7th Day of Christmas - Hello, 2019!

I started the day by putting a couple of roasts into the Instant Pot. They'd cook all day and I'd add BBQ sauce to the meat before dinner. BBQ Beef sandwiches, potato salad, green salad, chips - a simple dinner with all who are in town. There was also a mountain of munchies and 100+ pigs in a blanket. 

Nolan worked from 0500 - 1300 (1 p.m.). 

Michael worked, busily in the garage

We have had our own unique way of celebrating New Year's Eve for about 7 years. For all the details you can read this post.  The Reader's Digest version is that we plan activities for every hour until midnight. We wrap the clues or instructions in a brown paper bag, and open one each hour.  Things kept changing this year. Usually, everyone is visiting us from out of town and Michael has the day off. This means we start earlier and have  way MORE activities. This time the guys were working and we weren't able to meet until 7 p.m. We realized toddlers may not make it all the way to midnight and so we wanted to get the gift exchange and the Gingerbread Competition done early.  We finally threw out the bags, listed what we wanted to get done, and Michael and I played it by ear. It worked.

Benny isn't feeling well, but he was ready for dinner with "his people." 

Before we got busy on the Gingerbread competition, I wanted to grab a photo of Bre. It may well be her last of this pregnancy. Papa photo bombed. ::snort:: 

Bre - 37 weeks; Michael 58 weeks

 I won't show much of the Gingerbread happenings. It worked well not to reveal which team made which village last year. There was a concern  some were voting out of sheer gender loyalty. I'll post those pictures after the voting is done this year.  Last year the girls had two nursing babes and an 18 month old helping. It was agreed the boys would go with the men this year. We joke the kids were the chaos factor - but they all did incredibly well. And they're totally adorable when they sneak some frosting, or a snowman or two.

Cory had to work this evening. Benny sat in his chair and offered his advice to the male team. 

Gideon is happy to help. 

 Next up was the gift exchange. Things happened fast. As the Gherkins have grown up, the sheer amount of gifts to buy each year became overwhelming for budget-minded folks. This is our 2nd year where each of us drew one name. Some gave extra gifts - and that's ok.  Michael tried to catch a photo of each one opening their gift....but I don't think we got everyone. Here is what we do have.

Auntie K gave Gideon a set of blocks

BreAnne gave Nolan a t-shirt, mad libs, candy and more

Josiah gave Krista an Ulu knife

Izaak gave Josiah a tip up for ice fishing

Auntie K gave Bella a doll - "Anya" 

This little gal loves her daddy! So sweet to watch. 

 Izaak wanted practical gifts. I gave him a gas card and lb of bacon.

Alex had my name and knocked it out of the park. 

I love socks.

 "Home is where YOU are."

Auntie K gave Benny a wood sheet with a zillion kinds of locks on it.

Michael gave Bre a Coca Cola calendar and some coca cola socks.

Krista had Stacia name and wow...she got a couple of Adventures
in Odyssey albums, patterns, yarn.....

 Everyone received a gift...but I don't have any documentation for Alex, Arielle, Jamin and Michael. 

Alex helped Michael bring in one last gift for Bella and Gideon. A toy box. He'll round the corners, add some end pieces, and varnish it before we take it over to them. 

They were impressed! 

Bella shows Benny. 

Papa made them a pirate ship..... LOL 

 The paper began flying in and out of the box...pirates must lob shots. 

Gideon found it was a protected place to play with his new blocks.

 Uncle Jamin is great fun. 

Stacia gave 3 of her projects away. Didn't they turn out darling (the shirts)?  Bre's even fits her baby bump. Well, Larissa is sure to know she is the recipient of the 4th project....but she won't know the pattern.

Group hug! Worth the hours....thankful for the lifeline who saved the project. 

Krista (31), Arielle (21), Stacia (13), BreAnne (33) - we miss Larissa 

 Another hour of working on the Gingerbread followed gifts. We make a time capsule each year. Each person puts something in to represent the year. Usually, we pull out an old year and look at it... BUT it was getting late by now and the kiddos were hanging in there - but ready for us to speed things along. (I usually take photos and share what each person counted - it's a great way to recap the year. We were rushing this year and I didn't think to get photos).

We decided to have our prayer circle at 10:30, rather than waiting for midnight so that BreZaak and kids could go home as necessary.

Before BreZaak left, Bella was happy to try on the hat and blower and pose for us.

Benny is getting tired....

But he's doing better than Uncle Nolan. He missed the countdown - but he is o.k. with that. 

Next year we plan a bonfire and fireworks in the yard. These were our neighbors. Josiah has a vision for making the fireworks great. 

Cory didn't make it home until after the New Year; we fed him a sandwich and gave him his gift. A Cabella gift card from Nolan. 

Hello, 2019!

7th Day of Christmas - Make-up!

Our girls are allowed to wear make-up when they turn 13. If they don't ask, we don't push it. Knowing this fact of Gherkin life, Krista and Maria gave Stacia a selection of make-up for her birthday this year. I asked her on her birthday if she wanted to learn how to apply the make-up. She didn't.

She HAS been asking lately. Krista knew it was my goal to "make it happen." She reminded me. Yay! Today, we gave Stacia her first lesson.

Our first discovery is the foundation is too light. We'll pick up a shade darker.  

All done. Very subtle and natural...but it's there. 

Note how much taller baby sister is. ::snort:: 

She's ready for our New Year's Eve celebration. It was fun Krista was home to share in the moment.

6th Day of Christmas - Church, Dinner, Shopping and Projects

I now know have an idea what the "mighty rushing wind," may have sounded like in Acts 2.   The wind outside was spectacular, but the sound of big loads of snow, rushing off metal roofing, and landing on the ground is powerful.

On the 6th day of Christmas - we got to go to church!  Here's a shot before many folks arrived. Michael looked outside this morning and said if he wasn't preaching he didn't think we'd go. It turns out the roads were not bad - once we got out of our driveway. LOL

 Today's Scavenger Christmas Gift:

We did just that after church. 

Nolan, Stacia and I ran to Freddies. Michael and Krista went on home. At Freddies, we bought a few things for tomorrow night's dinner. It appears  Amazon "Prime" means little at Christmas time if you live in Alaska. I ordered quite a bit ago, and didn't check the option for 2 day shipping. I have Prime. It's supposed to be 2 day shipping.  They didn't even process the order until Dec 27th. I'll have to remember this next year. The Grandblessings gifts will not arrive by New Year's Eve....I bought them each another gift so they'd have something to open.

Michael and Alex shoveled the driveway and brought in wood. Krista made a ton of munchies for tomorrow night.

We wrapped up in blankets and watched Woodlawn. Stacia isn't happy about having to rip out seams, but she is nearing the end of her big project. She'll have it done before the gift exchange.

I decided my project will be one of the Scavenger Hunt Gifts - giving me a few more days to finish. I'm sneaky that way.

5th Day of Christmas - Bella's First Fish, Projects, Truck Shopping

Krista's goal was sister time with Stacia today. She got up bright and early and took Nolan to work so she could have the car.  Stacia opted for hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. I suggested Sophia's Cafe and off they went.  They made it early enough to score a roll, this is often not the case. 

Alex, Michael and I headed to Anchorage.

 BreAnne, who has been trained well in the art of blog contributions, sent this photo. 🐽

Is Bella not the cutest little fisher-woman you've seen? 

Izaak was heading out to take Bella on her first ice-fishing/fishing adventure. She was so excited. (We entertained thoughts of stopping at the lake on our way back to the Valley, but they'd limited and left long before we reached the lake).

Meanwhile, in Anchorage, Michael checked out a truck, test drove it, found many points of common ground with the seller, and told him we'd get back to him to take it to a mechanic. We aren't sure if the mechanic will be open on Monday. It may have to wait until Wednesday, the seller understands about businesses and banks being closed until Wednesday.

Air Force Blue

Alex suggested Panda Express, a favorite with the Gherkins. It was nice to be out and about with Alex.  We began to get photos from Josiah while we were at lunch. Izaak sent some later. I have permission to share.

 Such fun!  

Note the auger beside Bella (Grand #1)

Bella's first fish! Look at her! Our little Alaskan. 

Note the size of her catch

A 20 second clip of her catch 

Uncle Cy with Bella and her catch 

Again   - check out the size of her catch

Evidently, Uncle and Daddy, have begun her education on how to get a good fish story. ALWAYS get your picture taken with the biggest catch of the day. 🐽

Josiah said they limited in 34 minutes.  They are catching lake bound King Salmon - about the size of trout? Most are 10 - 12 inches. 

We discovered a recent accident when we stopped for mail. We noted people inside, and went to help. All were fine and someone was on the way to pull them out. They were buried HARD - we weren't going to get them out. 

Sober reminder to drive with care in the winter

 All the kids were were home when we arrived.  Nolan and Krista are reading. The girls bought a couple of pieces of baklava to share.  They had gone shopping at thrift stores to find elements for the Gherkins Annual Gingerbread competition. Stacia is working on projects. They are turning out cute and I'll show more photos when I can. We began the week with 9 projects to complete between us. Four are done - 2 are nearing finish.

Stacia has a blister from cutting. I didn't know that was a thing. 

Michael has spent the afternoon working on more sermon prep. I am finishing up, "The Prodigal Prophet." I decided to order it rather than trying to get everything out of it in one read.  We are finally, finally, nearing the end of left-overs.  Just in time for New Year's Eve dinner. I'm going to try hard NOT to have a lot of left-overs.

4th Day of Christmas - Benny's Firsts and More

After yesterday's project fail, Stacia and I knew we had to call in a lifeline. Stacia reminded me Jacque had said to call if we ever needed sewing help. We called,  and Jacque spent five HOURS with us. She helped us figure out the pattern. Hint: They print directions on both sides. 🐽

Stacia and Jacque

 I thought she'd stay to help us figure out the directions, and leave us on our own, but she STAYED.  I loved that she told Stacia what to do and then watched STACIA do it, rather than jumping in to do it herself. It was a very beneficial lesson - though she doesn't do lessons. 😉😊😏

Stacia finished one of her projects - I won't show you yet - it's a Christmas secret. She laid out another, cut it out and began sewing. I worked on one of my projects beside her, mine doesn't require a pattern. I love having the table big enough for both of us to sew side by side. When our eyes were going blurry, and our brains were fuzzy, we laid the projects aside for another day.

Our time with Jacque  was the essence of church community. We are blessed.

 At some point during the  sewing, Arielle invited Krista to play in the yard with their family.

Krista (standing) Arielle, Cory and Benny (in front)

Benny's first time sledding and he wasn't loving it! 

They've all gone crazy! 

What is THAT?????

Never again, guys, never.again! 

THIS is how I prefer to travel

Krista got in on the fun

Krista may give Arielle a run for the wipe out Queen title

Krista is working to get individual time with each of her siblings while she is home. She took Arielle and Benny to DQ for Benny's first experience in the play land. This post should be titled Benny's Firsts.....

Now THIS is MUCH better than that cold ride....

Benny offered his opinions on Gramps' car shopping

Wow! Gramps, this is the one! 

We were too tired for games tonight. We forgot the scavenger gift hunt. Arielle loaned us "Christopher Robin." We enjoyed the movie. Thus ends the 4th Day of Christmas. 

3rd Day of Christmas - Projects?

We planned for today to be a restful day.  

Michael continued to look for cars. We want to pay cash. We've set aside a certain amount for the purchase; we'll see what we find.  We want a car which will seat 6. It would be much more convenient when we have out of state guests.  We need a truck -  we are doing a lot of hauling of things now that we live at Wibbly Wobbly Acres. 🐔🐇🐾

The search starts online

The Jeep we have isn't doing as well as we'd hoped. We had to do significant work on it this summer and it looks like it is heading for another significant outlay of money within a year. I love the JEEP - but it may soon be the car the kids learn to drive on. There's a novel idea - learn to drive on something other than a 15 passenger van. 🐽

An extended cab truck seemed like the ideal match for us. UNTIL we considered if we want it to last as long as our last "newer" car (13 years before we downsized), we need to consider one which is convenient for elderly folks to get in and out of, and one  I can get a wheelchair into and out of, if that time comes.....and so we continue to ponder. Exciting times. Michael likes to comparison shop, and he likes a budget. He's happy to look. 

I've been reading this devotional lately and am happy to have lots of quiet time to dig into it a bit deeper. The devo takes a verse/passage a day and does a Greek word study which leads to application. 

Krista spent the afternoon with Bre and had dinner with BreZaak.  Stacia and I determined to work on some projects. Um....as I posted on Facebook earlier....I wasn't too concerned when I flunked home ec. though my teacher TOLD me this was a life skill I would want to know "someday." That day would be today.

We took some classes last year - but this pattern confused us. We thought Krista would be able to help us, but it turns out she sews without patterns. WHAT? She looks at what she wants and just does it. That's how she did advance math too! 😂 We laughed when it was pointed out we shouldn't cut the pattern on top of the material. All's well. We've called in a lifeline and will have help tomorrow to figure out the pattern and be sure we know what to do. Once we figure it out once, we should be able to figure out the others!

We set this project aside and pulled out another couple of sewing projects. Which turned out cute. I can't show you as they're gifts.

After a dinner of leftovers (will they EVER end?), we were ready for the evening's Christmas Gift Scavenger Hunt.

Riddle/Clue: Under the water; above the ground

Riddle Solution and Gift: They figured this out fairly quickly. 

The family gift for the night is a new game: 221b Baker Street. We set up it up immediately, and played a round. They said it would take an hour and a half to solve a mystery. We did it in 25 minutes. I think our viewing of  Monk, Colombo, and Father Brown, finally paid off.  This may be a game we all enjoy....it's strategy, and yet understandable to Stacia and I, and it DOESN'T take HOURS and DAYS to play. 😔😜😕

We ended the night with a nice conversation with Krista. We love school breaks!