OK, so I fell off the planet! That was because I was holding my breath, figuratively. Here's why:
Our Marine is Home for Christmas!!!!!!!!
We found out that Jeremy was planning to apply for leave back in September, but he wanted it to be a secret. So we didn't tell. Then in mid November he found out that he could take leave, and by Dec 1st he had his tickets!
We picked him up at SeaTac on Monday and I've been in momma-heaven to have all my children home again!!!
He's been sleeping and gone a lot so far, so not many pics yet, but here's one from this morning of him working on Wedgits (logic building blocks) with his little brothers:
Here are the rest of my excuses for not posting lately - I was working to get all caught up with work, housework, errands, Christmas shopping, so I could be free to spend time with Jeremy. I succeeded in most of those, just some of the housework didn't get done, but then it's never "done" around here!
So here's some photos of life around here over the past few weeks!
Thanksgiving weekend, we replaced the livingroom carpet with laminate flooring - this was the first time we'd ever done it, and overall it went well (that means that there were a few learning curves and minor injuries, but it got done and that's what counts!):
Here's the before (just after having it professionally cleaned, mind you ;):
Here's the after:
Sorry for the reality, but with so many kids, our entry way catches way too much stoff coming in and going out! BTW, that's ELE, in a poodle skirt that Jess made for her, playing with Jess's puppy!
Here's a sweet photo of our sleepy Thanksgiving girl:
The following week we did the same with our "shop" - here's a before picture:
And here's an after photo (I'll be posting more photos of the "new" shop look on our "about us" page later this week!
Those two photos are taken while standing at the door into the room (what used to be our master bedroom!
So that brings us to our snow day - which was between the two flooring weekends:
That's Beka with her mini snow buddy! We actually got 10 inches of snow between Saturday night and Sunday evening, and it was mostly gone by Monday morning, and all gone by Monday afternoon! It was sooo weird!
Making a hat/scarf for Beka, gave me the inspiration of what to do with a fabric I had purchased that just wouldn't work for diapers:
Red Ridinghood in person - with her sister too:
And of course, here's superman!
And here's Red in action - now that's a Riding Red!
And one last take - here's Luke and Leah:
So - now back to the new floor in the "shop" - that meant rearranging to better suit going to 3 computer desks instead of one broken table, and getting a new snapping table as we have now broken two tables!
The problem with rearranging our shop, is that it means moving our snap drawers! We had one mishap while moving (I dropped 3 drawers), one soon after the move due to a light cord, and then the Friday after the big move, 3 drawer sets crashed off the shelf due to the front door causing them to shift! What a mess - that's around 9,000 snaps in three colors, and three types of snaps (caps (think thumbtacks - *ouch*), sockets and studs) all mixed up, all over the table, floor, shipping boxes, etc! I felt like crying! Daryl had taken the day off, and I was so glad!!!! Here's some photos of the snap sorting crew - you can tell by their faces that this was not fun - but they did get some hot cocoa and a candy from the store for their hard work!
Last week ELE and I had a little photo shoot with Jess at the camera - it was fun and here's what came of it:
But we won - all the snaps from the floor got sorted that day - and it only took 7 of us 3 hours! Then throughout the next weeks, Jess and I worked through the ones that were on the table - I still have one more drawer of mixed-up snaps, but for some reason I haven't gotten around to it!
That brings us up to last weekend - and that was our Christmas Tree Hunt! We love to go out and select the perfect tree for our home from a tree far - trek around in the brisk winter air, through the fields and over the woods, etc!!! Here's some photos of our hunt this year:
A gentleman! This was so sweet - he held her hand almost the whole way to the back field!
Found the perfect tree! Dad got the honors this year!
Back to the car with our prize!
Almost ready to hit the road! (we actually had to take two cars, as our 12 passenger van had the engine go out in October, so we use the station wagon, but it only holds 8 people! So Jess drove D's car with 3 kids, and the rest of us piled in the station wagon.
Then we were home, and started trimming the tree - here's a couple pics of the tree in process and finished!
and then we sat down, munching on our candy canes, and read "The Candy Cane Story"!
Somehow I made it through Sunday without blowing our secret, and then Monday I managed to not let the kids know I was wound up tighter than a top. Left to pick up Daryl and off to SeaTac to pick up Jeremy!
When we got home, Jeremy made it all the way to the kitchen before anyone realized it was him! Then is was havoc as everyone tried to realize that he was really home!! What fun!!!
That pretty much brings you up to date! Sorry for such a long post, but it's been along time since my last post!!
Have fun getting ready for Christmas!~!!!
Ruth
