Michael's Birthday Celebration

We are blessed! There is a lot of wind in the Matsu Valley. We "lucked" into the one area that is NOT windy....winter seems to "blow away" in town....but we have a nice covering of snow.  We hear the winds can gust to 80 mph on the OTHER side of the mountain! God watched out for us. The sun shining on the snow is beautiful. 

Cory and Bennett came up to visit

Josiah and Jamin came out to celebrate Michael's birthday (so did JaRissa and the ones here).

Stacia made their matching hats

 Stacia had been wanting to sled all week - but the boys weren't of the same mind. Cy and Jamin joined her.....and then the boys came along too. 

Josiah, Stacia, Jamin, Alex

Josiah, Stacia and Jamin 

 Then there was a snowball fight

Stacia, Cy, Jamin, Alex

Nolan 

Michael opened gifts

Jared and Larissa

 Bennett made a debut

Bella meets Bennett

Cory, Bella (BreZaak's), Bennett and Arielle 

After gifts, Arielle went downstairs and we had dinner.....and cake....

L - Jared, Larissa, Nolan, Alex, Stacia, Michael, Bre, Bella, Jamin, Josiah, Bennett & Cory

A funny thing happened last night.....the Four of us just weren't carrying the tune right - according to Michael. When we went to sing tonight Cory said they wondered what we were doing last night....."Are they practicing?" We certainly needed it....we do much better with Bre in the mix...listen in....

This is Michael's first birthday without Mom G. That was hard. 

Michael Has a Birthday

This is Michael's birthday week - and what a week it has been!  Today, however, is the legal, honest-to-God, REAL BIRTH day! Last year Michael and I were traveling the Caribbean Sea. We both spent some time thinking back. This is Michael's first birthday without Mom G. 

In the past year our family has grown, Arielle got married, we have a new home in a state we've dreamed of, we've said goodbye to Mom G, battled cancer with Mom T (who is battling it again)....It's wild that Michael has two new grands since his last birthday!  Here he and Gideon enjoy some recliner time. 

Gramps and Gideon Enjoying each other and Gemma's camera antics

This afternoon this newly minted family came home! 

CoRielle and Bennett

 

What a joy! Another baby to love. 

I took a photo of the kids and Cory and Bennett - but it's not on my phone! 

We headed out when CoRielle arrived home. We thought they'd appreciate a couple of hours of quiet time as they settled in.  On the way to town, we stopped for mail. Lots of cards and even a package from John and Mary in the box! We visited Lowe's and Fred Myers and then came home for dinner.  The kids will be coming over tomorrow to celebrate Michael's birthday but I made a little brownie/cookie/cake for tonight. 

What could cause such hilarity? Our attempt at singing Happy, Happy Birthday to You....Jesus loves you....we'll do better with Bre in the mix tomorrow for his REAL cake. 

Fuzzy - but too good not to keep

 Michael didn't want me to buy 3 boxes of candles.....

We topped the night off watching, "The Emperor's New Groove" on vhs in our bedroom so we didn't blast Bennett out the window.....and playing Dominion. I, decided catching the blog up would yield better results personally than being trounced in another strategy game. ::snort::

Happy Birthday, Michael! You are my adventure, my best story, my best friend and confidant. Thanks for loving us so well.

Wintry Day

What do you do the day after you welcome an adorable new grandson to the family? We stayed inside and watched the snow come steadily down. We NEEDED a new white covering - snow gets muddy.

Sometime either yesterday or today, they came by and took the top 3 feet off our trees out front. We had hoped to do one before they did and use it for Christmas. My lingering hope was they'd leave the tops and we'd nab them for decorating. I can't find them. They left OTHER brush in the ditch. LOL  We'll be on the look out for areas where one can get a permit and go cut their own tree. I found the form for 2015 and the cutting area was out here in our area. 

We did a LOT with food. I'm still playing with recipes while processing all the changes going on in our family.  Stacia made another cake and decorated it in expectation of CoRielle and Bennett's homecoming.  I NEED to go buy some "normal" ingredients for her to explore.

We also made an ice cream cake for Michael's birthday, yogurt, berry compote, and came up with a new White Chicken Enchilada recipe. Tis the season when decks off kitchens become lovely walk out coolers.

When we lived here before we had a table on the deck. It was great for cooling cakes, cookies etc. it also served as overflow holding for Holiday meals. I need to get a little table out here. We got about two inches of snow today. It's winter so no bears should come sniffing out our food. LOL

The kids got a good day's school work completed. Michael is working on a new set of bookshelves to go in the study.  He took time out to look at my machine. It's really quite sad.

In EVERY move, they've opened the case, stuffed it so it didn't rattle, and then put the machine in a box and packed it solid - marked it fragile. This time they just grabbed it from the closet and threw it on the truck!  We didn't notice in the hubbub of the move. The case is shattered, parts of it don't match up any longer. Michael says that there is something "organic" wrong with it.   We COULD have put in a claim on this move - but we weren't unpacked to discover the damage in time to submit the claim. I finished today's projects on Stacia's little machine.  Going to sewing club with her, gave me confidence to try to recreate my favorite baby blankets. These are a yard long - flannel on both sides....stitched right side to right side, and then top-stitched.

The one on the left is for Gideon. Bre has my old blankets - but every boy needs a BOYS blanket of his own. The other three are for Bennett. In the interest of full disclosure, the first one with giraffes is not finished. I need to get some thread that will coordinate before I top-stitch.

I'm dreaming of new projects - I'm discovering that sitting, with hands busy and the whirring sound of the machine, is calming.

We amused ourselves sending videos to friends, back and forth with Mom and we even got a few from the kids at the hospital. We love the Marco Polo Ap. It was a great day. Tomorrow is another big day.....

Welcome Bennett!!!!

A funny thing happened Tuesday night, just as we were settling in bed for the night.

Cory came upstairs.

Michael came and got me.

"Can it really be like this?"

Yes, it can. Just like in the movies, Arielle's water broke and it was time.

We prayed, they loaded into the car and drove across to the hospital. To say we were all excited would be an understatement.

It felt warm - honest. 

We had an amazing Northern Light Show. Another post will follow - we've been a bit busy and I've not gotten them loaded to the laptop.

I was sad when we got an assignment out of Alaska - Stacia missed being born in Alaska. Though being a Texan is the next best thing. Today, I am thrilled to announce our  first Alaskan-born family member has arrived on the scene.

Bennett Lee S

11-15-2017 @ 0947

7lbs 5 oz and 18 1/4 in long

We gave them all a tiny bit of time to rest and then headed over around 2 p.m. to meet our newest bundle of awesomeness! It was love at first sight. 

Bennet had great timing. We're having a birthday dinner for Michael on Saturday and it can do double service as Bennett's meet and greet! We all think it's about time for Michael to have a birthday buddy. Michael's birthday is Friday. The rest of us are bunched  mostly in Feb and June. 

We had several reactions back at home. Stacia made a "Welcome Bennett" cake. Michael suggested we watch a couple of  "loud movies," as we didn't have to worry about Arielle getting her sleep or waking up a baby. ::snort:: I had a fit of domesticity and decided to finish the baby project Stacia and I thought we had all week to work on.  My sewing machine took a real beating. I'm sad. 

I've had a machine for decades, but had no clue what to do with it. I also had very little time to learn with 9 kids, homeschooling and ministry. Life is slow now. I've attended sewing club with Stacia and think I can do this. It also seems like a fun wintry thing for Stacia and I to do together.....and NOW my poor machine is pretty busted from our move. BUT Michael got it hobbled together and I'm sewing. LOL 

They're at it Again

Stacia made her first cake from scratch today. If I had known she was going to do so, I would have gotten all-purpose flour and white sugar so it would have done what was expected. BUT we all like it with whole wheat and coconut sugar just fine. LOL  She also made the meatloaf tonight. I made the potato salad. 

The other exciting thing was Cory and Arielle's departure for the hospital - which I blogged about yesterday as I'm blogging out of sequence.

As they left we noticed the sky! WOW.....lots more colors tonight - stronger colors. The stars were out and beautiful. These are in front of the house.....rather than from the deck.

 Our house with stars.....the red lights are from the neighbors....

Lazy Monday

We enjoyed a cold, lazy Monday inside the house. The dining room is always warm and cozy.

It's amazingly fun to watch Gideon's personality unfold. Just in the last two weeks he's become incredibly smiley, jolly and loves to MOVE.....Here I was standing him on my lap and he was determined to get down on my legs and scoot down them.  Fun times.