!

The rest of our trip continued the Adventures in Odyssey discs that we'd started on our previous trip, but didn't finish. We like to listen to them as a family before just handing them over to the kids. Mostly, they are great. But sometimes the family dynamics--fighting siblings, peer pressure stuff, and even stereotype characters can be a bit much. There's always a lesson, but the misbehaviors represented certainly don't need to be burned into the kids' brains (because the episodes they do listen to, they listen to over and over and over again!). On these final discs we thought, "Eh--we can donate them to the church." We are sharing the stories, ha!

Anyway, we eventually arrived at my parents' house. It didn't take long for us to find--the baby!! He was circled with arms of love throughout the livelong day! Our meal was festive on possibly the cutest woodland creature tablecloths I've ever seen (love me a hedgehog motif :) There were two turkeys--both very yummy! Lots of bread (score!) and all kinds of side dishes to enjoy.

My sister was the self-appointed cruise director of the event. "Okay, now that the plates are cleared, let's hit the desserts. You--birthday kid--sit here. You--other birthday kid--I'm going to dump a pile of donuts on the table in front of you; that's right just smile and get ready for us to sing." Lol! She was cracking me up. Later, when we were running late in leaving, Buck said, "I wish your sister would have stuck around. Maybe we would have gotten out of here on time if she were moving things along." Ha! Good times, good times.

We celebrated all kinds of birthday fun--spanning two months and four decades (but I'm not naming names). I made my sister a coloring book, with crayons, of our family throughout the past year. She outdid me by far, and made me a cluckin' awesome sign for our chicken barn ;) Rise and shine mother cluckers! Funny that that one didn't make the cut. (I know that sounds so inappropriate, but we were laughing so hard we about fell over :) Kids: don't repeat this out loud, it's very close to a swear word--got it!?




It's all fun and games until a teenager drops a bottle of vitamins in the pumpkin pie ;) At least it was for a good cause; he was hunting birthday candles for the birthday people. It's okay; we used our imaginations for the unfound candles, and the perfect central bull's-eye made for a unique decoration in a store bought pie ;)




This little dollie was more excited about the horsie wrapped in her cute, handmade seal scarf than the scarf itself (but I'll let you in on a little secret--I totally expected that was how it would be! :) While her gifts trended toward equine, ours trended toward poultry. Brennen received a COMPLETELY OBNOXIOUS, but really funny chicken game. The kids love making the egg pop out and then smashing it open to see if the chick inside is scrambled or hatched. But oh, the noise of it . . .




Grandpa Barry delivered on a longtime promise to my nephew and cooked a duck! The kids were crazy about it--seriously, so much flavor! It was like a dessert though, because dad said he pushed all the right buttons with the duck in the oven . . . except start. So, it came out significantly after the meal had concluded. Oh man, foiled by the buttons! :)

Getting a chance to hold the baby was not an easy feat! Buck waited patiently until the end of our visit--he endured a ginger ale deposit in his boot (I don't know if he thought it was as funny as I did, but it was a perfect shot by my niece--completely on accident--but she sure kept from spilling on grandma's carpet in the most creative way ;)--and finally, with football on the screen, he and baby M got a little uncle/nephew time.



Earlier, we all shared our thankfuls around the dinner table--again, Cruise Director J made sure that things were done in a snappy, timely fashion ;) (hee hee, gotta tease you a little :) She chose the order of thanksgiving, starting with her surprised-looking hubby, ha! Gabby composed a thankful poem for our family's contribution . . . maybe I can include it here . . .

Gabby’s Family Thanksgiving Poem 2017

Family’s one thing Graysen’s thankful for,

Gimli our hamster is one thing more,

He also loves wings,

And books about things,

And animals to him aren’t a chore.

Brennen is thankful for Friends every day,

He’s thankful for food in every way.

He knows Jesus rules,

And that family is cool,

He loves having fun and to play!

Reading is what Gabby’s thankful for,

And writing with pencils is never a bore!

Friendship is rad,

Music makes her glad,

She knows that great colors are outside her door.

Caelan’s thankful for the bright happy sun,

For fluffy pets that are always so fun,

Joy and peace of the Lord, beauty of the world,

Plus hands to make and feet to run!

Mom is thankful for her healthy kids,

Seven chickens, and the comfy house where we live,

Her handsome and hardworking husband,

Warm slippers, really yummy Chai—and

People who do what the Lord bids. 

Dad is very thankful for his lovely wife,

And for his fun-loving kids who add variety to his life.

 He enjoys family dinners,

A warm house in cold winters,

And again for his awesome, funny wife!

In addition to the words they shared at our meal (including a shout out to the super awesome husbands and wife God has provided to, we, their children) my parents were thankful that God blessed them with an unexpected investment from generations ago, which allowed them to suddenly pay off their mortgage. What an amazing gift!!! We were cheering and clapping as dad lit the living room on fire ;) The kids found out later and were like, "What?! How did we miss THAT?!" :)



And the day concluded with me at home, just chilling, in my new chicken boots :) Happy Thanksgiving to near and to far, we love our family and friends!

Strings of Light

Our schedule is a little different this year--normally the tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but Buck will be working until next weekend when I am travelling, so . . . the day before Thanksgiving it is! The week worked out nicely--Buck (and Caelan) had been fighting a run-down, coughing type cold. He was supposed to have Monday, Wednesday, Thursday off, but some snafu with coworker doctor appointments and lawyer stuff on Monday meant he had to work. It was not easy to go in when he was feeling so yucky, but it WAS nice to have three straight days off as a result :)

Day 1: Resting
Day 2: Decorating!!
Day 3: Celebrating!!!

Brennen was super helpful in the Christmas lighting department this year. He walked circles around our tree--that somehow Buck fit in his CAR because we both forgot he was supposed to take the van on tree pick-up day--stringing the lights. Then while his dad was up on the roof, he--get this--whistled while he worked on getting the front railing strung with festivity . . . LOVE!!!




Graysen built a merry little tree from cardboard and camo duck tape--he even added a star and tiny little Christmas lights, but you "have to look close to see them" :) This year, I was all in on the tree decorations. Last year, I held back and we kept it simple. This year--if it was in the box, it went up on the tree. Why not? :) I've gotten to the point where I just lay the ornaments out and the kids put up whichever ones they like. We used to have to take turns and just pick two at a time and then wait for your next turn--things are much more relaxed and efficient now that they're older. I miss most of the decorating photo ops due to this new faster method, but we always pause to take pics as each kiddo puts their special ornament from great grandma on the tree :)



Another family tradition is blasting Toby Mac Christmas while we decorate the tree. The funky beats and tempos kind of lend themselves to a bit of goofiness and hilarity. But I wouldn't know anything about that . . . ;)






And neither would Buck . . . :)



Taadaa! I do love a sparkling tree and a brightly lit banister! G$ made a sign to put in our silver goblets as you can see in the photo below :)



Sometimes this day can be stressful for me, because there is so much *mess* everywhere and such a lot to unpack and set up and distribute, knowing that the reverse is not too much more than a month away . . . however, this year, it went smoothly; the kids were great help; and it was really a lot of fun! Buck took me out to lunch--we're really trying to get in time together, because he is so busy at work this time of the year. It was just a little break, but it was good to take the break together. Now, I did forget to make dinner, but Graysen suggested grilled cheese and tomato soup, and that turned out to be just perfect!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

The girls helped with a special holiday shopping event--coaching little ones through making Christmas tree ornaments and frosting sugar cookies, while the boys showed me how they'd like me to shop this Christmas ;)

When the boys headed up front for pizza--so much pizza!--the girls stayed at the back with the activity tables and Santa. When Santa ran out of little humans to take photos with, the girls decided to get their picture taken with the jolly fellow. He really is a great Santa! I saw him walk over behind a mom whose little guy was.not.having.it. when it came time for his two-year-old Santa photo. While the boy was distracted at the craft table, Santa motioned the photographer over to snap some pictures of him standing behind the little guy and his mom. This worked really well . . . until the kiddo looked up and flipped out! :) Still, I bet they got a nice photo with Santa after all.

So . . . jerky for Christmas, then? I didn't even post all of the pictures he wanted me to take of him holding jerky brands :)

Dog Party

Our boys have expanded their business--just yesterday they took flyers around the neighborhood offering lawn raking and snow shoveling services in addition to their *doo doo, so you don't have to* :)

They also agreed to pet/house sit for our next door neighbors while they visit family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Every morning, the boys let the dogs out, feed them, play with them, then either leave them out or put them back in their kennels. Later, they grab the mail, (today bring up the trash cans), feed the dogs again, let them out again--and then finally let them out once more before bed. We may let our boys watch a movie over there too, so the dogs can be inside without being kenneled. We'll see as the week progresses :) I've been going with them to make sure they have a good system in place, and to make sure the dogs are okay with the boys being there when their family is not. So far, so good!

Apparently this info has also caught on in the neighborhood, because when they delivered their flyers, they were asked if they also did pet sitting . . . looks like they'll have to update that flyer once more!

Today, the boys went to play with the dogs in their yard. I told Caelan she should try taking Chauncey over as well, to see how he did with the other dogs. As it turned out, the next, next door neighbor had his new puppy, two older dogs, and grandson (who barked like a puppy the whole time we were out there :) out in his backyard. All the dogs (and small child) ran the fence barking at each other--except for Chauncey who has the social skills of a *homeschool dog.* Lol!

"Caelan, I'm scared, pick me up!"






"Never mind . . . I'll just RUN AWAY!!!" :)

After the other neighbor dogs went in, the chocolate brown dog decided she didn't really like having Chauncey over to play. He, of course, won't do anything but cringe and maybe growl a little when she barks right in his ears. However, we decided that was enough of a play date for today. Chauncey agreed--he was like, "Get me out of here!"

Coasting with Cuteness

My friend, Alisa, asked if Caelan could make some coasters to match the new rug she put in her living room. It took us awhile to sort through patterns and ideas online, but sure enough--Caelan figured it out and made this super cute coaster set. I thought I'd get/post some pictures before I sent Alisa her completed set . . . now Caelan has even more orders to fill! Gabby has decided she's going to help knit more, too. I had a big Christmas/birthday order before all these others came in, so I'm glad Gabby is helping get those fulfilled for me!