Snow!!

The end of November was very snowy for us!  The kids went out and built 3 different snowmen, as each new day brought more snow!

The snow gauge from Mary Jacqueline was reading 6inches over the 3 days!!

Snow 12-6-21

Snow 12-7-21

Snow 12-18-21:

My Grandmother always said that snow is super fun as a kid, I think my children would agree with her 100%.  I'm still not convinced though. ; )

later days

Edit 12-28-21: backdated for chronology's sake.

Thanksgiving 2021

For Thanksgiving this year, the Crockers came up a few days before and stayed a short while after.  

The twins were super excited to see Enisi!

My friend Natalie sells nail polish stickers (pretty much super easy at home manicure stickers.)  She found me some turkey ones just a few days before Thanksgiving!!

We continued our new 2020 tradition of handprints on the Thanksgiving tablecloth.  It makes my heart so happy to have a record of all who joined in our day of Thanks.

Intentionally flipped from last year, so that there is no "wrong way" to put it on the table.

Our lovely Bob Evans meal with all together!

At some point during the past year, I found a reindeer kit for Billy's car! Emily and Grace helped me with most of the decorating, including the car.  Sadly, it only stayed on about a week before he lost one of the antlers by putting down his window. = ( 

later days

Edit 12-28-21: backdated for Chronology's sake.

William's 9th Birthday Party

A week or so after his birthday, we had over the Cornish Family and the Bakken 3. = )  The mudroom makes for a great refrigerator this time of year, so all of his party goods were kept there, so as not to congest our kitchen and basement refrigerators.

I didn't get a picture of all the drinks with their cute tags, or of the games that we adults played afterward, but I did snag a picture where you can see almost all 13 of the children. = )

 
It was a fun time for my 9 year old birthday boy, and we were so happy that friends could come join!

later days

Edit 12-28-21: backdated for chronology's sake. 

First Snow

Yesterday was the first snow of the season.  Alice woke everyone up saying "It's snowing, it's snowing!"

 Seeing the snow all over the leaves encouraged me to get out there and rake today!

later days

The Chippunk In The Basement

We have a chipmunk that lives under our front porch*.  He ate the snacks that I had in a basket for the delivery people that came to our house, and when I took those away, he tried to kill Ward, my plant that I had on the porch!!

So, we are on none too friendly of terms, but Billy thinks he's adorable.

Well, I was in the basement one day, and guess who I saw down there?  The chippunk.

Let me back up just a bit; I called out an exterminator earlier in the year, because a stone was knocked down from part of the old wall of the basement, and I thought it might be a racoon.

The exterminator said it was probably the chipmunk, then set bait in the trap, but no catch.  All seemed to be okay after that though, and the stone was the only one that fell, so it could have just been a coincidence.  ::sus::

But fast forward to last week: I saw him down there, and it was time to get.him.out.

We set up the trap again, this time using butterfingers, his apparent favorite candy to steal out of our Halloween candy stash in the basement.

He seemed to be just too quick for the trap.  Finally, Billy decided that he was probably too small for the cage, and was escaping through the sides. ahha!  

So, we went to Menard's and bought a 'small rodent' trap, but it only showed mice on the box, so we were not terribly confident in his capture with this, but it was the best they had.  For days it sat there, empty.

On Sunday, we went Tractor Supply Company and bought the "chipmunkinator."  (catchy right?)  Anyhow, by lunch the next day we had him!

Now, it was just a question of where do we take him?  I thought about it until Billy got off of work, then came up with messaging Zoey's mom.  She said they had bunches of chipmunks, and that he was welcome. = )

So, we loaded up everyone (of course) including the chipmunk.

Billy felt guilty that we were removing him, at what is practically the start of winter, so we bought 3 containers of peanuts to give him, and found a drawer to cover him, until he can make a home.

Once released, he didn't stay nearby to see what we would do to him next, so we didn't leave the drawer after all. 

Hopefully he found a new home and lots of friends before the cold weather set in.  And, I'm happy that he is no longer in the basement!

later days

*This guys, whom we call "FatCat" is still around, so he was not the one in the basement after all.

Other Happenings In October and Early November

In a newspaper, I found a picture of a voting line in Berlin.  I sent it to my favorite German, because it kind of looks like her (but it isn't, she voted by mail.)

Emily bought me a lovely llama pin (that is quite heavy) for my birthday.  I went that afternoon to buy a sweater that had a heavy enough weave to support it.

I also got my repaired and cleaned wedding ring set back on my birthday!  The stone was loose, so I had taken it in a few weeks before, with no estimated date of completetion.

Our front tree dropped all of it's leaves over night.  I did a large section of the yard, with a rake, but there were still two trees full of leaves, so I knew it was a losing battle.

After we took down our Halloween decorations, I got to decorate my pumpkin with the turkey kit that I got from somewhere in the last year!  Isn't it cute?

After a long, long absence, the kids (and I) were so excited to have Avia back!  

Sadly, her plane from Detroit was delayed a couple of times, so we ended up grabbing some McDonald's while we waited.  Sadly, we missed indoor dining, so we had to bring it back to the airport.

At one of the rummage sales we went to, I scored Sarah a bag of maps!  Some of them were old, I think this one is from 1923?  She was actually excited by them, which made it totally worth my $1! = )

I read an article a couple of months ago, that interviewed people who were picking up food from a local food pantry.  One of the things they lamented was rarely having cake mix.  So, as a group, the kids and I discussed what we could do.  We decided that every birthday we celebrate in our family, we would make up a kit with cake mix, icing, oil, birthday candles, and egg money (hidden under the icing lid.) William was the first child's birthday we celebrated, so he got to be the first to give away a 'birthday cake'! (I did it for my birthday too, but did not take a selfie.)

Zoey's mom invited our whole crew, minus Billy, over for a Friday movie day!  Grace was delighted, and most of the kids, not so much Alice, had a fun time exploring and playing with her toys.  We had a fun time!

It's always a sad day for me when I winterize my sandals. = (

Grace scored a super fun toy at one of the rummage sales: a toy garden kit! Even Alice played with it, what a win!

Netflix had Saved by the Bell, 9 seasons worth of the original, college years, and several specials.  I narrated all of my thoughts to Erin Elise as I watched.  I'm sure she's super glad that's over. ; )

As incentive to come to my first MOPS meeting of the year, Alice got to pick out some goodies from out favorite international market.  I like to be *slightly* adventurous each time we go, and this time I picked a pomegranate drink with basil seeds.  It was a lot like drinking jello.  The flavor was not really strange, but you could chew the seeds, if you could catch them between your teeth.  I wouldn't seek it out again, but wouldn't add it to my never again list either.

Another rummage sale find for grace was a make your own marker kit.  The box was open, but all the packages inside were sealed and new.  She spent hours making her own colors.  She even made a set to give to Zoey.

I met up with some of the Dimondale Busy Moms at Horrock's.  They have a massive Bier Garten there that I didn't even know about!  Since then, I've even brought Billy by to see it!

The food truck on site:

Before the weather turned cold, we walked to Dime's, where we could eat outside, the kids could drink their root beer, catch some pokemon, and then let Emily and the twins, or William walk home once they were bored.

October was a nice warm one this year, I felt so happy all month!

later days

School Days: Science and Nature

 For one of our Nature Study activities, the kids copied a leaf into their journals.

Alice added a "character" that she made from hers.

Emily's was very well done and true to size.

William's leaf must have been one of the first off the tress this year, but he did a valid representation I think.

Grace traced her leaf before coloring it in, and was happy to add some background too.

Juliet's leaf matched in color and primary lines pretty well, in my opinion! 

We tried to make a cloud in a jar, but it didn't work out for us.  We tried hotter water, and longer times, but it just would not work for us.   The jar in the picture was shorter and wider, so maybe that's where we were lacking.

We finished Term I last week (already??) and so I had my "getting ready for science" day, where I sort all the items into baggies and label them for the day.  The curriculum is awesome and comes with "cards" that let you know what is for each lesson, as well as the master list, which helps get together all of the items you'll need throughout the year.

Another not so successful experiment. We got it spinning a bit, but the wind took it out 2 minutes into our observation. = /

I think we are all enjoying the curriculum more this year, and the science has been pretty fun.  I'm excited that William will get to join us for experiments next year!

later days