Fortunate to Call this a Normal week

Grace is still in strummin' the six string each week but she did get roped into some errands after practice this week.  Luckily we meet an old friend in the store...the walking carpet was ready for a photo op.  Friday night we filled the house with girls, they came in busses and trains and brought wheelbarrows of giggles for a slumber party.  The disappeared into the recesses of the house and didn't emerge until feeding time on Saturday night.  After a belly filling munchfest of pancakes and cinnamon rolls we headed to Stevens Point with a stop at the mall first.  Sophia had a late afternoon Gymnastics meet and placed 2nd on the bars and here team took third overall.  There were tired eyes on the trip home but we managed to hit a little place for some pub grub and watch what was left of the Packers game.

An Amazing Adventure!

We started the winter vacation with a trip to a galaxy far far away, then played in the snow, had Christmas and then a trip to Florida...It was a long and amazing week!  Pre-christmas traditions of cookies and gingerbread houses were almost forgotten in the shadow of the big trip. The kids didn't know we were going to Disneyworld until Christmas day.  The each opened a box of balloons with various letters on the balloons.  It didn't take them long to figure they had to unscramble all the balloons to spell out the world.  It took them longer than expected but after about 15 minutes they solved it and were amped to learn that we would leave in a couple of days.  We left early...like people were still coming home from the bar early, and drove to the airport.  The flight was smooth and we were in Animal kingdom on a safari by noonish!  We were in the world's happy place for five full days visiting Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and then back to Magic Kingdom. We closed up the parks each night except Epcot on the fourth night.  New Year's Eve found us with two fireworks shows over Cinderella Castle as well as a Tinkerbell on a zipline from the castle top.  Tinkerbell was also our last experience at Disney and she chewed out Ella for being sarcastic/sassy and tried to force her into a time out! It was an awkward moment for sure.  The kids kept journals of their trip too and spent time before meals, bedtime and waiting in line to write in their journals.  We hit the big rides and shows in all of the parks and some of them multiple times.

Oh, The weather Outside is Frightful...

Still no snow and Sunday we awoke to the sounds of thunder.  Can't imagine the snow mounds that would have been created if the roughly three inches of rain would have  been snow.  It appears we will be mowing the lawn rather than shoveling the drive way.  Either way we are staying busy.  Ella had a sleep over Friday night and stayed up way later than Amy and I did. Saturday morning we were back in the gym for Grace and the little dribblers and then Ella's volunteer project came to fruition.  She had a wonderful brainstorm a month ago to make fleece blankets for foster homes.  She rounded up about 8 other girls and filled the floor space in the house with Fleece tie blankets.  With only a short break for pizza and calloused hands from cutting the girls cranked out about 14 beautiful fleece blankets and didn't stop giggling the whole time.  It was really great to see the girls thinking of others in the holiday season.  Sophia had a meet in Fond Du Lac so we headed down there to watch her team take first place by only 0.05 points.  We meet Grandpa and Grandma down there to cheer her on.  Sunday was a rainy day and slow morning, but Packer game slowly turned to holiday music cookie baking.  With peaceful notes carried on sweet smells the house felt like Christmas even if the weather outside was frightfully April.  Grace got a start on the wrapping and now all the gifts are under the tree and ready for the Holidays!  She did exclaim at one point "Oh well, I am screwed" catching Amy and I off guard, as she cut the paper too short.  She was allowed to say it once more before we had a short conversation about crass language and the Latin derivation of vulgar.

Los Ninos in an El Nino

 
Another great month of frenetic action.  The weather has been crazy warm with the El Nino winter so we aren't making many plans that involve snow but that hasn't stopped us from hanging lights on the house and getting the new place into full Christmas decoration mode.  Grace has become the resident expert on lights having spent some time on the ladder in the front of the house with me and then helping Amy in the backyard with the lower trees.  She is Chief Untangler of Lighting Operations...should have called her "CULiO" for short.  We did head out into the 'tree cutting' forest last weekend and cut an 16 foot tree into a 12 foot tree and then into a house sized 8 foot tree.  It was decorate with all the kids ornaments and the wide spaces in the branches and slender shape have it made it our favorite tree of all, it really is beautiful.  There were Christmas singing programs for the younger two, fortunately back to back and we spent a couple of hours singing carols ourselves as we rang the bell at the grocery store for the Red Kettle campaign.  Ella has started jazz band and with Grace continuing on guitar by next year we should have a nice little musical volunteer session.  Saint Nick made his appearance with much argumentation about which day he comes...night of the 5th or the early morning of the 5th...there was warm socks and candy when he did finally arrive along with the Herbie the elf on the shelf.  Each morning becomes a hunting game for where the elf is hidden and what mischief he got into while the kids slept.

Dancin' and Dribblin'

The weather was beautiful, but out activity was actually a little more indoor than expected.  Merrick and Grace headed out to Neon Nights on Friday night for an all school dance.  The danced the Nae Nae and gobbled up hotdogs, pizza, chips and rootbeer floats.  With sweaty heads from running chaotically with their friends the ended the night with a gambling lesson.  The won exactly zero items in the fundraising raffle.  The older two stayed home and backed up some Chocolate chip cookies...because the 34 pounds of candy still left over from last weekend's halloween trick or treating wasn't quite enough sweets in the house.  Saturday morning Grace had "Little Dribblers" with 6,000 other kids all of which had grumpy parents because the floor was just refinished and coffee wasn't allowed in the gym.  We spent a good chunk of time running errands and the general domestic chores helped to turn the afternoon into evening.  Sunday was more house chores and general odds and ends around the garage.  The kids ran in the nice fall weather with the neighbor kids and we added two more bruised up hips to the ever growing list.  Another one for Ella and the ripstick and one for Merrick who crashed into the hockey net while playing baseball with his friend.

Halloween Candy Economy

It took some time to get the hair and make-up just right but in the end the Zombie Bride and Vampire Girl were ready to tackle to 'mean' wet streets of our new neighboorhood.  Grace's hair was tangled and teased to great heights, but unbeknownst to her the rain knocked it down pretty quick.  Not a heavy rain, just enough to become annoyingly damp. The kids had been off school for the third day so they were plenty rested and little rain wasn't going to slow them down.  We headed out to pound the doors and avoid the crowds.  There were so many people in the roads that it was unsafe to drive, although a few tried.  We were back in the house with socks and shoes so wet that they wouldn't dry before the week begins, but it was minor compared to the pounds of candy that the girls scored.  Somewhere along the line Grace even scored a full sized Three Musketters bar...like the holy grail of treating.  Sadly she doesnt like three musketters bars and gladly traded Ella for a small package of gummy bears..all are happy in the great economy of Halloween candy trading.  Now the task is to get it all eaten before the Christmas candy starts to appear.

Apples, grapes, strawberries oh my!!

Friday night had great intentions for fire, but the temperatures dipped and the wind picked up and after a long week our ambitions were spent.  Saturday was Merrick's last football game and his team racked up a solid win, and I was pumped to get an autograph from my favorite player.  The morning was cool but all in all a beautiful fall day.  The afternoon found us enroute to Baird's creek for a hike but we stopped on the way to test the slab of newly laid asphalt close to the house.  The girls packed thier ripsticks and attakced the smooth ribbon until it attacked back.  Ella caugth a rock and hit hard, bruising her thigh.  It impacted our hike a little too and given her soreness she opted to cut the hike short.  Until we found a great off trail bridge across the creek that just had to be crossed.  All four of us made it safely across with a chorus of giggles .  We were awarded with a vine of wild grapes.  It is a outing that we don't find something to forage on while we wander through the woods.  The smells were the wonderful moist cool smells of fall and the leaves were approaching peak colors.  The olefactory overload continued as Amy spent time on Sunday making another batch of applesauce, from the apples that were picked a couple weeks back, this time with strawberries added from a spring harvest.  It was excellent with some granola added!!