Little People

I am not exaggerating when I say that the kids' favorite Christmas decorations are the Fisher Price Little People nativityset. Even though they are older they love playing with them. So when a Black Friday deal was a Little People set of Lord of the Rings characters I knew we needed it. Theyve had so much fun with them.

We started a new tradition this year that uses another little person. Jason had the idea to hide a little Yukon Cornelius around the house.  Whoever found him had to then re-hide him. It's been fun to search for him throughout the month. We laughed when we found him inside the glass dome that protects our blown glass temple wedding cake topper. 

 

Setting Up the Tree

 We set up Christmas today. We pulled out the yearly celebration ornaments one at a time so we could discuss and reminisce. This year's ornament is a funny one - 2020 with one of the zeroes as a virus, little faces with masks and toilet paper at the bottom. Then we let the kids finish the tree while playing Christmas songs. 

 Let the season begin!

Escape Room Take Two

Because we were SO close last time we knew we had to try an escape room again. We went this afternoon and tried the Antidote room. The storyline was that an evil scientist was trying to unleash a virus on the world and we had to stop him. We all worked together very well, each person adding something to the mission. We did get some hints since one of the props (a flashlight) wasn't working as well as it could have. Because the Scooby Doo escape room was so complex we were really surprised when we found the final code and the door opened after only 34 minutes. We kept thinking that there must be more to do. Ha! We chose to keep our masks on for the picture to keep up with the theme. We were #100 on the leaderboard by a few seconds.

It was SO much fun and we were so proud of ourselves that we went out for celebratory milkshakes afterwards.  

 

Thanksgiving

As an enrichment activity for AIG, Eva's teacher decided to hold a cooking class. She taught them how to make pumpkin pie over video conference. She loved it! That was one of pies we had for Thanksgiving. She and Darby also made a Swedish apple pie as well. Both were tasty.

I had lots of help this Thanksgiving. I don't like turkey so Jason always makes it but the girls helped with most other dishes. There were some minor flops (like rolls that didn't rise enough) but everything was delicious. Whatever Jason did to the turkey made it so good that even I ate some. We have no pictures of dinner because we were too busy eating it. :)

 

I Don't Believe in Coincidence

 Today something special happened. First, you should know that my Grandma Midge has a birthday coming up this Wednesday. She will be 94 years old. She is one of the last living members of her family as all but one of her siblings and her parents have passed on. My cousins who live near her in Washington bought her a digital picture frame for her birthday last year. They set up a site where family could post pictures and they would pop up on her picture frame. It's fun stuff!

Then today, I was on FamilySearch and I saw that someone had just posted pictures of Venus Wiser (my grandma's mother) and her siblings. 

There are old pictures of them as children, around 1900. I commented on one that I had never seen that picture of her before. The poster wrote this to me, "My daughter Samantha is going through several photo collections that I had become the owner of. The project is to scan all the photos, upload what we can to Family Search, and if possible to send the originals to other family members. Going through my family pedigree it looks like the picture is from Grandma Sadie Byington's family. Her sister married a Wiser and I am assuming that she was sent the picture at some time. If you will let me know your interest and a mailing address we will be happy to send any WISER pictures to you." Awesome! I did some digging and found that this person is my fourth cousin. 

I responded that I would love to have them and told her that my grandmother was the last living member of the family and that I couldn't wait to show her. And now I can pull those off the website and send them to her right now, in time for her birthday. Coincidence? I think not. 

Ice Cream Sculpting

The Young Men were in charge of the combined activity this month. I had done ice cream sculpting with my YW years ago and suggested that it might be fun for this group of youth. They came home very happy. Brendan was especially excited about his sculpture. He and another boy, Harrison (who he used to not get along with) paired up and made this creepy skull thingy. 

Jason made a tooth that had been drilled and filled. It's no surprise that the endodontist made that one.

Jason said that the youth all had a great time. I am so glad that we are cleared for them to meet together again. It was sorely needed. 

Paige's first post

Hello! This is Paige here. This is a picture of me.......in a tank.

Honestly, I'm not declaring war on you. Hee hee.

Kiddos

Every day the kids do something to make me smile. A few weeks ago I found Paige doing her work inside the dog crate. She was trying to find a new place to work to make online school not so boring.

For one of our Halloween movies in October we watched The Addams Family. We decided that Paige looks a bit like Wednesday Addams so we braided her hair like it.

We had a serious downpour last week with flood warnings. Paige offered to go outside and put the trash cans down at the curb because she loves playing in the rain. 

Jason helped Paige set up a "studio" to work on her movie using the Lego Movie app. She has a green screen and desk lamp as a spotlight. 

For Red Ribbon Week one day was pajama day. Darby wore her unicorn onesie. What makes me laugh about this picture is that she did not pull the hood down to wear headphones but instead put them over the top. 

I sure love these people!

 

At Home Spa

Paige decided that she wanted to open a spa in the front room. Daddy was her first customer. Paige rubbed his temples while they put a hot towel on his back. Then she massaged his back. When he flipped over she put bananas on his eyes (because "Mom, I can't cut the cucumbers by myself") and put lotion on his face. She told me it was called Paigey Poo's Spa.  

 

Ears

After church on Sunday, while Jason was at a meeting, Darby came downstairs to tell me that she had stuck a bead in her ear. Seriously? She's ten. Sigh. Apparently, Eva tried to help her get it out but only succeeded in pushing it in farther. 

I tried tweezers but that didn't work. I tried suction and it didn't budge. I also tried super glue on a toothpick. That also didn't work and made me nervous that we'd glue it in there. I was getting stressed out and she was in pain. When Jason came home he used his dental loupes and a few tactics. Finally, using a serrated nail (it sounds worse than it was) he was able to get it out. Her ear was very sore and we had to scrape a glob of the superglue out of the outer part of the ear. 

 Hopefully, she learned a lesson. I thought the days of sticking things in orifices were over. 

Backpacking

The weather is cool enough to be pleasant but not so cold that you will freeze at night. it is the perfect time to try backpacking with the family. Jason reserved a campsite at Raven Rock. We had to pack in almost 2 miles to the campsite. It was a good test of our packing and carrying skills. We brought Stella too and made her pack in her water and food as well. 

We had to leave after school on Friday and it was an hour drive so we needed to hike quickly so we weren't setting up in the dark. 

We made it with enough time to do so and then made dinner after the sunset. Jason set up a hammock for me and it was really cozy. He used spreader bars so he and I could use the same tree and sleep next to each other in our hammocks. He also strung some lights on the ridgeline so it was magical and relaxing. 

The girls slept in a tent and Brendan packed in his own solo tent. We lashed Stella to a tree near us during the night so she could sleep by us but not go off exploring. Even Stella was tired.

After dinner we had some people arrive at the neighboring campsite in the distance. They were loud and began to play music loudly. Seriously, who does that?  I thought they would quiet down after a while, however, I woke up multiple times due to Stella barking at them and their rowdy behavior. It was midnight and they were still loud. I could hear that Paige and Darby had been awakened as well (Brendan sleeps with headphones and Eva brought earplugs). Finally, around 1:00 am they quieted down. Stella had been barking at them on and off for hours. Needless to say, we didn't get good sleep.

In the morning we made breakfast and packed up. We then made the trek back to the car. We could take our time on the way back. 

We found a couple of pretty spots to stop and play. We took a detour to a waterfall. Paige found a vine swing.

 

We walked on the most tilted bridge I have ever been on.

Jason stopped and showed the kids how to use the water filters. It was a good thing he did as we did not pack enough water (lesson learned).

The hike back was tiring. I was grateful for a dog that was pulling me (especially on the uphills). Paige really struggled the most. I had to keep encouraging her the last little bit. When we could see the parking lot she perked up a bit.

We were all sweaty and tired when we reached home. Everyone took a shower and I washed all the clothes. That night we went to bed early.  

Yearbook Pictures

Since the kids are still doing school virtually and they have to get started soon, the PTA has asked Honeycutt students to send in a yearbook picture taken at home. So, since they were dressed up for church, I took pictures today of Paige and Darby. It was quite a production to get the right light and background and non-fake smile. These two pictures are the winners.

And these are the outtakes. The dog was attacking their feet in some of them.