It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

With five days until the 25th, it better be looking a lot like Christmas!  Today was the first day of holiday break for the monsters.  Glenn and I are at work most of the week - well Glenn's at work more than me - but we were both very jealous of all of the sleeping in that was happening at the house this morning.  

We are in the homestretch of the holiday preparations.  Most of the presents have been purchased, but not wrapped.  The house is so decorated that it's almost over-decorated.  The baking is mostly done.  The Christmas cards... well those are still on the to-do list.  But we are just about ready.  

Coco can't stay away from my very precious Lego village.  

At the beginning of the month, I had to make some cookies for the Tea Room at Christmas House. I made an error in trying a new recipe for the first time.  I found a recipe for rocky road cookies and it called for adding just one marshmallow to the dough before cooking.  I didn't think that was enough so I added two marshmallows and then popped the cookies in the oven.  When they came out, I realized that I had created some cute aliens.  They still tasted delicious.  

Finally, it's German Christmas cookie time. This is the batch of lepkugen fresh from the oven. 

 

Reina's 2nd big game hunt

Glenn and Reina zipped over to location-redacted-by-Glenn-because-hunters-are-weird-about-sharing-spots for a quick hunting trip on Friday.  They had planned to be gone all weekend but our little sharp shooter got her first elk that morning and they were home by dinnertime!  

Glenn texted me this picture on Friday.  He said he has about 40 others but I like this one even though the hunter's eyes are closed.  

Glenn butchered the entire elk today (Saturday) and I helped by wrapping the steaks and stew meat.  We'll tackle the burger another day. I've probably posted a similar picture every year but whenever I label the packages, I think back to my first year - writing '04 on those packages. I was the girlfriend at the time and only had an inkling that wrapping elk steaks would become an annual tradition.  

 

Oops I missed Thanksgiving

I was so full of turkey and pie last night that I couldn't summon the strength to blog.  So much for my one post a day streak.  We had a really nice day.  Vicky hosted a bunch of us at her house.  I brought pies, green bean casserole, rolls (store-bought, naturally) and salad. I also tried out a new mushroom casserole that was yummy but probably too rich.  Other folks brought turkey, pork roast, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, more pie, and Matt made brisket and ribs.  It was all delicious.  My sister is a great hostess and I'm not just saying that because she'll probably read this later.  The little(r) kids had a great time playing and even got Will and Reina to play along.  Through the floor vent, I could hear Will yelling "don't shoot me, help me Reina!" 

The only picture I took - boy cousins watching football. 

   

Pictures of pets

Our house is still full of pets.  They've all adapted to having the house to themselves all day since I'm back at my office and the kids are in school. The dogs still love a trip to the field and the cats still try to sneak outside unless it's super cold.  Last month, Reina and I had to take both cats and one of the dogs to the vet for their annual appointment.  That trip was as chaotic as it sounds.  But they are all as cute as ever and we humans fight over who gets to sit next to the snuggly dog when it's cold in the evening.  

Reina would love to help me with chores but she's stuck on the sofa until Coco decides to change venues. 

Charlie loves to snuggle even if he's snuggling the back of my neck.  

Coco helping me with my latest sewing project.  So helpful!  

A tale of three pets at the vet. Pet 1 -  Coco preferred to sit on my shoulder facing the wall and (I can only assume) imagine herself in an alternative location.  

Pet 2 insisted on sitting in my lap in the waiting room and darting for the door anytime it looked like the appointment might be wrapping up.  

Pet 3 sat on the examining table and purred.  

Trigger helping me have a lazy Sunday.

 

Football pictures part 1

Will's freshman football season was delightful.  Is it okay to call a football season delightful?  Don't tell Will I used that word.  Let's just say we had a lot of fun watching him play.  He played both sides of the ball - linebacker on defense and running back/full back on offense.  He was also on the kick return team.  He made it through the season injury free but had a lot of bruises and one really good turf burn on his bicep.  He grew a lot as a player.  At the beginning of the season, he had a goal to get 40 tackles and frankly we lost track of his tackles after a few games in.  I know I sound like a braggy mom but it was just a pleasure watching him play a sport that he loves.  These pictures are from a handful of freshman games.  He got to play JV as the season progressed and I'll save those pics for another post.  

Standing for the national anthem, our #33. 

Team huddle pre-game

Chasing the quarterback

Lining up in the backfield on offense 

Sacking the quarterback!  

Taking down the runner 

Leaping through a pack of players to do something 

The first JV game of his career in Gillette.  He's #44 in the middle of the pack on the sideline.  I thought it was fun to grab a pic of the five freshman that got to travel with JV standing in a little herd.  

Getting some JV playing time!  

 

Catching Up

Goodness. It's been more than a month since I last posted and I'm chock full of excuses but none of them are good. We've been busy with school stuff, hunting season, work, all of the pets that have taken over this house and chores, chores, chores. It's the week of Thanksgiving and the kids have a half day tomorrow, I'm taking off the rest off the week starting Wednesday and baking my buns off and Glenn and Reina are going hunting after turkey time. So there's a lot going on. My personal goal is to write something every day for the rest of November which I realize is only 9 days - 8 days? but it will help me get caught up on all of our Fall 2021 shenanigans.

Here's a preview:  
 

Reina got pointe shoes for ballet.  She's been counting down the days until our appointment in Laramie for her fitting.  She's super excited and I'm resisting the urge to squeeze my feet into them because that will probably result in a mom broken ankle.  

Will's football season was a dandy and that will be it's own post but here's the lawn sign that we proudly got to display.  Even those his actual number was 33.  

Reina's first big-game hunt

Today's guest post is from our very own Reina who went on her first big-game hunt with Glenn this weekend and shot her first antelope! The comments in parantheses are from the Mom and Dad but the story is Reina's. My hunting trip, this weekend (October 1-2). I went hunting with my father (long time readers of the blog will remember his name is Glenn). We were out in the dry prarie (south-central Wyoming with more sage brush than actual prairie but its semantics) hunting antelope. My dad heard of this area where many antelope lived (according to Glenn - a hunter management area). It was also an area with cattle. We drove at least four hours (maybe a little longer than necessary because SOMEONE left the guns at the house and SOMEONE else called their cell phones a few times but no one answered so SOMEONE thought those must be extra guns that they left out but no. So SOMEONE met them on the interstate so that they wouldn't have to drive all of the way back). Back to Reina: Half of which were getting lost. After hours of driving we found a place to camp and settled for the night. We had seen many antelope but didn't go after any that first night. The stars were very pretty and bright as I tinkled on th,e shoes I borrowed from my dad when I got up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break. (Editor's note, Lucy insisted that this part of the story be added). After a cold, rough night we woke up and went out again for a long hunt, seeing and missing two antelope. I was pretty mad that I missed those shots. After a long time of driving around on a dirt road, we saw another antelope. I wasn't really up for trying to go after one, but my dad convinced me. We had to sneak through the sagebrush and we flushed a flock of sage grouse which my parents think was cool. We got into a spot where we could see the antelope. My dad set up the gun on his backpack. I was worried I was going to miss again but it took one shot and we had a antelope down. I was very happy, but was also ready to go home. We butchered the antelope and loaded up the truck. I helped with the butchering even though it was a little yucky. We got back in the truck and headed back towards home. prepared for a long trip back. In the end I'm glad my dad made me go after the antelope and I was also glad how quickly we got home. I had a great time hunting but I was ready for a nice warm shower. (Glenn wants me to say that he'll remember this trip forever and Reina is a great hunting pal.)