Best Tiime of Year

According to me, the day after Thanksgiving marks the most wonderful time of the year. I spend the morning shopping, sipping coffee, scouring ads and avoiding eye contact with other humans at all costs.  I leave the house looking somewhat presentable, yet by the time I return home I look as though I've been hit by a dump truck.  I spend the rest of the day filling the house with the smell of freshly baked cookies, lugging my enormous Christmas tree out of the attic before shoving the entire box down the steps and going through each ornament with the kids.  Countless memories of Grandma Claussen are stirred-up during the day, yet my all time favorite is the way she'd let us throw wads of tinsel onto her tree each year. 

 

But this year's different.  It started in October as I began to accept the fact we wouldn't be spending Christmas in our new home.  I fought with it for a while, but realized it just wasn't realistic. This past week the cabinet door fell off in the kitchen, I couldn't find a spare 12-inches to put a Christmas tree up, the kids have been camping out on the living room floor for the past 2 nights, my cd player won't play cds and the cat somehow dumped over his litter box in the basement.  I'd clean it up, but the lights are all burnt out and I can't see anything.

 

So this years' day after Thanksgiving' was different.  Did I shop?  Yes, at Shopko aka, Pamida, aka vagina.  Did I look like hell?  Yep.  Did I care?  Nope.  Did I buy anything for the kids? Nope.  Did I bake?  Yes, but only because I had cookie orders from paying customers.  Did I drag out my enormous Christmas tree and heave it down the steps?  Almost.  Before putting the kids to bed on Thanksgiving night, the thought of where to put a tree began eating at me.  Mike wanted to forget a tree altogether.  I'm still bitter about the ridiculous suggestion.  While Mike and kids watched me as if my brains had fallen out, I spent the evening aggressively rearranging the dining room to allow space for the Christmas tree.  The only problem is the ceilings only reach 8-3/4 feet.  My tree is 9.  I was temped to just leave the top off, but I don't think the lights would look right.  Therefore, I asked Mike to bring home a cedar tree from the woods.  And with that, 'It is what it is'.

 

The new dorm in our living room.

 

 

I have a major crush on this little munchin'

 

Thanksgiving Assignments

I often wonder what his teacher thinks...

 

The assignment was titled, "How To Catch A Turkey".  The students are learning to write stories using, first, next, then and last.

 

Below is Ross' work  (keep in mind spelling is not his strength)

 

First I ride arawnd on a for weeler till I find a turkey.

Next I get a hamer and nock the turkey out.

The I put the turkey in a bag.

Last I cut of the turkeys head and eat it.

 

The kids all did some Thanksgiving assignment explaining what they are thankful for. 

 

The girls both wrote about family.

Below is what Ross is thankful for...

 

I am thakful fur tigers because they are pretty.

I am very thakful for my hipo because he smells good.

I am sooper thakful fur animal because they give me food.

Dinner Dilemma

Well thankfully this doesn't happen everyday...

 

Sure enough in the middle of cooking dinner, this happened.

 

Our solution?

Time to cork another bottle!

 

Dog Duty

I've been on dog duty this week.  Below is what I've taken away from it...

 

1.  I prefer scooping frozen dog poop over any other type of dog poop.

2.  Our dogs like the flavor of Fritos.

3.  No matter how many times I fill the water bucket in the yard, the bucket will instantly be spilled. 

4.  Our dogs don't care for the UPS man.

5.  When Goose disappears, he can be found at the neighbors house hangin' with their dogs in the garage.  I imagine they have a beer fridge in there and the dogs play poker.

6.  Deer legs are hot commodity in the dog world as well an excellent way to piss off other dogs, including your brother.

7.  It's nearly impossible for me to unhook a dog leash while wearing gloves. 

8.  Mater truck will run out of gas while retrieving Goose from the neighbors garage leaving Molly and I walking along gravel road in freezing temps seeking a gas can.  Images of 'I Shouldn't Be Alive' will creep into my mind. 

9.  Our dogs are capable of pulling me down onto gravel, scraping my knees and ripping my pants all in an effort to wrestle each other.

10.  My husband loves those dogs.

11.  I think I'm a cat person.

 

Goose with his prize leg.  No clue what happened to the remaining venison.

 

Maverick.  I had no idea that Border Collies have those light marks above their eyes as a defense mechanism.  According to my husband, it's so when they're sleeping it looks as though their eyes are open!  An awesome science fact to share with my children!

 

 

Kratt loves me.  I love the way he curls up on the foot of my bed during the day.  What's happening to me?   I'm contemplating practicing newborn photography on him.  We've bonded.

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

Molly awoke Sunday pre-sunrise to inform Daddy and I of breaking news.  There was a lot of snow outside.  As we silently thought about how snow would delay our house building process even further, we choked out an excited, "yea, snow!" to share in her enthusiasm.  The next question came as no surprise,  "Mama, can we make a snowman today?"

 

A week or two ago, she and I were discussing snow.  I explained that you can actually eat snow, it's just frozen water.  I like to throw in random science tidbits any chance I get and often remind my kids I'm actually a scientist.  Seriously, it's on my college diploma.  Family and Consumer Sciences.  So there's that.  The conversation led into not eating the yellow snow.  I'm sure you can imagine the questions that followed.

 

Back to Sunday mornings' snowman question.  "I'm not sure Molly, it might not be the right kind of snow to make a snowman today.  We'll have to check". 

Molly's response, "It's the right kind Mama, it the white kind... maybe a little yellow, but mostly white!"

 

God bless her.

Newborn Session

A little sample of something I've been working on...

What I'll Miss

I started off hating it.  The second time I walked through I left in tears knowing it was our only choice.  Regardless of the dead mouse decaying on the basement floor, we'd be moving in within the month.  The thought of moving my babies into this broken-down joint took over my emotions and I ached for the day we'd move out.  I tried looking on the bright side, gratitude right?  I tried focused on other things; trips, recipes, photography, reading, uncluttering.  It worked; for a while. 

 

Then... and I can't say "all of a sudden", because we all know it wasn't... our house was framed and we began to see the big picture.  And that's when I realized we can't move into our new house until we say goodbye to the current one.   Did I mention I hated it? 

 

I hated that bats circled our heads at night,  I hated that the vents smelled like dog diarrhea when the air conditioner ran,  I hated that our bedroom was so small Mike had to crawl overtop of me to get to his side of the bed, I hated that while someone was sitting on the toilet, another person would be standing infront of them brushing their teeth (usually naked), I hated that our doors don't physically shut and only one window will open, I hated that stray cats found their way into my van and the kitchen was constantly mounded with dirty laundry.  Our microwave's the size of a dorm microwave and our shower's straight out of the original Barbie motorhome. 

 

But without warning, I started to grow fond of the place.  The stink wore off and the bats must have flown south.  I adore being close to my family and not so spread out... most of the time.  I love that we don't have cable, I love that Mike and I can share a squeaky old bed and laugh, I love that I'm close to the coffee shop when the coffeepot breaks at 6:45 a.m, and that I'm only 2 minutes from home when Ross realizes he forgot his backpack.  I love walking around the square knowing people by name, I love that Molly is Ben Franklins best candy customer and I love returning from bike rides to find Kratt greeting us 2 blocks from home.  I love huddling around the dinner table knowing my family has everything it could ever need.  My kids don't see the house as being a rundown rental at all.  For now it's our home.  And although it often sucks, a part of me will miss this dump.  A wise woman I had the privilege of speaking with over the weekend told me something I've always known, yet needed to hear... home is where your family is.

 

Squirrel Hunt 2014

A sneak peak into our weekend...

Shopping at Vagina

My conversation with Molly...

Molly, we need to stop by Pamida before we go home.

But mom, I need to change my pants.

Okay, fine.

Upon getting Molly out of the car to change her pants, she begins whining at me. "No, first vagina!"

Huh?

First vagina!

Vagina? You need to go potty first?

Mom, what does vagina mean again? 

By your bottom where the babies come out?

No, I said first vagina!!

It took me a minute to figure it out.  Turns out she had vagina and Pamida mixed up.  She wanted to go to Pamida before changing her pants at home.  No wonder she gets so chapped.
However, from now on, I may always refer to Pamida as Vagina. 

The house is going up!

The back of the house is framed in.  We are in love.  Come on in.  I'll give you a mini tour...

 

Below is the back of the main house.  Your looking into the living room on the main floor and the loft on the second floor.  The window on your right is the master bedroom and the window on your left is the kitchen window.  The bottom windows are the basement.

 

The below photo shows what you see from the top of the steps looking out.  This is the second floor.  Ross' room would be on your right, while the girls' room would be on your left.  If you kept walking straight, you'd fall off the loft.

 

The below photo is the view standing at the front door looking through the house.

 

The below photos is the view while standing on the edge of the loft looking out.

 

Our house.  Roof coming soon!  Hope you enjoyed the 5-cent tour!

 

Like Magic

And then there was this.

 

 

Stay tuned...

Guitar Lesson