A Happily Busy Christmas Eve

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Happy Christmas!  As my British friends say.  

We were so Blessed today, to be able to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with Eric's family.  We have been doing this for years, but last year, we didn't get a chance to, we did our own thing last year, Zooming with Family, and Zooming our Church service.  

This year, was refreshing, because we got to get together with the Fam again. 

We brought things to put on a snacking spread. Eric found a Serrano Ham from Costco.  It's supposed to be a great dried ham.  But when he cut it, it was hard to cut, it was supposed to be put on a rack, it didn't work out.  Instead, the screws were stripped, and Eric took a chunk out of his finger with the knife. Mom made a joke about how many Willmans it takes to cut a ham, because at one point there were 4 trying to mess with the dern thing.  It made us laugh.  We thought it would be awkward being there with Dad being sick and all. But Dad made it, curled up in the corner and napped... much like some years when there's a football game, so it was very similar.  He felt up to making jokes and engaging with all of us, so it was pretty great. 

Before the kids all began to eat, and possible drop food on themselves, we got them to hold still for a picture for Grandma and Grandpa on the stairs.  

We let them make a silly shot too. 

Alexis' boyfriend Gio suggested they make peace signs, and that made everyone laugh.  It was Good. 

The little kid table...where the kids don't look so little. 

Kaylee wants to be an exotic vet, and she's well on her way. 

She introduced me to her pet rat Winnie (like Pooh, not Winifred). 

Winnie was precious. 

Then she brought down Casey, her bearded dragon.

Casey didn't like me.  She gave me the stink eye, and only let me pet one way with a finger, if I didn't touch just so, she twitched.  I apparently need more lizard practice.  She's beautiful though, those eyes were hypnotizing. 

Lexi showed us some of her Art Projects from school. 

She's really been developing her Gifts. 

This was a project made from an old copy of The Wizard of Oz. 

She painted and made collage from the pages, it was really neat. 

The kids were ready to open! 

The kids had shown great patience, but when they were ready, they barely waited to take turns. 

Cole hugs his new Nerf gun. 

He also yelled, "Bryce, you're going down!"  

He cracked me up! 

Bryce didn't even get through opening his present before turning to his brother and yelling, "No Cole, You're Going Down!" 

We got Alexis with this giant long box. She had no clue. I was a bit nervous. 

A couple years ago, we'd gotten a foam ax for Jeremiah, and she said, "I wish I had a sword". We made a mental note, and Alexis didnt' sent us a list this year, so it was perfect to give her the foam swords for Christmas.  She was so surprised!  

Alexis and Gio immediately started to spar a bit. She really liked the turquoise one.  So did I. 

Jeremiah got excited about his Minecraft Lego set. 

Sam knew that's one he needed, and that he would like.  

Good call! 

Panorama shot of the whole fam recovering. 

Kaylee gave her Kirby backpack a try right off the bat.  It's so snuggly soft. 

The boys brought their music so they could play piano for Grandma and Grandpa. 

They sounded good, but I was chatting with my sister in law when they performed so I didn't get videos. Another time. 

Meanwhile, Cole has been taking piano lessons too, and he snagged Jacob's music, and sight read for Frosty the Snowman.  He did a great job.  It helps to have a helpful cousin. 

We play an epic battle of Mexican Dominoes. 

It was so normal to play games. I just loved it.  Cole was so excited.  He didn't win every round, but he tried. Bryce tagged out, and Chris took his place, but I didn't get a picture of him.  

We had three rounds of relaxing fun. 

Unbeknownst to me, at the same time we were playing, up in Marion, the extended fam was also playing dominos. <3

I found out later from FB pics. 

This year we stayed home and Zoomed Church again. 

Pastor was out sick, and we didn't want to take any more chances if Covid was running through the church. We've only made it to Church in person one time since Thanksgiving. Two days later, Pastor got sick, and so did some other folks, but I'm not sure who.  We got emails saying if we'd been at the Rehearsal we were exposed, and though Jacob performed at the Children's Program, he was masked the whole time, and he didn't go to the Rehearsal. 

(Saved by Cookie Fest and Vaccines!) 

We're all healthy, but we wanted to stay that way, so we stayed home. 

Honestly, I kind of enjoy zooming Church on Christmas Eve from Home. The kids are getting to be good singers, and we made beautiful music, just us.  

And Zooming by candelight during Silent Night was still pretty awesome. 

After Church, the kids put up with me taking their Picture. 

They looked good in their new holiday flannels. 

Ahsoka is a photobomber, a cute one though. 

This one was my favorite. 

Even Ahsoka looks like she was smiling.  

It was a lot of work to get good photos today. 

Jacob had many accidents, and it took up a lot of our evening to deal with it. 

We didn't get our usual tv shows or books read as we usually do on Christmas Eve. 

Eric was just getting trains set up, and Jacob got to watch his go around just before bedtime, 

but not the other boys quite yet.  They'll be ready by morning, no doubt. 

The night is young. ;) 

Quality Time

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A quiet Sunday. 

I am becoming quite fond of our Church's Zoom Calls each week. 

It's the only time we make it to Church on time. 

We had over 100 people listening in on the call live this week. 

It's Comforting to watch it, and with us on muted, I can relax, because I can tell the kids to walk away or jump on the trampoline if they have too much energy to sit through the whole service, and call them back when it's time.  Communing and Singing together just us is really neat.

Did I mention that we have also had a weekly Zoom call with my inlaws?

We almost missed it this week, we were almost late. It's at 4, and I'm usually napping on Sunday afternoons at that time.  And while I know that Mom and Dad just want to hear from the boys, I love seeing my nieces and nephews every week.  Cole likes to tell cheesy jokes.  This week Jacob told one too. I wish I could remember what it was.  Bryce is 3, and he tried to tell one, but I didn't get it.  Kaylee brought a Bakugan toy on to show the little ones, and they were enthralled.   

I'll miss this.  I think we've seen more of them, and more of Mom and Dad than we get to do while they are in town. Sometimes I roll my eyes, and sometimes we laugh, but just being together is just Good.

The theme today is "dreaming of" and seeing this makes me dream of what this little mini-deck will become. 

It all started because I asked Eric to move the piece of plywood so I could get out of his car.  

I'm not thin, and I don't like having to suck it all in when I exit the front passenger seat of his car. 

This time, I asked him to move the plywood, and it started a huge new project.  He was 'saving' that wood for a new platform (deck) to expand the little landing we have. When we built this temporary staircase, it landed right into the grass, but then we decided a little extra space so the dog could wipe her feet would help. So he built the landing, and put a rug on it for cleaner dog toes. Then the rug got moldy, and we probably ought to buy a new rug if we're going to expand the landing, which is what he was saving that extra plywood for.  Plus we could get the ramp for Princess off the front porch, if we took the legs off, now we can put the grill out there.  He's building a deck. He won't admit it's a new deck. But there have been 2 trips to Lowe's, online ordering of course, and we're banging on wood and putting things together.  Yes, we're building a deck, because I asked him to move the plank of wood.  This reminds me of the time we had to overhaul the pantry and put up entire shelves because I asked him to put away shot glasses that we had received for Christmas. 

Yes, very similar.  But hey, at least we should get a pretty new deck, and a bit more space to birdwatch outdoors.  So I'm dreaming of all of that. 

Meanwhile, while the boys did yard work this weekend, I did a splash of laundry at my mother in laws, and worked on this scarf I'm making with a yarn that Chris chose.  It turned out a little bit curly, but charming.

Trunk-or-Treat

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My Boo.  

Get it? His shirt says Boo. :)  

Well, he was cohort in crime yesterday, so we didn't take much time in getting ready for Trunk or Treat at our church.  My friends L and J put it on every year, and they always go bonkers.  The kids have such a wonderful time.   I try to keep up, but fail miserably.  Honestly, this happens to me every time.  Every year, I get distracted, and don't bother doing anything with my car's trunk until minutes before we leave.  This year I got lucky, with the blanket and pumpkin bucket I grabbed, I grabbed the chain of pumpkin lights that I bought in college.  Those things have worked for 20 years, I didn't think they still would.  But they did! 

So we had the Pirate Crew at our car.  It was getting really chilly, so I put long sleeves under their costumes, and we were all still quite cold.    Chris was Captain Hook.  Sam was Peter Pan, and Jake was Jake of the Neverland Pirates.  

Captain Hook initially didn't want to go around for candy.  he wanted to help me give out candy. 

He was a good helper... except hooks are not he best for handing out candy. :) 

We had a great time seeing friends, and they were all so kind giving the boys all kinds of great candy. Sam was even good about asking if things had red 40 in them.  

This was one of my favorite moments of the evening - a duel of Hooks.  

The two Captain Hooks had to take each other on! 

It was cold out, but we all had a wonderful time.  

The last night of VBS....almost

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At last, it was the last night.  Well, almost.  Friday night was the last night that we had VBS.  So the kids were beginning to be blithering, exhausted, and so were Mommy and Daddy.  Still, it was a lot of fun. We went out with a bang.

I went chasing after the preschooler/kg crowd so I could take my alloted pictures. 

And as I was snapping pics, I heard of a special visitor that was coming to see the kids.  

During every VBS, our group raises funds for some non-profit organization that goes along with the theme of our week.  This week's theme was Weird Animals.  There were great sayings like, When you're afraid, Jesus Loves you!  Or When you're scared, Jesus Loves You.  Or when you've done something wrong, Jesus loves you.  This organization, ICAN, uses therapy dogs to help others.  For example, there was a girl, who was afraid to go to school, so she helped lead the therapy dog around. And the two of them went to school together, the dog helped keep her calm.  They're really good like that.  

So I knew they were about to get a special guest.  

But this little goofball didn't. ;) 

This was Hattie, the 4 month old ICAN dog in training.  She was So Good.  It was Amazing.  

They say, when the dogs are in their harnesses, they are 'at work' so they know to behave, be calm.  And she did.  She was so good with all the cute kids petting on her.  

Sam wanted to tell the trainer all about our dog Princess.  

She's not exactly the sort of dog ICAN takes.  She's therapeutic to us, but that's about it. 

I was out for a walk, and I found a wee beastie, a snippy wee beastie, who was not happy that Mommy still wanted to take pictures, and Not Take a Sweetboy to go.  He was So Tired.  

He didn't really calm down.  I could hear him yelling. So I got him as soon as I was done, and Daddy and I let him run around a bit.  I have pictures of Christopher at the same age, attending his first VBS, with his friend Dane, whose Mom was in charge, and the two boys wanted nothing more than to play with this door.  Seems Jake takes after his brother. ;)

Even the big kids got to meet Hattie too. 

Chris wanted to tell Prinny stories too.  He was talking about Fina, even, stuttering through stories about her. She was such a good dog too.  We've been pretty lucky in the pooch department, for sure.  

And the big kids got to pet Hattie.  Emily even got a kiss! 

 I know this pic is blurry and yellow, but it was just one of my favorites, I love how happy Em was.  I know they love to come visit my dog, since they can't have one of their own.  And it's good to see how much the poochini's love her too.  The program was amazing, and I was so glad that we helped out.  The people they help, it's Awesome. The dogs are even trained by women in jail, giving them something to occupy their time, and help others.  It's Amazing.

And I'm happy to say, our group donated upwards of 500$ collected by the kids to the organization.

Way to go Messiah VBS! 

Clouds and Rainbows, oh yes and a bit of VBS

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This was the only picture I took of the kids at VBS Thursday.  

Thursday night, I had a much needed chiropractor appointment AND massage.  Much needed. 

The Massage wasn't entirely relaxing either.  My muscles were in such big knots, I actually was sore afterward from her doing her dance, or digging her elbows in, or whatever medieval torture was going on in my back and shoulders.  Not relaxing.  Good, but not relaxing.   When it hurts like that, I can't help thinking about what the little old lady on Neverending Story used to say, "It's got to hurt, if it's to heal."  Yeah.  Story of my life. 

At least it was a pretty day outside.  

It looked like Toy Story clouds.  I love the clouds in the background and on Andy's wall in Toy Story.  

If I ever took up painting I would paint clouds like these.  

See, so bright against a dark blue sky.  Le Sigh. 

I did get a nice break from VBS-ing on Thursday evening.  

I had my adjustment, my massage, and I met Kathleen for drinks.  

You'd think after almost a week of seeing each other every day, we'd be all caught up.  Not quite.  

Of course, I didn't drink, I had water.  I wanted to clear out all the goo the masseuse had stirred up. 

Then we went to pick up our little yahoos.  On my way home, I saw a rainbow through the trees.  I saw it, and the kids didn't.  So I chased it.  Yup. "I'm always chasing rainbows." just like the song says.  Only I'm not.  I feel like I yell at my kids more than I stop and just chase rainbows with them.  I feel like I get so frustrated, I've been consciously trying to make better moments with them.  Less yelling, no spanking.  The big boys are really too old for that.   It's been hard.  But it feels like, more often than it used to be, that moments come along where they are good, and we all get along.  And they laughed at me.  They thought I was crazy chasing the rainbow.  Chris started to get upset when I blew right past where I should have turned to go into our neighborhood.  Yeah, it was nearly 9 o'clock at night.  And Yeah, we were all blithering.  But the sun was out, it wasn't going to hurt anyone to go chasing a rainbow to see where it was.   

Turns out it was raining over Eagle Creek Park.  

There's something lovely about a rainbow over a cornfield.  

If you look closely, it was lining right up with the our local Catholic Church's steeple.  How's that for a sign?!

I love fields in Indiana.  Guess I'm just a Midwestern girl at heart.  

This one was my favorite.  

I loved to see the rain, the sun going down behind me turning the rain clouds different colors, and the rainbow.  The kids didn't seem to mind as much either...after we found the rainbow.  Maybe we need to go chase a few more.