Christmas Decorations and Winter Woolies

As I mentioned before, we thought we would be in our new house this winter. Well, it didn't work out that way. I carefully packed everything and boxed up all the excess. I made sure to put the things I would need for the winter season near the front of the storage room.

Then my son, my helpful 17 year old son, who was trying to create a nook for himself in that icy cold garage, packed each and every box so tightly that there was not an inch to spare in that garage, minus the 6 x 6 square he carved out for his weights and playstation.

Did I fail to mention that in the course of his restructuring he put my winter stuff so far away that I have no clue where it all is? Well he did. That and my Christmas decorations. We made do with decorations. Actually, we probably had a prettier tree than I have seen in a while. It had popcorn rings, and home made decorations made from To and From tags covered in glitter, and toilet paper tubes that were cut up into rings and then covered with oodles of glitter glue to resemble the three wise men's crowns. And to top it off we hung miniature candy canes and tinsel. It truly was a pretty tree!

The children had so much fun making the decorations that I promised them they could decorate their own trees next year! It was a worthwhile craft. I just left out the glitter, glitter glue, stickers, cardboard, paper, scissors, ribbon, and they came and went when they wanted. Everyone got in on it, even the big guys.

 My very kind hubby delivered the tree that he cut down from our land, and then delivered a case of Coke. He knows that we have not been spending a penny we don't need to and buying a luxury like Coke for my relaxation drink (grin) was not on the budget. He very kindly played out a Coca-Cola commercial by making it the first present under the tree! (grin)

Our Pretty Decorations

They are hard to see because of the camera flash, but they truly were pretty with their white paper and red ribbons, and then all the white popcorn. Cassidy popcorn 1.5 cups of kernels to make this small amount of chains. Could it have been because for every one he strung, he ate ten? Hmmm

Anyways, back to the Winter Woolies.

SO my children had no snow clothes. With a little digging we found the snow pants. There were a few pairs of boots found, but not everyone's....

With a little cajoling, Briton was willing to wear the girls' old boots. He now doesn't notice the pink pom-poms on the pink strings. Mind you, I won't take him skiing til we find all the gear. I wouldn't do that to my boy! lol

And when I looked outside at our first bit of snow to see my dear children in all their makeshift woolies, this is what I saw. How priceless is this...

 Old snow pants that are about six inches too short, plus Dad's old work boots.

 

It didn't stop them from having fun!

Each day that Ray goes to the jobsite he takes a few more boxes. Bit by bit, we are finding the things we need. Hopefully before we begin skiing in January (thank you, homeschooling credits!) we will have found it all. In the meantime, they really aren't cold, so please don't worry. They do have many thick winter sweater jackets, and are making out just fine. *smile*

Update: Since I wrote this post we have located the snow gear, or at least almost all of it. Thankfully, before the deep snow arrived, and just in time for Cassidy to go skiing this week!
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Beware of the Blogger Camera

Don't ever think of doing mindless, foolish things in my house. I will *always* without fail manage to get to my camera and back before you unwrap the tinsel from your head!

Poor Cassidy is laughing because he knows he is doomed. Doomed to be seen wearing an icky green workshirt and bright red Christmas decoration on my blog!

 Don't say you weren't warned. You know I will always catch you!

 

Here he is trying desperately to unwind it before I get the pictures. 

 

Too Late. Got my pictures. haha

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Have Boys? Lock Up the Pam!!

Pam Makes a 'Great' Floor Polish!

Are you aware how long it takes to wash Pam off a laminate floor?

One day, my dear impulsive son, decided to spray Pam into the air. How much air? Oh, just the entire kitchen air.

What did this do? Well, it caused him to spend the next four hours washing and rewashing the kitchen floor until all the grease was gone.

 

As he was coming to a finish, I asked him if the fun of spraying the Pam had been worth it.

Given his sweet, repentant (though very impulsive) heart, he replied with a sheepish grin, No.


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Adventure Camp Open House

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of a free Open House at an Adventure Camp. I am so glad we did it! I asked the guy if this was the first time they had done it, as I thought it was too bad that my older boys had not had the opportunity.

He told me that they do it every year! Can you imagine? I have missed this for the last 11 years. Well, no more. The amount of fun that my kids had that day was worth at least $50 each for a Day Camp Day! The day came complete with field games, a story, climbing wall, high and low ropes, and a very hearty lunch of baked potatoes with the toppings and a delicious meal of chili! We will be going every year from now on!


I was super impressed with Cooper because he had never been on a climbing wall before. I kept encouraging him on, not realizing just how difficult climbing a vertical wall was! You should have seen his proud little face when he got to the top!



Austin had done a climbing wall before and he got to the top in record time. Must be those strong little arms from all that log hauling!



Knowing my little tom-boy Savannah, I figured she would want to try the wall, and sure enough, she did! She got suited up and began the climb:

• First she hung there and swung around for a bit.
  

• Then like a little monkey she got a handle on the first rock.

• And then she was off. Bit by bit, she made her way up.

• At one point, she sat back and hung onto the rope. I told her she was to use her hands and not the rope, so off she went again. What a little climber!

• She got over half way and then decided she had had enough. What an effort for those tiny little arms!

Briton was a riot! He was going to try anything the big kids would try. We got him wrapped up in his harness, and wrapped up it was! One of the instructors had a giggle when she told him, "Don't rip over your harness." Because of course, your harness should be about 24 inches *off* the ground and not dragging behind you! lol

The first thing the male instructor said when he looked at Briton was, "Can you reach the first handhold?"


Briton just looked at him and grinned.

The instructor then decided it might work beside if he winched Briton up the first rock.

Once there, Briton grabbed the handhold and held on.... He didn't know what to do next.

For a moment the instructor was not sure what to do next. I am assuming he is used to people either climbing the wall, or being too frightened to climb the wall. It is probably not every day that you get someone wanting to climb the wall who has no clue how to do it! lol

Finally, he says to Briton, "Do you think you can swing over there to that rock?" as he pointed to a handhold on the left. He looked at me for what seemed to be confirmation. Nope, I had no problem with that.

Briton looking pleased that he has made it to the first foothold! (grin) He agreed to being swung and let go of the rock he was holding, leaned back, and slowly swung to the left.

There he grabbed a hold of a new rock, and hung on for dear life. Pleased as punch he was! His audience of people waiting for their turns showed their verbal approval.

He did need a little help from his instructor to get that little foot up to a rock.

And then his big moment... He took an independent step up... and then...

"Mum, me done." A little too scary for this tough guy!

But look at that proud little face! You'd have thought he climbed the entire wall!

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