Holidaze

The week between Christmas and New Years goes so fast.

We had a really nice holiday.

The kids were all home.

It was perfect.

The only mishap over the holiday was the ham bubbling juice over in the oven.

I spent two days cleaning that sucker out, but I can say it is now factory clean again.

I had to take the tree down right after Christmas.

When you walked past it the needles would literally rain off it.

Never saw such a thing before.

The cats had a ball playing in the needles though.

We had some snow this last week too.

Caden stripped off his jacket after getting hot shoveling. 

The temps have still been relatively mild, but we are expecting a good cold snap to come our way next week.

Dodge and his ball.

Silly dog will not leave you alone until the ball is thrown.

Our eldest is gone again already.

He's got that whole adult thing going on and had to get back to work.

Chyann did bird counting with the boyfriend and his family this week.

They didn't see as many birds as last year.

Cute Thor looking all ominous from the back seat lol

She heads back to college tomorrow.

Hope you all have a safe New Years eve!

later :)

And it's almost Chritmas

Crazy how fast this month has flown.

Here it is the eve of Christmas eve.

Somehow I've been ahead of the Christmas rush this year.

Pretty much got all the shopping out of the way around black Friday, with the exception of a few things I picked up yesterday while shopping with Chyann.

Yes our girl made it home on Wednesday.

She arrived with a car load of laundry and the good news of being on the Dean's list with a 4.0 grade average!

She has decided to do a double major - Environmental Science and English with a possible minor in soils. Guess she'll will decide on that later.

Super proud that her first semester away from home has been successful!

She even worked 15-20 hours a week.

Pretty damn impressive.

Our boy has began his Christmas break as well.

We had an interesting week worrying if he broke his nose at a friends house last weekend. They were sledding and he took a shoulder to the nose when they were screwing around trying to knock one another off the sled going down hill.

Fun for 14 year old boys I suppose.

Anyhow his eyes were black and his nose was outrageously swollen, made worse by the fact that he lost some nose skin in the collision.

Looked awful.

Doc said wait about five days for the swelling to go down then bring him in if it looked too crooked.

The Hubby was convinced it was broke. Me not so much.

We were both relieved to see after the swelling went down that it looked normal.

The kid is definitely on track to have a Wilson nose like Chyann does. Part of my family legacy we are passing on :)

Another enjoyable Christmas concert at school.

Colton will be home tomorrow morning it sounds like. He has some new schedule of working overnights from 10p to 6a. A shitty shift in my opinion. He doesn't like it much either and is going to see about changing it after the first of the year.

He just finished all his finals on Wednesday and is done for the semester as well.

I had hoped with all the snow we have gotten in the last few weeks we'd be able to get out the snowmachine and play outside while they are home, but it sounds like Christmas day is actually going to bring a mix of snow/sleet in the am then a bunch of rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Hard to imagine thunderstorms in December.

Today we are baking.

Cookies, candies and other goodies for us and for Chyann to take over to the boyfriends family's celebration that she is attending this evening.

later

Snow pictures

A few pictures of our recent snow fall:

Caden helping move some snow

A cardinal hanging out at the feeder today

The horses coming in for dinner

Gypsy and Jennifer

Meanwhile back in the house the cats are all snuggled up together.

I haven't had to get the cat tamers out at all today, they've stayed out of the tree like good little kitties.

Chyann made it back to St Cloud without incident, thankfully.

Both the big kids have finals this next week then are done for the semester, YAY!

Stay warm out there :) 

Oh the SNOW

Yes it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

The Friday forecast was for 1-3" overnight Saturday into Sunday AM with the majority of the snow accumulation being South of us, so Chyann decided to come home for the first time in over a month.

This morning we probably have 5" and it's still snowing - dang it. Guess we'll see if she gets out of here today.

Finally got a tree yesterday. A real one this year and the cats are loving it. We've had to employ nerf guns, which we call cat tamers, to keep them out of it. Works like a charm I tell you.

Are you ready for Christmas? I actually am. Shopping is done, wrapping is done. Imagine that. First time in a few years I could say that. Feels good.

I've been working a lot of OT. 30 hours last pay period. One more crazy week of it and then I will coast into the new year with a vacation that I'm really looking forward to as all the kids will be home for a bit.

I am contemplating a no drink January again this year. For sure no sugar or processed foods challenge though. Detox the body a bit.

I have pretty much stopped watching the news. I get so pissed off hearing all the shit surrounding our government. Not to mention all the people who believe the fake news that is out there. Come on folks don't be so damn gullible. Do some research. Ugh. That's all I will say about that.

Later