We've been doing a lot of walking this week.  Here are two of the little ones in the double stroller.  They'd be happy in the stroller for a bit and then want to walk.

 I don't know if I enjoyed it all hat much doing hair for my children... but I really enjoy putting the kids hair up each day.  This day Rylee pulled out her "pony" so Miranda decided to put it back in for her.  Her hair falls into her face and unless you want food mingled in the hair, it needs to be put back.  So Miranda put this ponytail into her hair.... and it would not curl over!  It looked like a whale spout!  We laughed and laughed.  I guess if Miranda has a girl, she'll have to learn hair ponies... if not, I guess it doesn't matter.

 Friday we did some house cleaning in the morning.  We left about 11:00 to go to the commissary.  Too late!  It was HOT.  The kids had a fun time in the "play" shopping cart and didn't even ask to get out and walk.  Camden didn't have a melt down until he couldn't put things on the check out counter.  Then we stuffed everything into the strollers and walked home.  Eggs were on the bottom.  As we crunched over some rough ground... I wondered.  But they all arrived home safely.

 The kids have been well behaved.  They've stopped their computer time when we asked, gone to bed when asked.  They haven't complained about food.  They've even gotten out the door to school on time every day.  I was especially impressed on Saturday with the good help they gave.  I came down about 7am and everyone was up except Rylee.  We made Dutch Baby and by 8am kids were busy cleaning their rooms and the house.  They vacuumed, washed floors and baseboard.  They shook rugs and swept.  When they were done with one job, they'd come and ask if there was anything else to do.  By 9am we were DONE!

So we went off to the park.  It was colder than yesterday.  Hmm.  We should have worn longer pants!  The breeze was cutting, but when the sun came out, it felt warmer.  A good time was had by all.  It was a fantastic park!  They had several "merry-go-round" kinds of toys.  This one swung easily.  Guess who climbed up the highest first?

Once Camden saw the big kids having fun on this round-i-round, he wanted to ride it, too.  He hung on and just grinned and grinned.  It was tilted, so the push up was slow... then he'd sale down and around.

 Camden and Rylee loved this rocking horse.  Rylee could climb on it herself and so she'd go off and on, then run over to swing for a while.  I think she is following her sister Marian.  She has no fear of heights and would climb on everything.

 I looked across the park and found her climbing this 8' climbing wall. AKKK!  But she made it to the top, and then crawled through the red tube... to the next crawling tube... to the steps... and down.   There were many slides, but they had water on them.  This time, we were closer when she started climbing.  Good Grief!  She's just a little over 2 years old!

 The park had more variety of climbing things than I'd ever seen.  We snacked and then played some more and came home about 11:30.  Wow.  Hard to believe that by this time tomorrow, Rebecca and Dan will be home.

I have really appreciated Miranda being here.  It's so much easier to tag team.  One cooks. One cleans up.  One starts laundry.  One folds it... or folds part and the other takes over.  One hugs one kid... the other hugs another.  Miranda is the favorite I think.  Marian asks her to put her to bed.  The kids beg for the "Tickle Monster" to come visit.  Our only flaw has been not thawing sufficiently all the delicious dinners Rebecca left for us.  About 2:30 today we looked at tonight's dinner.  "Crockpot for 6-8 hours."  Hmmm.  Nope.  Don't want to eat at 8.  Guess we'll clean up the left-overs.

Babysitting the grandees

We've had fun with the little munchkins!  It's been great to have Miranda here, too.  We get to visit, help each other, take turns changing diapers, putting kids to bed, making meals... and even coming to the ends of our ropes.

These kids are just so dang cute.  Today we went to see Santa at the Housing Office-- and do tree lighting, and eat hot dogs and nacho chips and cookies. They had a Navy brass ensemble there playing Christmas carols.   The moment Delaney heard music starting, she stood at attention, and put her hand over her heart.  Then she recognized it wasn't the Star Spangled Banner or what they play when they retire the colors and she moved on.  I thought how many adults don't have a clue as to how to show respect for our flag and our country.... and here is a 4 year old, who does.

When we went to the Library on Monday, the kids had fun climbing the "castle" and hanging out the windows.

Then they listened to stories and did a craft.  Toward the end of the craft an alarm went off.  WHONKKK!  WHONKKK! Lights flashed. "MMMUMBLE MMMUMBLE MMMUMBLE ..OUT OF THE LIBRARY...MUMBLE MUMBLE PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO EXIT."  What?  What?  It wasn't until we were almost outside that I caught that they were saying fire alarm.  We stood there a minute with the crowd gathered outside-- including missionaries who had been in the process of emailing home.  We decided to leave about the time the fire trucks arrived.  Delaney was quite concerned about the library.  She was afraid it would not be there.  We assured her it was likely a practice drill or something else but not a fire.  We went on to Ross to shop.  And on the way back, we checked out the library.  It was still standing, and no smoke, but Delaney and Rylee were not convinced.  Rylee still says, "Loud noise.  Library!"

We've gone for walks on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  Today it was foggy.  We pushed the three children in the two strollers.  Part of the time they rode.  Part of the time they walked.  And occasionally we just stopped to watch things-- an egret scratching in the shallow water and catching breakfast.  A scoop shovel digging in the drainage ditch, some jets taking off, some funny trucks passing.  It's always a bit unnerving keeping the children out of harm's way as they walk.  But they seem to be getting better at hanging on to the strollers rather than wandering into the streets.

Today we went to the thrift store and Miranda found some maternity pants and some lidded cups for Camden.  As we were checking out, they said tomorrow all clothing was 1/2 priced.  We may have to go back!

New Orleans

I’m having a hard time remembering what happened the first part of the week.  I know I was feeling like the year was practically over.  Tom and I did some shopping and then spent an evening wrapping presents.  We had not had the opportunity to watch the First Presidency Christmas devotional on Sunday as Tom was doing tithing settlement and other stuff.  So we listened to it for Family Home Evening.  Monday we also awoke to snow!  It had snowed just a bit on Saturday but Monday morning had maybe a 1/2 inch on the ground.  When we walked… it was a bit icy.  And by afternoon the snow had melted except in the shadows.

 Tuesday the Relief Society had their “in to lunch bunch.”  It used to be an out-to-lunch bunch, but then they decided some sisters might not be able to afford to buy lunch, so the in-to-lunch meets at the church and people can bring a sack lunch, buy and bring, or bring a dish to share.  It’s fun to sit and visit with the sisters.

On Wednesday Miranda came to visit.  I spent part of the day figuring out what needed to be done still on the Church street house closing.  I had to sign a form that allowed Equity Trust to sign the closing documents and then get it to Lender’s Title so they could send it when the closing documents.

Thursday Miranda went to visit Sarah Simpson and I went visiting teaching and went to some holiday receptions. The spread put on by Edward Jones at the country club far out shown the cookies and punch at Liberty Bank.  But it was nice that both of them wanted to show customer appreciation. Thursday we packed and got ready to leave on Friday.

Friday Miranda and Camden and I drove to New Orleans.  The drive actually went well.  We had fog at the beginning of the trip and with the winding roads, Miranda decided she was better off without her breakfast.  Camden was very well behaved.  He slept.  He was mostly happy.  We stopped at a Burger King with a playground and he was very pleased with himself going down the slide…over… and over… an over.  About nightfall we made it to New Orleans and the low fuel light came on in the middle of the city.   Yuck!  This is the first time I’ve been truly happy with “Jack” our GPS.  He guided us to a gas station and back onto the freeway with a minimum of delay.  And gas was actually pretty cheap there. It was nice to finally get to Rebecca’s house. 

It’s a lovely house!  It has nice high ceilings and lots of space… although Rebecca might differ.  Rebecca was busy packing and Dan and Joshua were at a camp out.  Saturday morning Dan and Rebecca went to a fun 5 k race.  We got the kids ready and walked to the finish line to cheer them to the end.  It was fun to cheer for the runners—those we knew and those we didn’t know.  It was chilly, but fun to walk over.  Joshua led the way.  The two youngest were in the stroller.  Marian and Delaney rode their scooters.  Dan and Rebecca both got trophies.  

 The kids pulled names for “door prizes” and Rebecca got a carry bag with a water bottle and cap, as well.  Most of the rest of the day we kind of lazed around.  As we walked home, we saw this lovely large bird… that I was only able to get a fuzzy shot of.

Today we found our way to church and then about 1:40 I took Dan and Rebecca to the pier for their cruise.  We’d done mapquest so got there with only a wrong turn or two.  Coming back, Jack was again helpful.  Either he or I made a mistake and got on the 90 going the wrong way, but Jack guided me around and back on the right way within a mile.  The kids are doing well.  I think we’ll survive the week.

December!

Whatever the calendar says, I believe it is officially winter.  It is fireplace time and warm glove time and bare trees time.  Tom spent a good part of the week beating the leaves into submission.  We raked pies from where they stacked up in the front garden.  He mowed the yard and then raked leaves from the fence-line and shredded them with the mower, then burned them.  It’s nice to see a clean yard… but it does look bare.  Few leaves on the trees, none on the ground… feels like winter.

We’ve been having fun watching the progress on our Main Street House.  Ray doesn’t let grass grow under his feet.  While it’s exciting for us, once much of this is done… it just looks right… you don’t see what had been there before.  He sheet rocked over a huge opening in the wall… now we have a wall.  He sheet rocked the ceiling so it’s no longer wooden slats.  Then the windows came in and he replaced three windows with better ones (two larger, one smaller) and put in a small window in the upstairs back wall.  The weathered wood, peeling paint exterior windows got painted and now they just look—as they should.  Certainly the exterior of the house looks a lot less seedy.  It will look better once there’s water to power wash the mold off the siding.  Ray framed and sheet rocked the lower bath.  It looks really good.  And framed in the upper bath and two closets.  We are ready to have the foam insulation guy come and then the entire top can be sheet rocked.  The heating and Air conditioning is in. So progress is being made.  But we really don't want to start using the heat while the house is so "leaky".  Once the windows are calked with a second coat of paint, and the windows washed, the storm windows can go back up.  But they can't be painted in freezing weather... our forecast for the week.

We finally got power to the Church St house and all the electrical works. All the water works, except for a slow sink drain.  They wanted to just leave the heat on until closing, (fine by us) but it needed gas…. So they turned the gas on and the heater works, the stove works, the water heater works… but the water heater’s vent is not up to code.  We may choose to get a new water heater.

I made the plunge.  Got a domain name, a web hosting site, and started a website. I’m not thrilled with it, but I’m teaching myself I don’t need perfection.  I need something started, and then I can work to improve it.  The site is www.writing4income.com  I signed up to make cookies for our Nativity display at the stake center.  They needed them by Friday.  But we were going to the temple all day on Thursday so I made them Wednesday and we munched on the extras on the trip to the temple.  It was a great trip.  Many people brought family names so we did all the ordinances including sealing several large families together.

We got out Christmas decorations on Monday.  Got the tree up on Tuesday.  And had a mess in the house until Saturday when I finally finished decorating the tree and setting things out in the house.  We need to finish wrapping things and get that room neater.  I wrote a Christmas letter.  Might be nice if it actually got sent out, too.  Maybe that’s a project for this week. 

Morning Walk

We are so enjoying our morning walks.  Now we walk with gloves and a snood to keep the ears warm.  We wanted to show you what we saw as we walked.  These were from about a week ago.

We go out our drive and walk up our paved road for a bit, then turn on this gravel road.

We have a herd of deer we check out each day-- about a half dozen of them.

 Here is an occasional stream.   You can tell we've had rain. It chuckles along happily.

 We pass some pretty houses.

 We get to the dead end of the road (It turns into a driveway) and walk back.  Here are the deer again.

 Here is the walk down our road.

 And some of the last of the vibrant fall foliage.

 And my handsome hubby!

Thanksgiving Week

 It seemed like there was a headlong rush to get ready to leave for Jonathan and Kristy’s for Thanksgiving.  Saturday we went window shopping for items for the Main St. house.  Then Tom went to church for the youth dance.  Sunday after normal services we had the Bishop’s Youth Discussion (BYD) at our house.  I’d fixed congo squares for refreshments on Saturday--- then Tom brought home left over cake and chocolate dipping and pretzels and crackers to dip into it.  After BYD he went home teaching, then back to church for Tithing Settlement.

Monday we did laundry and packed and I showed our contractor the stuff we wanted for the Main St. house.  We decided on 18” tile for the kitchen and bathroom floors and also the countertop in the kitchen... and the tub surround.  We’d planned on a fiberglass insert for tub and surround.  But the place we normally get them cheap… was out!  Each other place was expensive… or more expensive.  So that made tile a better prospect.  And I was delighted that the contractor suggested it, so I didn’t have to.  That evening we had a couple over for dinner.  Linda lost her husband to a sudden heart attack about 2 years ago.  She met Dennis and theirs was the first wedding Tom performed.  We enjoyed getting to know Dennis better and learning how they met.  It’s like watching young kids.  They are so delighted with each other!

Monday afternoon, Tom says, “I can’t find my wallet.”  Hmm.  We look in all the usual places.  I ask, are they in your old pants pocket?  The one that just went into the laundry.  He checked.  Not there.   Apparently the wallet fell out of the pocket before inspection.  It’s amazing how well things are preserved, even after going through the wash cycle.  The drying cycle:

We got a pretty early start on Tuesday for our trip to Iowa.  Keeping with tradition, we stopped at a junk yard to try to find a part for the Toyota.  For Christmas I asked that the center console lid hinge be fixed.  The darn top slides off and is very annoying! We looked for the Kansas City temple on the way up, too.  The GPS and I are having issues.  I thought, how fun to go to 5 guys for lunch on the way up.  Tom asked it to search for 5 Guys and it found one right off 35.  Sounded good.   Tom was on the phone when the turn off came.  Seemed way too early to me.  And 8 miles??? But I thought we’d eat earlier.  No.  The 8 miles was just to the first turn! We drive up the east side of Kansas City and the one I remembered was on the north east side.  Apparently there’s a second one on the South West side—a good half hour off the freeway. GRRR.  Then after we drive all this time the chirpy little voice says, “You are now at 5 Guys on the right.”  But there IS no F Guys on the right!  We drive around the two blocks of shopping centers with the GPS saying: “Recalculating.”  Did you know you can plot your course with a dotted line on the GPS?  Ours looked a lot like the Family Circus cartoon where the kid runs all over the place.  How can you give up when you’ve already squandered so much time searching for it?  We finally found it on the LEFT side of the road.  We got to Jonathan and Kristy’s about an hour later than we planned, but it worked out fine.  They were just getting back from gymnastics. I had a fun time cuddling Zachery.

We had a relaxed and enjoyable time there.  It’s so fun to see the kids and how they are growing.  We saw Isabelle’s pigeons—including the trick pigeons that tumble and roll.  She was feeding the neighbors two Border Collie puppies and we tumbled and played with them.  The new baby heifer was delivered and we got to know her.  She’s a cute little thing.  And we collected eggs.  We had a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner.  They’d invited another family over and that added to the fun.  We played games some nights and watched a movie on their big screen. Isabelle made brownies all by her self and then gifted some to us for our trip home.

 We also shared a 24 hour virus.  It had started with David and progressed to Miriam by the time we got there.  One by one we were felled by the puke-bug.  Jonathan and I held out to the bitter end.  One good thing—no one was sick on Thanksgiving Day.  Another blessing: It’s the first time I’ve lost weight over that holiday!  I was a sluggard at taking pictures while we were there, so I made them pose the early morning before we left-- mostly still in PJ's

 On the way home, we did detour to see the nearly completed temple.

 When we left Mountain Home, it was at the tail end of fall.  The weather was still warmish and there were leaves on some trees.  We went north to winter with no leaves on the trees, although it wasn’t all that cold there either.  They were predicting possible snow flurries the day we left.  We drove through sprinkles and rain most of the way home and found our leaves nearly gone.  And the temperature has dropped and we’ll have freezing weather the next few days.  Last night, after we got home, we picked all the tomatoes and beans.  This morning I went out and picked all the lettuce to take to church and give away.  It certainly is more enticing to stay inside when the wind bites your face and hands.

I’ve decided that rather than be panicked by all the things that need to be done before Christmas and worrying about what might not get done—I’m going to enjoy!  I will take joy in each thing that gets accomplished.  I’ll cut myself some slack if it doesn’t all get done.  I will remember the real reason for the season and know that I’m loved even if my house is not spotless or Christmas cards don’t arrive on time… er… at least I think that’s true….

A Time to be Thankful

November is a delightful month.  It it a time to see the changes around us and reflect on the blessings we have.  It began with fall colors.  Then the wind blustered through and most branches are bare.  We get to see the bones of the trees-- the strength that supports the fritter of leaves.  As we give thanks to God for all of the many blessing we have-- we remember our support as well.

This seemed to be the week for the internet webinars.  I've been working on my copywriting skills and wanting to build a website to promote myself, and also some blogs to build into a revenue stream.  While on the internet, I've come across a lot of people who say they can help me make big bucks fast, and then have lots of time for fun.  Sounds a lot like a free lunch. Still, as I've listened to their free stuff, I've learned a some useful things. One thing they said was when you're beginning copywriting, you want to be the one-eyed man among the blind.  Choose the markets that are in such need of your help you're confident you can do great things for them.  I've found some sites where I think, "This is a terrible site.  I can do better than this."  That's the place to start.  Not competing with the glitz of the high-priced companies.  I think it would be fun to write for Rich Dad sometime.

It's been fun to watch our house on Main Street take shape.  The trash is out.  The contractor has roughed in the  bathrooms, closets, took down a wall, roughed in a wall.  The electrical has been traced, and the heat and AC is in the process of being installed.  We learned most of the windows have pulleys attached and the kitchen floor and walls have the cabinet positions outlined.  We went looking for tub and surround, vanities, medicine cabinets, kitchen cabinets, and light fixtures.  The contractor will then follow later to purchase and install.  It is exciting to see things move ahead.

On the Church St house, Tom mentioned that there were not master breakers in the electric box, so we could not inspect the electrical.  The selling agent verified... hmm.. they were there... what happened to them?  So it looks like they will have to replace the entire electrical box, as that one was outdated.  So our inspection will be delayed, but I think we're getting a new electric box.  The final contract was signed by Fannie Mae.  Interesting.  We could not initial a simple $500 change to the price-- it had to be an entire NEW contract.  But after WE signed and initialed everything and sent it to them, they made a pen change. And it's totally okay that they changed the contract after we'd signed it.  Our government at work.

Tomatoes survived freezing nights and it should be warm for the next 10 days.  This is the last time I'll cover the beans or tomatoes.  We've moved the chickens into the garden, but fenced off the part that still has things growing that we care about.  They seem happy there, scratching and pecking.  I like my little hens.  Two keep laying eggs.  The silly Americana has quit for the winter, I think.   The Red Rocks may not be as pretty, but they are good producers-- probably a lesson here, too.

This afternoon Tom has Bishops Youth Discussion at our house.  Saturday we had the stake dance at our ward.  Everyone was pleased that many of the youth from Springfield made the drive down here.  I guess we aren't leading that exciting a life... but it seems pretty interesting day by day.