Ho Hum

Not much doing today. Sorry, no exciting pics.

Just being Mom and a schoolteacher.

I did get the coop spruced up a bit. 

The pine shaving litter is composting a bit and has started putting off some heat, so the girls will be happily warm when the thermometer plunges again.

And we had 22 eggs today.

+ 2 more we found under the coop that got missed (?) yesterday.

The boys ran around outside this morning, dug holes in the field, and generally whooped it up in the 50F weather we had. I love when we have such random warm spells. 

It sure relieves some of the cabin fever!

Kalvin was able to mark off another requirement for Scouting. 

It was his first time using a pocketknife. 

I couldn't watch. I kept envisioning all the ways he could manage to slip and cut himself. Yikes.

Dad was there to supervise and coach though, and 

Kalvin ended up doing a great job on his "bar soap bear".  

He never ceases to amaze me.

We had squash/zucchini casserole tonight for dinner. You know...the one with sour cream, cream soup, cheese, stuffing...

The whole time I was preparing it, Xander kept reminding me that he doesn't like to eat squash.

I kept reminding him that he had never tried this dish before. 

He has about four bites worth in his dish, but has managed to sit at the table the past two hours, refusing to eat those four bites.

It's been a long night.

Sigh.

He is definitely my son. Stubborn as ever.

And Talmage? 

He ate two full servings of the dreadful squash casserole, two pieces of banana bread, a turkey pastry leftover from last night, and of course--dessert.

Naturally, he has also grown out of any pants he wore just two months ago. 

O Tannenbaum

This was BY FAR the easiest tree we have ever put up.

How could it not be?

-We didn't go into the woods, get the tree, then load the 4 wheeler into the truck bed, only to have the ATV slide into and bust the cab's power rear window. Most expensive FREE Christmas tree ever.

-We didn't go into the woods, get the truck stuck, hike another half mile in 5F weather (ultimately resulting in everyone getting bronchitis), only to find a lousy tree that we then had to pull back to the truck, and discover half the branches snapped in the cold during the drive home.

-We didn't set up the ridiculously heavy artificial tree that seems to weigh about 50 lbs heavier every time it is pulled out of the box. Or spend a half hour trying to locate which plug goes into which socket so that the middle section of lights isn't dark while the top and bottom thirds are glowing.

NOPE.

This tree showed up on our front porch all by itself Saturday.

All 10 feet, 8 inches of it.

Okay-So it wasn't quite that simple.

We did have to spend 10 min setting it in a stand.

And putting a strand (Yes-a strand) of lights on it.

The ornaments took another 10 minutes, since the boys wanted to pick who put which ornament up where and when.

It smells heavenly. 

And I don't have to worry about endless hours of stringing countless strands of lights up. 

It's beautiful just how it is.

Here's to our number 1

Our oldest, that is.

Poor kid has to share his birthday every year with the Thanksgiving festivities 

since he was born "that weekend".

It was a happy 10th b-day for him though.

Birthday tradition in our house states that The One gets to choose dinner for that night. 

We were sure he would say "lasagna", or "meatball sandwiches".

Nope. 

Kalvin chose this.  

At least it tasted good...

This is what happens when you are not paying attention to the task at hand.

OOPS.

The turkey was accidentally put on the oven rack breast side down.

Once turned over, it had to be cooked another 1.5 hours.

I won't say which one of us flubbed, but who do you suppose is in the picture...?

It didn't quite have the look we were going for, but looks can be deceiving.

Bar none--the best turkey we have ever tasted. The meat was so intensely...turkey flavored.

And the dark meat was so incredibly dark.

Yeah-my descriptions stink. It is what it is. At least I am posting something.

Caught!

She hasn't seemed to realize that the roost is for roosting.

And the nest boxes are for nesting. As in laying eggs.

 There is always an egg on the floor. 

Right under the roost. 

Then again, maybe she doesn't give a flying leap about the rules.

And just in case you were wondering-Yes. She does have a dirty face.

The girls had just finished a morning snack, and this gal clearly enjoyed the plate du jour.

B-Day #5

The "baby" of our family is five now.

When did our little 6# 6 oz bundle grow up?

 Birth Mom Danielle came for the festivities. T-Man was so excited for her to come!

 Requisite Costco birthday cake.

 Hot Wheels track from G&G "J".
Note the 3-D glasses. Those went with the bug book they sent, not the car set!

And the Hot Wheels track results:

Yup. It's a hit.