Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started our week off with our normal activity - work, school, regular life stuff.  Wednesday was a day of preparation for our big Thanksgiving gathering.  The kids helped me clean and get ready.  Thursday morning was filled with excitement as the kids helped me to set tables, get food ready and await our guests while Daddy started the deep frying process with the turkey outside.  Soon, they began to arrive and our home was filled with family and friends we consider family - 19 of us all together!  Grandpa, Grandma, Opa, Oma, Aunt Becky, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kerri, Aubrey, Wesley, Tony, Kathy, Travis and Emmett joined us for a feast!

It was a nice day full of laughter, good food (too much, of course) and relaxing while the kids happily played together.   Our friends remained to hang out for the evening, after our families slowly left, and we enjoyed watching a movie with the kids in the living room before sending them off to bed and enjoying some adult time together.

Friday, the girls were anxious to get going with setting up for Christmas!  We got the tree out and set up together, and then Mommy strung lights, which of course, after hung, had partially working strands that required a start over and new strings to be purchased.  So, since they had to wait to decorate, they were at least given their new ornament, as is our tradition.  Each of the kids got to open and hang a new ornament just for them that reflected a big moment or part of the year.  

Elam was all about opening the gift!

 He got a boot!  He loves to wear his cowboy boots, has for quite a long time now.

 Tierney was anxious to see what her ornament would be...

 And was thrilled to find an elephant inside the package.  Tierney loves elephants!

 Alora had many theories about what her ornament could be...

 And one of them was correct - a white rabbit to represent her first year as a Cloverbud and showing Barb at the fair.

 Ezri may have been most anxious of all the kids to see what her gift was.

 A S'more reading books!  This kid always has her face in a book, and we love that about her!

 And with that, Christmas 2018 has been kicked off.

 After we finished hanging new lights and got all of the other ornaments hung, the girls unanimously decided that Elam should have the honor of placing the start on top of the tree this year.

 Our Friday night was spent helping our friends rake their leaves on a 45 degree fall day before the coming rain and snow the following few days.  We spent several hours raking, piling and sitting around a burning pile of leaves, slowly feeding it.  The kids played outside for a while together, and then inside before being fed, and watching a movie in their PJ's.  Then they all snuggled up on the living room floor and went to sleep.

By the time Alex and I got home with the kids and got ourselves into bed, it was 2am, but we were so glad to have been able to help with that huge task.

Saturday was a day of getting some things done around the house, finishing our Christmas decorating and then taking a trip to a discount outlet store in Schoolcraft for a little shopping before returning to crash on the couch with a movie.

Sunday, we were all pretty wore out from such a long weekend, kids included.  So many late nights, extra early wake-ups due to excitement and activity had us all ready to nap - except Elam.  That kid fought and fought until he could no longer hold out and nodded off on the couch.  Poor baby!

 Sunday evening, Alex and I did a bit of organizing and putting some more things in place in the barn. Now that the overhead lights were hung and the lathe was in its final place, we could hang a cabinet, some tools and place a few smaller pieces of equipment in a home.  With a winter storm headed our way, we also scrambled to make room so both trucks could tuck into the barn before the snow arrived.  We were successful!

For the first time in many, many years, perhaps ever since we have lived here, every vehicle we own was parked inside a building and our yard and driveways were empty!  It was a pretty fantastic feeling to know that the coming snow would not have to first be cleared from vehicles before it could be cleared from the driveway

Lots of Reasons to Celebrate

We started our week off with some celebrating, as it was Daddy's birthday!  The girls were quite excited to help me make steak, cheesy potatoes and Brussels sprouts for dinner and apple cobbler for dessert (Daddy isn't a big cake fan).  After dinner, We lit candles on the apple cobbler and sang to Daddy.

 We gave Daddy a couple of gifts together; new razors and a new angle grinder.  He was a happy Daddy!

 Barb was out and about this week after having another sore hock that required a visit to Doctor Heather.  He's back to his spunky, binky self.  He sure loves Tobi, though at times a bit more than Tobi appreciates, but one day we found them snuggled together, as we occasionally do.

 The girls got their school done this week, and one day they thought it was quite fun to make a little desk for Elam to join it!  He thought it was pretty great too!

 As these things tend to happen, this Mommy made a big forgetful mistake in not having Alora paint her plate at the end of Kindergarten, like Ezri got to.  So, we finally got around to doing it and she had a great time.  Of course, she painted a sunshine :)

Part of the week was spent moving more smaller stuff from the garage in anticipation of the big move of the lathe on Friday night.  The space was waiting...

And after having the legs removed and the wheels put under it...

 It was time!

 This time, we got started earlier in the evening, so we weren't at it at 11pm. It wasn't snowing, either, but it sure was cold!

 Things started out pretty well, the lathe rolled out of the garage easily.

 It even got started on its path to the barn without much trouble.

 And then it got stuck. 

 Alex thought maybe the lawn mower would give it the extra boost, as it did with the Tormach.

 But, alas, it required a bit more muscle, so we borrowed a big fork lift to get it going again.

 Once we got it over the gravel span and into the barn, with some help from some more muscle, we got it moving into its new home.

 There it is! 

 Saturday morning, I spent some time cleaning the floor and preparing the side of the garage for the move of all of our shed contents out of the barn and into their new home.

 By Saturday night we managed to get the rack up, quads, tractor and bikes in place.

 Sunday, Alex and I worked on getting the rest moved and in place.  And just like that we now have a garage with space for the van and all of the stuff from the shed, and the barn is now solely filled with shop equipment.  This means that next week the business will run solely from the barn for the first time!

 Lots of reasons to celebrate!!!

Excitement All Around

We've had a week of excitement and fun around here.  

 Monday, Daddy connected the wiring in the barn to outlets and just like that the new barn had power!

 The kids spent an afternoon helping me rake up the last big leaf fall.  Ezri was a HUGE help, putting in almost 3 hours herself!

 When Jamesen came over after school, as we were raking the last section of leaves from inside the fence to the gate, the kids decided it would be a fun challenge to see if they could stack the leaves to the top of the arbor.  They worked hard for over an hour on that task!

 We did a little more in the barn to prepare a spot for the Tormach CNC mill to move in to its new home, running conduit and electrical outlets.  We also got the cabinets in place for work benches and brought home counter top my dad had salvaged for us to use.

 Friday night was the big move!  With the help of Kathy, Jay & Becci, the Tormach said farewell to its home in the garage...

 And made the move out the door.

 At the point of crossing from the driveway over the gravel to to the new cement, we had a bit of a hang up going over the board.  This had us stuck for a bit.  Of course, it was snowing at that point (where did fall go?!)

 With some help from our lawn mower, we were able to get it moving again.

 It may have been a bit of a struggle and required multiple attempts to get it dislodged, and we may or may not have left some skid marks on the new cement...

 But, it was finally in!!!

 This meant the garage had even more space inside now, an exciting and maybe a little emotional thing.

 Saturday morning, the kids woke up very excited for another day of the yard filled with snow.  This time, Elam got to go out and play in it too!

 The kids, with help from their friends Travis & Emmett, made some big snow balls in the yard and played for quite a while in the snow.

 Meanwhile, Kathy, Alex and I worked on getting the Tormach cleaned up and finished attaching cabinets to the wall, as well as hung peg board for all the tools that needed to be moved from the garage for the mill.

 It was quite exciting to move the mill in to place and fire it up again!

All afternoon, on and off, I worked on getting the garage cleaned up and ready for the van to be able to park in it.  Saturday evening, just before dinner time, the big moment arrived!  For the first time in over 6 years, the first time ever for our van, we were able to park a vehicle in the garage!

 We still have work to do as the Lathe needs to move, but it is still being used for a lot of work right now and may be a bit yet.  However, it is quite fulfilling to see the barn being used for work now and the garage being used as a garage again!

Sunday morning, as the girls did not know the van had been parked inside, there was a lot of excitement as they saw the garage door open to reveal it inside.  It was a big deal for all of us to get into the van from inside as well as pull it back in when we returned home from church.  The small things amuse us here!

At church, I had quite a giggle at Elam.  Each Sunday, he stays with us in the sanctuary, but part way through I take him to play in our Prayground, an area in the sanctuary designated for the littles to play and allows parents to still participate in the service if they don't want to put their child in nursery.  There is a family with a little boy just a week older than Elam and they love to play there together.  This Sunday, they went through their games and routine of how they played, but they were just hilarious with the things they came up to play... boxes on their heads, hugs for one another, hide and seek, blocks and balls.  They sure are a funny pair!

Sunday afternoon, the kids and I went to a baby shower for my cousin's wife.  Then we headed off to Opa and Oma's to have dinner together in celebration of Daddy's birthday.  The night ended with Elam joyfully playing with balloons the girls brought home from the baby shower.