Monday, December 22, 2014

December 21st and 22nd

I'll do a quick post tonight, due to the fact that I really need to get some sleep!

Yesterday we had a wonderful day at church and traveled through "blizzard" like snowfall in order to go to Caleb Village. We left an hour early, which gave us time to take it slow. It was really dark and we thought about turning back at one point, but then the Lord brought a big truck along that made tracks for us to follow. The snow wasn't as bad in town and the kids enjoyed driving around to see all the Christmas lights/decorations that people had up. We had a great time singing at Caleb Village and we're thankful that the Lord helped us through. They just love seeing the kids and sharing snacks with them afterwards. Samuel was especially entertaining and we ended up staying longer than usual. Thankfully the drive home was better. There was a tow truck pulling a vehicle out on the other side of the road about halfway home. We thanked the Lord that it didn't look like they were hurt(no ambulances) and that He had kept us safe going both directions. We figure that we got around 2 inches of fresh snow.

Today, Scott went in a little later than normal and that gave the snowplows a chance to clear our roads. We spent the day cleaning up, reading and wrapping presents. We received a surprise box from one of my sister in laws too. It contained homemade almond roca and Peppermint Patties. I'm seriously considering hiding the almond roca so that it lasts longer:).

Well, I did say I'd do a quick post. I might have one or two more posts this month, but we'll be enjoying time with family, starting Thursday, and I don't plan to try writing while we're together.

Just in case...



Merry Christmas From Hidden Hollows!!!

Friday, December 19, 2014

P.S.

This little guy is 11 months old now!

December 18th and 19th

We delivered these Christmas Goodies to the Police, Firemen and The Clinic.



Caleb Had an accident and had to take it easy(spool knitting:).



And Helping bake...


Some other cute helpers showed up...



Kiersten was making the cowboy cookies that we got at the Rast Christmas Party on Sunday. They're very yummy! Caleb made mint brownies, which were also delicious:).

There was more secret gift making...

Today we made these:



The last two pictures are extra from yesterday.

Last night 4 more of the kids came down with Caleb's cold. Garrison is the last man standing... We're going to take it easy til Christmas and hopefully they'll all be back to normal by then. We're supposed to sing at Caleb Village on Sunday night, so I'm hoping we're good faster than normal. If not, Scott and Garrison might have to sing a duet.

Looking forward to seeing all the in-laws for Christmas!!!

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

December 17th

Waiting for batteries to charge=pictureless post. Will try to make up for it tomorrow!

Highlights:



Garrison lost another tooth!


Our phone is working again after a week and a half:)


Garrison and Caleb did fairly well on their 1st quarter pretest. Caleb is able to read more of it on his own, which really helps!


I put up more pictures and completed a Pinterest project...(Caleb says I get the screw in with my "brute strength" and and loves to touch the screw and talk about it being "red hot from friction". That kid makes me laugh:).


Caleb made Jello today, with a little bit of assistance from Elyssia. I didn't even supervise and everyone thought it was yummy:)

Samuel is happy to walk more than 1 or 2 steps at a time now. A bit more steady each day...

Our Christmas treat was hot cocoa with homemade shortbread cookies.


Elyssia and I finished off the day making more "secret gifts".


Monday, December 15, 2014

December 14th and 15th

Sunday we were blessed to spend a wonderful day with many different friends. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to pack the camera! We shared lunch with a young man who's working here temporarily. He's from Manitoba and it's exciting to see his love for the Lord and His Word. The kids really enjoy having someone new and he really likes being around the kids since he's away from his family.

We were invited to a Christmas Party in the afternoon and we had an amazing time! The kids loved playing with about 30 other kids and listening to the Rast family play their violins, harps, guitar, mandolin and piano. They also sang a couple songs and thankfully all the kids managed to sit fairly well for almost an hour. That would make a total of over 4 hours sitting, since we had drive time and 2 services at church:). Anyway, we were blessed to visit with lots of families that we hadn't seen in a long time and also had the opportunity to meet some new ones! There was even a family from Australia. The wife grew up here and they're in the area for Christmas. We also enjoyed some great food. Garrison told me at one point that he was too full:). None of the children were ready to leave when we started packing up, but they all slept soundly last night! Samuel did amazingly well throughout the day. He had a couple very short naps, but was awake for the whole party. He was quite cheerful and only managed to open the china cabinet door twice. Thankfully I was right next to him and nothing was touched. Such a cheeky little fella!

Today I had planned to be a little more relaxed and just catch up after the weekend. We started with snowman pancakes and managed to get through most of the school assignments. We all worked together and finished the bulk of the laundry. Garrison loaded and started the washer for the first time. Usually he switches the load or hauls clothes up and down, but he wanted to do this job and managed quite well!



We started reading Addie's Dakota winter, which honestly seems to resemble Saskatchewan winters. We read through the Billy and Blaze books last week and I was surprised that they were so short. We borrowed them from the library and I'm thankful we didn't buy them. Garrison had them all read in less than an hour!

We also cleaned and reorganized a bit downstairs. The kids have a Lego area now and I think it will speed up the boys room cleaning. Legos, clothes and books were their 3 biggest messes, so we tried to eliminate one. We'll see how it goes.

It was a busy day and it had its ups and downs, but overall I'm really thankful for the time we were able to spend together and how the kids pulled together to get so much done. Maybe we'll have our easier day tomorrow...

Saturday, December 13, 2014

December 13th

Holiday Breakfast and delivering goodies to the neighbours...


Friday, December 12, 2014

December 12th





Snowman Pizza, Happy Samuel and more secret gift making!

Thursday, December 11, 2014

December 10th and 11th

I didn't post yesterday, due to the fact that our project included gifts that we didn't want to be seen by the people we're making them for:).

Today was baking day and we finished off the day with a couple games and Scripture Recitations. My batteries need to be recharged, but I'll try to get a video of the Scripture up soon.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

December 9th

December 8th

Laundry Day! I'm sure everyone looks forward to that day during the holidays:))). Just kidding. We started off the day with an experiment-Gingerbread Pancakes. It was a yummy experiment! Elyssia was the only one that said she really didn't care for them. There was a lemon syrup that we could have made, but we decided to stick with regular. I was skeptical when I heard that it didn't have any sugar in the recipe. It had molasses though and that was actually good enough. I think it would have been too much to have more sugar and then the syrup on top. I think we'll add it to our Christmas countdown list for next year.

We worked through the school assignments as quickly as possible and finished right around lunchtime. That gave us a couple hours to read and have a short nap before heading to Walmart.

Scott had the shift from 12-4 and Elyssia, Samuel and I were from 4-8. When we arrived we found that they'd double booked us with another volunteer. We talked it over and he decided to come back at 6, so that we could go early. It was very nice of him and turned out to be a blessing. Samuel was cheerful and happily ringing the bells for the first hour and a half, but then started to get squirmy. We made it through the last half hour and I think people that came by to see him contributed quite a bit:). I think the 4-6 timeframe is the busiest. Most people getting off work and it seemed like the checkout area was constantly busy. That was good for people donating too! We had a bit of time to pick up milk and a few little gifts before heading home.

I took some pictures, but they're on my cell phone, which means they probably won't make it to the blog:(. I thought of the other camera half way to town and didn't want to turn around.

So, it was a pretty great day. We finished 2 of the Tucket Series books and we're eagerly anticipating finding out what happens at the end of his journeys!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

December 7th

Today felt like an exceptionally good day. Elyssia and I sang our first duet at church and we hope it was a blessing. It was fun to sing together, even though I was quite nervous. We were singing acapella and I thank the Lord for giving Elyssia an ear for music at an early age. She can match what I'm singing quite well and is working on singing the higher part for some other songs that we're singing as a family. It would be wonderful to have a pianist at church, but we thank the Lord for helping each of us to do the best we can and for creating each of us with a love for music!

This afternoon Scott taught the boys to play "kick the can". Elyssia and I made polar express hot cocoa and popcorn. We painted some Christmas pictures and enjoyed reading almost a complete book together tonight. There are 22 chapters and we're at chapter 18:). Thankfully it's a 5 in 1 book about Mr. Tucket. We really like it and look forward to seeing what happens to him as he goes through his journeys.



Addie and I also enjoyed reading The Legend Of The Candy Cane book together and sharing candy canes with the siblings after they came in from playing outside. I love how the simple things mean so much when they're little. Some people hate the snow, but I love that it means more snuggle times with the children and that life slows down around here. When the weather is really nice we have so much on the go. Winter is our extra "bonding" time:).

Saturday, December 6, 2014

December 5th and 6th

Our special activity last night was watching "The Christmas Candle" movie together after filling up on homemade pizza and banana ice cream! It was nice to just relax after the big baking day and week of school.

Today Scott had a funeral to attend, a family to visit and some studying to do.

We had a nice time reading together once our housecleaning was complete. We finished reading "Addie's Long Summer".

I made a pumpkin "log" for the first time. I've made a jelly "roll" once before and I think I have to vote the pumpkin log as my favorite right now. It's hard to beat the flavors of the pumpkin, spices and cream cheese filling. It didn't look as pretty as some pictures I've seen, but the taste was better than I expected.




The kids had a lot of fun playing outside:



The last picture is the "baby" snowman that Caleb and Addie built:).

Friday, December 5, 2014

December 4th

Baked Treats for our neighbours, firemen and policemen.







Wednesday, December 3, 2014

December 3rd

Our day was filled with reading, hot cocoa, sugar cookies, cleaning up Lego, cutting snowflakes and just enjoying being at home.



Perhaps I should try teaching Kiersten how to hold scissors properly. She's left handed, like Elyssia, and we're still learning how to help them with certain challenges they have. They do quite well, considering that Scott, Garrison, Caleb, Adelaide and I are all right handed:).

We also had haircuts for 2 shaggy boys, trims for little girls that had hair in their eyes, a warm bath for the little people and snuggles with more books to finish it all off. We missed having Scott home this evening, but we're sure that he enjoyed some nice food at the Legion Christmas Party!

Tomorrow we'll share pictures of yummy treats that we're baking for the neighbors!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014