Let it Snow-Christmas 2016

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I don’t know that I have EVER managed to blog Christmas before January and since I have been notoriously late in posting lately, I am hoping to redeem myself by blogging Christmas early!  Well, early-ish. Most of this post was finished before January 1st.  No Really!  But I wanted to add a few more things and so you are getting it on January 2nd. Enjoy!

This year, to retain my tween and teen’s flagging interest in our “Christmas picture book a day” tradition we had them read some of them.  It worked great! 
This picture is a small miracle, let me tell you.
 The reading of the Grinch.  
You can see the legendary reading skills exhibited on the reader’s face.
We jazzed up the family Christmas party this year with Christmas carols at the piano, a rousing white elephant gift exchange and candy cane pie (which took me hours to make and which I will never be making again. I learned something about myself.  I am not a culinary artist and have no desire to be one.  Food should not take that long to make, I don’t care how good it is.)

The favorite gift; a NOEL sign that was missing the L!!!!
Reagan also performed a few of his songs for us on the cello but I forgot to video tape it, so here is a repeat performance.
 
Cade was supposed to perform his awesome Joy to the World piano number but he missed the family party because he was sick. This was not Cade’s year.  On Christmas Eve he got a horrible crick in his neck and walked around cockeyed until the day after Christmas when we could finally get him into a chiropractor.  But here is his piece from his piano recital.
Two days before Christmas we got the gift of snow!
Heart Pain
Liberty sewed me a gift all by herself for Christmas this year. She was very proud and so excited to give it to me she could hardly contain herself.  I was not allowed to help with it and so was not there to make sure the needle got put away.  The next day when I remembered, I asked her if she had put the needle away and she sheepishly looked at me and said, “I couldn’t find it, Mommy.” Sigh. Well I found it that night…with my toe.  I don’t know how many of you have stepped on a sewing needle and had it go an inch into your toe, but I would not recommend it.  
This was her cute, but painful gift:



The Best Peppermint Bark
Every year I make peppermint bark to give to all our friends and this year as Liberty sat watching me she said, “Mom, you make the BEST peppermint bark!”  In a rare channeling of Rock, I said, “Yes I do!”  She was so shocked to hear that kind of thing come out of my mouth that she looked at me stunned and then said, “Well, how do you KNOW it’s the best?  They could make better peppermint bark somewhere in the world like…. China!”  
I laughed so hard to think of the mostly non Christian Chinese making peppermint bark for Christmas.
Christmas Eve
Cast members Mary and Joseph 
After taking a leave of absence last year to play the angel, 
Miss Hymas returned this year in the starring role.  
Well, runner up starring role.
The rest of the cast was so out of control by this point that I did not get their picture.
Christmas Eve gifts
If only I’d been able to get Reagan’s face on camera as he opened this oh so appropriate gift. 
It was priceless!

Christmas Morning

Santa left the most exciting gifts for the boys this year in their stockings. 
 Ipods to play games on for the younger two and a Nintendo DS for Reagan.    
This opens a whole new realm of opportunities for conflict between parents and children around rules and regulations that I am dreading, but I’m hoping we can survive this new level of electronics.  
Wish us luck.
We did something a little different with the passing out of presents under the tree this year.  Usually Rock picks them out and hands them to each person in turn.  But this year we let the kids give out their own gifts to others.   It totally changed their focus from getting to giving.  It was awesome!
Cade, demonstrating how his gift to Levi worked.   
This rubik’s snake was a hit.  Levi loved it and hardly put it down the rest of the morning.
Other fun gifts this year:
Grandparent gifts are always a hit.  (thanks to mom/grandma teamwork)
Yes, she is still wearing her new earmuffs hours after finding them in her stocking.  

Cool brain game that was the only thing interesting enough to draw 
Levi’s attention away from the rubic’s snake.
Rock’s gift from the kids, a weight bench.  Let’s face it, it is a gift to me too.  😉
Levi-still playing with the snake….
  
Later that evening my family came over to exchange gifts.  
This was my favorite gift to give this year.
Libby was thrilled with her twin Alli gift from Grandma. 
After Christmas activities:
Aunt Alli was THRILLED to be able to help Levi and Liberty build their gingerbread 
house and can’t wait to do it with her own kids someday.
I personally love the way Levi looks on with pride at his accomplishment.
On New Year’s eve Liberty asked me how much longer till the party started.  I told her two hours and went about my business.  A little while later I saw her sitting by the door waiting for the company to arrive and heard her say under her breath, “Two hours…I can last that long..”  
And now it’s 2017!  Happy New Year!
Today as I took Christmas down I fulfilled one last tradition I didn’t realize I had.  We never seem to have time to listen to one of my favorite Christmas albums; The Forgotten Carols by Michael McClean. I would love to share the stories and songs with my kids, but we have many traditions already and that one just hasn’t fit in yet during our busy season.  So for the last few years as I take Christmas down, I play the Forgotten Carols while I work…and cry.  “I cry the day that I take the tree down…”  I cry as I listen because I’m sad Christmas is over, but more because of the message the songs bring.  The Savior lives.  He was born in a stable and died for me on a cross.  I am overwhelmed by that sweet knowledge as I take off the ornaments and put away the garland. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ.  I love him and I love the holiday season when we honor him. And I want to live my life like him this new year. Today as I sniffled through my work Cade asked me what was wrong.  I just smiled through my tears and said, “Nothing’s wrong. Nothing at all.” 

Ballet, Braces, and a Birthday

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Early in December Liberty and I went to the Nutcracker Ballet again.  I think we might make this a tradition!  Afterward they had a little tea party and some fun things for the girls to do.

A red carpet entrance to the tea party

Face painting

Fun day with my girl!
Reagan got his braces off on December 14th!  Woohoo!  One kid down, three to go!

Also this month was Levi’s 9th birthday.  
Levi is selfless and kind.  He is always helping other kids on the playground or giving up something so his siblings can have it instead.  He is obedient.  Sometimes it is shocking to me how good he is at following instructions.  Many boys have to be asked to do something more than once, but with Levi, once is usually enough.  He’s also a protective and responsible big brother, always looking out for Liberty, making sure she gets home safe from school.  
We love our sweet boy!

November in December

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I blogged October in November so I figured I might as well do November in December.  
Before I get into Thanksgiving, we must take a moment to recognize that Levi earned his Wolf badge.  He has a spectacular den mother, what can I say.  
😉

Just before Thanksgiving this little pilgrim and her lego pilgrim village came to see me.  

We spent Thanksgiving in Grand Junction with Rock’s parents this year.
The 10 hour trip was uneventful and pleasant. Modern technology was definitely on 
my grateful list this year.
In a gas station somewhere in Utah we found this Twix bar the size of Liberty!
I would have bought it if it hadn’t cost more than the gas!
~Pretend there are some pictures here from our actual Turkey Day.~  
Musings on Pie
Apparently I did not take any pictures that day, which is strange because I was not busy.  One of the things on my grateful list that day was that I did not have to host/make Thanksgiving dinner.  🙂 But lest you think I sat around with the men watching football all day, I will tell you that I did contribute two chocolate pies.  One for me and one for my kids.  See, the Hymas family and I have an understanding. They don’t like my chocolate pie very much-they are purists and want only pumpkin or fruit. (I learned this the first year we were married when I made my chocolate pie and nobody ate it but me.)  But I don’t like their pies very much either so it’s ok.  Don’t get me wrong, they make very yummy pies, I am just not a pie person.  I don’t come from a pie loving family.  Well, my father is a pie lover but has lived forty some odd years without pie because my mother is not a pie person. I got my mom’s taste buds I guess because I only like one kind of pie; French Silk Chocolate pie.  So when we do Thanksgiving with my in-laws I make my chocolate pie and I’m happy and they make their bazillions of fruit pies and they are happy. It works out very nicely for all of us.  I do have to make two of my pies now because my kids have some of my Wesel blood in them and they like the French Silk, a lot.
Ok, enough with my pie ramblings.
I wanted to be grateful that no one broke themselves on the elliptical at G & G’s house, (Cade broke his arm on it two years ago) but I couldn’t be grateful for that this year because Reagan ran into it with his toe and we are pretty sure from the pain and pretty blue/green color that he broke it. Sigh. I know, my children’s coordination needs some work.
That night we played another rousing game of Apples to Apples-which I won.  I have to point that out because I rarely win games. It was also good to spend some quality time with Great Grandma Dot, who gave us a tour of her new living facility and was kind enough to let Libby borrow her pink bunny for a night. 
The day after Thanksgiving while the rest of the world shopped, we did what Hymas/Ropers do.  We hiked.  Well, it was not an actual hike, so much as a drive and some lookouts. But we enjoyed the beauties of the amazing Colorado mountains; Black Canyon to be precise.  It was the wrong time of day and year for pictures, but here’s what I got.
Levi LOVES snow. This pile of snow drew him like a magnet.  He wants to live in Alaska when he grows up so he can have snow year round. 

If you look close you can see our fearless teenager pushing the limits of his mother’s comfort.  
He was furious with me because I wouldn’t let him go out to the tip of that cliff ledge you see behind him. I have now officially entered that stage where my child thinks I’m stupid and spends much of his time mad at me.  Teenagers were not on my gratitude list this year.

This picture is in honor of my father, who, when I was around the same age, made me sit on the edge of a cliff for a picture.  I was terrified and still remember it vividly.  I’m sure I was just as safe as Libby is here, but she was just as worried.

Here are some professional pics to give you an idea of it’s real beauty.
Painted Rock
At the bottom of Painted Rock ( I believe)
Saturday we headed home. It was a good, quick trip. 
On our way home to Boise we stopped to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square.  Note to self: Never, ever, ever go to Temple Square on Thanksgiving weekend.  Never. 
WALL TO WALL PEOPLE.

And now we are half way through December.  
Hopefully I’ll get some of December blogged before we hit January.

Where did October Go??

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Somehow I have missed an entire month of blogging!  Time to catch up.  I’m going to attempt October in ONE blog post.  Can she do it, folks?  Let’s find out.

The Pumpkin Patch

The headrest
The corn box
You’ll notice there are no pictures of Reagan this time.  He decided to head off on his own to the “Unique Pumpkin” patch and so I never really got a good picture of him.  But here he is with his Green “unique” pumpkin on carving night.
Finished Product: A Creeper Pumpkin
 Levi spent almost the entire pumpkin carving night just trying to find the right pattern.  
I begged and pleaded with him to just give up and do a normal pumpkin face.  
But would have none of it.  Sigh.
Five minutes before bedtime he did finally decide on a regular face.  On his own. 
When will I learn to save my breath?

Cade decided to do just eyes this year.
Finished Products

The carvers were all too wiggly by this point to make for a non blurry picture, 
so you only get the pumpkins.

Reagan’s Birthday
After the pumpkin patch but before Halloween, Reagan turned the big 14!  
Yes, girls, he can now go to dances.  I’m having a very hard time with this one.  
Lucky for me, so is he!  

After the Pumpkin Patch but before Reagan’s birthday and before I had purchased their Halloween costumes, Liberty and Levi dressed up for their school Harvest Festival.
Personally I thought these costumes were darling and I wanted them to stick with these.  
They were costumes we already had around the house.  
Unfortunately, frugality did not win the costume contest this year.  

Halloween!
Levi, the Dessert Storm soldier

“A Beautiful Butterfly” said the big fat caterpillar in A Bugs Life.

The back of the “Beautiful Butterfly”

The hairdo of the Beautiful Butterfly

The “Nerfer”
He had a big ol’ nerf gun strapped to his back, 
as well as an attitude about my taking his picture.
The only picture I got of Reagan’s costume was in the following video.  He was a Ranger from the book series The Rangers Apprentice.  He convinced us, well, he convinced Rock, to let him hide on the roof and throw candy down to the trick or treaters.  I had my doubts (and fears) which turned out to be right.  Because it was dark, it did not work out as he had hoped.  None of the kids knew there was candy falling from the sky unless it hit them in the face, which did not lead to happy trick or treaters or happy trick or treating parents.  Reagan is vowing to reevaluate and try again next year.  I am just hoping he forgets about it.
 

And that was October 2016!  Whew!

Positively Wonderful

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Another great man has gone from this earth.  Grandpa Leo Dean Hymas died almost two weeks ago. We will miss him.  He served his God and his country with all he had.  He was a patriot through and through.  He exuded that love for God and country like quite possibly no one I have ever known.  I am so grateful we can have such a wonderful hero to call our own.

Today I have another hero.  She is littler, but still a giant.  She never fought in a war, never made the cover of a magazine.  But Grandma Amy Hymas, is a hero to me.  She is someone I want to be like. Ever positive, ever happy, ever faithful.  This picture of Grandma holding the flag from Grandpa’s casket perfectly captures her positive, faithful, disposition.

She is positively wonderful.  

The Fair, The Fall, and The First Day of School

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All of those happen at the end of August.  Well, ok, fall doesn’t, but we are only just past the end of August and our leaves are starting to change.  And let’s be honest, I have a hard time resisting alliteration. Liberty could not contain herself today….

It’s never too early to rake leaves!
Welcome fall!
This year we have decided to put all the kids in public school. I have very mixed feelings about this decision.  If you had talked to me on the first day of school, you would have thought it was the end of the world.  That’s sort of how it felt.  My sister, Alli, knew that without my having to say it and sent me this beautiful bouquet that day to help me get through it.  
But it’s been two weeks now and I am coming to terms with it. This is the best thing for our kids and for me right now.  I had no idea how interrupted I have lived my life.  When I was planning my menu for the week or working out on the treadmill I kept waiting for someone to call my name and need me.  That loss is both good and bad.  I have been able to spend two weeks studying, praying, pondering-for hours at a time!  It has been healing and rejuvenating.  I need this right now and so does my family.  So all is well.
The First Day of School
Levi (3rd grade) was fairly nervous the first day but came home loving it.  He is now in the running for tether ball champion.  Liberty (1st grade) was so excited she could hardly stand it.  First day quotes from Liberty: “Today was about obeying.” When she wanted to walk home by herself and I wouldn’t let her she said, “Mom, I want to practice my braveness.” On her first day of PE she actually asked the teacher, Mrs. Mathy, if she could please call her Mrs. Taffy instead.  I am currently reading Anne of Green Gables and this girl of mine reminds me more and more of Anne every day.  She and Levi come home every day telling me about their new little playmates and adventures at school. Makes me happy to see my social butterflies so happy.
Cade-7th grade
Reagan-8th grade
Reagan and Cade slid right back into the school thing this year.  No dramas or traumas like last year. They know what they’re doing and they feel pretty cool about that fact.
Also the last week of August was the Southwestern Idaho Fair.  The older boys were at a church activity all day last Saturday so we took just the littles to the fair.  It was lots of fun.

They were fascinated with the fly traps near the cows.  
Yes, those are flies.  Yuck. 
I feel so sorry for cows.
And Liberty has now done something I’ve never done.  She milked a cow!  Unfortunately, when I made her turn and look at me for the picture, she missed the bucket and sprayed her leg!  Oops.

In other news this week that did not fit into my alliteration…
Liberty got her hair cut! Homeschooling has its advantages and one of them is that you don’t have to “do” your kid’s hair every stinking day.  So after one week of daily washing and styling for school, we chopped a bunch of her hair off.  She looked adorable, but hated it the first day.  She wouldn’t even smile for me when I tried to take a picture of it.  

But after getting compliments on it constantly, she has decided she likes it.

She and Levi were busy creating in and out of school this week.  

Liberty finished the blanket she started on vacation.
She was so excited and proud of this accomplishment.  
It is the perfect size for her stuffed Piggy. 
And Levi made his first pie.
It says LJH, trust me on this one.
We now have two kids in braces at our house.  Yippee. 
 I find little rubberbands all over my house, in my car, in my clothes, in my food.  I dream about elastics.  Sigh.  And the orthodontist wants to put Levi in braces too.  I think I will shoot myself.
And lastly, just a pretty picture from our peaceful FHE at a nearby park last week.  Ok, so it wasn’t all that peaceful, but this moment was.  And I guess FHE would have fit into my title alliteration, so I’ll end with it!

Summer Visitors

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We had some fun visitors at our house towards the end of the summer.  
Playing Jenga with G & G Hymas

And down it goes!
 Playing Carcassonne with Mike
Monica took the kids all over the world…on google earth.  Funnest game ever!

A walk on the Boise River trail

I didn’t get any pictures of Mike and Monica on this walk, but they were with us-and were very patient with our kid’s wanderings, I might add. 
We are so glad they stopped to see us on their way up to WA.  Come again, you two!

Rock took this picture of Reagan and Cade that night.  

I call this my Celestial Kingdom picture.
Someday, long in the future, these two boys will actually get along and maybe even like each other.
I pray for that every day.

Let’s Go to Liberty!

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Two years ago Rock’s family had a reunion in beautiful Ogden Valley, a hidden gem, in my opinion.  We have wanted to go back ever since and this month we did!  One of the small towns in the valley is named Liberty so we took advantage of the theme.

We were on the opposite side of the valley this time and though it is dryer than I prefer, we still had a beautiful view.

Even being in the same room together is often hard for our family, but we did pretty good.  The rental was big enough for people to have their own space and there was lots to explore.

Levi could not WAIT to get outside on these hills and explore.  
On his first romp outside he found a rattlesnake skin.  
He was thrilled!  
I was not.    

Rock appeased me by taking them all hiking further up into the hills.
These two.  
I think they were best buddies in heaven and Levi promised to always 
look after and take care of his little sister.  He was helping her down the steep hill.
Rock introduced the boys to the game of Risk, cause all boys have to learn to play Risk, right?  Isn’t it like a right of passage or something?
He destroyed them.
 Liberty and I started her first sewing project.  She’s been dying to learn to sew.  I sew only when I have to, it’s not something I enjoy much anymore, but she is super excited about it.
 Later I found her curled up in her bed sewing away.
On our second day we went swimming at Pine View Reservoir.  Again, a small miracle occurred and all the kids got along and had a blast.

BBQing after the beach.
On our third day we went hiking.  This got a little dicey, but as long as we kept the kids separated it worked.  The story of our lives.
Liberty picking flowers (every 5 feet) on our hike.

 Near the top

It was very important to Levi to go first on the way back down because 
Reagan had gone first on the way up.  
After our hike we stopped at a super yummy ice cream place.  Farr’s Ice Cream. 
It was right by the river in a beautiful spot.

And that was our Ogden Valley family vacation 2016!

Wesel Women in McCall

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My sisters, mom and I went up to McCall last month for a girl’s weekend away.  We have never done anything like that and it was so much fun!  I love hanging out with them.  We laugh too hard, stay up too late and eat too much junk food.  We should make this a tradition!
Our beautiful boat ride on Payette Lake

Our captain informed us at this point on our ride that we were at the 45th parallel.  Alli and Sarin decided to celebrate, though it took them several tries to get it right.

 Ponderosa State Park
Sarin couldn’t figure out how to put her sweatshirt on correctly, but we let her hang out with us anyway.  
Other fun (ny) memories: Alli and I trying to get into the wrong cabin, the squeaky restaurant door, Steel Magnolias-once we finally figured out the 5 remote controls, and the great air conditioning secret.
No trip to McCall is complete without a trip to the Pancake House.

We liked it so much we ate there twice!

Beautiful flowers in the morning sunshine.
Love you, Bean!
Let’s do this again next year, Ladies!

Random Summer Happenings

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Look what we woke up to practically in our back yard last week!  I heard the loud swooshing sound that a hot air balloon makes and knew there was one very close.  I ran to the door to look and found this!  I had no idea it would be THIS close!
And then there were two!

They landed in the park behind hour house to deflate.  The kids all went over to watch.  When they got back, Alli, who was visiting said, “Who wants to do a doughnut run??!” and Liberty said, “Can’t we just walk?”
A few days later Cade got his cast off.
It’s a little nerve wracking for a mother to just sit there while a virtual stranger takes a loud buzzing saw to her child’s arm.  The nurse assured us it could not cut him, but he and I were still skeptical and I will admit to holding my breath.  She was right, though.  Go figure!
5:00 AM Scout Camp departure.  Yuck. 
I’m the lucky one who had to get him up that early.    
Rock was up at scout camp for a night and caught this one of Reagan fiddling with the 2nd of two knives he purchased at camp which brings his total arsenal up to five.
The same day Reagan left for camp, Levi had his gum graft done.  The boy has no gums at the bottom of his front two teeth and that is not due to any harm or accident that he has gotten himself into, believe it or not.  The gums just didn’t grow there right.  The Periodontist (now you know what a gum doctor is called) did a transplant of someone else’s gums onto Levi’s.  Here he is drugged up and loopy before the procedure.
Doctor’s orders were to keep him still for four weeks.  Yeah, right.  This is LEVI we are talking about. He can’t go five minutes without getting hurt.  But I’ve done my best to follow the Dr.’s instructions. He has not been able to run, jump on the tramp, eat anything sharp or hard, or ride his bike.  I finally let him out of the house but he has to recite the rules before he leaves.  Mom: “Levi, what are the rules?” Levi: (rolls eyes) no running, biking, jumping (on tramp), no bats or balls (if other kids are holding them) and no rough housing.” We are on the home stretch now.  One more week.  I don’t know whether he or I will go crazy first.  Between Cade’s cast and Levi’s gums our summer has been much lacking in adventure.
But thanks to Liberty it has not been lacking in humor.  Here are some funnies I have been saving up.

1. While cuddling with mom one morning she said, while half awake; “I like it that pandas aren’t mean like other bears.”  Yeah, I was just thinking that same thing.
2. One afternoon when I was trying to get her to eat all her lunch she said, “Mom, let’s make a deal.” I don’t even remember her proposition because I was laughing so hard.

3.  When she got a card from grandma that said “Follow your dreams” she made a face and said, “I’m not going to do that.”  Totally confused as to why she would say such a thing, I asked her why and she said, “Because I had bad dreams last night.”  I then had to explain to her that there are different kinds of dreams.
 4. While waiting for brownies to finish baking one day I captured this picture as she said in despair,
“This is never going to end.”