Christmas Morning

My mom has been sick for the past week or so, and so she forewent her usual Christmas Eve sleepover.  We missed her, but since she is about to travel, it is for the best.

Emily was the first one awake and she immediately started rallying the troops.

The first thing the went for were the stockings, filled with all kinds of treasures. = )

Next they sorted the gifts and then covered the floor with wrapping paper and boxes.  I had them pose for a picture to send to family.  William's black eye just has me shaking my head.  That boy...

Juliet was excited about her ear warmers & gloves from Avia.

It is an unseasonably "warm" Christmas Day, with an expected high of 58F! Emily and William headed out back to break in William's new metal detector.  They had a fun time reading the map and digging up buried 'treasure.'  The treasure itself didn't seem to have much appeal, but they had a good time digging up the yard.

It was the best kind of restful morning with no rushing or agenda.  I sure am thankful for Christmas and all that it brings.

Merry Christmas to y'all!

later days

Matcing Pajamas

After Service last night, the kids opened up their matching Pajamas!

They looked so cute, but I did not capture that at all....

William had a black eye from a literal run in with Grace a few days prior.

And they were wiggly and squirmy from the sugar.  They also wanted to take turns up front.  This worked out about as well as it sounds. haha.

I thought we might try again today, but with all the new clothes & nightgowns, I don't think I'll have the chance.  Sometimes passed time is kind and I'll look back and just love one of these one day in the future.

later days

Christmas Eve

Billy went to work on Christmas Eve, but got to leave early, so we went to the 4 o'clock Christmas Eve service.  My children were big fans of the hot cocoa bar!

Year 3 of candles and we managed, yet again, to not catch anything on fire!

Grace and Juliet spread out the Reindeer food that they brought home from school before bed.

Also, since my oven is out (have I mentioned that yet? lol) we had Burger King for supper.  It was a nice quiet evening.

later days

Witcher Watching Party

Billy really enjoyed playing the Witcher 3 video game.  He'd tell me about it, and spent ample time researching stats when he'd play it.  So, when Netflix announced that they were creating a video version, he was excited.  He tried hard not to be, in case it failed to meet his expectations, but the closer it got, the more he talked about it.

So, I decided to throw him a Witcher watching party.  I invited Amber and Will (and their crew) and set to work on making it as close to that world as I could.

I think I went to a record number of thrift shops collecting steins and dishes.  One of my favorite finds were some aged wooden trays and some ceramic goblets.  I also snagged an ice bucket that was meant to mimic wood, and I put our "water from the well" in it.

My favorite project was the potions.  I stopped at a liquor store (at like 9 in the morning because they don't have blue laws in Michigan) and asked for the prettiest little bottles they had.  This is what the cashier and I came up with. = )

I took a before picture, in case someone actually wanted to drink one.

It took me about an hour to get off the labels, and once they were off I made my own.  Thankfully there are databases dedicated to the video games, so finding the names of potions was not too tough.  Fisstech will 'knock the user out immediately' so that label went on the tequila. = )

I also made some plum jam from plums!

Sadly, the pancakes that were supposed to have the jam needed to be cooked in my oven, which went out the day before I needed it.  = (  I was so sad.  So, I didn't make the pancakes, and I think I was the only one who tried the jam.  It was very flavorful, but not very sweet.  According to one recipe that I read (when I was trying to decide whether or not to skin them) I needed to pick ones that were a little riper than what I chose.

On the day of I dropped by Panera for some full loaves of bread, and then headed to our favorite BBQ place for a growler of ale.  Billy usually likes the Brown Ales, so that's what I picked.

One of the recipes was "Elf and Onion" soup.  They recommended beef in the absence of elf meat, so that's what I threw in.  But to help with aesthetics bought some decorative ears to toss in.

At our MOPS meeting last week, we made some signs out of stained wood and paint.  Mine reads "Bill of Fare" in Lithuanian.

Billy was very surprised, and I loved having Amber and Will over while we watched a brand new show the night it came out!

later days

Skippyjon Jones

The final week of school, William was so happy to have his turn with SkippyJon Jones!

He was very intentional about bringing skippy along to do whatever he was doing, including homework!  

Skippy got in a bit of trouble sometimes while William was in school.  Wrapping himself up like a present one day:

Playing with William's nerf guns in the kitchen:

Riding on my decorative reindeer:

But William was constantly taking him on adventures and asking for pictures to glue into the journal.

Emily wanted to take a picture of her Skippy while William had his turn.  = )

He also brought Skippy to the Art Show.

 

I didn't have to fight William a single time to record any of Skippy's adventures.  What a great bonus assignment!

later days

You can see Emily's adventure with Skippy here.

Skate Night, Number 2

We enjoyed the second skate night fundraiser of the year.  I think they might have gotten new carpet since the last time we went!

The only picture I snapped of Grace:

And the best of the few I snapped of William:

It was a pleasant evening, as usual.  Pizza for dinner and tired children at home. ; )

I did tell them that next year we would have to split our evenings between Alice's school and everyone else's school.  They seemed okay with this arrangement. I can only imagine going to 8 skate nights in one school year, and I don't like it. = )

later days

Nikolausstiefel

Nikolausstiefel was a little under observed this year.  Grace forgot to put her note in her shoe (so William did it for her after she went to sleep.)  Just the same, the lists went out, and goodies were found in the morning. = )

Everyone except for Emily got some socks, and the chocolate coins were a big hit!  The piles were small, and not a single one of my children complained. They also all offered me a chocolate coin when I requested a bite*. I was so proud.  It was a good morning.

I look forward to this night each year!

later days

*I really only took the bite, but I was so proud of their sharing spirit.

Kalamazoo

My birthday celebrations lasted forever this year!  My mom offered up a date for me and Billy, so we took a day trip down to Kalamazoo!

It may not look like much, but breakfast on a train is so much better than anywhere else. = )

After we left the train station, we headed for a museum, and found ourselves in a nice little park.

Back side?

Front side?  There was no plaque.  I have no clue what this was supposed to be.  Is it art? Is it a piece of space shuttle that fell from the sky? A left over piece of industrial equipment?

The museum was free, and very cool!  We spent much longer there than I thought we would.

They had a "miniatures exhibit.  This was placed into the eye of a needle!

My best "biker face."

This was what our ornament read:

There were a few temporary exhibits, one of them was The Mystery of the Mummy!

Next we went to a recommended restaurant for lunch.  It's called the beer exchange because they have a live 'exchange' for their on tap beer prices.  They go up or down depending on what people are ordering.  Sadly, this didn't start until 6pm, so we didn't get to see it in action.

The building they were in was very open, and aesthetically pleasing.

This reminded me of a humorous video that I'd watched.

Since we'd had breakfast not long before, I ordered the fried pickles.  What came out was a bit unexpected.

I acquired a new button from a quarter vending machine.  I have no idea who this is.  Anybody know?

We had some time before our escape room, so we played a round of pool.

On our walk back it was sunny.  Not warm, but above freezing at least.

We stopped in a chocolate shop to see about getting souvenirs for the kids.  I was pretending to eat the UP section of the chocolate Michigan that we bought.

Billy captured the moment I decided to actually eat it. = )

Our newest escape room adventure was Amelia Earhart's lost apartment.  It was pretty awesome.  The story was really good.  They also had some fun games to play in the lobby while you waited (or after your game.)  We escaped and brought our percentage up to a 88!

After we left it was time to go to dinner.

When we arrived at the restaurant we had picked out online, they were closed for a private event until 7, which didn't work with our departing train.  So, we ended up at a place on the other side of the square.  It didn't disappoint at all. = )

It was dark when we were heading back to the train.

We entered through a different door than we had exited in the morning, so we'd missed the display the first time in the train station.

The Kalamazoo train station is really very pretty!

Nice vocabulary on the East Lansing train station door.

It was a quick trip, but so fun.  Of course, any time we take the train I'm excited.

later days