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. :)

Thankful Friday

Apparently, aside from my post yesterday, I haven't done a Thankful Thursday post this month. Let's fix that! Here's my list of some things I'm thankful for right now...

1. Tromping through leaves. I love fall. I've said it before. :) One of my favorite things lately has been walking (and very occasionally running) through the leaves. I love how they look and how they sound.

(I took this picture last week during a walk around the neighborhood simply to enjoy the sunshine.)

2. My neighborhood. Relatedly, I so appreciate my neighborhood and how lovely it is in the fall...how easy it is to go for a nice walk or run (great trails so close)...how terrific my neighbors are (it's always fabulous chatting and catching up on all the neighborhood gossip whenever we happen to see each other, lol)...how many great businesses are within walking distance. Truly, I love where I live.

3. Firepits. So, I may have talked Nathan into buying this Solo Stove Bonfire. After seeing others sitting in their driveways on Halloween with portable firepits, it seemed like an excellent idea. Yes, we have a firepit area in our backyard already. But. We haven't been using it because of...fire bans during fire season, recommendations/requests to not use fire pits due to the smoke and the affect that can have on people with respiratory issues (such as Covid) and the lack of easy seating around the (recessed) fire.

Fortunately, we're out of the fire bans. And, the Solo Stove is specifically designed to minimize smoke and ash and burn more efficiently. Plus, it's portable so we'll be able to sit out front with it next Halloween. :) An added benefit, we found, is that it's fabulous for making s'mores (thanks to the secondary burn from the holes in the bottom to feed heated oxygen to the top)...

And we can set it right on the patio where the rest of our seating already is. It's also really easy to get started and to close down for the night and puts off a good deal of heat...perfect for socializing outdoors these days. :) 

4. Habitat for Humanity. Yesterday, Micah and I finally volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. He'd been waiting for his "turn," having watched both brothers volunteer but not being able to until he turned 16. Then, thanks to the pandemic, volunteer opportunities have been harder to arrange for a good number of reasons. But. Yesterday, the kind people at Habitat (and Micah's flexible class schedule) helped make it happen. Micah and I helped install front porch posts, and Micah got experience using a number of tools. Aside from the wind, we had a wonderful time and so appreciated the other volunteers and the crew who worked with us.  

I've been out to this work site a number of times now with all three boys and with Nathan. It's been awesome seeing the progress!

Okay, that's my list for the moment. Many more things I'm thankful for but I want to make sure to actually post this before the weekend. :) Happy weekend to you all!

Thankful Thursday: Veterans Day

Back in May, I posted the following pictures and notes for Memorial Day, recognizing that Memorial Day is for honoring those who died in military service. My pictures are of relatives who served, even though most of them did not die during active duty. Veterans Day, today, is for celebrating the service of all US military veterans...so today is another day for showing respect and appreciation for all who have and are serving. So, I'm sharing my pictures again...and have added a couple. 

First up is this picture that says it's a relative of my mom's mom (James Waterman) after the Civil War:

And, this is a relative of my mom's mom (Chester "Chuck" Robertson) during WWII: 

And my mom's aunt (Edith "Fern" McKie Robertson) during WWII:

(I don't remember exactly when she died, but I know that I met and spent time with Aunt Fern and that my gram loved her sister dearly.)

And this is Nathan's mom's dad (Blair McLean) during WWII:

This picture was probably taken in 1944. He died in 1984 so I never met him unfortunately.

And here's his brother, (Nathan's mom's uncle, Rod McLean) in 1942:

He drowned while fishing shortly after the war and had been engaged to an English woman he met while stationed in England.

And this is Nathan's dad's dad (Al Probst) during WWII:

Grandpa Al was able to meet and enjoy all of my boys before he passed in 2009, which makes me happy. He was such a joyful and kind man.

And here's my dad's uncle (Jack Smith) in France during WWII:

And that same uncle a year later:

I never met him, but I've heard stories about my dad's uncle. After my dad's mom died (when my dad was 5), uncle Jack helped my grandpa raise his eight kids.

And this is my mom's older half-brother (Gilbert Duran) in Vietnam:

I know I'm missing family service members from my list here. Regardless, sincere respect for all those men and women who have served or are serving...whether they're related to me or not.

Gratitude.  

21

Yesterday my Noah turned TWENTY ONE. Twenty one, y'all. Wow.

Twenty one years ago, we met this boy...this 9lb 4oz bundle...  

Yup, he was large. While unexpected, it was actually really nice that he was so big. There weren't worries about him being overly fragile...he was hefty...he was healthy...lugging him around helped burn off the weight I'd put on while pregnant, lol. 

These days I don't have to lug him around any more. :) Today, he's a mostly self-sufficient young man working toward graduating college next spring. He's enjoying this final year and being able to be more involved (now that things aren't all remote)...working with his senior project team and continuing with his grading position through the school...making his own budget and learning about financial decisions...cooking for himself and handling the adulty things. He's always been fairly comfortable in his own skin. It's a pleasure watching him figuring that all out.

Given that his birthday fell on a Tuesday, we didn't celebrate hugely...just picked him up at the end of a long school day (for him), grabbed some dinner and ate at home. We had a cake (technically, Whole Foods says it was a gateau basque...we're not sure exactly what that is, but it was delicious). We played some games. And then we took him back to his apartment to finish some homework. Exciting stuff. ;) 

But. Maybe that's all appropriate. Now that he's legally an adult and all, he gets that adulting isn't always fun and games. (Honestly, he's always gotten that.)

I am bummed, though, because our evening gathering means I wasn't really able to take decent photos and we didn't do any group photos. Alas.

Regardless, so proud to celebrate Noah! Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for him!