New Year, New Chores

So a couple of years ago, I thought I was being all smart and took in a set of 16 chore charts--one for each kid for each of four weeks--to be photo copied for the year. Well, I miscalculated and about passed out when the bill was $50 . . . but what do you do? The print shop lady made exactly what I ordered; it was totally my mistake!

We decided to just keep using these chore charts until they were used up . . . and then several items became irrelevant through maturity or décor changes in our house (can't clean the bunkbed stairs or the dollhouse if they no longer exist).

I have RESISTED the lengthy process of restructuring our system once again, but it--inevitably--became completely necessary. So, for the past several days I have built FROM SCRATCH my very own set of 16 chore charts for the Crew! I asked for lots of input, since the kids know how long chores take and which responsibilities mesh well together. As a result, we restructured our animal care duties to cover an entire week, rather than just a couple days of the week. We eliminated many of the "they've got this figured out now" tasks, and increased responsibilities in other areas--like kitchen cleaning. It was a mighty huge project, but we are well into day one with no huge confusions on my organizational part :)

Oh and that giant stack of pre-printed chore charts that would easily last the choring-crew until college? We're printing the new charts on the blank side of the old charts--I can maybe get a little of my investment back that way ;)

Cuteness in Coffee

I thought I would share a couple of the pics my friend Tam sent of Caelan's display in the Georgia coffee shop :) A few sold before Christmas (they only had three days), but the owner likes them a lot and thinks they'll be a year-round attraction. Tam said everyone she gave the mug sweaters to as Christmas gifts liked them! Handmade products are fun to make and it is fun to make a little money, but I think hearing that people are actually enjoying what Caelan and Gabby made is the best part of it all!

More Bears!

The girls finished up the final half of the half dozen order of Memory Bears! I texted the bear lady, and she sent her son in to pick them up. He was cute. I'm just saying--me handing bears over to the blondie16-year-old with the pretty eyes might have not been the best move on my girls' part, lol! "Mom, we're in our pajamas." Well, yes, so was I . . . nice family, though, Colorado roots . . . just sayin' (HA!!)



It's a good thing I spent all that time and all those rolls of development-required film practicing posing stuffed animals for pictures. Just look--30 years later and it was worth every duplicate print ;) Right, mom?!?!

Fantasy Football 2017

Well--our first-ever all-family fantasy football league has reached its conclusion! And the winner is . . . the commissioner!? Wait a minute . . . ;)




Buck and Gabby were the top two in the tournament--Caelan and I were the bottom two :) As I understand it, the top prize was closely won. As for last place--well, it was supposed to be mine according to all the statistics, but Caelan swooped in and took it from me (lol). There is no prize for last place, but as you can see-there is quite a lovely prize for first.

I honestly never knew that children could absorb such copious amounts of knowledge concerning football players. They know what colleges they played for, who their NFL and former college team rivals are, they know their middle names, their favorite foods, what they named their first pet, and if they ever slept with a blankie (hee hee, just kidding). But it is bizarre to hear this football-speak coming from my formerly unfootballed crew! The children are already strategizing and choosing picks for next year, and somehow seem to know which teams will do well, who is likely to be injured (well, that's easy--this year the answer was EVERYONE--specifically on my team ;/ ), who might be traded, and who is getting too old and should retire (me, from this fantasy league, hee hee :)

I will say, for nearly everyone being first time fantasy football leaguers--we had some impressive growth in skill level. Mr. R gets the award for *most improved* (there isn't actually an award . . . :), G$ probably gets *best initial draft picks*, Gabby gets *best trade negotiator with the commish* (notice where these two ended up in the finals, just saying . . . ;) Caelan gets the *good sport" award, to Grandma J goes the *enthusiasm in learning something new* award, and Brennen gets the distinction of *most studious fantasy football player on the planet.*

So, while the Super Bowl may not have happened yet in the real world, here at the Manor--we have a winner! :) Me! Because for the first time in several months, I may actually know what everyone is talking about again . . . pick 6? What even is that?! :)

Knightly Building

The boys were wondering what to do this morning--I said, "Build a castle out of the extra boxes in the garage." They thought this was a good idea. When I went out to check on them . . . they even had a working drawbridge!




The girls ran out of bear stuffing again, so this morning before work, Buck drove me to a store that will not be named ;) to resupply their stuff. On the way home an entire flock of turkeys completely blocked the road! They politely moved when we slowly rolled our bright red car through their midst. The unpictured house on the right side of this picture has maybe five giant buckets full of corn for the turkeys to enjoy. No wonder there were so many birds blocking the road! We were interrupting their breakfast :)

Merry Family Christmas

My brother and sister-in-law (to my delight) altered their Christmas break plans, and so everyone gathered together for Christmas at my parents' (paid off!) house. This meant--we were going to leave as early as possible to spend more time with them and the baby ;) By nine a.m., we were on the road--that's pretty good! Especially since we needed to feed like 400 animals and completely de-paper and de-trash anything accessible by the dog who did not accompany us on this one-day journey. (I'd packed the gifts and birthday cake in the van the night before; every little bit helps :)

On the way over we listened to the Adventures in Odyssey c.d.s Graysen gave Gabby for Christmas. They retold the story of Whit meeting his wife in college, and I was all but sobbing when we pulled up for Christmas :)

It didn't take long for Grandpa B to get things moving. When he learned there was no cider in the fridge, he and Buck went on a drinks run . . . he came back with THREE GALLONS of cider and enough egg nog to nourish a small country :) My kids hadn't tried egg nog, because I can't process the thought of drinking eggs--I don't know if these were raw or not, my brain can't go there. However, the girls agreed to try tiny little toasting glasses full, and I think Brennen got in on the nog-drinking as well. I stuck to my mug of yummy hot, fully-cooked cider ;) Let's see--with Grandpa's help they toasted the future husbands and wives of all the grandchildren and still unmarried children . . . and Carson Wentz (he's a Christian football fellow who got hurt this season). My girls followed the toasting with big glasses of water :)

Pretty soon, Maga invited the birthday kids to gather by the tree (it was real this year!) to open gifts. The little ones were enthusiastic; the older ones were surprised and also enthusiastic. Caelan got the start of a lace-making set she's been hoping for, and she's been trying to figure out the process of making her own lace since we arrived home (I keep interrupting her to get her bears finished :) CJ seemed to like his knit stocking hat and matching wolf scarf--he wore them both the remainder of the day!






The girls also helped each other knit the elephant scarf which was Lo's gift, and the puppy that was Little L's gift. Caelan knit the cutie octopus hat for baby M, but we underestimated how much he's grown in the past couple months, so it was a bit snug--cute little punkin'! Maga gave the girls cool new shoes and boots, and B got a giant buildable-t-rex-robot-walking-roaring contraption that he worked on for two hours the night we got home and from the time he got up til the time he went to bed the next day!! I'll have to get a pic of the finished product. And pics of G$'s gift--Maga and Grandpa B gave him some blow up sumo-like vests that have been used in the snow to head down the hill since the extensive process of inflating them reached its completion :) Oh, and cousin G gave G$ such a pretty stained-glass window effect picture on aluminum foil. He has it in his window--very sweet!

Also just in time for Christmas, my brother rebuilt four laptop computers for the kids--he'd given us two a couple years ago, but they are literally falling apart. Now (with a very modest investment on our part) the kids are all set for another couple of years! Uncle C also gave us a really nice guitar with a bunch of new-to-us music. Now everyone has an instrument again (we haven't used Grandpa's heavy electric much, other than at home :) And speaking of musical instruments, Gabby remembered that she wanted to ask Maga about the accordion she once played as a child. Maga found it and presented it to the next generation excited about learning the old polka classic. To our amazement, Gabby played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to a captive audience--first try!




The gigantic chocolate cake we transported from home was promptly shared by the two birthday kids (who were willing to come to the table when the candles were lit). We also included CJ in the happy song, as he played video games in a nearby alcove.





We had both a big lunch and a big dinner! Our family meals now include duck--two this time! And noodles and ham and salads and veggies and desserts and of course that gigantic chocolate cake :) I don't know if I have ever seen so many rolls made and consumed in one setting--two of the boys piled four rolls on their plates before any other food . . . one of these boys was dressed like a rocket ;)





My sister likes to remain incognito online, so I tried to give her different people's faces in the posts--I realize I didn't get them all disguised, but we can all applaud the effort :)

As usual, we left my parents' house with WAY more than when we arrived. However, 90% of the food that came home with us has been consumed, all the gifts have been washed and prepped for wear, the toys have been played with, the bobbins have been wound, and I have just used a whole lot of passive tense verbs in once sentence :)

Here's B's dino building . . .

Christmas Day 2017

Christmas Eve wrapped up (literally) at the stroke of midnight as I wrapped the final gift to go under the tree. Buck helped get all the stockings stuffed and I placed and piled packages--I mean Santa did ;) No, it was me. I'm taking credit! That's a lot of work! :) All of this we completed fairly soon after the kids went to bed. However, I was 3/4 of the way through finishing a gift book I was editing for the boys, and I wanted to finish and wrap it before I went to sleep. Well, that happened, at 12:00 on the nose; I listened for reindeer, just in case, but nope--just a hedgehog jogging on its wheel :)

By six a.m. the biggest *kid* was awake and ready to make a pot of coffee :) I love that he still loves Christmas morning so much that he just can't stay in bed! I love Christmas morning too, but I like it better around 7/7:30 ;) I got up soon after Buck did, and we made enough noise to bring three of the four from their slumber. Caelan was awakened at 7 by her sister, and later sent out to feed the chickens because she is never up with them ;)


The first gifts opened were mystery gifts from the kids' music teacher. We were told to stop by his house the week leading up to Christmas. He handed Buck and my gift to the kids and said we could not touch the gift til Christmas morning, and he handed a sack to me and said the kids could not touch their gifts until the same time. Our only clues were--not from Gordmans (that was the sack the kids' gifts were in) and . . . I forgot the other one. Oh well! With our curiosity wandering for the past several days, we decided to let the kids open these gifts first. It turned out to be a special mug for each and a fancy, organic box of tea for our family to share. I'll return to that later.

Buck put cinnamon rolls in the oven, and I drank my chai as the kids settled in to open their Christmas stockings. I think the stockings are sometimes the most fun part of the gifting process! As usual, I forgot the actual dimensions of the stockings, so there ended up being several *don't quite fit* items wrapped next to the stockings on the floor :) Buck did the same for me--because you can't fit 15 microfiber dishtowels in a Christmas sock! His sock (though by far the largest) didn't have a chance of fitting all the things I'd collected for him (including a box of homemade sugar-almonds baked by our girls on Christmas Eve while he was working). Digging to the toes, everyone enjoyed discovering their treasures :)


After a quick breakfast of rolls and juice, the kids opened their gifts to each other--they all did a great job selecting something special for the name they drew from a hat earlier in the season. There was much excitement over a cookie press, a wooden sword, an Odyssey c.d., a build-your-own pinball machine, a new hat for Brennen (Graysen got gifts for everyone, because he loves giving presents!), a Hollyn c.d. for Caelan . . . you get the picture!

Next Buck and I opened our gifts from the kids to us. Graysen was bouncing with glee waiting for Buck to open the drill bit set he and Brennen chose for their dad--and G$ threw in a "The Flash" t-shirt, because giving gifts brings him joy :) Buck was also very excited to receive a classic video game system (which unfortunately seems to be a dud, so we'll swap it out in a couple days). I told him, "I bet your mom has a similar picture of you opening a Sega when you were about 10 or so." :)

My gift pile continued to grow with new books, a cool metal candle, DVDs, and some pretty stationary I've had on my wishlist forevs! When we switched to gifts to mom from dad and visa versa--Buck promptly replaced my wedding gift crockpot (which I'd put in recycling on Caelan's birthday, then pulled back out on Christmas Eve because I needed one crockpot for chili and the other for the sweet potatoes, hee hee -- it has been officially re-retired now, but I cooked a lot of meals in that now-somewhat-dangerous pot!) The new one also has a mini-me . . . cute! Okay, I won't continue my detailed list of all the gifts we received, but needless to say, God blessed us again with good things, needed things, fun things, sweet things, and thoughtful things this Christmas.

Once the wrapping paper settled, we were ready for some lunch. We decided to brunch it and while Buck made eggs (which I washed, see, I am helpful!) and sausage, Caelan made pancakes. After lunch, we played with and explored our gifts. It was a fun, calm afternoon--other than the laser tag happening in the house.





Oh yes, and we tried that tea! Though we ran the dishwasher probably four times today, we did not yet have the kids' new mugs washed and ready for use when we decided we should check out the tea caddy. None of us are big tea drinkers, except I like chai and Buck likes sun/sweet tea. However, we do have a teapot, so Caelan heated up some water and distributed it into several mugs. We each (minus Graysen) selected a flavor we though might be nice (mine was berry, Buck earl gray). Brennen selected "green" because he thought this meant "mint." As it sat steeping in front of him, he said, "It smells like the guinea pigs' hay . . ." Right. So, maybe our music teacher's hopes of turning us into a legit tea family may not yet be realized, but I was glad nearly everyone was willing to give it a try (with *a spoon full of sugar* :)



Eventually I threw in a couple loads of laundry (because the kids are excited to wear their new clothes) and Buck and the boys watched some football. The girls read books and Gabby practiced her new recorder. The boys also played laser tag and built a boat, a pinball machine, and possibly a paper volcano? Brennen tried out his new woodburning kit as well. I may be a little out of order, but Buck and the kids played a new board game about medicinal herbs (I thought this would be handy learning for us all) while I read the story that went with it. The kids loved it, and Gabby even played it again by herself later!

Late afternoon, the girls helped me start Christmas dinner. Caelan took over the sweet potato making, Gabby peeled the potatoes (normally I leave the skins on them, but we were being fancy for Buck ;) I also made a small batch of fancy eggs and invented a gravy. Buck fired up the grill and prepped the Brussel sprouts and our meal was ready to go! Soooooo yummy!!





We're looking forward to our next round of Christmas with family tomorrow! I normally wouldn't sit still long enough to blog all this ON Christmas, but Buck is trying out his new (used) video game that I actually went into one of those game stores with my friend Mrs. K (on my birthday dinner out) to buy. We, the two unlikeliest people to be in a video game store--possibly on the planet--each found a game on our respective husband's wish list. We got some good giggles out of that whole situation :) Merry Christmas, and good night!