Merry Christmas 2017 & Happy New Year

This last week of 2017 has been full of family time. Last Sunday was Christmas Eve and the kids were so excited to wake up to a decent amount of snow on the ground.  I tried to get out and get a picture of the house and lights before the snow was all trampled on. I had to turn the lights back on though.

We had our Christmas Eve service at nine, so the kids had to wait to play in it. Since Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, our church just decided to do their regular service times instead of an evening service. And since it was an off year for my family, we didn’t do Midnight Mass, so we did our annual Christmas family picture before church that morning.

When we got home, the kids immediately got their snow gear on and headed outside. The new four-wheeler came just in time and Andrew was able to use it to quickly clear our driveway and our neighbor’s driveway. I was out taking pictures and Andrew convinced me to get on the four-wheeler. I drove Ellie up and down the street a few times, but my face and ears were so cold since they weren’t covered and I was ready to get inside and warm up. The kids had a fun time though.

We eventually made our way over to my parents. Andy and his family had just gotten into town and the kids all got straight to playing. Kaitlin and her family came later that evening and Santa came to visit. My kids were awkward with Santa yet again and Jackson didn’t sit on his lap for the first time. The Earlys had to head out before we were able to get a group picture though.

When we got home that night, the kids put out the reindeer food, Santa key, carrots for the reindeer and cookies and milk for Santa before they headed to bed. They were pretty excited. Andrew was out soon after the kids went to bed, so I put out our gifts and prepped the overnight sticky buns before heading to bed to wait on Santa.

Although, I did miss going to Midnight Mass, it was nice to get to bed a little earlier and not wake up so tired. I told the kids they couldn’t get us up before 6:20. I originally said 6:30 and Jackson said 6-so 6:20 was our negotiated time. They were all up and ready, but I did take some time to freshen up, get the sticky buns in the oven and make some hot chocolate. Then they excitedly ripped through the wrapping paper and came down to see what presents awaited them. The twins got new bikes and Lincoln got a Razor Flashrider that I think will be a lot of fun when the weather warms up. We surprised Jackson with the drone that he never thought he would get, which was fun. Another fun surprise for the kids was the picture of the ninja course we hope to make for them. They were pretty pumped. And the boys were also very excited that Santa brought them a Switch. Ellie got the Matt Carpenter jersey she has been wanting for quite a while and a hair dryer/straightener that Lissy had that she really likes. Andrew gave me a ladder and a lovely card in Spanish. Ellie made Andrew and I a special present of a box she painted with an accordion of our family pictures inside of it.

The kids made quick work of their presents and started getting them out and playing with them while I took the rest out of packaging and gathered everything for Andrew to take outside to burn. It is a pretty convenient way to get rid of most of the trash. Then we made our way to my parents for Christmas over there. They were all up eating breakfast and the kids got into their mittens. Then they got to run into the family room. The kids got some more toys from my parents. The older girls got the American Girl dollhouse like Molly has. They loved playing with Molly’s and my mom was able to find different pieces of it on Ebay. Jackson got the long board he was wanting. I got a light weight ladder I had asked for and another house cleaning. My presents to me for Christmas and birthday weren’t very exciting, but very telling of what makes me happy 😊…two house cleanings, carpet cleaning and two ladders. Andrew got a good weed eater, which he was pretty excited about. We ate brunch and hung out a little bit before heading home.

Andrew took the kids out to sled for a little bit while I tried to tackle all of the Christmas stuff. He planned to go by and see his parents, but they had guests, so they came home earlier than I expected and I still had quite a mess to still go through. The kids went back to playing with their toys. We went back to my parents that evening for Christmas dinner and our little gift exchange. The dinner was delicious and the gift exchange was entertaining at times. Zane gave Andrew some of the buck-naked underwear from Duluth Trading Company and we gave him a bar of soap from there. We also gave him a fleece vest and a sign that I made that said “Tools & S#!%”. Not quite my style, but it was an inside joke in the family. Then it was time to call it a night and we headed back home. It was a wonderful Christmas day.

And Christmas continued throughout the rest of the week with more family coming into town. Sara and her family got into town the day after Christmas and since we had all of their family except Ryan for the gift exchange, they got to open the gifts we gave them. I was excited to give Sara her present.

The kids got to have a sleepover that night and we hung out at my parents part of the next day and then went out to Tom and Mary’s for the Farwell Christmas. Annie and her family got into town the evening before. We had dinner and got to open presents. The kids already knew of one gift they got them since they got to pick it out. I was excited to get my hydration system for my tri-bike and a new skillet. The kids played throughout the evening until we headed home.

Andrew took the three oldest out to the ranch the next morning to help with a calve loadout. He actually dropped them off at his parents’ and then went to cut ice at his ponds before coming back in to get ready and head to court. He was back after court to change again and go back out to the ranch. He had told the kids they would be back around noon, but the day didn’t turn out like they had hoped. First off, it was very, very cold. The kids dressed warm though. But the first truck they sent out got about five miles out and ended up flipping onto its’ side. They were loading up another truck at the shoots, so they had to put that on hold, get the trucks and trailers and get to the wreck site. They were able to get inside the trailer and start getting the calves out. They set up some temporary pens and were able to get most of them loaded into new trailers. Sadly, some of the calves did die. So, by the time they got all of that done and finished up everything else, they didn’t get back home until around 7. Andy and Sara had left by then, but Amanda and her kids came in the evening before. So, they came over and ate a late dinner before we all headed home.

The next morning, Andrew begged me to come out to the ranch with them and I wasn’t going to, but decided last minute to go. We went out to check his cows and get stuff ready to move them across the highway. Andrew also put out a little bit of hay. The kids also really wanted to play on the ice.

Then we headed back to his parents’ house and the kids played while Andrew waited on his tractor to show up. When it showed up, I went out to check it out but then the truck driver who delivered went off on a tirade about them not sending him with the right equipment to unload the tractor and was throwing the f-bomb all over. So, I just made me way back to the house until they figured that part out. The kids were excited to get up in it when it was unloaded though.

They decided not to move Andrew’s cows until after lunch, so we stayed for lunch and thankfully, Mary was heading into town and could give us a ride home. Andrew had told me we would just be out there a couple hours and I had things to get done at home, so I was grateful for the ride. After getting some stuff done at home, we did head over to my parents so that the kids could hang out with the Bobziens since we hadn’t seen them that much. We went to see Ferdinand and it was a cute movie that the kids enjoyed.

It was starting to ice a little when we got out of the movie, so I checked in with Andrew. He and Jackson stayed out there to eat at Matthew’s and they made it back fine. The kids stayed the night again at my parents that night. The cold weather really stuck around, which also meant Andrew spent a lot of time out at the ranch. I did finally make myself do some grocery shopping even though it was only about 0 when I went. We also had a little fun/science experiment with the cold. Throwing hot water into the air…

We took the kids skating at Leisure World Sunday afternoon. They had been skating around my parents’ house the day before, so they had fun with it.

Then that evening we went to AJ’s for our annual New Year’s Eve dinner…yummy. The kids were at a separate table, which generally worked pretty well with a few interruptions. I was excited to see they had peppermint ice cream again for dessert.

Then we finished up the night at my parents’ house. Andrew and Buddy stayed at home to ring in the New Year. I worked on my blog and some office work while some of the kids played some games. Ellie requested puzzles, so I picked some up at Wal-Mart, but they were quickly abandoned as being too hard. Almost all of my family stayed up until midnight, but Miles fell asleep with about 15 minutes left. I don't think he was feeling the best though.