Catching up

Yup, went missing for a bit there. Sorry. Here's some of what's been happening in the last couple weeks...

1. I enjoyed an afternoon of lunch, drinks and shopping with Deanna. We didn't get a picture of us, but did take pictures of our drinks, lol.

These were two of our drinks at the outdoor patio area of Coppermuse. It was such a gorgeous day and we thoroughly loved wandering Old Town after that...popping into shops to pick up a few things (mostly for Deanna, as I was pretty much done with my shopping at that point).

2. A few days later I was back at Coppermuse for dinner and drinks with boot camp ladies. Again, we didn't take a picture, but we had such fun with our fire table and patio heaters and great conversation. (It's so much easier to talk when we're sitting and drinking than when we're doing cardio during boot camp, lol.)

3. Enjoyed another beautiful Colorado sunrise...

4. Boys finished their fall semesters. Micah finished Dec 13, Noah finished Dec 14 and Asher finished Dec 15. Whew.

5. I flew to Omaha on Wednesday (Dec 15). When I stepped off the plane, an employee was walking past with a "Tornado Shelter" sign...which was a bit disconcerting. Once Asher finished his last final, he drove to pick me up at the airport. Simultaneously, we started receiving multiple warnings to seek shelter and tornado sirens started sounding. Unsure of exactly what to do, we drove to my AirBNB and contacted the host who offered shelter and reassuring words and additional information. Given the givens, we opted to just stay put for a couple hours while the storm passed. And it was definitely a storm...torrential rains, winds, lightning...apparently at least one tornado touched down just west of Omaha. But then it was past us and the sun came out and the winds died down for a bit. We were so appreciative of the snacks the AirBNB host had stocked in the little kitchen area...as we were both starving but couldn't drive anywhere to get food. They weren't great for us but they took the edge off until we were able to drive and get some dinner. :) Whew.

6. The next day, we returned Asher's textbook rentals, visited the campus bookstore, watched a movie and just generally hung out. That night, Asher finished packing up his stuff. Friday morning, then, we loaded everything up and made the 8 hour drive home. Thankful that our uneventful drive wasn't during the weather that we'd had on Wednesday! 

7. Nathan collected Noah on Friday while Asher and I were driving. Noah got his booster shot (had been waiting until after finals and getting the results from his covid test--we've had both older boys test before coming home for any breaks) then came back to the house.  

8. Asher and I made it safely home, unloaded and had dinner then we all headed out to Karate West. Since the pandemic has kept the demo team from performing at monthly promotions, they'd organized some demo team performances open to the public...Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday morning. Micah went Thursday night. Asher joined in for Friday and Saturday, and they put on a great show, running through multiple routines. (I'll try to post some videos on my Facebook page but haven't figured out how to include videos here.) Here are some pictures...

And now we've been settling into being on winter break. More on that soon... :)

Evolving traditions

Woohoo! I'm in a good mood today...got all our holiday cards mailed yesterday, have only one package left here to mail, and am almost entirely done with my Christmas shopping. Go, me! 

Also, last weekend, I was able to get together with my friend Molly and we went for a great walk and caught up...which was awesome. :) 

During our windy walk, we somehow got on the topic of the holidays and I was telling her about how I used to wrap holiday books for boys as a kind of advent, countdown calendar. They got to open one each night of December for their bedtime story. It was one of my favorite traditions...kept boys from constantly asking when they could unwrap something, meant I didn't have to read the same book every night, and was just plain fun. Over the years, I'd add in new books in the wrapped pile as surprises along the way...which means my holiday book collection is quite large. Here are some that were favorites:

(I'm realizing that this picture is missing at least a couple classics that were also favorites...like How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Twas the Night Before Christmas.)

In any case, I was happy to share that with Molly (who has a 4 year old). Sadly, my guys don't have any interest in reading holiday books with me any more. Soooo...this year I started something new. A parent group I follow online mentioned these punch boxes:

I bought three (from Target) and had great fun filling them with little things for each boy. (I can't say what I filled them with since boys haven't opened them all yet.) Each box is slightly different and I ended up having to wrap the things individually inside the box when I realized that some of the items fit in the box but not through the hole, lol. So, the boys have to open the whole box to retrieve some of the things.

In any case, I gave them to boys as countdown to finals boxes. They each started on a different day and will end on their last day of finals. Obviously, then, I don't have any pictures of Noah or Asher opening their stuff, but Micah enjoyed his first item...which was a flint because we've been watching Survivor lately and he kept talking about how he could use a flint better than the contestants. Turns out, he's right:

After opening it, he immediately headed to the backyard, managed to get a fire going on the patio and then was redirected over to the firepit that was full of old leaves and pine needles. Needless to say, he was happy.

So, a new tradition perhaps? I'm sure things will continue to evolve as we're moving into a new stage with grown boys. Thankful today for the memories of traditions past and the prospect of traditions future.

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday, y'all! Here's what I'm thankful for today...

1. Bob Dylan. Today would have been my dad's 72nd birthday. He's been gone 14 years now but I'm obviously thinking of him today. He was a huge Dylan fan. Truly. Last month, I found this book at a local bookstore...

A Harvard professor wrote it to accompany a course he teaches, and I find that fascinating. Because I would definitely have bought it for my dad for his birthday, I bought it for myself. I have a pile of other books to read in line ahead of it, but I'm looking forward to reading this and thinking of my dad. Thankful to have Bob Dylan as a touchpoint that always reminds me of my dad. 

2. Paper plates. I forgot to mention it in my last post, but I'm sincerely thankful for paper plates. They made Thanksgiving break with all my guys much easier, lol. While I'm at it, I'm also thankful that we went for larger quantities of flatware when we bought ours. That, combined with using the paper plates, meant that we had to run the dishwasher considerably less often. 

3. Sunsets in Colorado. I mean, just look at Tuesday's sunset...

Is it any wonder that the Broncos' colors are orange and blue?

4. Being more done than usual. Tooting my own horn here and celebrating that I have more done on my holiday to do list than I normally do at this point. :) It feels so nice. (I'm really working on actually finishing things now rather than being so pleased with myself and taking a break instead, lol.) I fully recognize that I have more time than most to get these things done and am thankful for that.

5. Tea. I love the smell of coffee and its flavor in things like ice cream and chocolate. I don't, though, drink coffee. I have tea daily instead. So, when I saw this advent calendar with different teas, I was stoked.

I started it yesterday and so far am pretty happy. Looking forward to my afternoon tea this month. :) It's the little things.

So...happy birthday, Dad! Always thankful for you!

Thanksgiving break pictures

Behind on posting here but was busy just enjoying the time with my guys. Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!!

Noah came home on Saturday and he and Micah have both had the whole week off from classes. The weekend and first part of the week was very low key...just decompressing from classes and playing video games and getting things checked off the list. Tuesday evening, Asher flew home and Nathan and I picked him up at the airport. We got home, did a little catching up, then headed for bed. Wednesday, Asher and I got our booster shots and picked up more food for the week. (We revisited our approach from last year of supporting local businesses to stock our Thanksgiving table and are quite happy with that.) We played some Catan, watched a couple shows and tried out some new Jackbox party pack games. 

Thanksgiving day, Asher and I weren't feeling great due to the booster shots but had anticipated that and were all good with a very chill Thanksgiving. Boys slept in, Nathan made a few side dishes (to accompany other things we'd bought from local restaurants), and we ate throughout the day. Nothing formal at all...which makes me a little sad but makes all my guys quite happy. :) 

We also watched a show, played Catan and played more Jackbox games. Yup, a very quiet Thanksgiving. :)

Friday, Micah and I got in our morning workouts and Nathan picked up one last order we'd placed at a local restaurant (we have three hungry boys here to feed after all, lol). Nathan and I did a wee bit of online Black Friday shopping and I made everyone take some pictures. This was the best of the shots I got of the boys...

But it took some work...

And I got a group picture also...

...but, again, it wasn't simple, lol...

After that, Asher and Micah met up with some friends while Noah, Nathan and I watched a couple movies together. Then, for dinner, we got the firepit going and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores.

When we'd finished with that, we tried a new card game I'd seen people rave about...but it wasn't a huge hit here. (It's called Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. Micah and I thought it was fun, and we were all grateful that we made Micah remove all his rings and bracelets. Noah sat it out in the first place on account of having sprained his wrist last week...which was wise because Micah slapping your hand hurt, lol.) 

After that, we switched to Jackbox games, argued over the ranking of all the Marvel movies (how you'd rank them from best to worst), got Asher checked in for his flight, then watched a few more shows before bed.

And now...Micah and I got our morning workouts in. Noah and Asher are still asleep (yes, it's after noon). We don't have any specific plans for the rest of the day, other than to hang out together and get Asher to the airport after dinner. It wasn't the most exciting break, but it was a much appreciated one. Hoping the downtime helps all three boys get through this last couple weeks in the push toward finals. 

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday, y'all! Just a quick post. Today, I'm thankful for new words. Here's the story...

I was complaining to Nathan and Micah about the lack of a single word to talk about nieces & nephews. (I've made this complaint before, lol.) We have a single word for brothers & sisters, right? Why not for nieces & nephews? Well, as it turns out, there IS a word for that: NIBLINGS. 

No joke! Micah looked it up to get me to stop complaining and discovered that collectively you can call nieces & nephews niblings. Apparently, you can also call aunts & uncles piblings. ;P 

Ridiculously, this makes me so happy. 

So, today, I'm thankful for having this new word. I'm also thankful for my actual niblings! I have fourteen of them...

(Two of them are pictured twice above and one of my sisters is in there, too, but trust me...they're all there.)

My fourteen niblings (do you like how I keep using the word just because I can? lol) range in age from 11 months to almost 24 years. As I was gathering the pictures above, I'm realizing that I take pictures with some of them more than with others...need to fix that. (To be fair, I have lots of pictures of them all, just not with me.)

Anyhow, thankful for my niblings...for the new word...for my siblings for having my niblings when they did so that I have a nice range to enjoy. :)