HUGE Update!!

My goodness...time really flies by! Okay David....here is the big update! Hope this makes you happy!!

The week before Thanksgiving, I took the train down to Oregon to spend a week with my grandparents helping them clean out my great-grandmother's condo. She is 94 and was recently moved to group home with 24 hour care. It was a huge project since grandma saved many things over the 94 years of her life! Part of it was like a treasure hunt--opening a box and not exactly knowing what you might find! :) We found quite a few family items such as pictures, quilts, journals, birth and death certificates, bibles etc. which are really special to have and which have helped us in our genealogy. The family drove down on Friday and my mom helped us clean out the condo and pick out the things she wanted to keep. We went back home on Saturday and left the following Tuesday to spend a few extra days with my grandparents before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

During our trips to Oregon, we were introduced to our grandpa's furry friend. This friendly squirrel sits on his back step right outside his back door begging for peanuts. You have to be very careful that it doesn't run inside. Here are some pictures I took on Thanksgiving.

This pic was taken through the window on the back door

Gracie watching the squirrel--notice the peanut on the door!Isn't it cute??

We had a nice Thanksgiving--we made the whole meal including Jacqueline's sweet potato recipe which was a hit! All the kids took a walk with grandma right before dinner and then we came back and sat down to a lovely feast. After dinner, clean up and dessert, we played games and talked. Here are some pictures from our before dinner walk and Thanksgiving meal.

Here are some dinner pictures..... I didn't take very many....

Jonathan thinks his hair looks really good in the following picture
The next morning three kids and my grandma woke up sick. We all thought it must be some kind of food poisoning and we tried to figure out what made everyone sick. Grandpa was convinced it was the sweet potatoes since the Bittner's sent them to us--the mailman must have spit on them! :) Thankfully it was a short illness and everyone was feeling better the next morning. Saturday night as we were packing the van to leave....Gracie fell ill. After much discussion we decided to drive home even though she was sick. She wanted me to sit next to her so I helped her as she threw up about every 10 min. the whole two hour trip home!! We made it home safely and were all thankful to be home! The next morning I fell ill proving it could not have been something we ate! For the next week everyone had their turn--leaving only my mom and grandpa still standing!!

Christmas Decorating

It took a long time to convince the boys to put up our outside Christmas decorations. Once they started--it was completely comical. James loved to help--he loves cords and thought having so many was wonderful! : ) Here is a slide show which tells the story...



19th Century Christmas at the Fort


The following Saturday, Jonathan, Josiah, Daniel and I re-enacted at a Christmas event out at the Fort. We participated in many activities including 19th century dancing and much music! The rest of the family attended a Celtic event in Gig Harbor where David was piping and Esther danced. We all really enjoyed our respective activities. Unfortunately, I don't have many pics from this weekend. :(

Homeless Care Packages

The next Thursday we went to a friends house to help them pack care packages for the homeless. The dad is a police officer and knows many homeless people in his area. He decided to put these together to give him witnessing opportunities. We were very excited to be part of this project. Having many helping hands made the project go by quickly! We also enjoyed fellowship over pizza! : )

Dialtone Movie Premier

After about a year in production Dialtone is finally finished and we attended the premier last Saturday. It was well attended and it was great to see it on the big screen especially since there are many people in it that we personally know! My dad is an extra and so are quiet a few people from our church. Dialtone has also been accepted in the San Antonio Christian Film Festival and we are hoping it places well. If you would like to buy a copy of Dialtone or would like to find out more about it you can check out the website at http://www.dialtonemovie.com/. It makes a wonderful Christmas gift!

Christmas at Fort Steilacoom

After the premiere we headed to Ft. Nisqually to make a short appearance at a Christmas party and then headed over to Ft. Steilacoom for a Civil Era Christmas re-enactment. Jonathan fiddled all evening and David and I participated in the dancing. We had a good number of re-enactors this year and enjoyed our time. Most of the girls wore silk ballgowns and the guys were dressed as soldiers. The room was lit by candlelight and we stayed (for the most part) in first person. Toward the end of the event it started to snow, so we all went outside and took pictures. I didn't have my camera with me but Nona has a few pics on her blog http://missnonaeleanor.wordpress.com/

Church Christmas Party

The next morning was our church Christmas party. Due to snow and ice, some families were not able to attend and a few came late after it had warmed up some. We had a normal church service and after church each family decorated and set their table. The menu was prime rib and turkey, green beans, roasted poatoes, salad, bread and all kinds of desserts. After people were finished eating, we had a time of family sharing. We shared our music--Jonathan on the violin, David on the pipes, Josiah and I played a duet and the little ones sang a carol. It was really great to see everyone sharing together. After clean up, we did English Country Dancing for a couple hours. By then the snow was coming down again and we left before it was too slick. Even though we left early, we still drove 15mph on the freeway and some people were still sliding on the ice! Thankfully, everyone arrived home safely!

Daniel's Birthday

Daniel turned 9 on Tuesday. He went out to lunch with Mom and Dad and ordered a special dinner of Teriyaki chicken with vegtables and rice and he chose Boiled Cake for dessert. After dinner he decorated a gingerbread train, which I think is all eaten by now!

Notice the beautiful wrapping job? David was proud of his work!

The coat was way too big!!

SNOW!!

It is still snowing as I write this. It snowed all day yesterday and we were supposed to have a couple days break, but....it is back! I think we received about 5 inches of snow--most all came yesterday! The roads are very slick and we are really enjoying being at home, playing games, watching movies etc. We are supposed to have another large storm starting tomorrow night and snow is in the forecast all next week except Christmas. Hopefully, we will still have some on the ground so we can call it a white christmas!