Getting Ready

 Everyone is eagerly anticipating Christmas around here.  We've now finished up school, and it's a good thing, since we have a lot of things to finish up before Christmas, including Emry's upcoming birthday!

Ok, so Acorn is probably not looking forward to Christmas.  :)

I've made a few gifts, including this purse for my littlest niece:

The rabbit continues to amuse everyone.  Lately, he's taken to chilling in the rocking chair:

And I've started on cookies and etc, including these peanut butter balls and turtles, both great favorites!

The countdown is on, and we've got plenty to do!  But we are excited.  The boys finally learned to sing "Joy to the World" decently.  Emry has mostly learned to follow along with reading the words and singing to Christmas carols, so he was able to do a lot of the singing last Sunday when he, Gyunay, and I went caroling with a group from church to the assisted living place near here.  We were going to visit the nursing home, too, but they had Covid, so we had to pray for them instead of with them.  Still, it inspired our youth director to plan on having some game days with the youth groups and the nursing home and assisted living home, so that will be very good.  

I have been doing much better overall, since the iron infusions and thyroid medicines have both kicked in, but I had a major setback after caroling.  My lungs can't handle that much singing yet, but I'm now doing better, just in time for Christmas.  So no more caroling for me for now, but I can still sing a little.  :)

 

Blue Kitchen

 So, after about 15 years with an orange kitchen (which I loved), I decided to paint it a new color.

You can also sorta see the beautiful hexagon white backsplash Nathaniel put in for me.  The blue is a big change from orange, but I think it looks really nice.

Now I need to paint the trim, the bench, and paint the bathroom, but all of that will wait until after Christmas.  Right now, we need to decorate the house!  Elijah got the tree up last night, and the younger kids have been adding ornaments.  Malachi and Pilot come home from college tonight.  Christmas is coming!

The Car Vending Machine

 So, our van's engine exploded, so we have to get a new van.  I've been driving a rental.  We thought we bought a van from Carvana.

The boys loved every minute of it.  They put the coin in to set the vending machine in motion.

The van was lowered down to us, and off we went, only to have to return the van 2 days later.  It had something wrong with the A/C, and the Bluetooth, and we had to wonder what else was wrong, especially since it was newer (2022).  So we returned it, and we are hoping to get a new van soon.

Also, Nathaniel and I went to his work party.  I haven't been able to go for the last couple of years; this was my first time back since the hospital.  

Nathaniel even won a door prize.  

So Much to be Thankful For!

 

All of us were together for Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Nathaniel's family, as we normally do, but this year we didn't have to travel, since his parents moved nearby.  

Last weekend, we made a quick trip into my parents' house for a Thanksgiving meal with my side of the family!

We are thankful that Charles is starting to recover from his surgery, and we are continuing to pray for his healing!

Eleanor was convinced that it was Valentine's Day instead of Thanksgiving, so she was thrilled that Lydia wore a sweater with hearts.

November Harvest Totals

 The meager November harvest totals are in.  The chickens are laying very little right now, as the daylight hours shrink.  However, yesterday, Belle laid an egg for the first time since May.  It was nice to get a blue/green egg again.

Arugula - 1 cup

Cabbage, Asian - 1

Carrots - 6

Eggs - 106

Jalapenos - 1

Peppers, sweet Bulgarian - 2

Radishes - 3

Tomatoes - 2

Happy first day of Advent!

Book Review - Unforgotten by Shelley Shepard Gray

 I recently read Unforgotten by Shelley Shepard Gray.  It has two main story lines, one following Amish young woman Bethanne, who has been crippled far too long by anxiety after an attack 7 years ago, and the other following Bethanne's English cousin, Candace, who is being stalked.  Both young women have sweet romantic interests, and the suspense over the stalker is well done.  The main characters showed growth, and the suspense was well done.  I enjoyed this story.  It is a sequel, and I did not read the first book, but it is easily a stand-alone novel.  I did feel that a few plot points didn't quite make sense, but maybe they are more for the third book that I'm sure will follow.  I don't usually read Amish fiction, but this was an enjoyable story, and I liked the way it bounced between the Amish and the English sides of the family.  

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

Dogs and Couches

I haven't taken pictures of the dogs for a while, so here are a few.

Our last couch was well beyond needing replaced.  It was downright embarrassing to have people over, and it had more holes daily.  So a few weeks ago, Nathaniel and I went couch shopping.  We ended up with a sectional, a first for us.

It seats lots of people and is very comfortable.  The kids love it.  Now I just need to hope the dogs don't do anything to destroy it.  Or the kids, for that matter. The new and improved living room seating options allow for more people, and we of course kept Gyunay's favorite red rocking recliner, so he can keep rocking daily.  It doesn't match, but hey, it's comfortable, and the boy needs to rock.