It is so quiet around our house this morning. Everyone is sleeping but me. Gertie came into our room at 6 a.m. telling us that it was morning, "Grace said it was." I think she slept with Grace last night. Lately, she's been sneaking out of her bed into one of her siblings' beds after we put her down. I have even started reminding her when I leave that I want her to stay in her own bed, and she says she will, but then she must change her mind. I guess I don't mind horribly if they don't mind. But I don't like that it's sneaky, if it is.

Grace spend the last three days at a place called Eagle Bluff. It is an environmental learning center. Outside. In December. It is something that the whole pile of 7th graders get to do in this town. They are outside for stretches of 3 hours at a time. She said she stayed warm and learned a few things. She was so tired when she came home that I haven't heard much about it. I heard about a tiff and drama between her bunkmates, but that was it. Oh, and that they were trying not to waste food, and it was sort of a contest. The kids got into it. They were trading food and eating other's leftovers so they wouldn't waste more than they had. Grace said her group did very will, with only 7 1/2 pounds of wasted food for the three days. I don't know how many were in the group, and I know that the syrup on the pancakes killed them in the end. I know if I added up the weight of the wasted syrup around my house I could feed many hungry. They might get sick eating all that syrup, though.

My kids eat almost nothing I prepare at our house, and they are way too picky about what John prepares. I think we should try this experiment at home. Maybe they'd get into the challenge and EAT. What we fix. Gertie ate some sugary cereal yesterday. Gobbled it up. Asked for more. As soon as I dumped more into her bowl she declared, "I don't like this." And she pushed it away. What is that? I hate that. And she can't seem to leave anything she doesn't care to eat on her plate. I remember the others being that way a bit too. But what is with that? Can't it just sit in the corner until you're done?

In Bible study we are reading the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. I have always had a hard time understanding this story. It bugs me. I am open to a new lesson from God here. There really are some great stories in Genesis. I've loved rereading them.

Gertie just woke up...

A Study in Self-Portraits

Christmas in the City

Well, that wasn't very nice, was it. I wanted you all to come back, and my intentions were pure, but I have just been spending every waking free moment working on a big trial transcript that I want to get out before Christmas. Anyway, I'm done with the biggest task, now I just have to proofread it, and enter my corrections. I'm feeling pretty good about that.

And since Christmas is fast approaching, I need to finish with Thanksgiving. I just found out this year about a sort of hometown kickoff to the Christmas season around here. The night after Thanksgiving our small downtown is abuzz with activity. They have a parade (sort of) down Main Street to where they light up all the Christmas lights in town for the first time. The local businesses participate with special treats or small giveaways. So we drug Heather and her family downtown, in the freezing cold, to eat some cookies and get the kids pictures taken with Santa and let the kids ride a train. I would say, overall, it was a good time. John thinks we froze out those southern cousins (Sorry, southern cousins!)

And this post isn't all that I imagined it to be, but I need to do some catching up around here.

Portland in a Box after Turkey

We sat down for a game of Portland in a Box, which was a Christmas gift from Niece Heather many, many years ago. Savannah was excited to play an Oregon game, and it was fun to play with some folks who had actually been to every square on the board.


It was a bit slow moving with so many players, but we all had fun. Even Heather. Even in this picture.


Savannah had quite a flair for rolling dice. She rolled doubles a lot and really held her own in this mathematically challenging game.


This is one of Grace's artsy pictures. I just like it.







And this adorable little child is just too irresistible for the camera. What can I say? Just plain precious.

I think there's kind of a Brady Bunch thing going on here. Completely unintentional, but how clever. If it had been intentional.










And this little guy really liked his turkey pin. And I really like this little guy. Those cousins are fun to be around.

























Is it time for turkey yet? Again?


We finally abandoned the game looking just like this. Grace had one property. I had two. Heather wouldn't trade. Apparently it's a long-held conviction. Savannah loves her Daddy and gave him whatever he wanted...and Ethan started giving away everything he owned as soon as the Playstation started calling his name. And it calls his name, believe me.


This has taken me a very long time to download all these pictures and I'm not even close to done. So this is going to come in parts. That will be good for my blogging habit, and it's sure to make you check back for more. (smiley face here)

A Real Trendsetter

If you've seen my youngest lately you probably know that she's a bit neglected--in the hair department, I mean. And I'm coming to the point where I'm ready to cut her hair. Well, have it cut, I mean. We're talking about it.

Anyway, tonight I thought it was so telling when she sat down with her bag of barrettes and stuck a countless number in her own hair. I really do try to keep the hair out of her eyes, and it never fails that they are always falling out or the hair is falling out of them. I haven't actually tried this method, though. Maybe I should do that.

And please don't judge on the snotty nose and peanut butter face. That is an entirely different type of neglect (which I am only sometimes guilty of). I should have prepared her for the picture, but you know, sometimes you need to take the moment at exactly the moment it presents itself, or you'll never capture the moment.

I am working on (in my mind) a Thanksgiving post, but it will have to be bigger. Grace took 90 pictures and 53 of them were good ones! I need to try to choose and post. Big post to come.

"I can't say, "I like you," because I have tea in my mouth.

I just said, "I like you," to Gertie.

She replied, "I can't say, 'I like you,' because I have tea in my mouth."
She had just taken a drink of tea.

She cracks me up.

We had a high school friend die in a hunting accident last week. His friend was getting out of the truck and the gun accidentally went off, shooting Lanny, who bled to death. He was in John's class and had helped us buy a few cars over the years. He sold cars. One was a cute little Mazda 323 turbo. I really did like that little car.

His wife was my best friend in the whole wide world when I was in middle school. She lived just a couple blocks down our street, which was the highway. We called each other every day many, many times. We had sleepovers. We coordinated our clothes that we'd wear to school. This was in the days of leg warmers. Should we wear the blue polo and the red leg warmers or the red polo and the white leg warmers? We babysat and dearly loved the Martin family girls for years together. They had Mandy, then twins, Katie and Kyla, and then Mara. While they were very young, they needed two sitters, but after a couple years, one of us could handle it, really. They gave us the option: We could take turns or stick together and each be paid half. We mulled it over (not for long) and decided to babysit for 50 cents an hour so we could keep doing it together. Boy, we loved those kids.

Anyway, it was a very sad occasion, and John and I both wanted to be there, so we began scrambling to make that happen. My friend Brenda agreed to take the big kids, including carting them all over high heaven to get them where they needed to be when they needed to be there. She bought a birthday present for Ethan's little friend's party that I forgot about. She is a saint. The previous owners of our dog took her in. They do that when they can. They are saints.

We took Gertie with us. She's a saint...well, not quite. She did a great job at the funeral, though, until she got hot. She had been very fidgety, but quiet for the most part. Until she got hot. Then she said in a whiny whisper, "I'm hot." I nodded. She said in a scream, "I'm hooooot." John took her out. I love that man.

We saw many friends from high school. Lanny's funeral was very well attended. You just don't think people you know are going to die so young. Very hard. They have three kids, 17, 15 and 12. Pray for them. They'll need those prayers.

Grace was in Alice in Wonderland and was a beautiful and perfect "Small Alice." I was so proud of her. Actually, all those junior highers did a great job. It was a fun play. But...I'm so glad it's over. Just in time for gymnastics to start.

That's what's on my mind. We are running these kids around like crazy. We want them to be in all the stuff they want to be in, but sometimes I feel like this just shouldn't be life. Ethan has basketball practice until 8:45. He is supposed to be in bed at 8 o'clock. It's just too late. And on December 1 we add wrestling. Crazy. I feel like I'm on the fast train and I can't bring myself to jump off. Things just must slow down a bit. What do we give up? Piano? Cello lessons? Gymnastics? Basketball? Wrestling? Church?

How will my children possibly become well-rounded happy adults without gymnastics and plays and church and piano and cello and basketball and wrestling? We. Must. Press. On.

Oh, please.

We will fix this.

Did this happen to you?

Don't let this happen to you.

This week I don't have to work. I am glad. I have tons of laundry and lots of errands to run. I've missed Bible study for two weeks because of work, and I've missed it. Genesis is so cool. I can't get enough. I eat it up.

Gertie is being so good, but I need to play with that girl, so I'm off.

We had our first snow this last week. It was actually beautiful, making the trees georgous and big, fat flakes. I always love fresh snow, and this was perfect, melting as it hit the sidewalks and roads. When it piles up and has to be shoveled and plowed it turns dirty and is much less appealing to the eye. Gertie made a few snowballs. It was fun.

Ethan is so pleased with this Lego tower he made. Can you all read it? I don't recall what the message was referring to, but the consequences of your choice certainly are severe!

Then we had Ethan's birthday party. We played a game called "Straight Face" where one person tried to crack the rest up, as they were desperately trying to break a smile. Grace made us smile. How can you not?

These are some ten-year-old boys doing what ten-year-old boys do. I said I wanted to take their picture, so the all simultaneously picked their noses. Lovely.

I tried to throw this party together on very short notice, and I think they had fun. Grace, my hero, helped me wrap gifts and bake and decorate a cake, and set this birthday table. I really felt like I couldn't have done it without her.

Gertie is sick, and she was yesterday for the party as well. We hated to cancel, and she wasn't coughing too badly, so we decided to segregate her and go ahead as planned. It all worked out because she slept through the whole commotion.

But I wouln't describe last night as going so well. She was up frequently. She was so hot. She was crying and needed me to be sleeping with her. She needed a drink. She needed to me hold her. She needed me to not touch her. At one point she said, "I don't want your jammies." I thought, "Well, that's fine. You don't have to wear them." Then she said, "No. It's...it's...it's...it's fuzzy. I don't like them. It's fuzzy and you have to take them off. It's fuzzy and I don't like them and you have to take them off." Apparently the same thing I love about my pajamas is the same thing she hates about them. They had to go. I'm hoping for a better night tonight. You know, my own bed. A solid night's sleep. Keeping my pajamas on...