Countdown to Christimas Fun

 I like to try and take the last few days before Christmas to just do fun things around here. It rarely works out that way, but I do try. 

We started by making some dinner to go bags. Everyone grabbed a bag and we drove around looking at Christmas lights. Everyone may be smiling in the photo but truth be told.... Will was mad we weren't 'eating out' (his favorite past time) and Amy being a semi-moody teenager, wasn't thrilled about it either. But Lee, Tyler and myself enjoyed the trip.

 

 

The next day we had a Soda taste test. They had to drink it and guess the flavor. Making them taste things I know are going to be gross is one of my favorite things to do. I'm evil like that. There were a few doozies.

The flavors I made them try were: Cream Soda, Bacon (which they all got right away even though it was disgusting), Birthday Cake, Dirt, Root Beer, Cotton Candy, Cinnamon Red Hots and Green Apple.) They were able to guess most of them. I think Lee had the most right.... his answers were hilarious though. Unfortunately I probably can't post them. 

At this point, the kids had half a week of school left. But then they shut it down and went to distance learning for the last 3 days. That worked for the most part, but was stressful in other ways. One child in particular wasn't really "on board" with this whole process. But that's ok, we got through it. The "use pots and pans to make your own music" assignment from the music teacher was a particular favorite. (insert eye roll.)

On the 2nd day of at-home school, Tyler got sick. A few days later it was Amy, and then myself. We are still struggling through that. It's not COVID, but just a really bad cold. We are ready for it to be over. 

In the meantime, a friend send the cutest package. She's so creative. I took pictures so I could remember. This one was Chinese themed.

The 'magic' fortune cookies had $2 bills in them. It was so cute! And we've been playing the Sushi Go game almost daily.

Our history loving boy, Will, loved seeing the back of the $2 bill which is a picture of the guys signing the Declaration of Independence.

 

 

Speaking of history.... I should also mention that before the kids school was cancelled, they had a spirit week set up. One of the dress-up days was "Decade Day." Tyler wanted to dress in 80's clothing- which was great. (This kid loves a vest!) And Will.... well, he wanted to dress-up like a Revolutionary War hero. Yep, you read that right. His "decade" was around 1770. I was scrambling on how in the world to come up with THAT costume in December. I have to say, when we got the call that school was cancelled the first thing I said was "Thank you COVID." It certainly made my life a lot easier! But I do love that he loves history. Maybe next October I should start stocking up on costumes???

I can't remember why Lee was being silly. But it makes us all laugh when he is.

We had a family Christmas zoom call. It was fun to see most all of the family.

 

 

We went outside to look at the Christmas Star (aka Jupiter and Saturn) it was pretty cool. 

Our sweet neighbor Bob made these cool kaleidoscopes for the kids. And out of the prettiest wood! It was really special.

And we'll leave this post with photos of everyone sitting on sick mom. Two days down is about all they can handle. The dog licking Amy's face grosses me out but cracks me up at the same time.

More December Fun

 Marty likes to snuggle in the tightest spots, mainly on the couch. We long ago gave up on keeping him off. But it's kind of helpful in the winter because he keeps you warm!

I really want to learn more about Jewish traditions so we decided to celebrate Hanukkah. Well, sort of. I couldn't actually find anyone Jewish to teach us (in time- I have since found someone.) And when I looked at the stores I couldn't find a menorah.... so don't actually show anyone Jewish,but I made my own. I really don't want to offend anyone in the actual faith, but it was all I could do at the moment. I also made latkes for dinner. We watched a few videos of "this is what Hanukkah is" on youtube and called it a day. The same night, I knew everyone didn't just want to eat latkes, so I tossed in some frozen egg rolls and we finished the night by reading the last chapter of the Book of Mormon. Yep, it was an across the world night at the Wade household. We'll be better prepared next year!

Amy is always playing some kind of game with Marty. She makes his growl and he sounds ferocious! But she told me that when dogs sneeze while playing its them saying "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. We are just having fun." (I actually didn't believe her so I looked it up, and she's right.) 

 I got rid of my orange Master Gardener Intern Badge and ........

 

 

And got my green permanent one!  I was pretty excited! Out of our class of 30, only 10 of us certified this year. Granted COVID had a lot to do with it, but I was pretty excited for all of us.

They even presented me with the "Newcomer Award." It's the intern that best excels at enthusiasm, excitement, who jumps into anything, and a whole lot of other really nice things they said about me. I guess one person gets it every year. In the gardening world we don't get a plaque- we get a birdhouse and seeds! Which is just perfect. (I actually felt bad for one guy as I do think he deserves it more than me, but I can't change it, so I'll just be honored they gave it to me.)

I can't remember what they were doing here..... I guess opening an advent gift.

It stared with Will who found the video camera. Then it moved onto Tyler who videotapes us all the time. I have to admit, it's kept them quite busy!

Sweet Adeline sent Amy and myself some fun, warm socks. 

This was just a gift I wrapped for Lee's secretary. She loves Harry Potter and her family is going to universal after Christmas, so we bought her a gift card to use there. It's wrapped in the HP outfit.

A friend sent me a book and Will decided to read it on our way home from school. He's not really a reader, so I had to take a picture to prove it.

While the kids were at school, I was wrapping gifts upstairs. Marty follows me everywhere so this made me laugh. He curled up on some random blankets while I was wrapping. He's like my 4th child.

Will's Game, SNOW and Our 2020 Tree

Will created a game for us one night. He had post-it notes all around the house and we had to do whatever he wrote. If we did it correctly, we got to keep it as a point. Whomever had the most points, won. It was fun. He had things like read a book, jump up and down, hug someone, all sorts of stuff.

Then we had SNOW. I couldn't believe it. They say it all the time, but I never believe them. It snowed pretty hard (for us anyway) all day. I think this actually happened on Nov 30th. So if we get snow, it definitely doesn't happen THAT early!

This was a really cool cloud one morning It's called a shelf cloud.

Many days I take Marty to pick up the kids. He absolutely loves it. So yes, I've become that person in the pickup line with my dog. He gets so excited when he sees the kids. His tail just goes crazy.

Lee found a really great MTSU store. It's locally owned and they have just about anything you could ever want at really great prices. We bought Christmas gifts for the kids. :)

Then we got a lot of RAIN. We have a one-lane bridge near our house. There are signs about it flooding, but in the summer there is sometimes a small trickle of water. So people always ask us if it really does flood. The answer is yes. (The bridge is about 5-6 feet up from the normal water level)

Then it was time for a Christmas Tree! We headed to our usual tree spot- Lowes! And picked out a nice Frasier Fur.

 So 2020, right? (with masks!)

Ah, the good old trusty van! I'm always hoping she makes it one more year! :) 

Tree decorated. Kid dressed as an elf.... Christmas is upon us!