Thanksgiving

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home. Grandma Darlene came up and ate with us which thrilled the boys. You'd have thought Nathaniel hadn't seen her in weeks instead of a week the way he greeted her with hugs as she came through the door. Joshua, too.

Brian and I, after having "done" Thanksgiving all on our own for the past couple of years, have it down now. While I did dishes and got the rolls started and the turkey in the oven, he cleaned the living room (with "help" from the boys) and bathrooms. Then he peeled all the potatoes and made the stuffing and gravy. We had everything done at the same time - a miracle! And we were sitting down to eat at 2:10 pm...pretty dang close to the 2 o'clock we'd thought. We ate early so we'd have plenty of time for pie later...and so Grandma could drive home before it got too dark.

We took a few pictures...but I'm still trying to learn how to use the new camera so the lighting is not the greatest...I forgot to turn the flash on...whoops. So when I go to print them for scrapbooking, I decided I'd do them in black and white...they look pretty good that way.

We hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. With all the ups and downs we've had this year, there is still so much to be thankful for!

Our Joshua

A week ago this past Sunday was our ward's Primary Program. Joshua had two parts in it, as well as singing several songs. Grandma plays piano in primary, so she knew how well he'd been doing in the practices. We were a little nervous though being as in last year's program he ran off the stand in tears and hasn't wanted to sing with the kids at any time when they'd been asked to sing in Sacrament Meeting. Well, I don't know if it's moving, or growing up or what, but he did wonderfully! He had both of his parts memorized, but still opened up the paper he'd written one on so that he could read that. He sang all the songs and did this all with a big smile on his face. We were so happy (not to mention relieved!). He'd made a special invitation for his Great-Grandma Darlene to come up for the program. She wasn't too sure if she was going to come or not...it depended on the weather if she'd make the roughly 15 mile drive. Well, it was a cold foggy morning, but she still came. Joshua was so excited to have her there in the congregation with the rest of us.

All of the children had been asked to draw pictures for the program covers. We snagged several of Joshua's to send to Grandpa Val and Great-Grandma Donna & Great-Grandpa Ken and to Bishop & Sister Oliver. I made sure to keep one for his scrapbook too...he did a great job with his picture. He loves to draw...his favorite things to draw right now are horses and he does a pretty good job at that.

Joshua is enjoying first grade and is thriving. At his parent conference earlier this month we were pleased to talk with his teacher and hear how well he is doing. He's reading at an end of 2nd grade level already and LOVES to read. He does accelerated reading tests every week in the library (it's a program that after the kids read a book, they take a test on the computer). For that he reads books that range anywhere from a 2.5 to a 4.1 grade level and has a 94% overall on that (he's done 7 books). He's also doing quite well in math and has learned to not only count by 1s & 2s but also 5s and 10s and can count for AGES in all these ways. They've been working on doubles (3+3, 8+8, etc) in math lately. I got to have fun last Monday and sub in his class for a short time. Both Joshua & I survived this experience (as well as his classmates), so hopefully his teacher will use me again when she's going to be gone.

A lazy Sunday afternoon...

Nathaniel's latest "fun" is to pour water (or whatever liquid he can get a hold of) from one vessel to another. And he does not care what he's pouring from or into. He'll dump his milk into his plate. He'll dump his food into his cup. You get the picture. Well, this afternoon, he had a cup of water that Grandma had left out & Grandpa had put up, but not quite enough to be out of his reach. He honestly was trying to put it on the end table, but missed by a foot or two and started to spill it in Grandma's chair. Instead of righting his wrong, and his cup, he grinned at me and dumped the rest of the cup in her chair. I gave him a light swat, grabbed his sleepers that were on the floor and sopped up most of the water and then took him in and put him on his bed. Then I got a towel and dried up the rest of the water. He never got off of his bed...which was a surprise. Grandma walked down the hall a few minutes later and peaked in his room and this is what she found:

After I took the picture, I did flip him around so he was sleeping more comfortably. He slept for about 2 and a half hours. Waking up about 4:30. Yeah, he'll be up for awhile tonight! Luckily, I also chose to take a nap during this time period - trying to get rid of a headache - so I'll be able to stay up with him while Brian does homework and everyone else goes to bed.

Tomorrow is my first day of subbing. I use the term "day" loosely...Monday's are their short days here and school gets out at 1:10. They have lunch from 11:45 to around 12:30...my "day" will start at 11:30. But it's Joshua's class that I'll be subbing in. I've only subbed once...that was for the Spanish teacher at the high school here 11.5 years ago, shortly after I came home from Spain and right after I got my California credential. All I did was hand out a quiz and show a video. This will be a bit different. It's been 6 1/2 years since I've taught...I'm rather nervous.

I reread one of my favorite books this week, Sunshine & Shadow by Earlene Fowler - thank you, Raini! She was reading it earlier this week and I told her it was my favorite of the series and just had to pull it down and read it again. I've loved mysteries since I read Mom's Bobbsey Twin books in second grade. Trixie Belden was my favorite (and Raini's) when we were kids. The week before I had Nathaniel, I finally took suggestions from someone on the Trixie Belden board and ordered the first few books in Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper series from the library. I took the first one to the hospital with me and read it while waiting for the pitocin to kick in and get Nathaniel on his way, since he wasn't deciding to come on his own. Thus began my foray into the world of cozy-mysteries - how had I gone so many years without knowing about them! I've read books from probably a dozen cozy series in the past 2 plus years now, but the Benni Harper books remain my favorite. In Sunshine & Shadow I love how she flashed back to a time in Benni's past that, unknown to her at the time, would greatly affect her life later. Of course, being an author and being in charge of your characters' lives (to a degree), that is easy. But each time I've read this book (I think this makes time #3) I pause and look back at different events in my life, even ones that seem mundane & trivial, and realize how they have had an effect on my life now. She also has a nice commentary on faith in a conversation between Benni & her friend & minister, Mac, which made me think quite a bit. So, if you're looking for a new series, this is a pretty good one...all the titles are names of quilts which is also fun. Here's Earlene Fowler's website: earlenefowler.com

One last thing...here's the recipe for the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies I mentioned in another post...I had a request for it and that reminded me that I'd been going to post it here:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 c. butter or margarine, softened
¾ c. sugar
¾ c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
1 c. solid-pack pumpkin
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cream cheese frosting, optional

Preheat oven to 350°. Line pans with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.

Beat butter, sugars and vanilla in large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Add pumpkin and mix well. Add dry ingredients gradually. Mix in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 9 to 11 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets about 3 minutes and then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

If desired, frost with cream cheese frosting. Or, make cookies smaller (teaspoon) and sandwich frosting between two cookies to make sandwich cookies.

Veteran's Day Program

We had the opportunity to go to the elementary school this morning and watch their tribute to our veterans. Unfortunately, Grandpa Bruce had to work & couldn't make it, but many other veterans were there today to be honored. The kindergarten through 3rd grades sang "Yankee Doodle" - here's a clip:

Then we all stood & recited the "Pledge of Allegiance" and sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee".

The intermediate choir sang 3 songs...I'd never heard them. One was called "American Tears" and was very moving. It was neat to see Joshua in such a wonderful tribute to the men & women who helped to keep our country free. I look forward to other programs that he'll participate in here.

More fun with Nathaniel

I hit publish before I remembered that I'd wanted to post a few more "Naniel" moments from the last week or so. One of his new joys in life is "bubbles"...no, not blowing them with a bubble wand...he's decided washing dishes is really fun. He started out by "helping" Grandma. Today, he helped me. What he really likes is the bubbles as well as the water. Right now he's fascinated with pouring water from one vessel to another - cups, bowls, you name it.

On Tuesday mornings, the Relief Society here has a Sewing Group (yay, actually doing the small interest groups...but that's a different story)...it's kind of like my Girls' Night was. There were three other women there - one just plain sewing and two doing quilting sewing. I did a little scrapbooking and the worked on my knitting. Anyway, Nathaniel had a blast playing with his friend Jane (she's about a year younger than he is). We were at the Church for almost 4 hours. He was pretty tired when we were finished. We got home at nearly two...he was exhausted. I can now say that I've seen someone drop in the tracks. I carried him through the door (throwing a fit because he'd wanted to stay in the car) and set him down. Then I went and put my stuff down and talked to Brian a bit. After about five minutes I realized that Nathaniel hadn't followed me. When I went back out to the living room, this is what I found.

He was dripping sweat inside his raincoat...and he hadn't moved an inch from where I'd set him down, just kind of collapsed. He slept on the floor (I did move him out of the doorway) for close to two hours!

These are some pictures from last Wednesday...he was helping me make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (our new favorite cookie!)

Fun with Nathaniel

Nathaniel is a character...there's really no other way to describe this sweet little boy! Today, shortly before we headed down to the elementary school for the Veteran's Day program, Brian called me out to the living room. There was Nathaniel with his Tickle Me Elmo, a diaper and some pajamas. He'd decided that Elmo needed to get dressed. Brian had been doing homework and looked up and out marched Nathaniel with the "supplies" he needed to get Elmo ready. I helped him get the diaper on, and then saw the PJs. So I hurried back to our room for the camera and when I came back out, Nathaniel was over with Daddy getting some help with the PJs for Elmo. Now, these are Nathaniel size PJs, so they were a mite bit LARGE for poor little giggly Elmo. But Daddy made them work.

Nathaniel cracked me up as he peaked up the leg of the jammies looking for Elmo's foot.

After Daddy did the near, and got Elmo dressed in Nathaniel's pajamas, our two cuties, decided to get back to serious business...watching Clifford!

Veteran's Day Parade

Something new (for me) in our little town is the Veteran's Day Parade that is held the Saturday before Veteran's Day. From what my mom said, it something that they did when SHE was a kid, but when I was a kid it wasn't done. This was their 7th or 8th year (depending on who you listen to) of doing it. Mom, the boys and sat on the curb along Main Street and watched the parade - Dad was marching in it with the American Legion.

The Cub Scout & Boy Scout troops from our Ward marched in it, and their were a few groups of horses (the boys LOVED that), some Christian motorcycle group, FFA & 4-H, and veterans from WW II era up to present day. Two girls (I guess I should say women) that were freshman when I was a senior were in it as both are now veterans.

Etna City Hall

Overall it was a neat experience...and luckily it didn't rain. The sidewalk wasn't even that damp where we were sitting, just cold!

Snow pictures!

Well, it snowed for 4.5 hours or more. And it did stick. By about 1 o'clock, it switched to rain and most has melted. Brian had to go to COS for a test and as he drove over the mountain to Yreka, he discovered that there was about 6 inches at the top of the mountain and quite a bit more on the Yreka side than on our side. I hope it doesn't get too cold before he drives home from class at 9 tonight so that the roads aren't too slick for him. We probably ended up with close to an inch - most of which has melted by now.

The pond across the street

The front yard

Looking down the street

Looking up the street (behind the gray are the mountains)

My car

The front steps

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About half an hour ago, Mom looked outside and said, "I don't believe it! It's snowing!" And sure enough, it's been spitting snow for about half an hour. It's not sticking, thank goodness. And the flakes are pretty tiny. But we are experiencing our first snow. Once we explained to Nathaniel what it was, he ran to tell Brian & Joshua. That sure speeded up Joshua's getting ready for school process! It was around 30 last night and the cars froze up with all the rain & moisture from last night. So as things are starting to warm up, we're getting the snow. If the clouds & fog lift enough, I'll be able to get pictures of the mountains and can post our little bit of snow. The boys are excited, none of the grown-ups are that excited :)

Joshua's Last Soccer Game

Last Monday, October 27th, was Joshua's final soccer game. It was a crazy afternoon and Daddy didn't make it to the game because we'd been working at organizing some storage and it took much longer than planned. Nathaniel had stayed home with Grandma, so it was just Mommy & Joshua.

Joshua was glad that it was the last game (he'd watched a friend's flag football game the week before and decided that looked like more fun for next year). He was also glad because he got to start as goalie which is his favorite position to play. Joshua's team, the Sharks, tried hard, but they had the least amount of players of all the teams and I think the less-experienced. Thankfully, they never kept score at any of the games!

After the game, they had a little end of season party with snacks and their coach handed out their trophies. Joshua thought his trophy would be bigger, but he was still pretty pleased with it - especially since it had his name on it!

Joshua & his coach, Lindsey