So thankful

Kids both home for Thanksgiving. I don't take that lightly, as I know that won't always be the case.

A relaxing day, watching some tv, fixing food, sitting by a fire.

Dinner.

Jello pretzel salad, gravy, spinach Madeline, 

mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, turkey, cranberry nut bread

Our little family.

So blessed.

First SNOW of the season

Waaaaaay too early!  It began snowing before dawn, and by the time I left for work, we had an inch on the ground. It was a big, fat, wet snow, just like spring (which can't come too soon for me!).  It was only slushy rain from the interstate to the rest of the way to work.

I came home at noon to several inches.

Trevor had plans back in town with a friend, so I grabbed him and headed back out.  Still just wet in town.  After dropping him off at the movies, I ended up hanging out with his friend's mom, grocery shopping together, and she then treated me to coffee.

Back at home, we had Pizza Hut for dinner, and I hung out with the kids and watched tv.  Lovely Thanksgiving Eve, low key, low stress.

Getting ready!

Holly said she wants to decorate the tree when she's home for Thanksgiving.  We're ready!!  (Wow, the tree looks awfully naked!)

This is the first time she's been home since she left three months ago. Although I've been up to see her several times, I am SO EXCITED that she's coming home!!!

Pulling out SCRABBLE

I love playing games with Trevor (well, with either of my kids). The biggest problem is that I forget about the games unless they are sitting out where I can see them. 

Although I hate to lose, I am very proud of him when he beats me--which is most of the time. 

It doesn't get any closer than this. He won, 255 - 254.

Trevor

He has always been a comedian. Even when he was little, his jokes were sophisticated. He sometimes had not-so-funny ones, but for the most part, he's never been afraid to show that side of his personality.  As he's gotten older, his comments will be dry and very matter-of-fact, and it's easy to miss his quips if you're not paying attention.

Recently, Trevor and I discussed briefly--because he's 16, right?--a friend who was torn between a previous commitment with Trevor and an invitation the friend had received from a girl.

Trevor lamented, "Whatever happened to brethren before wenches?"

He may be playing too many medieval video games.

Quick rundown of the week

A usual week, work and school.  I was coming down with a cold on Thursday, started sucking zinc cold meds, and was back to good on Saturday night.  I never came down with it full force, and it never got worse than the first day with a sore throat.  This is consistently my results with the zinc meds--they make  EVERY difference!

Nothing super spectacular, although there was this sunrise today.

On Friday night and Saturday, I fixed another couple of weeks' worth of meals for Holly: Greek Lemon Soup, beef in bbq sauce, rotisserie-style chicken, lemon pasta, brown butter rice, chicken and swiss casserole.  I also sent along a bunch of chopped up lettuce, an avocado, and pomegranate seeds, all ready to eat, plus a frozen Sam's pizza, and the chile rellanos Robert made earlier in the week.

It was Kurt's birthday party, so we all spent the evening over at his house.  Early on, eating and playing games before the last few people arrived.

Most parents didn't stay, but we were invited to (!!).  The men stayed in the kitchen, and us four moms stayed in the living room.  I had a hilarious time with Amy. 

Just got this pic from Judy. Surprised at how ghastly I look, thanks to a recent horrible haircut. I need to get that fixed asap.

Robert and I left after the cake, and Trevor spent the night.

Robert just left this morning to take stuff up to Holly. I am glad he's going, glad he feels good enough to go (just getting over a sinus infection). It's gorgeous out, and while he got what would be a late start for me, he's not as set about getting home around dark as I am.

The whole morning to myself at home . . . I hope I don't waste all of it!

Bonfire Weekend

On Saturday night, I took Kurt and Trevor to a "homeschoolers' bonfire.".  LOL.  It was an open invitation for any homeschooled teen to come. We didn't know the hosts but we have several mutual friends in common and were passed along an invitation.  We later found out that the family had coached our 6-8 soccer team several years ago, and even though it was at the same time Robert was coaching 13+, we don't remember them.

Kurt's parents are out of town, so we went down to pick him up and then drove back up to Fincastle for the bonfire.  It was definitely the coldest night of fall so far, and I was worried about that, but it turned out to be perfect weather to hang out by a hot fire.

There were about 60 people there, spread out in a couple of different areas.  While I was worried that there would be swarms of 13 year old girls and just my two bored, shell shocked 16 year old boys, I didn't need to fret.  They were approached immediately by one friend who exclaimed, "You're late!!" Another friend found them, and the four of them hung out until they were joined by a couple of girls.  There was another similarly sized group of older boys too, but we didn't know who they were. 

We stayed mostly by the bonfire. Others, including many of the younger kids, stayed near the human foosball court.  A group of parents hung out by the snack and s'mores table.  I found an old friend from the library who I knew would be there, and we chatted and caught up all night.  Facebook's got nothin' on face to face.

We had a nice time, not thrilling beyond all imagination, but it was fun to do something a little different, and I imagine we'd go again next year.

On Sunday, we picked Kurt up again and brought him to our house.  The boys get together every Sunday afternoon to study for the Logic class and work on homework together.  Kurt's mom's goal was to give them a taste of what they can do in college, meet up with a classmate, bounce ideas off of each other and work together.  Instead of being in Trev's room like usual, they sat out at the kitchen table.  Wow!!  It was everything we could have hoped for--listening to them read the questions, discuss answers, reviewing talk out the answers, debate possibilities, and settle on an answer. It doesn't have to be the same answer, as long as they can justify their position.

Kurt stayed for dinner, and at Trevor's request, I made green chile chicken (I've only made it for Holly really so far), a fantastic black beans recipe, Chipotle-style rice, and pico.  We finally broke out the other half of Holly's ice cream birthday cake for dessert, and the guys all thought I was the best mom (or wife, in Robert's case) EVER.  :)  I'm pretty good with that.

BOO!!!

So I guess this is the 8th anniversary for my blog. Wow.  There are not many things I've been super consistent about, including posting.  But I am SO very glad that I've kept this up, posting about the hundreds of small things we've done, a few of the milestones, and the pictures.   Some things haven't been posted, lost in a time crunch, or along with photos that I never got to.  And some of the posts have my skewed or wishful perspective.  But that's okay.  It's all been good, and it is SO cool to have done this.  It makes me happy to see how it has worked out. (Nope, not a "this is the end"of it either, just me commenting!"

Again, no trick or treaters for Halloween.  After having not one single person last year, I can't say that I was surprised.  We now have a good dozen kids on our street.  I don't know where they go.  It started raining lightly last night around 6:30, so I hope they went someplace dry.  Any less than perfect Halloween weather reminds us of when the kids were little, the snowy, cold, icy trick or treating.  We always made the best of it, and those were usually the more memorable Halloweens!

Robert came up with this.

I'm not sure what was underneath the black drape, but the whole thing stood about 5 feet tall.  He carved this face into the pumpkin, which looked pretty cool when lit up through the mask.  Gosh, those white pumpkins are pretty and unusual!

 Trevor tried a couple of very detailed, intricate carvings, which didn't turn out.  He's used to easily turning out masterpieces.  I took a stab (HAHAHA!) at the other side of the pumpkin and came up with this.  I was pretty pleased with how it went.  There was a big hole in the back of the pumpkin, so Robert covered it with foil. But in the candlelight, you couldn't tell.  It just looked more fiery.

I brought sushi home for Trevor for dinner, we all hung out while it rained outside, and watched tv. We'd pretty much eaten all the candy that we'd bought, so that probably all worked out for the best anyway!