A Christmas kinda feeling...

Never before (never ever before) in the history of my motherhood has my family ever looked forward to a break as much as they are looking forward to this Christmas break. 

  We are tired.  We are burnt out.  We have all gone crazy.

The local Elementary School is currently over run with a bad strain of the flu with 150 kids absent per day, and they are also battling stubborn cases of ringworm and head lice.  Ew!!!!   So far Nate has managed to avoid all of the above, but I feel a sense of urgency to get him and my whole family home isolated for a long stretch of time.   My kids and I wake up each morning and longingly dream of having a a break.   We don't want to leave the house, see anyone, or have to do anything.  

Is this normal?  

I am sure it is not normal, but I certainly can certainly empathize with their longing for some quiet family time, and I intend to deliver.     In four short days my family is going into hibernation.  

We are determined to carve out some family time and spend Christmas break doing only what we want to do.    We are planning on spending two days with John's two siblings and two days with my siblings, which will be fun.  Then - (oooh I'm so excited) THEN we are whisking our kids away for a little getaway.  A bit of a "staycation" because we can't afford to go far, but we completely realize we have to get away from responsibilities here if we are really going to all get to unwind.   

It is going to be dreamy.  (Well- as dreamy as our secret location two mere hours away can be;)

Okay- so aside from our plotting to revolt and turn into a bunch of hermits, we have also been trying to eek some Christmas spirit from any spare minute possible.   

We went skating down at the local rink.  We really should do this more often.  Nate is getting more and more confident, venturing further from the boards every time he skates.  John manages to skate rings around everyone.  Jess and Abby danced and flitted around together. Sam filled the "I'm the kid who is too cool for this" role and sat out in the lobby watching everyone.  That's how he rolls;)

We set up our Christmas tree back in November and it has become a place that we all gravitate to every evening.  The warm light draws us in. We are planning on having a slumber party this weekend to celebrate being finished school.  All 6 of us sleeping under the tree. 

 So long as nobody gets the flu, or ringworm or head lice - it is going to be so dreamy.  haha

I am convinced that whoever invented the whole "Elf on a Shelf" phenomenon has absolutely ruined Christmas.  Seriously - how stressful!  Most days our Buddykins sits around doing nothing like the lame Elf he is, but every now and then Nate finds him getting into trouble:

We are pretty sure that Nate no longer believes in Santa Clause, but Nate doesn't want to tell us that and I certainly don't want to tell him so...so we continue to play along.   In addition to a whole whack of Christmas baking, Nate also wrote his annual Christmas letter to Santa.  

Sigh.... looks like a gooder. #siblingrivalry    #punchingthebrointheface

We had our ward Christmas party last week and Nathan played the part of the very attentive Joseph.  

I think it is safe to say that he magnified that role perfectly!!!!  #payattentionjoseph

This weekend we got together with  a few of the kids and made chocolates.  We were all torn in different directions, but managed to find a two hour window where we could throw a few chocolates together.   It's never Christmas without the chocolates!!!

 Homemade pillowcases from the kid's best Great Auntie EVER!!!  (My Aunt Karen)  

Every year my kids are each given a large bag of 12 gifts to kick off their 12 days to Christmas.

The word SPOILED comes to mind.  

Last week we all decided that we were too tired to go watch Sam play basketball. (We're all a little lame right now, remember?)    While he was at his tournament, we took a little drive out to Waterton.

Winter Wonderland x 10!!!

After several years of observation, I can say with 100% certainty that November and December brings us the most beautiful sunsets of the year.   The past two months haven't brought us any SNOW, but the sunsets have been on point!

I love this photo.  This little house is only going to be our home for another 6 months and so I want to make sure we remember what Christmas looked like while we lived here.  

Pretty much spending our evenings deep breathing around the tree.    

Christmas break is almost here!!!!

Annual trip to see the elk

Jessica and I were recently lamenting that we had not gotten a chance to watch the elk this fall.  Volleyball, work, callings ...it had all taken priority and Elk watching season had come and gone before we were able to make our annual trip out to Waterton.  

Last Sunday, in a last minute effort, the girls and I crossed our fingers and went for a Sunday drive and were delighted to find that we hadn't missed out at all.   In fact, we saw more elk that evening than we perhaps ever have.   

Sigh....

and now - we are ready to say goodbye to fall.

Volleyball, Falling Leaves and a bit of make believe

We just came out of a busy Volleyball season, but it was a gooder. 

John coached Abby's JV team this year and not only was Abby on the team - our niece Mya was too!

I LOVED watching these two girls stand tall at the net.   They make a good duo.   

The leaves have all fallen and, for the most part, blown on towards Medicine Hat but not before the kids were able to have a little fun with them first.  

It made me laugh one day to find Jess and Nate raking the driveway of a neighbor two houses down.   This initially seemed like a random act of kindness on their part, but it turns out they were actually stealing bags of leaves and dumping them out in our backyard!   The more the merrier, I guess?

Halloween came and went in a flash, with many of us securing our costumes literally the night before.  Why does this have to be so stressful??   Thank goodness I have an abundance of chocolate at the end of days like this;)

Sam went as a "Cereal Killer."   (badda boom)

Jessica was our tacky tourist.

John went as Scott Sterling.  (as in The man, The myth, The legend;)

Abby dressed up as the Mad Hatter and accompanied all of her friends who also went with the Alice in Wonderland theme.

Nate purchased this inflatable blue guy suit all by himself.  On Halloween morning he came upstairs and declared that he was going as a Fat Mexican.   (We shut that one down real fast but he still wore this.   It's just nobody knew what to call him.)

I threw on some Hippie attire and called it good.   This family of mine tuckered me right out that day!

It was about 9:00 at night when we were finally able to wish John a Happy Birthday, but such is to be expected when one dares to be born on halloween.

Shoot your shot!

John and I went on a real live date recently.  

The kind of date where John planned something, invited me to join him, and nothing got in the way of it.   It's been a while since we've enjoyed a date like that. 

We went out to my Uncle George's property and shot John's .22.

I was a little worried about this activity, seeing as neither John or I are very familiar with firearms, but it quickly became apparent that John knew what he was doing. 

It also became apparent that I am a pretty good shot. 

Like, hello?

It was fun to steal away for an hour.   

Can't wait to go out again!

Thanksgiving at Bozeman/Yellowstone

I am so very thankful for the days in my life that remind me to be thankful.

John and I had committed to take Johns Dad down the the Great Falls airport this past Thursday and then to pick him up the following Thursday.   Thanks to a generous offer from John's sister Sarah, we decided to capitalize on the three days sandwiched in between and make a family trip out of it.  I ended up driving Max down early Thursday morning and John came with the kids later that evening so we could continue on to Bozeman together.  

We spent Friday touring Yellowstone National Park where we visited Geysers,  searched for wildlife, visited old Faithful and strolled along the walkways at Prismatic Springs.   At the end of the day my eyes literally hurt because I had spent the day staring so intently at the landscape around me.  On Saturday we got dressed up and attended/watched General Conference.   It was exciting to listen to some of the announcements that were made as we listened to church leaders.   Sunday was a fun day as we watched Ed work all day long preparing a classy take on Thanksgiving dinner.   Quail with mint Chutney, Roasted Veggies and Rabbit Stew.   Yummmmm.....    We met Sarah's friends Nora and Chuck and were introduced to several games that my kids now want  us to buy.   Earlier that day Sarah had taken us up to Palisades Falls, a beautiful waterfall not from from their home.  

It was a beautiful day weekend from start to finish.   

We couldn't have enjoyed this trip without the kind hospitality of Ed and Sarah.  

They opened up their home for us even when they weren't themselves there, they stocked their fridge with food to see us through the weekend and gave us a cozy home away from home where we could just enjoy being together as a family. 

It was a Thanksgiving to be remembered.

Taking the long way home

This past Saturday I found myself feeling swamped, absolutely weighed down with a long list of things that I felt I needed to get done.   Every time that I walked by my front window I could see the giant tree tree across the street, its yellow and orange leaves warning me that it's fleeting autumn were worth enjoying.   I've noticed that I have less "carpe diem" in me than I used to which is why I will be forever grateful that Jessica came to me on this day and, in her sweet persuasive way, insisted that we go for a drive.    We drove to Babb so that I could grab some packages that I knew were there, however when it came time for our return trip, I no longer wanted to go home.   The landscape was on fire with orange and yellow and red, and that is when the long list of things I needed to get done no longer mattered.  

We opted for the long way home, which meant an hour long drive along the Chief Mountain Highway, a detour into Waterton for the last hot dog of the season, and then finally home.   The scenes we passed took our breath away, sometimes moved me to tears and at one point caused us to hope out of the van and dance in the middle of the road while we celebrated our first snowfall of the year.  

There is so much in my life that is out of balance right now. I am unfocused, a bit unwilling, and I am carrying a grudge that has been as hard to let go of as my To-Do list.  This day was medicine to my soul and a reminder to me that sometimes it is important to take the long way home.