Christmas 2024

On Christmas morning, Alice was the first up, and had the gifts sorted into piles before she woke everyone just after seven.

We were all moving slow, but the kids quickly woke up as they went through their stockings.

William and I found this big pack of Reese's on one of our adventures, and it started a 'wow' candy trend for everyone.  I tried to get a giant quantity of candy for each of them, that they didn't have to share with anyone.  I think everyone ended up sharing or trading anyhow, but they didn't have to!  So Alice had Reese's, Emily got Haribo, William's was a giant container of peanut butter M&M's, Grace got the largest container of Ferro Roche that I could find, and Juliet got an entire box of Kinder Beuno.

A wheelchair for their American girl dolls was one of the few gifts that I bought new, but it was definitely a favorite!

Emily didn't get any needles or yarn for Christmas, but found the inspiration to start crocheting Amigurumi.

Not a bad first attempt!

Much to Emily and my disappointment, when I opened the freezer to get out green beans for Christmas dinner, we had none. = 0  So, no Christmas green beans for us.  I also neglected to order bread, but that was easily remedied.  They weren't amazing, but they were pretty good for a quick job.

The pressure was on my kids now to start eating the contents of their candy canes, so that I can use them again next year! = )

Once the bread was finished, we sat down, popped our Christmas crackers, and ate a ham feast!  The jokes were as corny as ever, and I think mine had the best trinket, a tiny screwdriver set!

It was a lovely Christmas for sure!  Merry Christmas y'all!

later days

12-30-24 backdated for continuity.

Other Happenings

Adding a post to highlight little events that wound down our summer!

Grace measured almost everything and kneaded the dough for our dinner rolls one night!

She then played with a portion of the dough for hours after dinner!

William came home at the very end of the school year and told me that he was sad that his teacher's rocking chair was broken (and we saw it out by the dumpster the very last day of school.)  Well, this summer I found not one, but two chairs for his classroom and it was particularly fitting, since the twins will be in his room next year!

I found a solution to store my 'ice bags'!  Whenever we need a bag of ice, I start collecting it from our 'countertop' ice maker a few days in advance.  I am so stingy with my ziplocs though, I hate to toss them, so I'd been keeping them next to the ice maker, but it was in the way and looked awful.  So now, I have this lovely basket keeping them for next time!

I scored a giant green summer zucchini squash from a road side stand, so I thought I'd try my hand at zucchini flour.

I chopped it, 

ground it, 

drained it,

drained it again,

And spread it out thinly.  I cooked it on low for days in the oven, and it was not drying.  Finally, it was turning brown instead of drying, and so after three days, I threw it all out. = (  All that work makes it extra sad for it to be a complete fail.

Next time, I'll stir it on day one, to see if that helps.  I'm also looking for actual dehydrators at yard sales. = )

William with his crazy hair, post bath!  He got some hand-me down cologne and has been wearing it when we go out. I feel like all of my kids grew up so much this summer!

Grace made a cute little library out of foam. = )

My collection of old/broken cell phone covers is looking pretty robust.  I plan to use them to make a garden path, once I have enough of them. = )  I'll take your old ones if you have any!

 School for everyone starts tomorrow!  Supplies are ready, but I don't know if I am!

later days