Teacher's Aid

One of grandma's requests for this visit was to participate in our school activities. Well, the first week we were just too busy with special events and planned activities outside of the classroom. At the start of the second week, I was kind of wishing we'd made it work the first week--having a classroom helper is awesome!! I didn't hardly have to check any schoolwork (except Algebra). I was able to stay organized, answer questions, lead brief discussions--with no interruptions . . . I liked it! We were done by lunchtime every day!




All too soon, our visiting time was complete. We are always so good about getting a pre-flight photo with Grandma J (and Auntie Z when she's able to join the fun). However, this round we finished school, ate a hot lunch, packed up the van, and zoomed off to the airport--missed the exit and had to turn around--gave our farewell hugs (not so long of a farewell for me ;) ), and then headed back to a house that felt a little empty. THEN it hit me--we forgot our picture!!

Not being one to abandon tradition due to a little hiccup--we improvised :) I found the perfect picture from this week's visit, printed it out, cut around the edges, and poof--a grandma for our picture! At first I was going to make her face the bear's face, but that didn't work out . . .

We eventually just put her in the middle of the kids, and they laughed and laughed. It was a good pick-me-up, after a melancholy *goodbye for now.*







And then there's this goofball ... we may have spent too much time at museums with fountain sculptures as of late . . . :)

Doggone It

That dog house looks good! The boys are making nice progress on their structure. They just need Buck to help with some interior braces, and then we have to find some decent wood for the roof. Next they'll paint, get Gabby to make a special something for above the doorway, and poof--dog mansion complete ;)

Cozy Cups

Our friend from Georgia texted me a pic of cozy mug holders and asked if Caelan could stitch some up for Christmas gifts. She plans to attach a small gift card to Starbucks or such, and hand them out to her kids' teachers, coaches, etc. Caelan looked at the examples, made some modifications, and came up with these super cute and cozy mug creations!

We--Buck, Judi, and I--decided it was important to do some market research in Caelan's honor--tall, grande, venti, yes, please! Ha! She's been using our purchased cups in various sizes to work on her button knit sleeves. she designed the mug pattern after some drawing on paper. Oh, and she taught herself to cable!

Before the first day was done, Caelan had orders for nearly a dozen of these! A few days later my friend in Virginia texted a picture of another cute project she wants designed to give out as Christmas gifts. The funny thing is, I'd already put in a big order for other knit goods to give as gifts. I guess it's good that we have next week off of school--Caelan has some work to do!

Here's a peek behind the scenes at our design assistant for photo shoots ;)

Thanksgiving Dinner on a Grand Scale

Each year our church throws a big old family get together around the Thanksgiving holiday. It kicks off our *season of generosity* focus (since technically generosity is never out of season, right?) We were surprised with the earliness of the date. This meal always feels like the start of the holiday season, and I'm not sure I was quite ready for it to be starting this soon. However, one treat was that Grandma J was still in town to enjoy the festivities with us.

As always, our girls were eager to help serve at the gathering. Judi and I took them early, and then began the challenging task of saving 11 seats. My friend S helped me find a table that wasn't reserved for small groups or already had chairs leaning in with the universal message of "reserved" accompanying their angle. I was thankful, again, for the smidge of ASL I've managed to pick up, because there are so many signing people to visit with at our church now!

Oh, why 11 seats? Well, we saved seats for our friends the K's . . . I also had to ask what the sign for dessert was in ASL from Mr. K, our teacher :) Buck thinks I do a good job signing, I think the people of the Deaf culture are so kind and grateful that someone is trying to communicate, that they are VERY forgiving of the actual message communicated ;)

I guess there's not much else to tell--the food was tasty. I thought it was catered, but later the church posted pics of people mixing potatoes in the church kitchen. Our girls were invited to serve portions this year, Gabby got promoted to turkey--that's the big time! They carried water and wore their own aprons (okay, their parents' aprons :). It was perhaps the fastest dinner ever--in, out, and on the way in an hour.

One funny tidbit, Graysen was asked if he wanted "dressing" on his plate. He's like, "No, I don't think so." He had never heard stuffing called dressing before :) When he peeked in the stuffing container and saw what it actually was, he's like, "Yeah! I want some of that!" In fact, he went back for seconds of that and had a good helping of cranberries, too. Now that is something I don't usually want on my plate ;)







Graysen asked if he could eat dessert first, sure why not? Brennen asked if he could sit at the kids' table with the E's and the M's--sure, why not?! Buck asked if he could drive separately with the boys so he could arrive and leave whenever he wanted to--sure, why not :) I'm just glad we all got to enjoy a meal together--with a few hundred of our *friends.*

Picture Perfect

 . . . Or not! . . . :)

Busy Builders

We have recently decided to put an addition on our home . . . a virtual palace for the dog kind :) When Chauncey's tie out moved to protect the landscaping, his access to summer shade diminished. He is also very whiney when it comes to things like: drizzle, wind, clouds, sunshine, rain, cold, heat, perfect weather, and well, just about anything that means he has to be outside. "You're a dog." I tell him. "Go be a dog!" No sooner is he inside, than he thinks he probably better go back outside. We don't have a doggy door, so this means I'm constantly saying to the kids, "Somebody let him in! Somebody let him out! Am I the only one who can hear the dog?"

Combine this with the fact that the boys have mentioned (when I try to send them outside) that there is "nothing to do" out there. I told Buck, "I think they should build a dog house." The boys were over the moon with this idea and quickly started drawing up plans. They measured Chauncey laying down and standing up. Currently his dog house, much like the fortified chicken coop, is already too heavy to move :) The kids were using the floor the boys built as a square dancing platform--it's that big!

So here are the beginning stages of the dog house extraordinaire! Now that Buck's back to work, it may progress more slowly, but for the most part the boys have been doing all the building on their own. Pretty cool!







The king observes his throne ;) He better enjoy this giant palace! But I suppose if he doesn't, the kids can use it as a playhouse :) JK, the dog WILL love it!

Elephants, Giraffes, and a Cute Baby

Peek-a-boo, I see you! This cute baby snow leopard peeked and blinked at us from the other side of the window glass. He/she? was adorable--just staring at the kids for probably five minutes. Eventually, she/he? went up to join mama in the cozy box. Buck took the peek-a-boo pic, Grandma J took the cuddly pic, I took exactly one pic the whole zoo visit, so I borrowed the rest from them :) 

We were nearly the only humans at the zoo--maybe two or three other families out meandering around (well, I guess there was a bigger group in the aquarium, since the keepers were feeding the penguins). But the animals were active, and that was fun to see and hear. For instance--the tiger who really didn't want to be outside anymore. He'd pace to the door and stare at it. Then he'd growl and let everyone know he wasn't happy. Then he'd walk to the highest point of the enclosure and peek through the window like, "Hey, zookeeper . . . I would like to come in now!" and then he'd pace back down and sit by the door again :) We were highly entertained.

Then the spider monkeys--at first they were all just sitting on shelves in their enclosure. Graysen started tapping out a rhythm on the visitor railing outside the window and all of a sudden the monekeys were ALL in motion! Two babies worked their way around the ropes course, not always successfully ;) A couple, like the fellow above came and stuck to the glass to see what we were doing. They too were highly amusing!





Grandma J wanted a couple of family pictures of us at the zoo--Buck turned this into an opportunity to practice his selfie prowess. Taa-daaa, the gang's all here! And below you'll see the one and only picture I took at the zoo--that's Brennen behind a tree and Grandma J taking a picture . . . yup. That's what my only picture of the day is, lol :)



Buck made friends with the giraffe kind. I didn't realize there were so many at the zoo, but we counted nearly a dozen in the herd room!






Elephant family photo :) At first the pachyderms were all back behind those silver bars clear on the other side of the building. When the zookeeper came out with a bucket full of vitamin treats, all the elephants came lumbering over to stand right by us. How nice of them! :) We decided to duck down so all of us could share a photo together. Now, I'm thinking I should have gotten a picture with Grandma J and the family, because we totally forgot to do that!



After the zoo, we picked up a ton of hamburgers and fries. We enjoyed this very American dinner with our friends the K's, and then the kids did their art lesson while we others visited. ASL followed and Mr. K interpreted some of the videos that are being posted on fb from a vision trip a bunch of the staff is doing in Israel. I like to see what they are up to, but have little to no idea what they are signing about :) All in all, it was a really fun day!