Decorating Day

The day after Thanksgiving has become our traditional day to decorate.

This year Todd wanted to add lights to the outside of the house.  Not just any lights, but LED lights.  After a couple of trips to the hardware store, I finally got what he wanted.  Todd and Brian then headed to the roof to start stringing them. We only did the bottom roof line.  Next year, we will add the top roof line.

Bryce is my one kid who can't wait to decorate.  He was up bright and early ready to get things started.  Bonnie and I had already been to town to do some Christmas shopping at 4am and had returned home by 7:30, so we let Bryce do all the living room prep while we ate breakfast.  He then got out the tree by himself.  Bonnie helped him fluff it up and I helped him string on the lights.

Eventually Brian joined us (ahem...got out of bed) and ended up on the roof with his dad.

Bonnie took on the job of decorating the banisters.  She did a great job adding bows and decorations to the garland.  She did a better job than I would have done.  (I almost said "much better," which is improper grammar.  I know that because I have taught Language for ten years now.)

Once Brian was off the roof,  he joined in to finish off decorating the tree.

We all had a fun time getting into the holiday spirit.

My kids are all growing up.  They are all taller than me, and before long the boys will be taller than their big sister.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

New Tradition?

 Todd and his brother, Joe, took off early this morning to participate in Wenatchee's Turkey Run, a
12k or 7.2 mile run.

Bored at Work and other stuff

It is 9:30 am at the office and I am bored!!!  My bulletin is set up for the next Sunday, my songs are arranged for youth group and my office is organized and cleaned.  I guess what I need to do is tear down the Thanksgiving bulletin board and set up the Christmas one. 

Brian is on break waiting for his computer class to start at 10:00 am.  I really don't think he is getting a great education this year.  He can complete a class assignment in 15 minutes (that includes geometry.) A quiz takes about five minutes and a test about 15 - 20 minutes.  Within less than an hour this morning Brian read through his PE assignment, read his geometry and took a quiz, did his English vocabulary and took a science test.  His grades aren't as good as they could be.  He is maintaining a B in just about everything but science.  His science grade is low because in the first month he failed to submit notes from his live class sessions.  However, his test, quiz, and lab scores are on average a "B."  He just couldn't care.  If he did care he could bring all of his grades up to an "A".  Do I recommend WAVA?  It would depend on the child.

Bryce is on break, as well, at the moment.  He completed his math which took him an hour to do. That is pretty normal for him.  My big push for Bryce this year is reading and writing- our two struggle areas.  I am having him write a summary of each chapter he reads for literature.  He just finished Swiss Family Robinson and I have decided his next book is David Copperfield.  He tolerates reading (I can't say "likes"  because he Hates reading) the Great Illustrated Classics mainly because they are large print and he can focus better.  I was in 6th grade when my teacher, Mrs. Carson, had me read the Great Illustrated Classics books.  That is when I fell in love with Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers. 

I am excited for the short school week.  I can't wait for Wednesday to roll around.  Thanksgiving morning Todd is participating in Wenatchee's Turkey Run which is a 7k.  I guess that means I will miss the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  : (    After the run, we will head over to my mother-in-law's house for the Thanksgiving meal with all of the family.  Sad to say, but I am a little apprehensive about this year's family gathering.  One of the families is going through a lot of stress right now and I don't know how that is going to impact our time together. I have decided that I am going to have our own Thanksgiving feast with our traditional dishes either Wednesday or Thursday  evening.  I like having all of the leftovers. 

Time to catch up

Now that I can blog and post pictures again, I figured I should do some catching up.

In October, we celebrated Bryce's 12th birthday.

This year he made his own cake from scratch and decorated it himself.  He insisted on having green icing and since his birthday is in the fall, he decided to make orange pumpkins out of fondant to decorate it.

 He made 12 pumpkins and put a candle in each one.  He then made a fondant person for the middle.  

 Happy 12th birthday, Bryce.  One more year and we will have a house full of teenagers.  

A Night at Home

It's rare for all of us to have a night at home together.  Todd decided to take advantage of it and have the boys take apart an engine he found on the property.  Once they got rid of the fire ants that built a nest inside of it, they were able to explore the different parts of the engine.

Bonnie, on the other hand, was busy working on her homework.  While I cleaned up the kitchen and made some energy bites.  

I like it when we are all at home.

Silly People

Last month we had Crazy Hat Night at AWANA.  Lucky for us, we have the Hat Shop in Leavenworth.  I got a few crazy hats to give as prizes to the clubbers who had the craziest hat.  Todd thought he should model the hat for the clubbers.  What you think?  He could be Elmo's dad.

Todd couldn't resist dressing up with the kids for Halloween night.  

Bonnie raided the drama club's costume closet and came home with this fur coat.  She wanted to be CruElla DeVille (101 Dalmations).  She was my candy dispenser until her friend showed up at the front door at which point Bonnie left me to hit the streets.  

I live with a bunch of silly people.  Halloween is a blast in Leavenworth.  One mom told me that I should just put a bowl of candy at the front door and join the fun.  I might just do that.

Absurdities

 Bonnie's play, Absurdities, came to a close last night.  I got a few shots from her second sketch entitled, Soap Opera.  You can watch it on You Tube - Soap Opera 11 09 13 Cascade High School.
Bonnie plays Mabel.  She appears as the childhood friend of Manuel, a young man who is in love with his moms Maypole washing machine.

Bonnie comes back as a college student to see if Manuel is interested in her or if he is still obsessed with his washing machine. He is.  In fact, he is studying to be a Maypole repairman.

Bonnie continues to appear each time a few more years down line. Finally, Manuel accepts Mabel and dumps the washing machine.  It is a silly sketch based off the the Maytag repairman commercials.

Sure Thing

Pictures...finally

My husband heard my technological cries and set up a computer for me in our bedroom.  Yeah!   The best part is that all of his pictures are uploaded on it, and since most of the pictures I have been using lately come from his phone, I am pretty excited to see what I can use.

I think for tonight I will show you our property.

 One of the best things with our property is that the county came through some time ago and put in a brand new, concrete bridge over the Chumstick Creek.  This bridge will be around for a long, long time.

 A road cuts through the middle of the property.  Once we get everything cleaned up, we will most likely sow grass seed and cover the road up.  We won't need it to extend the whole length of the property.  We are buying my mother in law's two parcels.  The first parcel is 3.71 acres.  Most of that acreage extends up a mountain side, what isn't vertical is this road, and then there is a portion that contains a flat area and fruit trees.

 This flat are is where we are going to put our garden.  A friend came over with his tractor and tilled up the soil.    I have measured the garden out and it will be a nice size, not too big and not too small.

Besides piles of tires, metal, and garbage, there is a lot of old wood piled up left over from years and years of cutting firewood on the property and leaving all of the leftovers.  This particular burn pile is positioned at the foot of the hill where we plan to build our house.  Tomorrow Todd and the boys will work on the property gathering some more firewood for a friend in our church.  I hope to head over there and see what everything looks like.

Ahh......it feels nice to blog again.

PS..if you want to see Bonnie's play go to YouTube and search Sure Thing 11 09 13 Cascade High School and Soap Opera 11 09 13 Cascade High School.  Those are the two sketches Bonnie was in.  You might also watch Arabian Nights, Murder at M...(I forget the name), Philadelphia, and Leon Trostky.

Pathetic

This blog is pretty pathetic. I just read my friend's,Sue, blog, and now I have blog envy. Seriously! She is so faithful at posting everyday and including pictures too. I think my problem is technology. Brian has taken over the net book and our main computer is on the fritz so I am left with my iPad which is great for reading everyone's blogs but not so fun to type on. I also haven't figured out how to post pictures that I have stored on my iPad to my blog.  Sigh....

Bonnie's play, Absurdities, is this week.  Tonight the boys and I man the ticket and concessions tables.  Bryce made snicker doodles and oatmeal cookies for concessions and I am baking them.  Thankfully a few other moms are helping me make goodies. Bonnie also registered for her winter quarter. She is going to take pre-calculus, study skills, and Pilates and yoga for P.E.  She still has her AP History class at the high school.

Todd has been busy burning all of the brush on the property.  It is really looking great out there.  He took a truck load of scrap metal off the property and got a hundred dollars for it!  We still have another truck load to take. Yeah, more money.

Sorry for my pathetic blog.  It is all I have got.

Veterans Day

It is so nice to have a break. I can't tell you how nice today has been. It has literally been months since I have had a relaxing day. Usually, if I get a free morning my time is spent in the kitchen baking, filling up my pantry or bread basket. Today, I spent my free time cleaning, grinding wheat with my new food mill, vacuuming and laundry. I know it doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but I can look at my house and feel like I have accomplished something. Todd and the boys went out to the property to work on the fire wood some more, while Bonnie worked on her college papers. She is preparing for her finals which are in four weeks. Right now, Bonnie is performing in the high school play, Absurdities. Absurdities is a series of six hilarious sketches that her director put together. The humor of the sketches reminds me of Monty Python. The kids are doing an excellent job and Bonnie is having a lot of fun. Sadly, Bonnie decided that she will not be participating in the spring musical, Oklahoma. It is more important for her to keep her GPA up and the college course load is more than what she expected. In addition, we need her to take driver's ed this winter/spring so that she can drive herself to the community college. Our Monday night Bible study will be starting in a couple of hours so I need to focus on getting ready for that. Fortunately, I have the snack all ready prepared- frosted apple squares...yum!