Everything Else

It's possible that while the boys were not home the next morning, I tried out the new sword. Brennen said I could :) I had very Thorin-like hair happening that morning, so it seemed fitting. Buck sometimes thinks I'm funny :)

The past month or so seemed kind of off for me, so I invited Buck to help me chase down some Christmas cheer. He almost always works weekends, but for this one he took a vacation day to make a three-day rest. We attended what I thought was a Christmas extravaganza of decorations and house-beautiful ideas . . . but was really more like a vendor fair in a sizeable arena. That's okay, we still liked wandering around and taking a picture with the giant red Christmas bulbs :) Our day morphed into running errands and we found a much better Christmas display back at the same Christmas Town Caelan and I discovered (and Gabby didn't have to build this year). Remember when I took the selfie with the giant Santa? Well, had I known that stepping on a button would make him come alive and dance . . . that would have been quite a different selfie, indeed, lol! 

This is a rewind to the day before. Graysen and Buck both had Brennen's birthday off, so we surprised Gabby (with a little help from our Wedding Czar) and brought her coffee and flowers to celebrate her first week of going full time at work! Graysen helped move furniture into the office space, so he knew how to get us to the right place, since neither Buck nor I knew exactly where we were heading. Gabby gave us an office tour and I hit my head on a window like an errant bird; Buck said he did the same thing--tricky those angled panes of glass :) It was a fun little family jaunt to celebrate Gabby!

At about the same time, Caelan was looking professional and meeting up with students for the next round of her interviews at the university. The picture below is from the third round of interviews, where she visited with the program director for over an hour. It's been more than a week and she hasn't heard more news than, "We're still working through the interview process and we haven't forgotten about you." Keep praying for open doors and God's best timing!

We unexpectedly spent part of Buck's unexpectedly long weekend off cleaning mice out of our shed. The weight of the storage containers on top of Caelan's school bucket allowed the little critters to get into her schoolwork of ages past. They made quite colorful and festive little nests out of the shreds of her younger years' school projects. Within minutes allllll the neighborhood kids were up on the hill participating in the exciting free-the-mice event :) We had helpers galore! I eventually had them put on gloves because they were so eager to sort through Caelan's besmudged belongings. 

I took pictures of things that showed definite signs of mousing, and those things went away to where such things go. We did on-the-spot reports with two or three of the little neighbor girls--they gave video updates and eagerly awaited Caelan's video reactions :) There's still a large tub to go through in the garage; it was too much for one day--there's a dozen years of memories in that tote, and even if Caelan is not so sentimental, I certainly can lean in that direction :) So here is some art and stories by little Caelan . . . it was actually really sweet to hear our neighbor reading some of it aloud at the same age Caelan was when she wrote it . . . where's the crying face emoji?? 

Buck let the neighbor kids play with all the buckets of blocks we have stowed up in the barn--they were delighted! It entertained them for hours, just like it used to with our kids :) The blocks could use a hot soapy bath, but other than that, they look good for their age (which was an established decade before we received them). Every so often a parent would stop by and see if a child wanted to go to the store or get a snack, but they were too happy to be building outside and watching mice jump through our belongings. It was their best day ever, lol!

Let's see . . . oh, our health insurance carrier is currently debating whether or not it wants to be friends with our ENTIRE NETWORK of medical care providers. As of now, they can't agree to work together. This is very frustrating for us and creates a lot of stress--new doctors, few facilities, no great options, and so much hassle. Praying and praying they will work it out . . . in the meantime, I'm scheduling as many appointments as I can before we lose coverage at our established clinics with our established providers. Bloodwork (I'm at two rounds, Brennen is at one, and G$ gets his Friday), well-checks x 2, ultrasound, endocrinologist, nutritionist, health coach--I count a dozen appointments in less than 10 days, wowza!

To break up the doctor visits, I added a bit of basketball into my Saturday-morning schedule. Miss H decided to play like she didn't know me, giving her grandma big hugs and me only side-eyed grins. Stinker :) She wanted on the basketball court as enthusiastically as she wanted on the football field during her big brother's last sporting season. Her mom grabbed her by the waistband every time she thought she was going to make a break for the action! She would giggle and sit down and wait for her next chance. This game led me to wonder why no one has invented handles for the back of toddler pants!

As you can see, when the game was won (I think they won, the score was very close, and the game play pretty impressive for 7-year-old athletes!) Baby H won her game, too--peep the pink dot on the other side of the court. I'm adding it to my *brave, sporty baby in the field of play* collection ;) 

I should mention, that the next morning in the nursery, Miss H made up for her coy ways in the gym. She snuggle-hugged me for a good 10 minutes until other babies needed my attention. Thankfully, Buck helped that morning as we had eight little guests! He kept the two bigger boys busy, while I rocked the very littlest to sleep in a chair. At one point, Buck entertained the boys with "Who Would Win?" using the under the sea puzzle pieces . . . shark or octopus? Whale or dolphin? He introduced a nearby baby doll, "Giant baby or ??" 

Well, Miss H, dressed in a red tulle Christmas dress with matching red slippers--like the little lady she is--didn't care for Uncle Buck's game. She pulled the baby from the contest and held it protectively in her arms while she gave her uncle a slightly reprimanding look. Then she brought the baby doll over to me (+ the real sleeping baby), and entrusted it into my possession. Apparently, I was taking proper care of a baby, so she made sure I was the one in charge of the doll. Heeheehee :) She makes me smile!

Buck's new boss is a bit more into celebrating--well, anything--than his last boss. She's got lots of fun plans for spreading Christmas cheer and making the team feel appreciated this year! This takes the pressure off of us for coming up with a treat to thank the hundred plus employees in the building, as we've done every year for as long as I can remember. Rather, we contributed to the raffle baskets with a date night theme. Ours is old-fashioned date night with a crank popcorn popper, old-fashioned candies, and classic root beer. The party and raffle is in a couple of weeks, so that will be fun to attend!

I've decided that my form of self-care for this season is going to be attending as many plays, productions, performances, musicals, and moments as I can, or have interest in :) The college just so happened to be putting on a show and all my people were busy with other things (Buck was up at 2 a.m. to cover back-to-back early shifts for someone on bereavement). So I got brave and went solo to see Gabby's friend from high school, who played Peppermint Patty (although with no speaking parts), and her friend's mom, who provided piano accompaniment for Chase and Gabby's wedding. She set the musical mood for the entire production! 

Although I think everyone is mean to Charlie Brown and I don't like his attitude about himself, I still enjoyed the vocals and the colors of the performance. Some of the storyline loses me when it tries to be a comic strip--that's not just this version, it's the brand in general. But there's something classic about Charlie that keeps convincing me to give it another go. 

One of the fun unexpected moments of the afternoon was when my NGF's girls snuck up behind me and giggled just enough to let me know they were there :) It was so sweet of them to come find me and say hello! I didn't realize that there was a whole row of Gabby's extended family just an aisle away. And post-production I bumped into a couple who went to Rwanda with us this summer and we had a little chat in the lobby. Like my young friend Hannah has told me, "See, you're never really alone." That's true!

Oh, and speaking of Rwanda, it is once again time to send care packages to the sponsored kiddos. I gave our little girl a second doll when we visited this summer, because I wasn't sure if she got to keep the first one. I made a second little quilt and  . . . tried to make an outfit for a boy. These dolls are star-shaped, so there's not much fashion that can be done, but once my sewing machine decided to stop throwing fits, I got the job accomplished enough :) I told her in the letter I wrote that this was something that was hard for me, and it was okay if it wasn't quite perfect, because we just keep trying when things are hard for us, because maybe we'll get better. Hopefully there's an encouraging lesson in there, somewhere :)

Headband covered in dog hair on my model doll--I bought an extra dolly at the dollar store, so I could try on any clothing-making attempts ahead of sending them. I packed the little gift bag SO full! The timing actually worked out quite nicely that when I went to drop the package off at the founder's house, she and her littlest were at home enjoying a quiet morning. They invited me in for cinnamon tea and conversation, and we chatted for more than an hour about all the things--mostly our growing up kids and her daughter, Caelan's friend, who was in my small group in high school, and her upcoming wedding plans. So sweet!

In other news . . . I'm happy to announce, that after nearly six weeks of diligent effort, I've completed all of my Shutterfly photo books and EVERYTHING has been ordered. It took some careful coupon Olympics to get reasonable prices (like $300 off, that was a good one :) on the many, many things I ordered. I'm expecting two more deliveries, and so far nothing has been lost or damaged upon arrival! I also started Christmas gift planning and shopping--with time moving so fast this year, I just feel like I need to keep ahead of things! Buck and I almost grabbed a Christmas tree at the store, because usually Thanksgiving isn't as late as it is and now is the right time for doing such things--but we'll wait another week :)

I can't make a post without the doggy duo--so here they are . . . cuddling Buck and looking the wrong way for his photo :)

In case you were hoping for a car count update . . . the boys are always on the lookout for a vehicle they can buy together, modify in ways only teenaged boys can think of, drive on the farm and dirt roads until it won't run no mo', and then sell it for scrap, so they can get another one. Chase and Gabby went with G$ to make a deal on this 90's Jeep with 300,000 miles! He said it is fun to drive, but it can't go on the highway. "I'm not going to tell you what's wrong with it, but it will be fine to get to the farm." Ohhhh---kayyyy. But he was right, he got it down to the farm, and they strapped an office chair to a piece of plywood for extra seating??? Chase gives us glimpses into the behind-the-scenes modifications happening in the garage. Oh how the creativity abounds! Graysen said between this and the dirt bikes, they spent a day that looked like it was straight out of a movie. I'm just thankful they wear helmets and look out for each other. Wheeee!

Brennen's car is still among those being stored at the farm until it can get up and running again. I think the used car lot that used to be in our driveway, is now in Gabby's :)