Catching up on things....Grab a cup of coffee, you'll be here for a while!

I have been sad not being able to blog. I have missed not being able to chronicle the events of our family. Since my last post, we have done so many wonderful and exciting things. Here is the condensed version of the beginning of school through the present:

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

The boys had fun at various homeschool fall events, including a dress up party at the park. Austin was a Marine, and Luke and Vance were dirt bike dudes. They played various classic picnic games, such as the three legged race and a pie eating contest. They had a blast!

Thanksgiving was spent at Karen's house with my Dad, where Rich deep fried his very first turkey in their new propane deep fryer (which, by the way, has become quite an addiction for all of us, as you will see soon). It was quite a spectacle to see! Rich donning his headlight and his huge tongs, dropping the bird down into crispy bird heaven....Oh, if you could have tasted it. Quite possibly the best turkey I have ever eaten-moist on the inside and crispy on the outside...are you getting hungry? Early the next morning, we embarked on a Thanksgiving camping trip out to Mojave with the Harasicks, Berggrens, Tubbs, and Brooks families. We recreated the Thanksgiving feast the following day, complete with, yep, you guessed it, two more deep fried turkeys and a plethora of yummy side dishes brought by each family. Green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, rolls. Need I say anymore? And did I mention the onion rings? Yep, the deep fryer strikes again. Oh, and deep fried pickles, too. You heard me. Now we're talking. We had a lot of fun riding around, eating, and just being together with friends around the campfire.

DECEMBER

December was filled with holiday festivities, traditions, and celebrations surrounding the birth of our Savior! We spent an evening with our dear friends, the Rens, walking their beautiful neighborhood with cocoa and cider in hand (thanks Adrienne, that hit the spot!) looking at beautiful holiday lights. We bought a fresh REAL Christmas tree, which in my opinion, is the only way have a tree (haha), and brought out our box of treasured ornaments to garnish the tree. Dave's Aunt Claire in Tennessee has sent us each a homemade ornament every year since I married Dave, which means 5 new ornaments every year. They are so beautiful and meaningful to me. We also have bought the kids various ornaments over the years, so each child really enjoys placing their own personal ornaments on the tree (and I enjoy watching them fall and be placed back on several times...) I gave Dave a break on putting up house lights this year due to our hardwood floor project (more on that later). We were graced by beautiful music as usual at our annual Christmas concert at Grace Church, and Dave's Mom and Step-father Dan joined us for that. It's truly an amazing tribute of music to the Lord. I just love all the TRUE Christmas music. I could totally live without jingle bells and Santa Clause coming to town. What's the deal with that, he has never come to my town, anyways.

The following day, we had our annual Hanukkah celebration with my Dad, complete with the traditional meal of brisket and latkas (for the gentile, those are potato pancakes). My mom always used to make the brisket and my dad the latkas. Since my Mom passed away, my sister has taken over doing the meat, and I must say, she is doing an amazing job. It was delicious! The latka process is all part of the festivities, as each member of the family "rubs" a potato or two into the large Tupperware bowl. We essentially use a metal cooling rack with small squares to "grate" the potatoes. Then you add grated onion, flour, and eggs (my Dad knows how much of each ingredient), and fry them in oil. Served with granulated sugar (my choice of toppings), sour cream, or applesauce, they are truly the centerpiece of the meal. And we only eat them at Hanukkah each year, making them an even more unique and special treat.

Christmas Eve, we hosted Dave's family, including his three brothers, their wives, and Dave's Mom, Step-Dad, and Dad for our annual Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange. I served stuffed pork loin, mashed potatoes and gravy, a cold green bean, almond, and blue cheese salad, and rolls. We all had a wonderful evening, and the kids, as usual, cleaned up. And I don't mean the house. Earlier that day, we took our traditional family hike (the five of us) at Vasquez Rocks, the kids' pockets stuffed with snacks from their stockings (which we always open on Christmas Eve morning).

Christmas Day was different this year. We spent the morning as a family at home, and then in the early afternoon, we went to Karen's house, went to see National Treasure at the theater, then went back to Karen's for a casual dinner and stocking stuffer exchange. That was so much fun. This is the first time we have spent any portion of Christmas day with them. They previously went to Rich's mother's house for Christmas day, but Rich's mother recently passed away, so they had no plans. This will definitely be a new tradition. We had a wonderful time. The boys had so much fun picking out stocking stuffers for each member of my sister's family, and even more fun wrapping them. They truly learned how much of a blessing it is to give to others.

The next day, since Dave had some extra time off work, he started installing our hardwood floors. It's a lot of work. We began in the kitchen and worked our way into the entryway and dining rooms, which are now complete. It's a tedious process of picking out patterns, cutting boards to fit, measuring, numbering, then gluing the boards down. We chose Brazilian Cherry, which comes not only in random size boards, but also quite the variation of color. So I am the design expert (without the expert part), picking which boards go where, and Dave is the installation expert (with the expert), measuring, cutting, and gluing. Oh, and did I mention the prepwork? YIKES! I am so pleased with the product so far, and look forward to the finished project! My husband gets an amazing steak dinner when it's done (and I will continue to supply the Monster energy drinks (huh, Nancy?) for however long I need to!

Then we hit our heads really hard and thought it would be fun and adventurous to go dirt bike camping in the desert for the New Year's weekend. Hello???? Anybody home????? Apparently the lights are on, but NOBODY was home! It was f....f.....f....freezing! We went with the Berggens, Tubbs, Harasicks, and the Nardones, who stayed in our trailer with us. The kids didn't care that it was freezing, the moms retreated to the heated trailers to knit scarfs (or potholders, if you are Karen, haha!), while the dads rode and also stood outside in the freezing cold and wind frying some amazing food for us (I told you there'd be more deep fryer stories). We had the best fried chicken on the face of planet earth, and I am NOT kidding! Oh, and funnel cake to die for, with whipped cream, sugar, strawberry sauce-a little slice of heaven if I must say so. Rich ROCKS!!!! Thanks to him for all his hard work. What a delicious trip it was, despite the fact that our trailer almost FELL OVER in the wind. Good grief! But it was fun, anyways. It's always fun being with my family and greatest of friends. Which brings us to....

JANUARY

Now we have begun the new year. Back to school, back to work for Dave, back to reality, and back to the floors! We are working on finishing the hallway, and then the living room will be last.

Dave and I decided to move Vance into second grade, as he was unchallenged and bored with the first grade curriculum. He seems to be doing much better, and is now actually learning things he didn't already know before. He's so smart. I am so thankful to be able to homeschool my kids and be with them. I am reminded fresh that it's not so much their education that I am focusing on (that will happen regardless), but their character. I told Austin the other night, if he never becomes succesful, gets married, or has children, all I desire of him is that he follow the Lord and be upright before Him. After all, eternity is much longer than this life on earth.

Well that sums it up. Unfortunately, I can't post pictures until I get my computer fixed. But at least I have my stories! More to come (at least in text form)!