This is what we're doing...

It got deeper than this. I had actually brushed snow off this side of the car so I could get inside and get my CD's. :)

I was snowed in Thursday. Later that night the landlord plowed us out, but I wasn't going anywhere at that time of day. Friday I tried to get out, but the snow had drifted enough during the night that I got stuck. Adam happened to be at a nearby gas station, so he came over and helped me get unstuck and back into my parking spot. One more day at home. Later last evening the landlord plowed again, and, YEAH, I got out finally this morning so I could get mail and do laundry! It was well below zero last night, and slightly above now. I'm typing from Micah's place...

Good times!

Just a quick note for now! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!
Shalom.

Christmas joy among the munchkins!

We had a nice Christmas breakfast compliments of Adam. He's a willing and good cook. :)

After breakfast we opened gifts.
Bedheads and Christmas pajamas abounded. The big hit of the morning was a play kitchen. Dad Adam spent 7 HOURS putting it together. It took him all night! And this is a guy who's mechanically gifted. I told him that's a "classic Christmas memory". ;)

Della preps fruit.

Sully sautes veggies...

Ole "Blood and Guts" Hazel was excited to do a little operating.

Audrey got a puzzle for age 10+. She's 7. Grandma shouldn't have been so confident about her abilities, but it will wait for later.

She was a good sport about it.

Lots of Legos and Magnetiles were received. They were actually for the kids, but Adam couldn't resist.

Mama Micah and Thatcher watched the frenzy from afar.

Here are a few of the little decorations I put up for Christmas. I'm sort of a minimalist...

There's a tiny, blurry little nativity in there somewhere.

 I couldn't resist this cute little Christmas tablecloth at Walmart. :)

The next two days I'll be babysitting the four youngest for a few hours a day while Micah goes to chiropractor and midwife appointments. Then, maybe we'll be done with those for a while! There will be heavy use of Netflix and iPads. Sorry, this granny can't take the chaos for too long, lol. And that's why they love me! :)

Merry Christmas, everyone! I'll let you know when the moving begins. Not quite yet! :)
Shalom!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

MERRRRY CHRISTMAS! (From Thatcher and the whole gang, lol.)

Tough lookin' fella! ;)

And Nathan got to go home from the hospital last night! For good! Yay!

Love you all! Stay safe and enjoy every minute of the holidays. Thank you, Jesus, for coming down to abide with us.
Shalom!

It happened!

This is Micah in labor...

 This is what a home birthing tub looks like.

 This is Millie, the doula, and Molly, the midwife. Cool ladies who know what they're doing.

 The original plan was to take the kids to "Other Grandma Lisa's" house before the birth, but plans don't always work out. Fortunately, three of the kids slept (the baby was born at 4:55 a.m.) until the baby was born, and then their daddy woke them to come and see their new baby BROTHER. Sully, of course, woke much earlier, and I had to try to keep him entertained in the living room. He did manage to visit mom a couple of times before the baby was born, but I distracted him with cartoons when the real labor set in. Micah is blessed with short labors. She went into labor at about 1:30 a.m. (didn't expect it to happen THIS night) and gave birth at 4:55 a.m. She only had about 5 minutes of really hard labor at the end.

 

The new brother is named Thatcher Charles, the middle name in honor of his great-granddaddy. He was 7 lb. 12 oz. and 21.5 inches long. He has quite a bit of dark hair. We look forward to the many adventures of Sully and Thatch!
I went home later, after dropping the girls off at school (Boy, did they have fun telling everyone!) and couldn't go back to sleep. So, instead, I put up my Dollar Tree Christmas tree. I'll take pics later. Now I'm back at Micah's to use the internet. The four older kiddos are now at "Other Grandma Lisa's" (and Grandpa Ken's). So, Micah and Adam will have a fairly peaceful evening.

In other, less important, news:

Here's my latest knitting project. I just saw this yarn and thought it would make a cute scarf.
I'm such a beginner! I think I always will be. ;)

 I found two cute tablecloths at Walmart. One was 50 cents; the other a dollar! I know they're Fall/Thanksgiving-ish, but they're still colorful and cute.

 This is a cute candle which was one of the gifts given to our church's widows at our annual Christmas lunch. I wasn't able to go because I was sick, but they saved me a bag full of goodies. Such nice ladies! The candle has holly leaves and cranberries in it, and then is filled with water and the candle is set on top. Cute idea!

 Well, that's all for now. Just wanted to make the big announcement! Everyone have a blessed Christmas if I don't post before then!
Shalom!

Dead deer in the middle of the road...

Yeah. Yesterday morning, while it was still fairly dark, I was driving to Micah's to pick up the girls for school. In the left lane I saw a deer someone had just recently hit. They just left it in the middle of the lane! It was dark enough that it wasn't visible until you got right on top of it. I figured it might not be good if someone hit it at 55 mph, so I got out and dragged it off the road. Only the second time I've done that in my life, lol.

Otherwise, things have been slow on the home building front. It will get done eventually, but the electricians keep having to come back to finish up various jobs before the electrical inspection can happen, and there are loads of other piddly things to finish. Adam's working hard after his regular work, but it takes so long with one guy, though his dad helps when he can. Patience!

We've all been taking turns having colds and Micah's family has been going through a pink eye epidemic. Thankfully, some of us have avoided it.

Micah's still hanging in there, baby-wise. She's at the midwife's as I type getting her regular check and a chiropractic treatment. Those have helped a lot. She's getting around pretty well these days.

I've been revisiting Wind in the Willows and reading a book called Fervent, about prayer, which our ladies' Bible study group is using.

I'm babysitting, so I won't stay long. I hope everyone is having a nice, cozy Christmas!
Shalom, all!

December doings...

I'm enjoying reading everyone's Christmas and seasonal thoughts!

Today promised to be very busy, but some executive decisions were made to skip some "usual" things, such as AWANA. Micah is ready to give birth any time, and Adam and I had our work cut out for us to convince her to opt out of being in charge of the nursery for AWANA tonight. She can barely walk, much less chase a bunch of babies around! They also have her scheduled for the 19th! Good luck with that, folks!

Micah had her first "at home" visit with the midwife and doula. This was partly to figure out the logistics of a water birth here at home. Micah had hoped to have the baby in the new house, but, of course, construction timelines don't always cooperate. SO, it will be here in the mobile home, most likely. She seems to be okay with that at this point. She and Adam headed to Bemidji right after that appointment so she can get another chiropractic treatment. They took the kids with them, so I've got the afternoon and evening off, unless they can't get back in time to pick Audrey up at school, in which case I'll do that. Lots of schedule juggling going on!

With everyone talking about The Wind in the Willows I decided to get a Kindle copy (FREE!) to read until I can unearth my paper copy after I move. I've also watched The Man Who Invented Christmas a couple of times and I decided I would like to read the original version of A Christmas Carol. I found that for Kindle, also. (99 cents!) So, I look forward to two more good books. I'm not sure I've ever read A Christmas Carol! I always watch the really old, black and white version of the movie, made back in the '30's or '40's, so I'll see just how close it is to the original. :)

As for the house construction, the electricians are coming tomorrow and finishing up some work before the inspection can be done (all that will take about 5 days) and the kids can move in. They've also got the cabinets and flooring which Adam will be working on for the next few days. A move and a birth; two big events happening at the same time! At least they aren't moving very far! :)

I'll run home now. I'm still at Micah's taking advantage of the silence to post this. (They left about an hour and a half ago.) My car has been running and warming up for far too long, lol.

God bless us, every one!
Shalom!