Monday, December 31, 2018

shopping, painting, writing, piano recital playing

The day after we set up our Christmas tree we headed out for a date. We needed some time away after the hectic month and especially the fall retreat. Cheap food with a coupon at Qdoba was just the ticket.



We went to JCPenney and got Terry his annual new pairs of jeans for Christmas. Once again I found an awful metallic piece of outerwear...



...just like last year! So not as bad as last year but still had to take a picture.



The following week our ice maker, which had been broken for well over a year, randomly started leaking water. I discovered it when I was at the kitchen sink, heard a strange noise, turned around and saw water pouring out the bottom of the fridge. 



Suddenly our evening revolved around getting that fixed. Terry couldn't get the water turned off (it appeared the water handle was broken or something) and so he went out to get a new cap. However the cap didn't fit. Terry again pulled and pulled on the water faucet until he nearly broke it, but it turned off. Very strange but such is home ownership.



Trying to get through school that week.



That final weekend of November brought a special outing to Pottery to Paint with a group of homeschoolers. We hadn't done this since maybe 2012 or 2013 and it was such fun.



Amanda and her crew joined us much to the kids' delight. Noah and Moses, the patriarchs...sort of.



Evie and Abigail.



The littles. 



I had to prod them over and over to keep painting and embellishing since they seemed to think one simple coat of paint was enough...



...and they turned out so great!



Afterwards we ran a few errands and thought this game at Target was funny...



...since we had just seen this hilarious joke on Facebook. 😆 Terry printed it off and hung it on his office wall along with the rest of his jokes. When we got home Terry started playing Oregon Trail on his computer with the kids. I couldn't stop reciting this joke. "You just died from dissin' Terry." Still makes me smile. 😂



On December 1st the kids had their Christmas piano recital. 



Zooming into Evie.



She did great, although she didn't think so. The "piano" sounded more like a horrifically tuned harpsichord and she thought she had done bad. She cried buckets when we got home. However, the piano was just really bad. It wasn't her fault.



Her performance.



Noah followed my advice and played on the keyboard. It sounded better but not great. He played very well though. 



And Noah's performance.



The following week, the start of December, Samuel had to write a letter for Grammar.



He opted to write it to his cousin Theo who would be coming for Christmas. 



By the time he gets to Grammar everyday he's pretty ready to be done so he wasn't excited to read for me, but here it is. I sent it to Ana and Theo once they got the letter in the mail. 



The next day we went to Paige and Zach's baby shower and they played this hilarious balloon belly game. Zach putting on shoes while "pregnant" is extremely accurate. 



Just a puppy with a kitty and some other kitties on her shoulder.

tree hunting 2018

The day after Thanksgiving we loaded up and headed into the beautiful Black Hills to hunt for our Christmas tree. We've gone to the same place since 2014 and it hasn't let us down yet. It has a bonus for the kids, a bridge over a creek so the kids can throw rocks in and try to break the ice.  



There wasn't much ice this year since it was so warm, but the following day it snowed a ton.



Walking down the creekside next to the road surveying the trees. We actually ended up choosing the first tree we saw.



Moving on down the creek.



Another potential for maybe next year.



We'd never gone down this far before. 



Further along.



Luna was sniffing around the ice and totally fell in! 



We all started running towards her to scoop her out when she pulled herself out. Silly puppy. I think she learned her lesson.



The ice was thick if you stayed near the edge though.



Dancing on the ice.



Making the water ripple.



Noah threw sticks into the creek...



...and Luna tried to fish them out without falling in again.



Close up of Noah.



Evie



Samuel



Ezra. Notice those little boys always have a saw in their hands.



After playing around for a long time we finally went back for the first tree.



Terry let the boys cut it, or try to.



Got it! 



I take bridge pictures every year too.



I like Samuel's hair best. That stocking hat really messed it up. 



We tried a new kiss pose this year.



And did the usual one again. 



After a quick lunch we got straight to work decorating the tree.



We had a bit of a snafu with one strand going partially out at the bottom and it stressed me out. Terry tried to fix it but it didn't help so we ended up trying the dark portion behind the trunk of the tree.



Evie had perfected the floss dance and was performing it for us.



Luna had a bath as soon as she got home and then had to submit to reindeer horns.



Evie put three on her face.



I put the lights on and the kids put the ornaments on.



Ezzie put all the stars on one branch. I left them like that too!



Samuel loves his ninja turtle from preschool.



All done!



That evening my parents came over for Thanksgiving 2.0. 



Dad thought it was hilarious to pull Luna's ears back and make her look surprised.



Somebody gave Grampa the kitty to snuggle with afterwards. 😂



And then the following morning we had Shari and Jesse over to chill out and had more leftovers for lunch. 



And then the snow started to fly.