2016, Finis

If you are reading this, you probably read the blog on a semi regular basis.  If that is the case, you know all there is to know (and more) about the family.

2016 was same ol' same ol' for us.  Trips to Washington, DC and Nashville, TN.  Straight A's across the board for the kids.  Travelling for hubby. schooling for the kids, Kelsey and I managing the affairs at home.  I don't send out Christmas cards because I am too lazy and too cheap.  I can't sum up an entire year in just a few sentences.  Nor can I sum up my love for my family and friends in print.  And there are waaaaaaaay too many pictures to even contemplate the selection process.

Just know that I am extremely happy to be where I am.  I love my family very much, and am super excited to continue to grow older with them!

I mean, who could NOT love these faces!

Today is my kids last day of school for Christmas break.  We have some serious partying to do!  I won't be back until they return to school, and until my sanity makes an appearance.  So, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and much love!

The Mighty Hunter

Hunting season has been a bit interesting for hubby this year.  In years past, he takes about one deer/season.  It takes us all year to eat the deer in the freezer, and then he gets another one.  This year, however, has been exciting.  One evening he took Dylan and Kelsey with him (in which case, I'm surprised he got anything at all), and a coyote came out onto the field.  There is no season on them, since they are a nuisance animal, and he was able to make a clean shot.  He brought it home so that everyone could see it.

I love how, in the picture, Kelsey looks a bit wary of the animal.

 The very next night he was sitting on the ground, instead of up in a house.  And this guy walked out in front of him.  Hubby said it was definitely an interesting experience.  This bobcat and the coyote were about the same size.  I thought that was pretty interesting.

Both of these were from Thanksgiving weekend.  And it took him a whole month to get a deer.  So, for now, he can just go sit in the woods and watch the animals.  He likes to do that too :)

Go cart, Part III

The best part of fixing the go cart before we went down south was that the kids got the opportunity to drive the heck out of that thing.  Safety first!  Buckle that seat belt.

And away he goes!

I mean, he attacks that whole driving thing!

I think Kari, particularly, enjoys driving the go cart.  She imagines herself driving real cars, doing real errands.  And it doesn't bother her one bit.

Kaitlyn takes a more relaxed approach to it.  She drives like her mother (slowly).  But that is her comfort level, and that is fine with me!

Again, Kelsey is too small to reach the pedals.  So she went with me.  Check out that face!  Is she ready, or what?!?!

They started pairing up, and switching at the end of the road.  So I never knew who would be driving when they came back.

Kari was seriously a trooper.  Because there is essentially only power to one wheel, it would spin quite a bit in the gravel.  She pushed the kids to get them going, and was a huge help!  Also, please note the addition of helmets.  We eventually figured their heads were a necessity, and that we should protect them as well.

But once they got that push off, they did great keeping it on the road.

And having fun.

Of course we were nice enough to share the go cart with anyone who wanted a ride.  Aunt C took a ride, but I failed to get a picture.  Nana took a ride too.  I imagine Kari is giving her a safety briefing, which is humorous because, ya know, Nana has been driving a little bit longer than Kari has.

She said it was fun, but she really had no desire to go again.  You see, there is no suspension on that thing, and it jars the crap outta you when you go over bumps.

But once is enough to say you have done it.  And, she even got all dare-devil on me and drove with no hands!  Bad example Nana!  

I seem to have zero pictures of Kari driving by herself, but I think this one is an excellent example of her smile and driving skillz.  Also, she is getting to be so tall!  Stop it!  Stop that, I say!

And that will probably be the last time I post about the go cart for, ooooh, maybe a minute or two :)

Also, Happy Anniversary to my parents.  38 years and still going!

Always Something to Do

I seriously cannot begin to tell you how beautiful I think it is down there at this time of year!  During the summer, it's kind of wretched to be down there.  But when everything is cool, and changing colors?  Man!  I love it!

There is quite a bit of land down there.  As such, there is always something to do.  One day we went to clear out some pathways that had been blocked by trees and branches in the recent storms.  We took the kids with us.  This picture may be a bit deceptive, but the kids were actually occasionally helpful.

Hubby had me on the tractor doing some bush hogging (yes, I am aware how red neck that makes me sound), while the kids picked up branches that were too big to run over.  Their job was to throw them off the path.  That left hubby (and eventually Pop) to run the big manly (translation: dangerous) tools.  I. E. The chainsaws.  Once the trees were down, we would roll away what we could, and use the tractor to move the ones we couldn't.  But, at the end of the day, we could safely drive the vehicles back through the path!  Yay!

Kelsey started the day with us, but quickly got bored, as she was too small to lift the heavy branches, too small to drive the tractor, and too small to know where to safely stand.  But Nana was nice enough to keep an eye on her back home, where she played frisbee for hours and had fun collecting rocks.

In the evenings, the menfolk start to get their equipment ready to go hunting. So the kids took a quick walk/ride down the road to get the last of their energy out.

I have no idea what Kelsey and Nana were talking about, but I like to think it was an important, in depth conversation about world peace.  Or her favorite color purple.

The kids love to bring their bikes down there.

The road is so long, and the traffic is so rare, they really get some good riding in.

While outside, I said something about how Dylan and Kaitlyn were close to the same height.  They didn't believe me, so we had to take a picture as proof.  

Kelsey, on the other hand, was pretty sure she was shorter than Kaitlyn, but that doesn't stop her from wanting her picture taken.

I would totally frame this.  Just sayin'.

Do you think Kelsey has Nana wrapped around her little finger much?

I think the answer is yes :)

Happy Turkey Day!

That Monday morning, the kids and I packed up and headed south.  Daddy was already there, and we were going to meet Nana and Pop too.  I love going to a place where you can really disconnect.  And this time of year, it really is beautiful down there!  The beginning of the week was spent walking, hunting, hanging and reading.  Thursday morning it was time to get the turkey ready.  Kari was able to help Nana get things started.

It occurred to me that I have never done a whole turkey by myself.  And that doesn't 100% bother me :)

While there was a quiet lull in the proceedings, I went with the boys down the lane to shoot some skeet.

I didn't actually shoot.  I don't love the recoil.  But I shot with my own weapon of choice:  My camera!

When we got back, there were a few things to be finished, but it was about time to eat.  And things looked delicious!

The table was pretty full of food and fun.

And what could be better than that?

In the middle of dinner, I was struck by how much Kari has inherited my hair.  Poor girl.

We cleaned up after lunch and had leftovers for dinner.  And I let the kids stay up past their bedtime to watch the new version of Anne of Green Gables with Nana.  For the record, I like the older one better.

And that was how we spent our day of thanks!  Pretty peaceful, full of good food, and good family.  I really couldn't ask for anything more!

Best Day Ever!

We spent the entire week of Thanksgiving break down at Pa's house.  I wanted to stay through the weekend to do a few things here at home, but hubby wanted to go down so he could get some good hunting in.  So, we parted ways.  Me staying here and he going south.  Saturday morning/afternoon, I didn't have anything planned, so we invited some friends to go to the park!

This particular park is located behind the library, but it also has the coolest spider web thingy.

Which the kids really love to climb on.

And to make it even better, we went with the kids best friends!  This is Kelsey and Tayler.  They regularly hang together, and are sure to be life long friends.

And this is Kaitlyn's bestie Lauren.  So much in common and so many fun times to hang out.

Sorry.  The sun was a little bright :)

And this is one of my friends Mama D.  It really is nice that our families have so much in common!

We ate a picnic lunch around the park (translation: the kids ran to swallow a bit before going back to playing on the park stuff).  Then it was time for Mama D to head home with her littles for naps.  I kept her oldest, and we went to the library.  I was actually quite surprised how well the kids calmed down and how long they were absorbed in their books.

Kelsey even found a book about beards.  This one was her favorite :)

Before we left, I promised to take the kids to the second level.  They had never been there and wanted to see how cool it was.

And we stopped for a quick photo opp on the way out.  

We dropped Lauren off at home, took showered and ate pizza for dinner before it was time for bed.  The children hailed me as the queen of the best day ever!  And, I won't lie, I had quite a bit of fun myself. 

Also, all of the above pictures were taken with my new phone!  Pretty neat, huh?

PS - Happy Birthday Buckets!  Hope its great!!!