Coyotes, a Blizzard, and the Chickens

I almost feel as though my summaries are self-explanatory enough to forgo the writing process here amongst the pictures, which by all accounts, are supposed to be worth a thousand words, anyway. Well, I guess I'll add a few just for consistency's sake :) 

I received an urgent text message from my neighbor, "Coyote heading toward your chickens!" In the middle of the day, this rouge wild dog decided he'd like to hunt bunnies and ignore big, shouting humans. The boys immediately grabbed their guns and went up to stand guard :) We never did see the coyote that was purportedly there, but I'm glad I've got a barefoot hunting crew, ready to spring into action to defend the flock!

Well, Blizzard 2021 didn't deliver the 16 inches the weatherfolk suggested it might, but I think somewhere in the realm of 10 or so fluttered to the frozen ground. Knowing the slipperiness of our neighborhood and the terrible timing of Buck's work day vs. the storm, when they started cutting hours I asked him to volunteer. He kept plenty busy at home working through taxes and playing video games. He needed the day of rest after three restless nights of sleep apnea testing. He is the glow on our walls and ceiling :) 

So, we were all home and cozy with activities, work, and commitments banished unto another day. Well, except for school. Muriel likes to perch on the side of the window and stare us down as we educate. So far she hasn't jumped in the window-well. Maybe she's heard tales of our classroom toad and his unfortunate fate (which was disappearing into thin air, presumably). 

Buck, my chicken farmer, Muri tracks, and buried cars . . . if nothing else, winter gives us a chance to see things from a new perspective. We sure were appreciative of the sun in the sky giving our moods a boost and the streets a chance to melt a bit. It even pulled a few neighbor boys out of their driveway-shoveling duties to construct a hilltop igloo with a daytime moon glancing over their shoulders.

Today's big excitement was the arrival of the much-anticipated, best-ever (I'm told) chicken hatchery magazine! I didn't know these things even existed until all my chicken friends started whooping them up on social media. Buck didn't want me to feel left out, so he ordered me my very own copy. It might be my new favorite magazine . . . but I'M NOT GETTING CHICKS THIS YEAR!! No matter WHAT! (except the Marans lay chocolate brown eggs and Ameraucanas lay teal blue . . .)

Yet, clearly we are experiencing no shortage of eggs around here, look at that pile-up! I think there are nine dozen on the counter and only two of them sold. We need to make some blina to work back that stack! I love counting freshly gathered eggs every day though, it's a highlight!

Music, Sweaters, and a Puzzle

Caelan expanded her knitting skills to include sweaters! I posted this picture and she got more likes and comments than probably any post I've written in the history of writing posts. And . . . she's got sweater orders to fill the next couple months! That was an unexpected result!

I've had my eye on this puzzle for years! My mother-in-law requested I get myself a treat with the birthday money she sent me, and because I got such a good deal on my snowflake ring, I also got to buy this Renoir puzzle. Aww, just like the girls looked (well, close to how the girls looked :) at Caelan's piano recital last month!

Musically, we're still moving right along! Choir practice had more than 35 teens practicing songs together . . . along with some wiggling, dancing, arm swings, and general, "I haven't seen people my age in DAYS and we must catch up and do all the stuffs!!!" Followed by, Sunday school music video recording--this one we did NOT get on first take, lol!

A few outtakes just for fun :)

(I didn't think Muriel's behind would be a very nice intro to Sunday morning church :)

Things We Do

We take pictures of the puppy in her new (albeit temporary) favorite spot under the Christmas tree. Notice all the decorations are off, just the pretty lights are left. We undecorate in stages :) Actually it was really nice out yesterday or maybe it was the day before, and we pulled almost all the outside lights and took the Christmas tree and divider wall greenery down. The kids remarked on how much bigger our living room feels--imagine if we got rid of the couch! Ha!

We also do music! Brennen expressed interest in learning piano. How convenient that we already have a piano teacher coming to our house once every other week! She agreed to add a half hour for B before Caelan's hour-long lesson. So far, B says it's fun! My NGF's sister is a good teacher :)

And speaking of musical things, we're back in choir! I encouraged/required all four to participate in teen homeschool choir this semester. Some of the music is what they were working on last spring when choir was canceled due to covid. The boys came down to the waiting area to work on their pieces, so I took a picture of them. I think it's fun that they get to do this together with their friends and a few new faces, too. Oh, and my NGF brought me chocolates because she knew I was stressing about all the extra driving and chopped up school time. It all worked out, and the chocolates did make me feel better, ha!

We make epic music videos for children's ministry at church, lol! Buck and Gabby coordinated outfits, Buck learned some dance moves on the fly, Caelan strummed the guitar and sang, and I focused diligently on the camera timer because if I looked up for a second I would laugh so much the camera would shake. My little dance/music crew is the BEST!!

We cautiously buy things online . . . my mom-in-law sent me some birthday money. On the same day, I saw this super pretty little ring for sale online. I don't normally buy from companies that are randomly advertised on social media, but I kept locking in on this ring and Buck told me to go for it! It ended up being on super sale, so the biggest thing was waiting for it to ship from wherever it originated . . . the charge said London, the tracking said Hong Kong, and the label said either New York or Modesto--wherever it cleared customs. But, I'm happy to get to wear the dainty little thing. I think it's just as pretty in person as it was online . . . now Buck is trying to get me to order the antler ring I also found on the website. I'm going to need more fingers :)

(Also, it is super hard to take flattering pictures of hands . . . you hand models and photographers out there get my ugly-handed applause! :)

Moving Out, Moving In

My oldest younger brother arrived at mom's house of nearly 20 years a day early to help get her ready for her quickly approaching closing. I got a text that night saying, "She's not ready." So, Buck and Caelan took an impromptu day off of work, we kicked our schoolbooks to the curb, and away we went to see what we could do to help. 

It's amazing how many things you don't think about needing to move actually need to be moved when you move! Gabby, Graysen and I went around the outside of the house collecting lawn art, and Buck took down the Christmas lights. Caelan helped box up my mom's room, and we all cheered for my middle younger brother to complete packing up his room. Also, he got to carry lots of heavy things :) I got to sit on the kitchen floor with my nephew. While he ate his chicken nuggets and french fries, we kept track of where all the helpers were . . . in the basement packing up the very heaviest of things to move, in the garage filling my oldest younger brother's impromptu U-haul (which was 100% brilliant), or running upstairs to grab boxes to bring down to the front room. We were like ants in a hive--wait, no, ants in a hill, bees in a hive, buzzing, scurrying busy. But by the end of the day, we felt what was left could be wrapped up with the help of the movers by 11 a.m. the next morning . . . of course, we didn't know water would start dripping through the bathroom ceiling or that my oldest younger brother would hit a patch of ice and experience his first motorcycle crash trying to get my mom's bike to the new location. Ugh. I think he ended up in better shape than the ceiling through which the water continued to run for the rest of the day--even though new owners were moving their things into the space. Eeek!

But by that time, we were back at home having the busiest of all days! Our original plan had been to go up for the weekend to be the unpacking team. Sometimes plans change and we do what we need to do to help where we can :) But, the kids and I did pack ourselves up again Saturday morning to try to find the new house. It was tricky because it's not on maps I can access yet. My brother had sent a pic of it once on his maps and I studied it well enough to guess my way to the new development. First try!

The new house is spacious and pretty. Mom was exhausted. My brother was sore, and the other one needed a shower :) Also, another grandma showed up to give Mr. M his Christmas gifts. We were quite the move-in party! Well, unpacking party, everything was already inside someplace or another.

After getting the basement partially set up, we even had enough storage space to move most of the boxes in the garage into the house and downstairs. Idk if my mom has ever had a car in her garage since she's had a garage, but my brother and I utilized teamwork to make it happen . . . still a very tight fit! They both agreed, separately, that removing the unused tow hitch was a shin saver for everyone :)

Mr. M found a nice nook for his bed in the spacious guestroom downstairs. How he slept through all our moving noise is beyond me! When he woke up I got lots of snuggles while his dad went on a Coke Zero run. We were cracking up taking selfies together! I think we've improved a little :)

We decided to build the last of my mom's four kitchen chairs. Apparently a couple years ago, mom and my two youngest brothers each put together one chair and it was so challenging that no one wanted to do the fourth :) So, it has been boxed in the garage ever since. We thought, "We've accomplished most of what we hoped to help with, and here it is still the first day. We can build the last chair and still head home a day early." Oh contraire! Caelan started the process, she put the front legs on the back of the chair. Gabby took them off, then got the front legs on the front of the chair . . . but inside out and backwards. My oldest younger brother tried to find tools in the garage to make the process smoother. The three-year-old got on his knees above the instruction paper, and while pointing authoritatively repeated, "You have to put the bolts on. Next you put the bolts on. Right here, the bolts on." Gabby was about to lose her mind, and I couldn't stop laughing at the little project boss (he later gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said something along the lines of, "You got it, girrrrrl!" which made up for any hard feelings from earlier, ha!) In the end, we did not finish the chair. After two-ish hours of trying, we told my middle younger brother to see what he could do about wrapping up that project after we'd left. We still may need to finish the chair the next time we stop by, but here's to hoping it's done when we get there!! 

The boys completely rearranged the furniture in order to set up a video game station downstairs. They worked hard in general, so earned a break (but this set up was not approved by me, boys!). Mom ordered us sub sandwiches and yummy cookies for dinner, and then we decided there wasn't much more for us to do that trip, and we headed home to let mom rest. Next time maybe she'll be up for wall décor and we'll see if she needs help loading in her room-sized closets (the girls might be a bit jealous, the main bedroom closet is seriously bigger than their entire bedroom!)

It's a great new house, good new memories and giggles already made, a bit of stern life coaching applied from older brother to younger, and we look forward to visiting again soon :)

NYE

We had exactly and precisely zero plans for New Year's Eve . . . ding! C is celebrating his NYE birthday, your boys are invited for pizza, video games, and to stay the night! Ding! I know it's last minute, but we're going ice skating this afternoon, would you like to join us? Also Ding! We'd love if you could come over tonight for appetizers and board games, that is if you don't already have plans. Ding! Ding! Ding! Our potentially very boring New Year's suddenly became a hive of activity, fun activity no less :) The boys had the hardest decision--stay with their original plan to spend the night at their buddy's birthday party or get picked up with our NGFs' son and my nephew's doppelganger to join the party with the rest of us over the border. What to do?! First--we skate.

Ice skating with our NGFs and a couple of kiddos they were helping take care of for the day turned out to be a great way to spend the afternoon. We arrived ahead of the crowd, and our kids appreciated the free space to try to rediscover their skills. Looking back through blog posts and albums, it has been two years since they skated, and it was two years before that that they skated for the first time. These statistics seem unreliable to me, but my history recording methods usually prove fairly steady in other family event researches. Brennen isn't a huge fan of skating, but he liked hanging out in the friend pod at center ice. Here's some super exciting skating footage for you to enjoy:

G$ got tired of sliding, said he's more of a running type guy, and came to sit on the sidelines--with frequent visits from the ice skaters still on blades. Speaking of blades, we saw one of my worst ice fears come true when a lady's hand met with someone's skate. It took awhile to get her bandaged and the ice cleaned, but Caelan said the lady seemed in good spirits by the time she left to, no doubt, get some stitches in her hand.

After skating, we headed home to get ready for all of our evening festivities. Gifts were wrapped, overnight bags were packed (Brennen packed a stick of deodorant and a comb, what else would he need?), and bingo prizes were collected. I sent an appetizer list to Buck and he went to town buying up all the after-Christmas treats, gift baskets, a jar of whole peaches (which looked like a science experiment), a bag of coffee, etc. etc. which really rounded out the bingo prize table at our NGFs house. As you can see from the photo below, Buck was pretty comfy back there :) His addition of beet chips and my fancy ramen (that we've been trying to pawn off on our friends at at least the past three events) were the first prizes selected! Our emcee played music, Celebration and All I Do is Win, after BINGO was called and the winning contestants did a victory dance/walk to the prize table for their reward :)

After the first rounds of bingo, compete with ball spinner because we're very official in our bingo playing, we took a break, so the big boys could be part of the prize collecting when they got picked up by the dads at 10:30. In the meantime, we snacked on spanakopita, taquitos, baklava, mini pigs in a blanket, fancy cheese and crackers, candy popcorn, mini cookies, lemonade, all the yummy things!

Graysen decided to stay at his original party, Brennen came back to stay the night with our NGFs' son and 15-year-old uncle, and Gabby stayed over, too. Our NGFs had quite a houseful as the parents of the other two little ones, said, "Bring them back tomorrow!" Those parents needed a break, for sure. But back to bingo--the big boys joined in the fun, and maybe even did some dancing on their way to the table, too.

These two began a tradition on our last vacation, each requesting the other bring his pipe to evening campfires at each other's homes :) Buck's NGF dropped by a nice tobacco shop earlier that day to restock their supplies. He was pretty impressed with Buck's corncob pipe upgrade for Christmas (and now wants his own pipe stand). My NGF told them to look contemplative; here's my pic of her taking the pic below (the moon was huge and stunning that night; I'm glad she captured it in her photo :)

As the clocked ticked toward midnight, we filled plastic cups with sparkling cider, gathered all the kids, did the countdown, and toasted the new year! We also spent some time in prayer, Buck and his NGF thanking God for the year we've had, the memories we've made, the growth we've experienced, and the hopes for the coming year. I've never really started a new year that way before, but it was pretty awesome!

Believe it or not these pictures were taken at just before two in the morning! I'm sure our dogs at home thought we'd lost our minds :) One week later, same fireplace, same friends, same photographer daughter trying her best to make four "old people" look good for their photo. Lol! Happy New Year!