week 50

Tea time with this cool book we got at the library.

This boy and reading. I just really love how much he reads.

A STEM activity with popsicle sticks and clothes pins.

This was the calm before the storm. The house was all clean the candles were lit. The house decorated. Classical music playing. And these two cuties playing light sabers. I laughed because I was trying create a hygge feeling in the house. Also this day my husband found out he had Influenza A. So I went to work quarantining him and cleaning every speck of the house so that no one else would get it.

My hubby found out he was sick the day before Mac's birthday. Mac was pretty disappointed that we wouldn't be doing his planned birthday activities because we decided we would all stay home just in case any of us were going to get sick so that we wouldn't spread it. Oak helped me blow up the balloons.

I slept on the couch to avoid getting sick. Which didn't work since I kissed my husband on the day he found out he had the Flu.

Excited to wake up to presents.

The Happy Birthday sign I made for his first birthday. We use for all the birthdays in our home. I love that it is still in such great condition and will always be a tradition in our family.

Daddy had gotten Mac a really nice pocket knife. This says a lot since Mac isn't know for being very responsible. He was very excited for this gift and that daddy trusted him enough to give it to him.

Then he had a fever of 102. Such a bummer to get sick on your birthday. (We originally thought he had influenza also. I even took him to the doctor they didn't test him because of the high possibility but did prescribe him Tamaflu. But I didn't feel right about him taking it so I never gave it to him. He was only sick with a fever for about two or three days and then was bouncing off the walls. Not much of a cough. So we think he was just sick with something but not influenza. My mom never got and Oak never got it. )

Our counter looked like this throughout the next week.

He still wanted his pumpkin pie.

While my husband was really sick, the hot water went out and I had to go reset it.

And my kids' toilet broke which I wasn't good timing because I didn't want the kids sharing a bathroom with daddy because he was sick and I didn't want them sharing grandma's bathroom downstairs because I didn't want her getting sick. But nothing could be done. So every time Mac went to the bathroom I went in right after him and scrubbed everything he touched.

This poor girl was going stir crazy but was actually being such a good girl while stuck in the house for two weeks and never getting sick.

I ended up coming down with influenza and fever and cough started a few days after my husbands. He was better by the time I got sick so we switched places and I was quarantined in the bedroom for the entire week before Christmas. It was not fun and Oak really struggled to not get to be near me. So we facetimed.

week 49

A cold but beautiful walk.

Oak's letter to Santa.

I love this drawing by Oak.

We love poetry tea time on Thursdays.

Our little towns biggest parade is the Snowflake light parade. It is also the coldest. But pretty much the whole town is there and its hard to find a place on the sidewalk.

For December I really wanted to avoid all the hoopla and just BE at home with my family spending time and celebrating in our own way. I didn't want the busyness and commercialism to blind us from what was important. So I tried to be in the moment finding little ways to enjoy our time. Reading and eating lunch by the tree was such a sweet moment.

We dried orange slices in the oven and strung them with popcorn and cranberries. The kids didn't like doing this as much as I thought they would. But they sure turned out pretty.

My cute girl.

week 48

I was very excited for this moment. The moment where both my kids bring a book to a waiting room and choose to read.

We saw these at Walmart. So gross and creepy. The kids thought it was hilarious.

Oak and one of her outfits.

Us sending daddy a little love in the hospital...

With my husband in the hospital and me spending pretty much the entire day with him I decided to take the kids to see Coco. One of the best kids movies I have ever seen. I loved the good moral and that the focus was on families.

My husband home from the hospital. Tuesday of this week he was feeling really sick. We thought he had the flu. But then his stool had blood in it and then we he would get up he would nearly pass out and start throwing up and his vomit had blood in it and he was really pale. So I took him to the ER where they decided he was bleeding internally somewhere, most likely and Ulcer. They admitted him to the ICU and then did a scope where they found an ulcer but wasn't bleeding anymore thankfully. He however had lost so much blood that they had to give him three units of blood. He was in the ICU for two days and in the regular part of the hospital for half a day. He was pretty weak for the next week.

The cows that live across the road somehow find a way out of their field and come and graze in our yard. And leave us some huge cow pies.

Getting Christmas decorations out.

They were putting their "First Christmas" ornaments on the tree.

Because of Bryce's health we didn't go cut our tree this year but found a wonderful and expensive one at a lot. The kids had fun decorating it.

week 46 & 47

Oak is a very creative girl. During quiet time when she is forced to be "bored" she comes up with the most creative things to make. She said she didn't know what this was but she just wanted to use stuff that she had in her room.

So I am not really an animal person. And I definitely never thought we would get a cat. But we do have a mouse problem in our chicken coop. So we got a cat in hopes to help with the mouse problem. His name is Chewy and he is the sweetest and softest kitty. We really love him. Especially Oak. He is supposed to be an outdoor kitty but he really wants to be an indoor kitty.

Oak playing UNO with her stuffed animals.

Oak worked all morning to try to peel a mandarin keeping the peel in one piece. I think it had taken her three mandarins to accomplish it.  

I bought her some snow pants and she loved them so much she came home right after church and put them on to just wear around the house.

Hot chocolate. Yum!

When Chewy was living in the garage for a bit he did catch us one mouse. But has yet to catch any from our coop.

Chewy trying to get in the house.

Repairs for our van right before Christmas. Not a fun thing to do but when you have to adult you gotta step up.

My cute red heads on Thanksgiving.

No sure what they are doing. I think playing a made up game.

Thanksgiving dinner. We had a very relaxed and enjoyable day.

The kids practicing their archery on a beautiful day.

Oak won Monopoly and she was so stinking excited.

Week 45

Grandma got the kids some "jacks". It was much harder than I remember it being as a kid.

A moment of peace after a few days of sickness, way too much TV and a lot of bickering.

This girl and her outfits. I thought that this one was pretty cute. She changes her clothes at least three times a day.

I was sick, my mom was out of town and my husband wasn't home from work yet. So cereal was the perfect dinner.

Another Oak outfit.

What got the actual Monopoly game recently (we have been playing the junior version for year) and it is actually fun to play with the kids now that they are older. Daddy (who is a CPA/accountant) usually wins, of course.

I have finally put chicken noodle soup on our recipe rotation. I have never made it before, but I figured out that it is actually super easy and yummy!

week 44

 Gluten free pumpkin face pancakes

 Scrabble with grandma

 Trick or treating with friends.

 Oak got in her head she wanted to sew a shirt. She had grandma help her cut it out to the right size and she hand sewed the entire thing. She worked on it continuously for days until it was done. Then she wore it, looking like a rag a muffin, for several days. I love her love of hand work.