Ooooh. Aaaaah.

Boys are finally in bed (okay, a bit ago), but it was worth letting them stay up late to see this:

Yup. Total lunar eclipse. It was cool! This picture doesn't do it justice. It was fascinating to watch it become shadowed and then turn red (this is actually taken before it was at its peak). But. It's pretty good for having been taken with Nathan's iPhone through the viewfinder on our (inexpensive) telescope. ;) What a nice way to officially start winter...

What the heck?

Okay, someone please tell me what the designers were thinking when they added this as one of the days for the Lego City Advent calendar:

This is one of the days that the boys opened over the weekend. It's Santa taking a shower (apparently wearing a black thong)! While I find it hilarious (and think that they should have given Santa a bigger belly, lol)...I really do have to wonder what was going through their minds... ;)  

And a partridge in a pear tree...

Whew. Almost done. ;) 14 packages mailed off...13 gifts hand delivered...99 gifts wrapped so far (now I can do the ones for our immediate family)...decision made to send New Year's cards instead of Christmas cards...schoolwork for the calendar year finished up...and 8 strands of lights hung outside (plus two pre-lit wreaths, but no light up Christmas Hippo at Target that Micah adores, lol).

Course, there's also the fact that there are zero rooms cleaned, 1 gift left to finish, 2 gifts completely misplaced (ahem, lost in the course of me having hidden them, lol) and 9 gifts left to deliver...with four houseguests coming over the course of the next two weeks. 

Still. Doing pretty well. :) Yay!

Handy tip.

By the way, just so you know...Curad makes these awesome cast protectors that work fabulously for keeping a cast dry when you bathe (and other such activities). I've seen other brands and styles that actually vacuum out the air and all...lots of options that are probably just dandy. But. I just wanted to tell you about these because...

- they're way cheaper than those other ones (I got mine for $11 and two came in that box...the others I was looking at were about $30-$40 for one);

- they do a pretty decent job and are reusable (it's basically just a plastic bag with a stretchy opening that seals around your arm); and,

- they can be found at your local Walgreens (and probably other places).

If you're like me and apt to stand uselessly staring at all the possibilities while tempted to just buy one of each, now you know. ;)

Over the weekend...

(First, yes, Asher is a really light eight year old. ;) He's always been the lightest of my three. And, yes, I cut his hair this weekend...it's not your imagination that the pictures from when he broke his arm and when he had his cast look different, lol.)

So. Now that we're back to focusing on the holiday season and not on the repair of broken limbs, lol...Saturday we ventured over to Greeley to the Centennial Village museum for their holiday KidFest. (We've been once before, but the younger two don't remember it.) It was *windy*...and, thus, cold. :) Though it's been unseasonably warm around here this winter, Saturday's weather chose to be downright chilly. We broke out the winter coats (for the first time this year) and were glad for it. (Today, if you were wondering, was sunny and near 60. I was in a tee shirt and perfectly comfortable. Go figure.)

Anyhow, once there, we visited the blacksmith shop to watch the production of "reindeer shoes" (miniature horseshoes that they were making and then handing out to the kids) and then walked to visit the cowboy Santa in the log courthouse...
 

After sharing their lists, we continued walking around the historical buildings and Noah discovered what fun it was to hold Asher's empty sleeve:

(We'd thought that the new vest plus hat would be enough but ended up adding the winter coat as well, so Asher was a bit warmer than the rest of us...though he did look a bit odd, lol.) Beyond the building exhibits, we also got to dip taper candles:

Do you see the ghost of Rattlesnake Kate? ;) Yeah. I totally didn't notice that till I was editing photos at home. Apparently there was some story that went along with her and the building we were in, but I missed that. The "ghost" is a cardboard cut-out thing. Looks cool, though. ;) The boys enjoyed making candles (and I appreciated the fact that we were inside a building and not outside in the wind). After a little more wandering, we sat inside the trolley for another wind-break and a few pictures:

And then...we decided we were cold enough. :) 

After all that, we stopped for some lunch, picked up our weekly milk at the dairy and then went in search of our Christmas tree for the year...opted for a Subalpine Fir this year (we tend to go back and forth between those and Lodgepole Pines). 

Sunday we decided to get festive and bought some new LED snowflake icicle lights which Nathan and Noah proceeded to put up:

It took awhile, but we're happy. :) I love how much joy and wonder simple lights can bring to the boys. (And wish the layout of our house made for easier outdoor light decor situations, lol.)

Once inside and thawed out a bit, we also finished our indoor decorations. The boys started on their miniature trees and their handmade ornaments from the past few years. Lacking other ideas on where to put them, we stuck them on top of the armoire:

 
...and then finished off our main Christmas tree:

 
Do you see the little imp at the foot of the tree? ;) Here he is again:

 
Now if that doesn't get you in the holiday spirit, I don't know what will. ;) Off to the boys' winter program now...