A Little Hunting & A Fun Girly Party

We have had a mix of things going on in this house this week.  Deer hunting finished for our crew this week and I spent part of my week getting ready for Ellie's first friend birthday party.  But starting where I left off last time, our washer seems to be doing fine and hasn't had any more issues.  I did notice that same evening that the laundry felt like a sauna though while running the dryer and discovered the vent hose had a hole in it.  So Ellie and I picked up a new one before her gymnastics class and got it put on after we got home.  Everything thing seems to be working for now. 

Since we didn't have small group again on Wednesday, Andrew took Jackson and Lincoln out for a quick hunt after school.  I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but Lincoln likes wear different outfits for different occasions.  Like when he was helping Andrew clean up the water last Tuesday he had to get a certain shirt on-a green one with a dump truck on it.  Not sure why, but he put had to have it on.  Then when he went hunting on Wednesday he had to get his short work jeans and cowboy shirt.  I told him to put on some pj pants under his jeans so he also put on his Mickey Mouse pj shirt over his shirt he already had on too.  While the boys were hunting, Ellie stayed at home with the twins and I and made a key chain and necklace with her beads, had a dance party with the twins, and helped get dinner ready.  Miles also spent some time looking through the toy catalog trying to decided what he wanted for Christmas.

 

We had a new dish for dinner and even though I liked it, the kids were not fans.  It was not a good dinner time.  I did have leftovers for lunch for a few days though :-)  While Andrew did baths, the older kids helped me clean up after dinner and then I went grocery shopping.  It has been nice to go Wednesday nights instead of in the morning with the twins.  I feel bad leaving one sitting out in the cold while I get the other in his car seat. I only get to do this when we aren't meeting for small group which isn't very often.  It was a little bit of a longer trip since I had to pick up the bikes I ordered for Ellie and Lincoln.  I ordered them online and called ahead to see if they could put them together.  They did which was awesome.  I just had to find some place to hide them when I got home.  Andrew had moved a lot of stuff in the basement from the washer incident, so I was able to put that stuff back in place and squeeze the bikes in here and there.  And since all my Christmas wrapping stuff was already out too, I decided to go ahead and set up my wrapping station in the office.  I'm not sure when I will get in there, but at least it is ready to go which is fun.

Thursday morning I was able to get a swim in.  I have started trying to get 2 of each the swim, bike, and run in each week.  We'll just have to see how long that lasts :-).  Later I wrapped Ellie's birthday gifts while the twins destroyed the play room for me.  They have decided they like to dump every bucket, basket, and bag in there.  They also like finding anything they think they can stand on so they can reach the light switches and turn them on and off.  One cute part I saw was when Miles was sitting at the little table in the playroom acting like he was drinking from a cup.  Then Bennett took a play salt shaker that was upside down and acted like he got water from the fridge and then sat down at the table with Miles.  A not cute part though was later when they realized I was washing their blankets and animals-they were not happy at all.

After the twins went down for a nap, Lincoln and I turned on the Christmas music and started working on getting our Christmas cards ready to mail.  His job was licking the envelopes and he made it through about twenty before he was done with that.  So we shared that job and then he handed me the envelopes while I put the address labels on.  Then he peeled the stamps off for me too.  And about a 1/2 hour later, we were done.

Friday I took down all of our fall decorations and started decorating for Ellie's party the next morning.  Andrew found out the Matthew got a good buck that morning.  He was helping Brad pull his deer out when he saw the buck.  So he borrow Brad's gun and got it.  So Andrew really had the itch after that to get something.  He rushed home after picking up the kids from school and tried to get ready very quickly.  But then Lincoln approached him about wanting to go with him too.  Part of Andrew wanted to tell him no because he knew his chances were less if Lincoln came along with him.  But being the awesome dad he is, he told Lincoln to quickly get ready and they were on their way.  Lincoln had the biggest smile on his face, especially since he got to go by himself with Andrew.  But they didn't come back with anything but cold feet.  While they were gone Jackson and Ellie actually played outside even though it was freezing.  I was glad they were still able to get outside and have some fun.  It ended up being a popcorn for dinner kind of night for Jackson and Ellie and pb&j for the others.  Then Ellie was excited to go with me to pick up her cupcakes for the party.  And after everyone went to bed, I finished putting up the last few decorations and supplies for the crafts the girls were going to do.  I knew if I put this stuff out earlier, the twins would have it everywhere.  The good thing about a lot of the decorations is that I was able to use a lot of stuff I already had, especially from Ellie's Barbie party a couple of years ago.  I used whatever pink stuff we had-it didn't matter what shade :-)

Andrew headed out hunting again Saturday morning but Jackson opted out for the whole weekend because it was so cold.  I think the wind chill was in the single digits.  Andrew said he ended up walking close to five miles, I think partly to stay warm.  Ellie's party was at 10 and thankfully my mom and Molly came over to help with it.  Molly got there a little early and curled Ellie's hair for me.  She does a better job than I do.  Ellie wore her Eloise outfit from Halloween and looked adorable.  Jackson was supposed to be in charge of the twins and keep them down in the basement to play.  My mom got there a little before the party and starting taking some pictures for me.  The party went pretty smoothly (it was much calmer than Jackson's parties) and I think Ellie had a good time.  I had a couple of crafts for them to work on at the beginning including decorating an ornament I made for them and a small tote bag.  After that we had a little breakfast buffet followed by opening gifts.  The girls did get a little rowdy after opening gifts by throwing tissue paper around :-)  Definitely not as dangerous as the wrestling that would sometimes ensue during Jackson's parties.  We finished up the party by playing Pin the Bow on Eloise and having cupcakes.  I would say it was a success.  Mom and Molly, thank you so much for helping out!

After the party, I actually remembered to put a pork roast in the crockpot to use for pulled pork for dinner.  I worked on some stuff around the house while Ellie played with some of her new birthday presents.  Molly taught her how to make friendship bracelets before she left, so she worked on those for awhile.  She was just doing two strings.  I worked with her a bit on doing four colors and she thought it was pretty neat. But she had trouble keeping it all straight and ended up going back to the two colors.  She also got a magic kit and she tried to do some tricks for us.  Jackson and Lincoln helped me clean out the garage and reorganize the toys so that Andrew could start parking his truck in there.  I didn't even think about it while we were out there, but the smell from the meat cooking in the crockpot was absent.  I usually set out crockpot up out in the garage to keep the smell out of the house.  Well when I went to unplug it to shred the meat, the crockpot was cold.  I guess it didn't get plugged in all the way.  This was a day I ended up being thankful for the freezing temperatures.  Our garage door was open a lot during the day as the kids went in and out, so the garage stayed pretty cold.  So I stuck the crockpot in the fridge to use for the next day.  I made a frozen pizza for us while Andrew had his leftover jambalaya that Sharon had given him earlier in the week.  He was very thankful that she thought of him. 

Andrew actually stayed in Sunday morning since it was so cold.  He headed out after we got back from church but was unsuccessful.  He did shoot a doe though.  The kids are excited that he is going to make deer jerky out of it-me, not so much.  While the twins were napping, Jackson and Lincoln helped me put out our outdoor Christmas decorations like the wreath, some small trees, garland, and bows for the front porch and the fireplace out back.  We discovered that the lighted garland I hand on the rail wasn't working, but it will just have to be for now.  We also put out the wooden nativity we have.  Lincoln was excited he got to bring up baby Jesus from the basement and stake him into the ground.  I had promised them hot chocolate after we were done but they decided to go out and play with their friends.  At one point they even got out the soccer goals and tried to play some soccer.  But cold fingers don't feel very well when they get hit by the soccer ball or kicked.  I think both Lincoln and Ty left crying.  And that night I was thankful we were able to have the pulled pork-it worked this time :-).

Today I just tried to keep going and getting things marked off my list.  I finished up making some breakfast casseroles to freeze for brunch after Jackson's baptism on Sunday.  I worked on this post a bit and tied up some loose ends around the house.  Miles and Bennett played a lot with their "choo-choos".  They are liking the trains like Jackson did at their age.  I may need to replenish the stock a bit.  Lincoln wasn't into them as much-it was all about tractors, so I think I gave some away. 

When Jackson got home from school today, the first thing he said was that he got his grade back on his heritage report/presentation and he got a 100%.  He was so excited and I was happy that he was excited to get a good grade.  We talked about how it isn't always fun putting in the hard work but it is worth it in the end.  His review sheet said he made good eye contact and stood still during his presentation along with getting credit for the outfit he made.  After relishing the moment, it was time to do more homework :-).  Ellie had dance after school and she was very excited to do her own pony tail.  She is actually doing pretty well with them.  I have almost let it slip that that will be useful at kamp this summer :-).  We ended the evening by meeting Andrew's family and some family friends at Colton's for dinner.  It was also Ashlyn's birthday and the wait staff surprised her and gave her a special dessert.  They bang pots and pans, so it can be kind of loud.  I think she was a little nervous about it but also happy about the surprise.  Now it is time to look forward to a fun, busy week with family!