Christmas Eve

It's been a really full week, so I am drawing a blank on what we did for most of Christmas Eve. I know I boiled some mostly frozen chickens to make broth for the noodles we froze when Caelan, Noah, and Graysen made them earlier this fall. I remember stuffing stockings waaaaay earlier in the day than I usually do, which was good because we had an extra stocking this year :) There was some final gift wrapping . . . that's about all I've got.

Oh, here's a funny story though! As you likely know, some people are just gift givers. It makes them happy, and they like to gift as many people as they can when the opportunity presents itself (hee hee "presents" ;) One gal at work decided to make the managers personalized air fresheners. Buck has a digital photo frame on his desk and several pictures on the wall. One of those pictures is of our family with our NGF's family and Chase in CO a couple of summers ago. Buck's boss told the gifter that these were ALL Buck's children--and she believed him!!! So we received this delightful air freshener featuring our 12 children and their dog. Lol! We laughed and laughed and laughed!

The kids left early for Christmas Eve choir/worship team rehearsal, but Brennen wasn't feeling great about it, so Buck picked him up from the church. Gabby decided to go to early church with Chase's family, so Buck and I switched our plan to the later service at our church. We did do some extensive digging to find the first service livestream and I grabbed a couple of screenshots of G$ in the choir, Caelan on piano, and Noah (not pictured) on drums.

Pretty soon, we too were ready to roll. The remaining trio of us arrived at church and soon were joined by Gabby and Chase. The sound team really had certain elements of the music team cranked, you could feel the guitar in your chest. Graysen said it was SO HOT up on stage. It was too much for Brennen, so Gabby leaned over and asked if she and Chase could take him home. As this was their second church service of the night, with the potential of a third at their own church, I agreed :) By the time we all arrived at the house, Brennen was feeling better. The three of them stopped by Brennen's friend R's house and she gave him a really cool Broncos hoodie for Christmas, which you will see in some upcoming pictures.

We gathered in the kitchen to enjoy the noodles--yum!!

And then the kids got itchy to open "just one present" each :) Graysen was there for it! Gabby gave him a super cool pair of leather boots, that fit perfectly. Gabby got to open a gift from Caelan and Noah--a set of colorful kitchen knives; she was glad to have them! Brennen then opened a very thoughtful gift from Gabby--a portable heater for the Nitro, which has no heat (with an extension to reach the plug that actually has power). It's almost like she drove the cold Nitro for a year or so :) Noah opened a nice sweater from Caelan, and Caelan (who had been resistant to the opening a present early idea . . . which I think put her at gift opening five days straight) decided to go along with the fun and opened a projector from Noah! They've been watching shows on "the big screen" of our ceiling (because we have no blank walls) with the projector. Fun gifts!

Gabby spent the night, so she could be ready for Christmas morning, as did Noah (he got the key to his new digs two days later :) Buck helped me move the gifts to the living room, I mean Santa!! Oh well, you know, they appeared around the tree along with the very stuffed stockings and to all a good night! Except Graysen came out for a kleenex while gift arranging was happening, so he's probably not going to believe the Santa movies next year, ha!

Caelan's 20th Birthday

Our first child graduated from the teenaged years! She and Noah returned on the heels of a nationwide blizzard from enjoying an early Christmas with his family. She happily displayed all of the special gifts Noah's family gave her for both Christmas and her birthday. That evening, Caelan's birthday eve, Gabby and Chase stopped by after doing some Christmas shopping. Gabby was scheduled to work all the next day, so Caelan got to open Gabby's gift to her early. It was kind of a solid few days of gift opening for Caelan, lol :) She was very excited about the three-foot long box filled with make-up brushes from her sister!

With extreme cold temps outside (like negative 40 with the windchill), Caelan didn't really want to go anywhere on her birthday. Graysen made her chocolate chip waffles for brunch, while I cooked up some eggs and bacon. It was a pretty low-key day around the house . . . I made the brownies she requested in lieu of cake, and then spent about 25 minutes mixing, mixing, mixing Christmas fudge from the Chip and JoJo magazine. It turned out soooo yummy! A big section of the pan mysteriously disappeared overnight, ha, but there was plenty left for Christmas :)

While she was visiting Noah's family, Caelan finally completed her turtle project! It quickly became the favorite lounger on our lounging around the house day :)

But, eventually the boys got hungry. We were hoping Buck could join us, since he went in to work early, but with the craziness of the storm aftermath and employees calling in sick (eye roll), he got stuck working later than he wanted to. Since he had the truck, and Noah's car has all-wheel drive, Noah agreed to drive us across the slippery, snow-covered roads to the restaurant. The boys were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for Caelan to be hungry enough to give the go-ahead. They had to wait all the way to, like, 5:30! :)

Even though the restaurant was quite busy, we got a table right away, next to the Christmas tree! Our food was served quickly and was delicious (it was almost a bit dizzying after the graduation dinner fiasco :) We missed our usual crowd, but we were glad we got to go out to celebrate a special meal for Caelan. And, Buck arrived home shortly after we did. He watched the end of White Christmas with us (Noah's first viewing), and he ate the second half of my Reuben (the magical sandwich that contains all the ingredients I find disgusting on their own, but when combined become something delightful! :) We enjoyed the birthday brownies, with special sparking, sparkling candles, and then Caelan opened the remainder of her gifts.

Graysen gave her sparkly pink pens (with refill cartridges), Brennen gave her a personalized travel-sized make-up mirror in pink, and Buck and I gave her her annual salon certificate to get her hair done (she's already got that scheduled :) 

And what about Noah? Well, he's been secretly working on a birthday project for months! Knowing how much Caelan enjoys Broadway plays and music, he wrote her a personalized musical score. For each of the five songs, he wrote lyrics and music, performed and recorded the piano and drum and vocals, mixed in strings and choruses, and then edited and edited and edited until it sounded just right (I'm sure there were a lot more steps, but those were the ones I could comprehend :) 

We all knew about the project, so when it came time to play the gift for Caelan, he wanted to do it at their special place--where he first asked her to go out with him and where he proposed. Both times, she was resistant, not really wanting to go because of the weather. Both times it was well worth the drive! She told him she would never again hesitate if he invited her to the trail. So, when he invited her on her -40 degree birthday, she thought he was joking, and of course was like, "No way are we going on a hiking trail today; you can't be serious." But he was! And we all knew why, as per usual. Of course, we also all knew they would be sitting in a heated vehicle, not walking the frigid trail--he just didn't mention that part. It was really funny. We reminded her of her plan to never refuse such an invitation again. Noah even added in, "We'll grab coffee on the way!" She finally complied and was very glad she did, as per usual :) 

We got to listen to several of the songs when they returned. The funniest is called "Chemistry in Biology," recapping how they were taking the same Biology class (albeit online and in person) and how discussing that class got them talking, revealing the fact that there was some relationship chemistry between them :) Very sweet!

Hooray for birthdays and celebrations and thoughtful surprises! I'm grateful for the amount of love in our family, and I'm grateful that it pours out in abundance on special days like this 💕

I Think He's Growing . . .

I realized when I uploaded (downloaded?) my pictures, that I have one of Spax asleep (mostly on my lap, often like an infant) every day for a week. Spax now lives at Gabby's apartment, and she asked me yesterday, "Did he ever walk? Did you guys hold him ALL the time?" Apparently that remains his fervent request, lol! I guess in looking at these photos, we might be guilty as charged . . .

It is weird being pet "empty nesters." We miss the little dude around here, for sure. He's up to his usual antics--dashing out of Gabby's open apartment door, so she has to track him through the building, and wanting to see what's happening above eye level--especially in the kitchen. Would you believe moving the kitten required two giant packing boxes and the truck? He still has squishy food in the garage, which is his favorite of all things. That's probably why he's been following Gabby around, "Where's my squishy food?!" Ha!

Gabby's Big Adventure

Although I wasn't there to personally witness the special things Gabby got to do with her Grandma on her first solo trip, I did get to see lots of fun pictures of their adventures! I think I can do a secondhand mention of some of those things on the blog :)

They toured Universal Studios, went to a play on Coronado Island, saw special Christmas light displays, went hiking in a slot canyon, ate at allllll the yummy restaurants, had book club, visited Auntie Z, and of course, toes were dipped in the Pacific. Basically everyone in the household now wants to take a trip to see Grandma J, lol! What an amazing week!

Chauncey Dodge

It's too hard to write it all again, so here's what I've shared before . . . When Caelan was little, she was bitten by a hunting dog while we were out for a walk in our small town. We didn't want her to grow up afraid of dogs, so we got Chauncey. I'd wanted a Bernese Mountain Dog since I saw two gigantic, kind-hearted looking dogs in our Pacific Coast neighborhood. Chauncey was a midwestern newspaper puppy; we found him in the classified ads. He was the only one who didn't jump up and attack the fence when we came to visit. Buck said, "We'll, take that one."

Over the years, Chauncey proved to be a patient but protective friend for our kids. We often said he and Graysen were puppies together :) It's hard to believe that their childhood puppy won't be waiting to greet them at the door.

Chauncey had quite a fan club, nationwide. He survived a scary abdominal blockage, and so many people rallied around him and supported us through those hard weeks of surgeries and recovery. During his lifetime, he visited the mountains, got dressed up in costumes, helped out at VBS, saw countless animals, chickens, birds, and even a kitten enter his domain--he tolerated them all, as best he could :)

Over the past week, our family has been down with the flu. Chauncey seemed to be fading, but he's always rallied before. Buck took him to the vet Saturday morning, and the vet confirmed it was time. Our big dog, who at one time weighed 120 lbs (we might have spoiled him a bit when he was all better from surgery) was down to 65 lbs.

This is the last picture I took of Chauncey, and another that Caelan took recently . . . he tolerated Spax snuggling him, for a little bit :)

We were all sick and couldn't go with Buck to the vet. Buck said he sat down on the floor next to Chauncey, Chauncey put his head on his lap, like he always did, and the vet gave him the medicine. A few minutes later, and he was out of pain. Goodbye old dog. The house feels weird without you.

Our neighbors brought us a bright bouquet of flowers to cheer up the gloomy day. Chase stopped by with snacks, "comfort food," for Brennen and Graysen, then hung out for a while despite the flu germs lingering in the air. That meant a lot to them and was super thoughtful of their friend.

We are so sad that Graysen's best buddy is gone, but his old body was ready for the rest. Thanks for all the ways you've cheered for Chauncey over the years; even though he shed like crazy, he was a good dog