Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year 2013


Michael went to work on base...we went to work at home preparing for tonight's New Year's celebration. 

Krista joined me in "the closet" and we prepared bags for hourly activities and matched scavenger hunt clues with bags. Michael left us clues. 

Happy New Year to Nolan - what a difference a year makes at this age! 

Everything is ready.....though I got lazy and picked up pizza instead of making Pot Pies....

Stacia reads a clue at 6 p.m. - "Time for less kelvin." 

Something to do with temperature? Wrong way honey. 

Ah - here you go - something to work on throughout the night - in the freezer. 

Arielle & Dakota build a Catapault while everyone else began work on a killer Thomas Kincaid puzzle


7:00 p.m. - Farkle and two wooden puzzles

8 p.m. finds them searching "Traditional 3 Rs took root here." THREE homeschooled kids all pointed out that writing and arithmetic do not begin with R. I pointed out this was dad's clue and they should focus on the where not the spelling. LOL  We found Funny or Die. 

9 p.m.  and they found Stacia's favorite of the night! Pop the Pig!  I find the premise disturbing....you throw hamburgers in his mouth, bop him on the head and his stomach grows.....

....and grows....

...until his arms fly up and his belt explodes. 

10 p.m. and Michael got home from work. We waited until he was home so it was a bit after 10 but we filled our time capsule for 2013, discussed this year's family vision and prayer verse and talked briefly about 2014's. More to come on all that. 

11 p.m. - nothing wakes up kids faster than a Nerf war - and this house is great for Nerf wars

BreAnne & Izaak shot each other....

Arielle holds down a defensive position 


Krista & Michael are on the stairs....Dakota in the door way, Izaak behind the curtain

Thunder from above

Dakota and Nolan ended the war in the laundry room - with the girls on the outside.....Dakota ran out and was pummelled. Nolan - bluffed his way out with a gun that makes noise (but he was out of bullets). He was out the room, through the family and up the stairs before he was shot....Valiant try guys. I'd expect no less from a son and grandson of ours.


11:55 p.m. and we're ready to get the sparklers, confetti poppers, silly string and bell....






It doesn't show well - but this girl got singed when she got a bit too close to Izaak. ::grin:: 

What better way to ring in the new year than loads of fun with family? The girls, Dakota, Michael and I thought a great way to begin 2014 would be in the backyard onsen with some sparkling lemonade. The rest played wii, made bandaloom bracelets and such.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Monday, December 30, 2013

Lazy Day


Monday morning and Michael needs to work. 

I decided to head to the store for some groceries and fun with Krista and the kids. The rest were up very late/EARLY working on wedding plans...and slept in. 

Back at home we played with my new instant pot...a gift I enjoy greatly. Today I baked really well-evenly cooked potatoes in 10 min, steamed green beans in 2 minutes, and did I tell you it can do dried beans in 10 - 15 min? Amazing. I wish we needed some rice - I want to try that feature. LOL 

Arielle and BreAnne made a tofu "cheese" ball.  Everyone played games and chatted....Dakota and Izaak like "Command and Conquer" - I think that's the name of the game. 

Zander loves his new track 

We had planned to take dinner to the fellowship hall and watch the Alamo Bowl (Go Ducks!) but discovered the TV doesn't have ESPN....and we couldn't find a way to pay to stream it....so in the end....Krista, Nolan and I joined Michael to watch at the club on base. We were the only ones watching the game; and we had fun. 
Krista matches my computer
We got home from the game and Michael needed to stretch his shoulder (daily personal torture) and get ready for another day at work. The rest of us played games.....


Krista, Arielle, Alex, Stacia and I played Ticket to Ride...

Somewhere during the evening I realized TOMORROW is New Year's Eve....oops. But I think I have everything to pull together the planned celebration. 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Two Post Sunday - Reconnecting in Old Sacramento!


Jesus and Js (fill in the family name). We have been looking forward to this day.  Arielle had dear friends in Misawa (we all did).  One of those dear friends has grandparents who live in Stockton. They flew from AL to visit over Christmas and we planned to converge on Old Sacramento this afternoon.

We were all looking forward to exploring a new area. Our immediate family (6 of us) were excited to reconnect with dear friends....maybe Arielle was a little bit more excited than the rest of us....maybe. It would be hard to say - I was dearly anticipating a hug from Becky. 

We divided into groups. I am glad each group had a camera.  Us "Old fogeys" migrated to a spot to sit and chat.....These girls chose the candy barrels as the spot to reconnect...yes, 2 pieces only girls.

Emily, Arielle and Deborah

Becky, Steve & Michael 

Becky and Me

Emily and Arielle

Krista

Krista
  Krista suggested we get Stacia a balloon creature. She chose a purple and pink princess hat. When the gentleman found out we were Air Force he started adding to the hat....

She was certainly easy to spot in the crowd


 I really want to come back to Old Sacramento and explore....so many places to wander. Several museums to visit.




We never made it to the river. I was glad BreAnne got these photos. 



GOLD!


We met back at the train museum at 4:30 p.m. It was hard to end the day so we visited until dusk.

The kids think this hat may be the ticket to get into People of Walmart.

 I couldn't help but remember past adventures with Becky.....it was fun to stroll in the sun, vs the snow...to relax and not have any stress over retreat worship or retreat speaking...it was just an "ah" moment.....the hug, the reconnecting, the catching up - all a big "Ah!"   I am deeply grateful for Becky's parents and our older kids' willingness to share a day of "family time" to allow us this very special afternoon to take place.

We CA Gherkins needed this "Ah."  It is more than enough.

 Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...