December

N. finishing up To Kill a Mocking Bird for English. Is this reading on the stairs between bars some kind of metaphor? Or just a way to stay awake thru the chapters?

 T. begged his Grandma A. to buy him a giant hat, I mean stuffed Dolphin. It was hard for him to leave it at home before the school break started. Now it takes up most of his bed!

 Interesting Bath/Playtime one Sunday. I love that at least 1 day a week they are creative and that on this particular creative day they weren't arguing. Maybe warm water is the trick to cooperation?!

 Harley Dog thinks the beginning process of the backyard fire pit is a great little bed. She is sure good at smashing down the leaf pile I raked into it. Smashing and redistributing , I should say.

 New screen time restrictions have made way for an impromptu game or two between siblings and/or parents. Who knew board games could actually be so fun? Oh yah, Mom did!

 They especially liked this one, Batik.

 And the Old Time Classic, Pick Up Sticks. More fun than it looks to pick up scattered sticks. I promise!

 Donny spent the majority of his November and December hours off in the cold garage with the HEEP. It has been transformed into a customized vehicle that actually runs. This is one of the times I caught him bringing parts into our Bedroom. Where Jeep parts don't belong. Unless you don't want them to accidentally get welding scorch or want them to stay above freezing. As long as our room doesn't become an addition to the garage permanently.

Over the river and thru the woods...

Thanksgiving drive to the Great Grandparents. Its so close you would think that handheld devices would be unnecessary. Thats what everyone is looking at in the back seat. Keeps things quiet I guess.

 Cousins are awesome. So is turkey dinner.

 Pies too!

 More cousins.

 And it wouldn't be a thankful Thanksgiving if we couldn't see more people we loved. Another handheld occupied drive later and we got more of everything awesome. Cousins, turkey and pie!
Except T. he skipped the pie 2nds and went straight for the whipped cream. Yum.

We are so blessed to live near all these great people. I love sharing our lives with them and wouldn't want it any other way. Family is the best blessing there is!

Oh, the things we do for our kids

And the things they do for us, too.

Z. seems to think that a Girls Night Out (GNO) is a reasonable thing to do on the weekend. Except that she isn't nearly old enough to drive herself, and neither are any of her girlfriends. Her main requirement for a night out was breakfast food. Smart girl. 

 How could I say no to those squinty smile eyes?! And bacon.

 Parents also have the right to request things from their kids, right? N. would do anything I ask but only after telling me "No". Teenager! So, on the way down the "G" trail a few weeks back I noticed a bunch of rocks I was in love with. Thats normal for me. I love rocks. Because we were going down quick (steep=fast) and I didn't have any way of carrying them, I decided I would be coming back. To get them. I hate to go alone so I got N. and his buddy to go with me.

 The plan was to find a few of those cool rocks I saw and then head home. About 10 minutes into it we were so busy looking at the rocks we didn't notice how far along the trail we were.
New plan.
Hike to the "G". That is how I accidentally hiked the trail again without planning on it.

 Once in a while we ran into a patch of leftover snow and suddenly I had a neck full of ice. Teenager!

What would my boring quiet life be like without these fantastic kids to fill it with noise and love?!

Snow!

Yay, Snow! Enough to make snowballs and a SnowAngel. 

 Enough to make a snow fort, where the sled is the fort. Good enough.

 Enough to sled, kind of. We were all so hopeful that we would wake up to a beautiful white covering to everything. Sadly it warmed up and was gone. Maybe December will dump a ton of snow?!

T.man turns 9!

Boy, this kid is growing up way too quick! Ive never been able to hold him back at anything he wants to do. Especially growing up. 

Birthday lunch with mom at Red Lobster. Lucky kid! He didn't tell me till after we got there that he was expecting to try Lobster, Crab and Shrimp! He loved them all except the lobster which means mom got a delicious lunch too. 

 Celebrating at Nickel City. Its the perfect place to take a truck load of excited partygoers. They got a ton of tickets playing games and then played a super fun game of laser tag. Perfect!

Later at home we celebrated with the family. He got a can of silly string and had a blast living out his dream of spraying the kitchen with it! He said this birthday was the Best!

I sure love that crazy kid! All 9 years worth!

We finally hiked to the G.

I have always heard that the "G" trail is steep so I have procrastinated taking the family up there. Then I heard that at least half of my primary class of 4&5 year olds have hiked it. That did it. If their parents didn't have to carry their kids, I shouldn't have to either!

S. is ready for something a little more arctic I think. Carrying the fuzzy hat and scarf for her is better than carrying her though, so I won't complain that she immediately peeled them off.

 And it IS that steep! Seriously! No one told me it was THAT steep! Well, I didn't actually believe them when they did. At least it is a short trail and absolutely worth the effort for the view.

 What a fantastic view from up there. The valley is so beautiful! Also the trail levels off. Much to my happiness.

 N. and his "G".

 I made it. Anyone could. Just know: its steep. Being November and all, I wore a sweater. Completely unnecessary. I should've just put on some sunscreen. This season has been hot and dry!

 Z. and Hog admiring the view. I definitely want to come back in the spring and see this quick trail with green grass and leaves.

Around the house in November

T. figures if mom won't let him take piano lessons and guitar then he will just learn on his own. Thanks to YouTube and iPod apps! He learned a bunch of chords in just a few minutes time.Watch out music world!

 Moms favorite part of the afternoon schedule. Reading homework. Z. devours books. I love it.

 T. doesn't think its his favorite thing to do after school, unless he finds a book with lots of action to act out later.

 S. is just learning to read and figuring out that its not nearly as hard as it seemed. Also it's really exciting to tell everyone exactly what the cereal box says. Word by word.

 Z. attended a youth activity where they learned to decorate cakes. She is hooked. And already has a hand and eye for it.

For several days after that she experimented with baking from scratch and frosting techniques. Im pretty sure we ate cake creations for a week.

 Donny built me a beautiful steel barrier to keep the grass out of the flowerbed to replace the spidery weedy rocks that weren't doing their job. Unfortunately the down spouts poured water into the flowerbeds and created a little swamp, stopped off nicely by the metal. Fortunately Donny is hard working and loves to shovel rocks! OK maybe I was being sarcastic about the rocks. But I am so glad to have a handyman who is creative and doesn't mind getting messy, just for me!

 This is where we find the dog these days. She thinks she is a foot warmer or a rug. Once in a while she gets stepped on accidentally. Whoops. N. doesn't. Just the rest of us. He's the only one who stays conscious of the 80 lb. hairy beast underfoot.

 And this year we are skipping the gift giving for Christmas. At least we should. The kids have so many hours of fun with packaging that we are just giving that. Cardboard and bubble wrap. What kid could need anything more?!