You Don't See That Every Day

This year (2019) has brought many changes to our family. It's funny how traditions are made and cherished and... protected. For many many many years we have gone to a certain tree farm to cut our Christmas tree. We would bundle up the kids, make sure the baby of that year was snuggly warm, make sure I had a camera! and head out. There were the farm dogs there which the kids loved to pet especially those years we didn't have our own pups. There was hot chocolate and cookies to look forward to in the warm barn after we found just the right tree. But then the kids got bigger and busier and we didn't always go as a complete family. I remember one year the Mr was sick and the Boy took on the cutting and carrying duties. This year was very different from all others. My older kids were still away at college; the two middle kids had a load of homework to tackle, my husband was fixing the plumbing (bc a working kitchen sink is pretty important) .... So the youngest child and I...

Sometimes something amazing happens once in a great while. Like Halley's Comet. I still remember my 7th grade teacher's excitement over this flying ball of gaseous rocks. The work in progress This past weekend I had amazing idea come to life. That is something that rarely happens. So, it wasn't quite as ethereal as Halley's Comet, or any comet really. But it was cool enough for the Mr and I to look at each other and go, Oh yeah. I'm glad we made this happen.  Back in November I began to anticipate the Christmas break. Two weeks to sleep in a little, and not run around so much. I know my kids like the break from school, but not necessarily the break from friends. As my mind was whirling with to-do lists, I came across a Facebook post from a relative who has a tradition of decorating graham cracker "gingerbread" houses each Thanksgiving break. A lightbulb began to glow in my mind. Why not get my kids and their friends together to do this?!...

There was a time when having something going on every night of the week made me so excited, and by the weekend I was ready for more fun. That time has passed. We have had something going on every night for the past 11 days straight, along with the daily events and fun things thrown in there to keep my homeschool kids from rising up and firing me. Last weekend we went to Seattle for the day to see my niece married to a great guy. It was fun to show the two younger girls who went with us, the sites of Seattle, even though those sights were found due to a couple of missed turns. Earlier in the week my sisters and I took the two youngsters to a Nativity 'festival'. We visited a place that had a large room/gym (?) full of Nativity scenes. It was like they could read my mind. I love Nativities, and am slowly gathering my own collection of them. But this collection from all over the world was just ... well it made me happy! These pictures are just a few of what we saw. The du...

Summer is almost over. We've had lots of family time this summer, as I might have mentioned in previous posts. August slipped past us quickly. We started the month with another family picnic, this time on my Dad's side of the family. He is one of two of his family left. We ate, we visited, we played games. This year the games were not the traditional races or feats of strength (3-legged race is brutal). We did some "Minute to Win It" like games instead. Besides the wind blowing the red plastic cups off the tables, it was a fun time. And there were water balloons to throw at my brother in the end. Somehow he got a hold of a few and soaked our dad with them. I'll be surprised to see if he's still in the Will. Little K has her ballet camp again this year. She wasn't so sure she wanted to go back on the second day because her muscles hurt. But she made it through the week and really enjoyed it! We get to see the results when she puts on Shows at ...

It seems like it was just Thanksgiving Day ... but now it's almost Christmas?! We've been going non-stop since turkey day .... The boy had his 19th birthday ... pretty low key this year. Welcome to being an adult, where birthdays aren't always a big deal.  We also had some fun company at our house. The niece and her new husband came for the weekend with their dad in tow. We really enjoyed getting to know the newest member of the family .... He fits in perfectly with this crazy bunch. We also had what we hope is a new tradition -- gingerbread house making. We recruited an honorary family member to be on our team too. Such a fun event at church! Swim has begun in earnest. The Girl Who Swims has had her first meet, and to me, she looks fast! She will have a couple of meets a week until February. I'm sure glad we have stadium chairs to ease our sitting and watching times. This past weekend we got our tree at the same tree farm we've been visiting for year...

Do you ever have themed Christmases? The movies do that well, with trees that are all matchy-matchy, and family photos where everyone is wearing matching shirts. Or maybe everyone gets a certain theme gift(s) for Christmas. Although I think I would get some grief from my family if I gave everyone a theme gift, like stopwatches and workout videos; or action figures and comic books. Our theme this year is : Stress , er, I mean Experiences. We want this holiday to be about more than presents. We don't want the kids sitting around dreaming of what they are *getting*; I don't want to stop and think about what I may be getting! But on the other hand, I want it to be fun, and I want the family to know we love them and are thinking of them. Money feels like it is just flying out of my purse this month. I can see it, in my mind, being sucked out of the zippered pockets of my bag, *whoosh*. And so we came up with the idea to have an Experience Gift instead of having the kids unwrap a...

Christmas is coming. I'm sure you've noticed. Things are getting busy around our house too. On Saturday my sister came over and made a bunch of goodies with the girls and I. We cranked out fudge, caramel oatmeal chewies, peppermint pinwheels, sugar cookies. We were going to make some others, but ran out of certain ingredients, so we'll be making those later. On Sunday, Little K got to sing in church up in front of the congregation. I was a little concerned she might freeze, or cry. But she did great. I don't think she sang at all, but she rang the little bells she was holding, and looked around at everything. And she looked super cute of course. I can still recall the older kids doing this each year in the younger years, and just how sweet they look up in front of church in their fancy Christmas clothes. We hurried home from church and put on our grubbies. Boots, hats, mittens, and scarves came our of hiding. It was time to get the tree! The girls were gid...