You Don't See That Every Day

A day of giving thanks for all our blessings. We started out the day with a fun run - 5k in the local park. We did this for the first time last year, at a different Turkey Trot 5k. This year we got smart and found one that started later and was closer to home. G. ran with the older two kids, and I pushed the stroller and ran with the other 3. It was a beautiful, sunny, but cold, morning. Lots of fun. And then it was off to the relatives for feasting and fun! I didn't get any action shots of the whole crowd - there were about 35 of us I think - but I got a picture of this very cool turkey. It is actually a cake! My niece made this using pound cake, Twinkies, caramel, and pretzels. I was pretty impressed - enough to take a picture. So we had a nice long visit with the family, got to see the great-nephews from California. Oh my, they are cuties! I loved watching them play with my little girls and the cousins. My brother had a bunch of old photos he transferred from slide...

It was the second day of 'vacation' for us. And I felt like I was the turkey running for cover. Or running around like a turkey with its head off. Was it the sleeping in until 8 am that did it? Or maybe making pancakes for the crew, and then going for my run that left me feeling undone. I didn't get my own breakfast until after 10, scarfing it down with one eye on the clock. My daughter needed to be somewhere by 10.30 -ish. So we didn't make it there until 11.30. It was a pretty flexible get-together, so it worked out ok. But it left me scrambling to get to the eye doctor and another meeting on time. So, about the eye doctor. Little K has some moves that she uses on her older sister. Moves that involve some screeching and physical contact. Those two fight like ... like ... girls. Sometimes K and M can be best buds and play so well (for a 3 yr old and 8 yr old), and then other times.. sigh... things happen like they did earlier in the weekend. Little K's hand ...

Just a little warning ahead of time, this will probably end up being a pretty random entry. The unifying theme here is the kids, and the month of November. The girls have been taking piano lessons since October, and it has been so fun to hear them play now. The first week ... well the little key -plunking got old really fast, but their enthusiasm never waned. Just like the leaves from our trees. The girls would go out one day and rake the leaves from both the front and back yards; the next day it would look like they hadn't even been there. They haven't been discouraged yet. Maybe it's the novelty of jumping in the leaf-piles, or the fun of climbing in the bin to pack the leaves in a little, whatever it takes, they keep going back out happily, to rake the leaves. Big Miss M. got to go to a little party at a neighbor's house. They made these cute, yummy, little turkeys - they really did look better in person when they were fresh. This was taken a day or so later...

Today was the first time in probably about 20 years, that I have run 2 days in a row, voluntarily. I took the dog out for a quick run (2 miles) yesterday just to get the wiggles out of her, (and to be able to eat some cookies at my sister's.) And then today I actually went back out and ran again. 4 miles. It was my long slow run for the week. And it was, long-lasting, slow and maybe included some running. Finishing the run, instead of cutting it short - which my mind tried to convince me to do - that made me feel pretty good in the end.So it was worth it. And that marathon is looming in my head now. I have 6 months to go until the big day. I think I better get my training routine set out and ready soon.

I've probably already said this, but saving money is so much fun!! This week has been a great one in the savings department. I often go to Fred Meyer, and use my rewards card to rack up points. And then I use the points to get a few cents off my gasoline. And if you look at your receipt closely, there are occasionally surveys (which are super simple to fill out!) and you get more fuel points for doing it. So I did a couple of those in the past month. For whatever reason I had a ton of points on my card, and when I went to fill up my gas tank earlier this week, I got 20c off of each gallon!! Seriously, I wanted to do a little dance right there. So even though the price sign said 3.15 per gallon, I only paid 2.95! Wahoo! And then today, let me tell you - I saved over $13 at the grocery store just using coupons! Wowzer. I print most of my coupons out from Swagbucks , so not only am I getting the money saved at the grocery store, I am gaining swag points to use towards gift cards ...

Today was a work day at the farm. We joined a number of my siblings out there to cut and split and stack wood along with other farm chores. I think my dad sure liked having all the extra hands helping today. He even got my brother and husband up on the barn roof for some repairs and addition. The older two kids got to do some driving, one on the tractor, the other on the forklift. The Boy also got a tutorial in running a chainsaw.   Meanwhile the other girls helped harvest 2 rows of carrots; they filled the back of the pickup, and then we cut the tops off, washed them up, dried them, and stored them in the cellar. Then, since the back of the pickup was empty, we filled it up with firewood to take home. And this last photo ... it just struck me - all the pickups that were at the farm. I don't think they all show in the photo, but there were 6 of them in this little area at the time I took this.  

We got to go to parent-teacher conferences this week. G and I took an afternoon and visited with all the teachers for our 2 kids who are going to school. I can still remember the first time I went to a teacher meeting, as a mom. It was way back in 2004. We had an exchange student living with us. She was a senior at the local high school, and so I got to go and meet with her teachers and make sure she was doing ok in school. All the teachers were in the gymnasium, and I went from desk to desk meeting and talking with her teachers. What a far cry this was from that! We were able to sign up online - which was so nice! And then we went from classroom to classroom, seeing where our kids sit, meeting the teachers, or re-meeting in some cases. We learned about what they were doing in class, as well as how they were doing. And some of the comments we got from the teachers about our 2nd born kind of surprised us, in a good way. It seems that our daughter is starting to show her goofy side to ...

As I am slowly going through everything in the house and slowly throwing things out, of giving things away, that we don't need, I have been struck by an idea to redo the wall art also. (Some of it, not all of it, don't worry husband!) I came across this family tree one day while browsing pinterest and was really struck by it. So later next week a friend is coming by to help draw it on the wall. When I first mentioned it to my husband he had a chuckle, thinking I was going to put the entire family tree on the wall. He figured it would take over the ceiling and move into the next room. I suppose if I did do all my siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles, then yes, it would engulf the house. I've got a couple of photos ready to go up there; but I will probably be searching for some more of our ancestry. I'm not sure how far back I will go either. I guess it kind of depends on what photos I can come up with. So if any of my family members have some grandparent...

How much Halloween candy do you have left?!? So it has been a week since the big party-day, aka trick-r-treat night. And I am finally getting around to showing you my little costumers. This year we had a puppy, an Olympic swimmer, and a hot dog. I think this year Little K. really got into the fun of it. After every house we visited, she would come back and excitedly say, "I got candy!" As you can see, we got a lot of candy too! There were a number of houses where our girls were the only ones, or the very few that came to a house, so the candy was often very freely handed out. At a neighbor's house, we were the last to visit, and they just dumped the rest of the candy into the girl's bags. In our family we dump everything into one bowl to share. I went through and checked all the pieces, and then divided the suckers and hard candy out from the rest. And yes, I threw some away. Throughout the week I have let the kids have some for after-lunch, or after s...

I made my annual foray into the big city today. Every year I am suppose to take my daughter to the back specialist in Portland. Well, I will confess I have not done it every single year. But the time came for it to happen, and so we went. Now for many people, it's no big deal to travel to Portland for a doctor's appointment. But for me ... for whatever reason, it never goes well. My morning was rushed; and then I had to make sure I picked up the kids from school at the right time, to get to my parent's in time, to get to the appointment on time. I didn't have a chance to pack our lunches so I splurged on a fast food lunch for the 6 of us. I dropped them at my parent's home, and headed on to Portland. So I decided to go the back roads as far as I could until I got on the interstate. Well, I took a wrong turn, had to turn around, and finally made it to the freeway. I was sure glad we left 'early'. As we got closer to OHSU, I was trying to find the google d...