Friday, December 31, 2021

December Fun

This holiday season has been a bit set apart for us.  We've been affected by illness for the entire month of December to some extent.  Most, not all, of us have been ill, but me specifically.  I've been ill, off and on, all month long.  Sadly, this meant that we missed out on many of the activities that we had hoped to enjoy.  However, we did manage to squeeze some fun in.  

The kids enjoyed baking cookies and making some of the treats we have begun to make annually like fruitcake, cookies, and rumballs.  


Cookie making with Nikolas is becoming a cherished time







They're getting good at making rumballs

We also managed to make an evening out to ice skate.  Nikolas and I stayed off the ice but the rest of the crew all ventured out.  


Hannah began with an ice assistant, but quickly ditched it to free skate.  John did well on the ice with his ankle, which was wonderful to see as the ice is like second nature to him.  He did experience discomfort, but he toughed it out for a bit just to enjoy the ice.  











Everyone tuckered out in just short of two hours, which seemed to fly by. 





We closed out the night with cups of hot cocoa and candy canes.  What a great night of holiday fun! 

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Thanksgiving Weekend

 

Thanksgiving is a day of giving thanks for your many blessings.  We may not have had the blessings of extended family or travel in our weekend, but it was super full and we very much enjoyed it.  

On Thanksgiving proper, we enjoyed food, family, friends, and fun.  There was the Macy's parade, the dog show, games, and drinks.  We hosted a friend of the boys' and that just added to our enjoyment.  

We counted our blessings all month long




They made Great Grandma Pree's Pecan Tarts--so yummy!


Riley made a Lego feast


We like to be sure that Thanksgiving is fully celebrated *before* Christmas comes on the scene

This year was the earliest we've ever gotten our Christmas tree--the day after Thanksgiving!  Circumstances were just right so we jumped at the opportunity to head out to the tree farm.  It was a beautiful afternoon and it was great to set up Christmas in our house.  

Hot cocoa on a cool day at the tree farm was delightful


We don't usually visit Santa, but the opportunity was prime so we took it 


Riley put the star on the tree this year



Saturday we attended a Christmas kick off festival.  It was bigger than we anticipated so we ended up spending all day there--it was great!  The boys met up with friends and extended their fun with a game night.  

It's getting harder and harder to get the older boys in pictures these days.  There are more times of divide and conquer than there are togetherness--as is to be expected as they create their own lives.  So, no pictures of them this day, though we did share part of it with them.


Just as we were going to get truck food, Sonja spotted a wonderful stand selling charcuterie boards in a box--a much better buy! 



Sunday we had lunch with another large family from church.  No pictures were taken, but we did put more opportunities on the calendar for us to meet up--such a fun group.  

Blessings abounded for sure--good weather, good company, good food, good fun, good rest--who could ask for more?  A blessed weekend for sure!







Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Eleven 11

From the date to the activities and the presents, Riley had a fun birthday this year.  He turned the big 11 on 11-11!  

The boys took him out for dinner and to see the movie the Eternals--an action movie in the Marvel Universe that kept us interested and even left us rather interested in what's next--they do a great job with the tidbits in the end credits.  

Riley had lunch at Chick Fil A where the boys work and he got a great reception from the staff he knows there--lots of hearty birthday wishes and even a birthday milkshake!  Sonja got a bonus treat.  :-)  



Riley asked for another fall themed cake (apparently candy corn rank way high!) this year and he was not disappointed.  We had a great time celebrating Riley and ushering in his 11th year.  :-)  


We are so blessed to have you, Riley!  May God richly bless the year ahead <3  Happy Birthday!


Sunday, November 7, 2021

Not Just Halloween

This year we changed things up a bit.  The kids love getting new costumes and later playing dress up with them, but we're not really about trick or treating.  Usually we go to some sort of harvest festival.  Admittedly, this year a good harvest festival was hard to find, but we did find an event to attend.  The kids dressed up and we headed out--rain and all.  They were determined to have some fun in costume and I wasn't about to let a bit of rain (really, it wasn't much) dampen the fun.  At the festival, we listened to live bands. watched a couple of wrestlers in the ring (now that was really new and interesting for the kids as well as completely unexpected), visited vendors and collected candy along the way.  By the time we were done, we were pretty wet, but the children had enjoyed themselves and we had created a few fun memories.  :-)  


Billy Coleman from Where the Red Fern Grows--Hudson was a good sport to be part of the costume and Riley was pretty happy that two different men knew who he was dressed as :-)

Camp Pals

Dinah the Diner Girl


Our Bee

The Candy Magnet

Visibly wet at the end but in great spirits

Dinner Halloween night was a wing meal from our local favorite haunt (great play on words, huh?) :-) We had a friend of the boys' join us and we watched classic throw back movies--think Boris Karloff and Frankenstein.  The children were very interested in the old films and we had a lot of conversation about how films used to be made verses now.  

The days leading up to Halloween we took the time to study the origins of current Halloween customs, as well as the history behind Dia de los Muertos, which somehow became a topic of interest this year.  However, the study would not have been complete without studying the history of the Reformation--the light side of the dark holiday that Halloween is.  The children learned a lot of valuable history this year and we look forward to expanding our studies next year.  

We did get and carve pumpkins this year--Hannah carved a cross, Sonja carved a sunflower, Riley carved a maple leaf, and Connor carved a tetrimino design.  Though the carving was fun, we didn't get photos this year, but we did gather the seeds and make pumpkin seed snacks as well as Connor made pumpkin candies from the pumpkin meat--SO good!  The rest of our pumpkins--the heirlooms--we'll carve for harvesting seeds that we can save and plant later as well as harvest the meat so that we can make pumpkin puree to enjoy throughout the year.  Harvest season--such a great abundance of goodness!  :-) 



Fall Family Moments

Once upon a time, our family photo shoots were what kicked off spring and coincided with birthday season.  These days, fall is a more temperate season and is so beautiful that we've taken to scheduling our photo shoots in autumn.  This particular fall day, the weather was so wonderful with a moderate temperature and a light breeze--quite the gift after a few days in a row of cold, wind, and rain.  Meeting with our photographer was fun and the kids were easy to work with.  Before you know it, we had more than enough photos to choose from and we called it a wrap.  :-)  I'm so thankful for Heather joyfully helping us capture a few precious moments and lots of character.  I look forward to updating our hallway frames.  :-)





I took a few photos while we were waiting for our photographer, but Nikolas wasn't quite ready for flashing his pearly whites :-)