End of 2017 - Surgery, Christmas, and New Year's Eve

We listen to books in the car all the time. Over the past year, we have listened to books about all kinds of topics. I picked a book for me instead of the boys called "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough. Hurricane would say repeatedly that he wasn't listening to the book because he thought it wasn't interesting. When we finished the book, Hurricane said, "Well that was a good book except for the parts I didn't listen to." We laughed really hard.

Sweetheart and I have started to workout in the morning. I have been sore and went to get acupuncture. I did it the day of the boys' class parties. I was really sore from the cupping that the acupuncturist did. That was a mistake on my part.

The 3rd grade has 3 classrooms. As parents we arranged to have 3 different activities- one for each of the classrooms. The activities were making an ornament snowman filled with shredded paper that they put a face on and a gumdrop star in one room, games and trivia in another room, and in the third room they played Dance Dance revolution and made Christmas trail mix. The children had a lot of fun. Let me tell you that shredded paper will clog a vacuum cleaner really quickly. We had to unclog it twice.

The 5th Grade made 2 crafts. They made a string star in one room and a marshmallow pyramid that was a competition to build the tallest one. After the craft and competition, they played Minute to Win It games. The favorite game was to take an Oreo from the forehead to your mouth using only your facial muscles. They would laugh and laugh.

Sweetheart went to his annual check up and was told he had a deviated septum. (Total Side Note: I think that we should continue to call them well child check ups. It's the same concept.) He followed up with a specialist who confirmed that his left nostril was mostly blocked and scheduled surgery for the end of the year.

His logic was to recover on his time off between Christmas and New Year's Day. Ironically his sister had the same surgery the day before which gave him insight into what would happen. When he woke up from the surgery, he said he could breath through his left nostril. He did what the doctor said to do and recovered over the week. He did remarkably well.

The evening of the surgery a family in our ward hosted a Talent Show. The boys are taking piano from the son of the family. This was their Winter Recital. They did a good job. I had to run back and forth to help Sweetheart change his bandages and attend the recital. At the end Hurricane played a melody of songs on the recorder. The Bishop brought them home as I had to step out to help Sweetheart again.

On Christmas Eve we went to a lunch at the DeMonbrun's home and then attended church. The boys wanted to go to bed early that night and were so excited for the 3 Kings to come.

They made a nativity with Legos.

We have a rule that no one can leave their room until 7 am. Hurricane started screaming at 6:10 am. The boys came downstairs, and we opened gifts.

We were invited to breakfast at the Eckert's home. Omelets and sweet rolls were delicious. We came home to rest for a bit. We were invited for supper at a ward member's home. We felt very blessed. I came exhausted that night.

With Sweetheart's surgery preparation, he had to have allergy testing to rule out the option of allergy treatment. We learned that Sweetheart is allergic to nuts, a latex panel (latex, bananas, avocados, kiwis), wheat, corn, and most of the native trees and grasses. We are really glad that we put in wood flooring in our bedroom. Sweetheart asked the boys and I to have allergy testing done. We all went for a blood draw, and everyone did well until Hurricane had to have his blood drawn 3 times. He tried so hard to be brave.

Sweetheart got to play games with friends a few times over the break. He was so thrilled.

New Year's Eve was spent with the Eckert family. We had food, played games, and welcomed in a NYC Midnight.

We came home and heard fireworks throughout the night and toasted the New Year together.

*****

Cub Scouts at the Fire Station

Hurricane driving the fire truck. 

He's even buttoned up and belted in.

Hurricane is ready to put out a fire.

It looks like hurricane is trying to kill the fire.

Sweetheart's Surgery

Celebrating Grandpa Hoggan's Life with His Favorite Treat

A Pile of Perfect Snowballs

Perfect Snowball

Christmas Day

Goofing Around

Goofing Around

Goofing Around

Lego Nativity

A VERY FULL Inn

Three Wise Men on Star Wars Speeders

Christmas Goodies

Christmas Goodies

A Bow

A Heritage Item

 Christmas Gift

Christmas Pajamas

 New Year's Cracker Prize

New Year's King

A Fox in the Neighbor's Yard

Concert, Tux, and Basketball - Week 68-69

Underfoot and Hurricane were lucky to have the scripture and talk in Primary on the same Sunday. The theme for the month is Jesus Christ the Son of God. Hurricane decided to read the definition in the Bible Dictionary on the Son of God. Underfoot prepared a talk about how Jesus Christ was born and how Mary was his mother and Joseph was his guardian and the choices Joseph made by trusting God.


Underfoot had his violin concert. He wanted to continue to play the violin this year, but his school didn't offer an after school program at the beginning of the year because they got a new music teacher.

He continued with the same school program he started with next year. He did a great job at the concert. He brought 3 different shirts to pick between to have the most appropriate shirt.

The same night as the concert we had Pack Meeting. We made it to the beginning to have our responsibilities. Underfoot was in a skit, and I had to pass out the awards for the Bear den. The Bear den also was in charge of the flag ceremony.

Underfoot finished his basketball season without getting hurt!

We are so happy that he tired the sport. He is going to play again the spring with his brother on the same team.

He and his brother will be attending a basketball camp over Christmas per suggestion of a good friend.

Sweetheart's company had their Holiday Party.

A coworker suggested that they have an ugly sweater contest. As we looked for one, he found one called Tux the mascot for a computing language called Linux.

He ordered a sweater that didn't come in time. We spent the Saturday before making a Tux with felt and LED lights. His sweater was recognized immediately.

At the party, we had a chance to catch up with friends that moved to Denver.

The boys joined a club at school called Battle of the Books. The club has students read books and come together usually in groups to demonstrate their abilities and to test their knowledge of the books they have read. There are 2 different teams for their grades. They each have to read 10 books for their clubs. We learned last week that they made the teams. They will start to compete in February.

I am the room mother for both boys' classrooms. The classrooms do a combined party with the other classrooms. We planned a craft, snacks, and games for each classroom. The classes will be doing Minute-to-Win-It games, String Yarn Star, Gumdrop Toothpick Stars, Marshmallow Tower Building, Snowman Ornament with a clear ball, and popcorn trail mix. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun this coming Thursday.

Be Well!

*****

Butter Cookies with an old Cookie Press

We got really tired on a Friday night.

The boys cuddled with me, and we all fell asleep.

Basketball Game

Basketball Game

 Mexican Nativity from my Parents

 Four Nights of Hanukkah

 Telling Goof Stories while Wearing Funny Glasses

Settlers of Catan

Two Days Worth of Advent Candy

Random Picture on my Phone

Thanksgiving and Other Happenings - Week 66-67

Sweetheart writes:

For Thanksgiving we met Wendy's parents in Steamboat Springs. (Thank you Mom and Dad Locey for making that possible!) Wendy did some research on the town and learned that the United Way every year hosts a community Thanksgiving feast. The community donates cooked turkeys, potatoes, rolls, salads, and desserts.

We decided it would be fun to participate. We showed up about an hour before the food was served and stayed for about 4 hours. We did everything from wrap plastic utensils to serve food. Wendy and the boys helped cut and plate desserts. The table holding the pie was filled to capacity.

It was so warm that we ate our Thanksgiving dinner outside. In the end, 800 people came through the line for Thanksgiving dinner. For a community of 12000 residents, that's a significant number. It was great to be a part of it.

We had a great time visiting with Wendy's parents. Jill brought her recorder and the boys joined her in a concert.

Kirky brought his trumpet as well. Hurricane has had quite a bit of interest in learning how to play the trumpet, and it was a perfect time to try out the trumpet. Hurricane has taken to playing the recorder.

It is a requirement for his music class. He has passed off 10 songs already through at program called Recorder Karate. He loves to play.

He plays in the morning, after school, in the car when he can, and in the evening.

A few weeks ago Wendy and I saw the doctor for our annual visits. We are both deficient in Vitamin D. Every day I now spend 10 minutes in the sunshine. I've also started exercising with Wendy in the mornings at the Gym. We leave before the boys wake up and are back about the time for them to wake up. I hate to swim, but it is good exercise and Wendy loves it. When we're not swimming, we do the elliptical machines. I like the rowing machine. Wendy likes the bicycle machine and tries other machines.

At work I've been learning a new programing language called JavaScript. It has nothing to do with another programming language named Java. JavaScript is the most despicable programming language ever. It does not have clearly defined rules. It is used a lot on web pages.

Wendy and I have been singing in the Choir at church. One of my biggest regrets from High School is not having the courage to learn how to sing. I wish I knew how to read music and hold a tune. I think I'm a baritone, which means I can't always follow the tenor line or the bass line.

On the home front we are finally feeling settled in Parker. Our house still has lots of things we'd like to change, but it is beginning to feel like our home. On Friday evening I spent several hours rewiring the whole house humidifier from 110v to 220v. It works a lot better now. The next task is to install spring loaded dampers on all the bathroom vents to keep the cold air out and the humidity in.

Underfoot has been playing basketball on a league at the local Rec Center. We are very proud of him. He is playing with other boys who have been playing for years and this is his first time. He scored his first basket during his first game. He works hard and we are please to see his enthusiasm.

I've been reading a book about John Browning. He invented a lot of different types of guns in the 1800s and early 1900s. It has been interesting to learn about his life and his experiences.

*****

 This was our supper before Thanksgiving.

French Toast, Blueberries, Caramel Syrup, and Hot Chocolate

 Rabbit Ears Pass Sunset

Pie Delivery - 

He was very concerned about the pie not being out to the public. 

He asked the organizer if another table could be set up. 

She told him no. He then went to the other organizer and asked her for a table. 

Again he was told no.

The table was never empty.

 He helped.

 A bigger portion of the pie table.

Hurricane is trying out the trumpet.

A horse in downtown Steamboat Springs

 A horse in downtown Steamboat Springs

 Hanging out with Ben Franklin downtown.

Underfoot had been wiggling a tooth for about a week.

I finally took Mommy Privledge and asked to wiggle it.

I gave it a shove and out came the tooth.

He has completed all the belt and is working on 1st degree black belt.

 The curly vines on top of the pumpkin were amazing.