Everyday Moments

December Daily

In November I joined a social group here called the Midland Newcomers.  It is a group that meets every other month of people new to the area, although what I found out is that most people have been a part of the group for years and would no longer be considered new to the area!  Anyway, they offer lots of different social activities like bowling, board games, card games, crafting, walking and scrapbooking.  I decided to give the scrapbooking a try and while I didn't really hit it off with anyone (I'm missing my crafting friends terribly) I did get an entire project done in the 6 hours I was there!  One of my oldest friends Michelle (not old in actual age, although she is turning 40 next week!) is a very busy wife, mom and employee.  She is SUPER creative but doesn't always have the time to sit down and do fun crafty like stuff so i thought it would be fun to make her a December Daily album.  It is an album where you just document everyday happenings for the month of December.  It is usually such a crazy busy time, that we often forget the little things...for instance I was looking back at mine from last year and totally forgot about a little performance jessie had at school...but looking back in my album, I could remember all the fun details of it!  Anyway.......I forgot to take pictures before sending it to her....so last night she sent me a couple of pictures.  She promises to send more as she completes it so hopefully down the road I can show you more. 

I also made one for me, but have been under the weather for several days now and just haven't taken pictures....hey....I'm lucky to even be getting the documenting done!  But check back later today or maybe tomorrow and I'll have some of mine ready!

Here's Michelle's!

 

 

This album is made by taking apart a vintage children's book. (It's probably the same age as you and I and that is now called vintage-----so sad!)

SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY!!!

it's all smiles around here as we have another snow day! 

Holy Cow......we HAD about 5 inches of snow from the previous snow fall.....we got about another 7 inches over night and it has pretty much been snowing on and off all day.  I think our total accumulation thus far is about 14-15 inches....and we are still under a winter storm warning until 1:00 am. 

 

 

If you look closer, that would be my son measuring the snow in his shorts and snow boots.  That was his outfit of choice when he heard school was closed!

 

This is crazy Maverick.  This was in the snow yesterday, before we got all the additional accumulation.  He loves the snow but can hardly even get around in it!  We try to get him to walk in the area where we have made a path, but he likes to burrow his nose down in the deep stuff!  He is so cute!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland..............

Apparentlly for us Oregonians, we didn't realize that the snow last Monday was just a teaser........because the "first big storm of the season" hit last night.

it has been snowing since about 4:00 pm yesterday and we have about 5-6 inches so far with another 1-3 inches predicted for today.

The kids are thrilled to know that flushing the ice and wearing the PJ's inside out worked today.  They are on day 6 of "no school" as this snow storm was perfectly timed to back right up to the Thanksgiving break.

 

Tree's in our front yard

 

 

live tree's are certainly different here in Michigan than they are in Oregon.  The varieties are completely different to start with and there are very few tree farms.  We did manage to find one but we had to pay $41 for a tree we would have paid about $18 for back home.  Sadly we did miss one of our most favorite holiday traditions of cutting our tree up in the mountains of Oregon while playing the day away in the snow.  We have packed turkey sandwhiches and drove to the mountains in search of the perfect tree for the last 9 years on the day after Thanksgiving.  And the permits for that are only $5 bucks by the way!!!!

None the less, we did find a tree, loaded it up and took it home.  Strangely it sat in the garage for two days before we brought it in to decorate.  I think it was just hard for all of us and we weren't exactly feeling the Christmas Tree mojo being away from everyone and everything we love.  We did finally decorate Sunday night but not without lots of tears.  You see each year the Grandparents on both sides get the kids an ornament.  Each one is marked with the year it was given and that was really, really hard on Jake.  He cried as he read each and every ornament.   He was really missing home and that just breaks your heart in ways you didn't even know possible.

 

 

Thanksgiving day dinner toast..............(the kids are drinking giner ale.....)

 

The kids had friends over last Wednesday....they got the day before Thanksgiving off too....... so naturally they thought they might work on the igloo Jessie and Jake had started the day before.

 

Jessie and her friend Megan.  Megan didn't bring any snow clothes over so she had to borrow Jessie's...that meant Jessie borrowed Daddy's jacket...something she has been loving lately is to wear her daddy's jacket.  It is the little things like that - that warm my heart!

 

Jake and his friend Zach........bringing in the snow for the girls to build with!

Michigan recipe for a Snow Day........

As she scrambled up the stairs to talk to Jake before he got in bed she said I have to remind Jake before he goes to sleep.............

According to the kids at school the recipe for a "snow day" is to flush a piece of ice down the toilet and wear your PJ's inside out.

Ice down the toilet----------check

PJ's inside out---------------check

No school day tomorrow????????  I'll get back to you on that one.  If we had this much snow in Oregon we would be closed down for the week!!!

 

11:00 am

 

4:00 pm

 

9:30 pm........... 3 1/2 inches.............and still snowing....................

Meet Maverick

Saturday, November 9th

Shari Shopping....

Jeff and kids enter the pet store.......

Dad:  "Now, we are just LOOKING.  When mom gets done, we need to go."

Jessie and Jake:  "Okay dad, we promise"

10 minutes pass....mom enters the store

Mom:  "this is the cutest store...how cool that you can play with the puppies"

Jessie:  "Mom, can we play with one?"

Mom:  "Sure, just pick one and tell the lady"

Jessie:  "Um, can I play with the Dachshund?"

Lady:  "Sure, go sanatize your hands and I'll meet you in this kennel"

Jessie and Jake:  "Ooh,....he is so cute"  "Look at him"  "can we get him????"

Mom:  "Oh, he is cute, come here buddy....oh what a cutie...you should be named Mavrick"

Dad:  "What?, why are you naming him?"

Mom: "Ha, Ha, Ha"

30 minutes pass.....bye little buddy

hours of shopping...........

Kids crying in car (sort of....not exactlly real crying)  Can we please get him?  He loves us

Dad:  "It's not a good time, we can't get him, we are going home at Xmas"

Kids:  "He was so cute though"

Dad:  "yeah he was but it wouldn't be fair to him to get him and then leave next month"

Mom:  "i need a soda, can we pull over at the gas station?"

Jake and mom enter store..............

Dad calls the pet store

Jake and mom get back in the car

Dad: "Pet store is open until 9:00 pm

Mom:  "This doesn't mean we are going to get him"

YEAH RIGHT.................OF COURSE THAT MEANT HE WAS COMING HOME WITH US!

Jeff:  "I knew we were screwed when you named him!!!!!"

MEET MAVERICK, THE NEWEST MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY.  He is a miniture long haired dachshund.

 

Happy Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 years, 1 week

So making sure I am still in the running for Mother of the Year I didn't want to let anymore weeks fly by without posting pictures of my baby's 8th birthday.  Sometimes I think I've missed so much with him.  It is second kid stuff...you know how you never spend quite as much dedicated time to the second kid.  He is so different and so very the same but mostly I can't believe he is 8.  What happened to 3 and 4 and 5???????????  I swear he was in Preschool just last year !

 

The Dude's b-day cake. 

S:  "So what kind of b-day cake do you want J?"

J:  "I want you to make me a chocolate cake mom."

S:  "Honey we can order one from the store...and you can have it decorated any way you want."

J:  "No mom, I want you to make one because you make the best things EVER."

How can I resist that?  The bowling pin idea came 2 days before the party!  Worked out pretty good I think!

 

Thank goodness for Jessie....trying to get everything in order before Dan and Marilyn arrived she was able to whip these together for me....she's such a good girl!

 

 

It was Soda, Popcorn, Pizza, Cake, Bowling, Golfing and the Arcade for the boys !

 

 

I bet I'll get a picture similar to this when he is 15!

 

The "Dude's"

 

Since I'm the keeper of the blog, i get to write that he gets his "cheesball-ness" from his Dad !

This was the first gift he got to open and it is from his best buddy Calin in Oregon

 

 

We are cruel, cruel parents.  Jake's birthday was SO BUSY.  Treats at school, Field Trip first thing in the morning, Hockey and Dance for Jess after school, homework, dinner and THEN finally presents.  This was the poor deprived boy waiting for word "go".

 

now that we have room, Daddy insisted that Jake get a REAL Bow for his birthday !

 

By this time, it is 8:00 pm and he is just rummy....being a goof ball with the musical card.  Thanks Chris and Sarah

 

 

It was dusk, but had to get a few shots with the new Bow the day after his b-day.

 

And finally, Jessie didn't want to bowl with the boys, so her and Grandpa bowled a game next to us!

 

From my two hands.............

to my head........

 

like I too often do, I got a few wild hairs up my creative little sleeves yesterday and

VIOLA.............

I made a hat!  As I giggled in delight at how my little hat was coming along last night, Jeff chuckled and said, "I just can't believe you are reading directions."  And so is our marriage! 

I don't DO directions, Jeff does.  From the simplest to the most difficult of instructions I just plain and simple don't like to read them...but for a couple of weeks now I have been thinking i would like to find a crochet pattern book that I could understand.  You see, i've never actually learned "how" to crochet, I've just been shown a stich or two.  I didn't even know what they were called or anythinng but I stumbled upon a pattern book yesterday and it said "BEGINNER" which gave me much needed hope.  I read and reread and reread over and over again, but it finally started to sink in and VIOLA, I have a hat! AND I READ THE DIRECTIONS!  Who knew you could do such marvelous things?

You can bet your sweet little booty i ran right down to Michaels again this morning for MORE yarn!

 

 

Oh my little pumpkins!

What a wonderful day!  Jeff's parents arrived from Oregon on Thursday and we all got to spend the day playing on Friday.  We jumped in the car and away we went over to Bay City.  We strolled through some shops, went and looked out over the river, had lunch in great little corner bar and then we went out to the county to the Pumpkin Patch.  After about 2 hours there we had done and seen nearly everything....including the Maise, Maze. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oh my........

Just look at who came for a visit in our backyard this morning...........

 

 

 

LOVE all the "nature" we see here. 

So far:

-Deer

-Raccoon

-Fox (we think)

-Turkey (just down the road from us)

-Birds (all kinds, including cardinals which are so bright and beautiful)

-Snakes

-Lizards

-Frogs

-Skunks (lots down the road, thankfully none at our house!)