Decembering

This month is a whirlwind.  I can't believe it is already the middle of the month and we are in single digit countdown mode to Christmas.   There is still so much more fun to come, but here is a bit of what we have been up to so far...

The arrival of Springle!

The candy advent calendars are one of my kids' favorite traditions. 

The children's theatre show at Dad's school.  It is always very fun for the kids and helps start the month off with a big dose of Christmas spirit.

The Lighting of the Lights party at the Vikings has been a tradition for many years.  Now that the kids are getting older and it is mainly a youngish kid party - I don't know how many of these years are left.

More Springle fun. 

Hailey was very excited about all the toys she picked out for Toys for Tots.  This little girl has such an amazing heart.  The other night we were talking before bed and she was telling me about a video that she saw at school about a little girl who was fighting a disease in the hospital and all she wanted for Christmas was to be able to spend it with her family.  As she was telling me I could see her getting teary and choked up - it really touched her - since then she has been telling me about how presents don't really matter, she is just looking forward to being with her family this Christmas.

Evan's first band concert.  They did a great job!

Making the gingerbread house.  I came across the best Pinterest tip ever!  If you are not planning to eat your gingy house, use hot glue to secure the house together.  OMG!  So easy!  For years we have struggled with icing and caving in walls...NO MORE!

Evan and Hailey had a blast decorating it.  There were lots of laughs - and threats to eat the gummy elf that goes with the house.

And of course we still have school for a few more days and homework.  But I have to say that homework doesn't seem as bad with twinkle lights in the background.

There is so much more fun to come  - I can't wait!

This week

This sentiment is ringing very true for me this week.  It is the perfect storm (almost literally today as our winds gust over sixty miles and hour and twenty foot waves are predicted on the lake).  Trent is in the throws of show week and the kids and I have had multiple events every night.

I got home last night from a meeting for the middle school musical to find the kitchen a mess (Evan had made brownies so that mess thrown in with the still not done dinner dishes).  Hailey had the living room torn apart with her shelter she constructed for Survivor viewing.  Spencer was in his room on a device with his book report no further along than it was when I left.

So I sat down with Spencer and talked him through ideas and concepts to add to his book report - which is super hard when you have never read the book.  Not to mention teenage boys are really fun to work with especially when they want to do the minimum required and call it good.  Unfortunately for Spencer, he was not blessed with a mother who likes the minimum.  While Spencer and I were working on it, Hailey came in to show me a drawing she had made and in my frustration with life this week I was a little too sharp with her about how I couldn't look at it right this minute.

I hate that.  The minute it comes out of your mouth it just feels wrong and you want to breathe it back in but it is too late - it is hanging out there crushing their little spirit.  When I had set Spence on the right track and he was typing away I found her and apologized and let her explain her drawing to me.

Ugh.  This week - and we still have two more days to get through before we get a bit of breathing room.

Light

Ok - get ready for picture overload on a Tuesday morning.  I had a weekend filled with photo editing and even some time to edit recent pictures I took of Hailey.  I am always blown away by her in photographs.  Looking at her pictures reminds me of one of my favorite excerpts by Robert Fulghum.


"I know some people who give off a lot of light. Because they have absorbed a lot of light themselves. They shine. This is not the kind of light you can actually see with your eyes, of course. But there are lots of parts of the spectrum of light we can't see. WE experience the results of its existence. It takes a different kind of looking.



To look this way is to see.

To see is to have vision.

To have vision is to understand.

To understand is to know.

To know is to become.

To become is to live fully.

To live fully is to matter.

And to matter is to become light.

And to become light is to be loved.

And to be loved is to burn.

And to burn is to exist.

Off and on.



Maybe the fireflies are on to something."

Hailey gives off a lot of light.  She always has.  It is amazing to me how in photographs of her the light always seems to come through.

We had such a fun time when we did a little mini photo session of her.  She was totally into posing - happy, serious, surprised - she was having a great time.

I just can't get enough of this girl.

Halloween

I have been meaning to get these Halloween pictures posted here all week, but as usual things come up and the week gets a lot busier than you intended it to be.  Throw in the fact that the time change has me exhausted by the time I get home from school and there's the reason I am so behind.  

So here is our Halloween 2015 in a few photos. 

Hailey was extremely excited for Halloween this year.  It seemed like everyday she came home with a new picture in her back pack. 

She dressed up as a 50's girl in a costume that we found at Goodwill for 5.99.  Throw in some cat eye glasses and I can't even stand how cute she is.

She kept getting confused as to which decade she was from but ironically the movie Grease came on Sunday afternoon and she fell in love with it.  We recorded as much as we could (sadly it starts right after Summer Nights) and she has watched it everyday since.

The only picture I have of the three of them together.  This was right after school on Friday when Hailey was still dressed up and Evan and Spencer were getting ready for their middle school dance. As you can tell, Spencer wasn't very ready since his pajama pants are peeking out he had to be coerced a bit to attend the dance.  Teenage angst is super fun. 

Evan was a Ranger from his latest book series obsession "The Rangers Apprentice".  We ended up buying a Robin Hood costume which consisted of that cheap looking green shirt and the glove things - for the bargain price of thirty dollars.  I can't tell you how much I hate to spend money on cheap costumes!  Had I known then he wanted me to make him a cloak we would have found a different kind of shirt to work underneath.   Since I haven't read the book and didn't really have any indication of what a ranger was, we were kind of not jibing with our costume ideas until the very end.

The black pants were a pair of mine that I planned to give to Goodwill so I hemmed them a bit for him.  I tried to convince him to wear my boots to the dance but he only wanted them for the picture.  They were actually too small for him!  When did my boys get bigger feet than me?

When Spencer saw me making a hooded cape for Evan, he wanted one too but in black. Of course I made it but he wouldn't wear it to school or to the dance.  In typical Spencer fashion he decided at the last minute to have Dad do his face "old looking" and dress as a sort of wizard.  I was just thankful he used the cape or I might have killed him.

Spencer went to a friends' house to trick or treat so we just had these two little cuties to tote around - with a few of their friends and parents.  It was pretty miserable weather for Halloween.  All the kids were soaked when they came in.  I almost think snow would have been better.

So now we are almost done with the first week in November.  I can't believe the holidays are upon us.  Time to get organized and ready for festivities!

Half day hike

Two days in a row of no recess because of half days.  My kids (and me) really needed to burn off some energy.  We decided to take a short hike to the beach.  As we neared the turn off to the path to the beach, I remembered the kids had been curious about where the "rock" was that marked the mile turn around point for Daddy and Spencer's summer runs.  Since I had run with Spencer twice to the rock, I knew where it was.  So we headed there first. 

A quick break on some pleasantly arranged logs and a group nature selfie.

As we were walking I noticed the time was 2:00.  The boys had informed me that the cast list for the middle school musical was due to be posted by two.  I told Evan that we would head up to one of my favorite spots in the dunes overlooking the lake and bring up the file on my phone.  I told him whether it was good news or bad news there was really no better spot to make you feel like whichever way it was is the way is it supposed to be. To which Evan replied "then if I don't make it, it will be easy to just throw myself over the cliff."  He was kidding of course but that right there in perfect comedic timing proved that he deserved to get a part in the show.

They both got cast!  Spencer has a bit part with the role of Uncle Henry and Evan got a part in the ensemble.  And he found a piece of paracord - the day kept getting better!

The day was fairly warm and not windy.  We were having the best time exploring and checking out the amazing scenery and colors.

Evan even stripped off his shoes and went in the water after a lottery ticket that was washing ashore.  He was sure it would be a winner.  It was half ripped.  Strangely enough, about 50 yards up the beach we found the other half - then had to walk back for the first half that he had left.  Both halves together sadly did not equal a winner.  (Upon further inspection, Hailey thinks there is still a part missing - she thinks it was ripped in thirds and we should go back for the third piece!)

After all of our exploring we realized that we were out walking for around two hours!  We were pretty tired after our fun filled afternoon in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Penny

This kid.

We had a rough week not long ago where we had different ideas on what constituted starting out the year on a good note.  Fortunately with a little mandatory technology withdrawl it all worked itself out rather quickly.  

At his cross country meet last week as he was running through the chute toward the finish line his show came off.  His coach (who is as fast as lightening or has clones - I swear during these meets he is everywhere you look) grabbed it out of the way before anyone else tripped on it.   He looked at us and said next time I am going to duct tape it on.  To which I replied "Was it even tied in the first place - because most of the time it isn't."  Just think how fast the kid would be with shoes secure on his feet! 

While we were waiting to get in to see the dermatologist (because he has been blessed with skin like his mother. Sigh.) I looked over at him and just chuckled inside at his fashion statement.  He wears those bracelets everyday to school.   Hmmm.

The latest is that he has a girlfriend.  I can remember back to my eighth grade crushes but OMG this is my BABY!

Lord, beer me strength,

Trapped in my phone...

Since I got a phone upgrade yesterday, I was playing around a bit today and found these little gems that I had "written down" in my phone notes for posterity.  Some of them were years ago, but they take me right back and make me laugh.


4/20/13

In no less than five minutes after arriving at our room at the Soaring Eagle...

Hailey: Check for bed bugs.

Evan: This place is fancy.  There are no bed bugs at a fancy hotel like this.  Some people bring like 500 dollars and all their hopes!


7/17/13

Hailey after tasting spinach dip...

Hailey: It tastes like fish....and soap.



8/1/13

On our UP vacay...

Dad: We are going to stop at a place where Monk's live and bake bread.

Hailey:  Are they human?



9/2/13

Playing Apples to Apples.  The topic is slimy.  Spencer puts down treasure.  Evan is the judge.

Evan to Spencer:  It's sliiimmmy not shhhiiiiiinnny.  With his "accent" both words sounding exactly the same.



11/27/13

Thanksgiving topics...

Evan to Dad:  If the Mayflower wasn't so rough I think you would have liked it.   All they could drink was beer.



9/2/15

A walk through the woods....

Evan to Hailey:  Since Spencer and I are the hunters of the family maybe you should be a trapper.

Hailey:  And like TRAP things????  How do you think I would have the guts to do that when I cried so hard when there was a little bit of blood on the ball we were throwing to Goldie?