Thanksgiving and ChristmasSteve

We went to my mom and dad's house for Thanksgiving this year. They live just down the road in a sense so, unless we travel somewhere, that is THE place to be! That's fine with us!

This year Thanksgiving was also a Family Reunion for my side of the family. There were 21 of us in all ( I think) and next year there should be at least six more! That's right! The Falk family tree has been watered with Miracle Gro or something! Three of the girls are expecting, and us--well, we're bringing along three new ones of our own!

Here are some pictures of the weekend in random order:

Lynn, the "most pregnant" (If it's possible to be more pregnant or less pregnant or sort of pregnant or half-pregnant) of the girls needed a little snack before dinner. She is eating for two!
Nobody bought my line about "eating for four".

I took some family pictures of my brother Nathan and his family. The dog was pretty tired, it would seem, and kept trying to lie down. "Sit up, Gunter!"

Ethan played this little Don't-take-my-picture game with me. I caught him from the side here, though. Gotcha, Ethan!

Simon decided to scoot down the hill during the family photo session. Isn't he a cutie?

Hannah and Ethan (back) share an enjoyment of taking pictures. Hannah liked showing off her shots to him. Ivy and Annette just had fun wherever they were.

Ivy just LOVES Uncle "Ebban". Who wouldn't enjoy an Uncle who carries you around in a cardboard box?!

For those of you who visit Kari and Dan's blog and are wondering what Owen looks like now...
Here he is listening to the Falk Grandchildren's (well, the littlest ones) favorite book, Duck is Dirty.

Where are the pictures of the Turkey? I took those on my Dad's camera! I should sneak over to one of my siblings' websites and swipe one! It was surely a beauty. Mom outdid herself!

Oh, yes, and someone left this sock and Mom sent it home with me. I like it, but it's not mine. If it's yours, please send me the other one.
Hope you had a nice holiday!

Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about "ChristmasSteve"!


But for now, Goodbye and a Merry ChristmasSteve to you all!

Phew!!

We just finished the two-day, huge task of moving Hannah's (aka, the Pack Rat) room from her small room upstairs down to the basement in anticipation of bringing home our little ones!!

Doesn't she look comfy?!!

One week to go!

Three Beauties...I know; I'm unashamedly biased!

Two weeks till we leave for Ukraine!!
It will make getting these kind of pictures even harder!!

I am so thankful for so many things! These three are right on top of my list...
And even though we don't have them yet, we are thankful for the opportunity to be growing our family!

What are you most thankful for?

Thanksgiving Cut-out Cookies!

Who doesn't love sugar cookies?!!

The girls and I decorated some cut out cookies for Thanksgiving. Leaves, turkeys, acorns and pumpkins. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe. You can find it here.

(We are taking them with us to my parents' home where my brothers and my sister, their spouses and children and us will all gather to eat ourselves silly and play games and debate theology or politics and maybe play a little tennis and whatever else comes to mind... over 20 of us in all!)

The girls did a lot of licking. I am wondering about the wisdom of posting this before we set them out at Thanksgiving since my family may read this! I guess it will help me sort out who is reading the blog and who doesn't love me...Sob! Sniff!

Ivy took a bite out of a couple of her cookies. I guess she wanted to make sure they were good! Can you see one of hers in this picture of our finished products?

Annette's were the ones we all chose when we were done and we each got to eat one before I packed them away for Thanksgiving. Why? Well, see for yourself! You couldn't even tell what the original cookie shape was because they were so loaded with icing that it was pouring over the sides. Also, we had to eat them outside because she used so many sprinkles that they kept spilling off!

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Warm and Fuzzy

(Me in the new Coat and the fur hat I got at the
Goodwill last year for Steve to wear in Moldova. )


The "baby sister" of an old friend of mine from high school (aka, my brother Daniel's high school girlfriend. the link to his website is at the right) saw that I was looking for a warm and toasty winter coat for wearing in Ukraine. Look what arrived in the mail on Saturday!

Thank you, Mandie!

Gus the mouse

I was reflecting on the state of my basement today. I got the storage room all organized over the weekend but now the excess is all over the basement! Well, I did manage to keep the new bedroom clutter free but it is kind of a small accomplishment in the grander scheme of things. And I do now have a place for everything and I can get at it! A major accomplishment, let me tell you!

Remember the Disney movie, Cinderella? There is the one little mouse, Gus, who tries to gather too many corn kernels for himself and it ends up that when he puts the last one on the stack that the whole pile is spilled so he picks them all up only to have the same problem. That one last kernel never seems to fit!

That is my theory on housework. You can only store so much stuff. You can only spend all day working in one area of the house if you don't mind other parts going to pot in the process!! I'm not complaining...just observing. Although if I thought complaining would help anything, I'd be complaining! LOL! As it is I find it not worth getting too excited about.

After all, someday the kids and all their stuff will be gone. (in theory anyway) I can have every space in my home perfect at the same time then... but for now, That extra "kernel" is worth it. I can overlook the fact that there will probably always be at least one room that could really use a good sorting!

Annette and I worked together to clean up the kitchen this afternoon. She didn't exactly complain about helping but she was eager to be done with the work. So, me? I like to finish a room and sit back and enjoy its neatness. Annette? To her, it looked like a good place to dump out the baby doll clothes and play with Ivy!

That's the way it is! Why fight it?!! :-)

Sleepover!

I have plans...

My mom decided that she'd like to take the girls overnight every Friday from now until we leave so that they can get used to spending the night there and so that I can have some time to get a few errands done at grow-up speed at least one day a week!

I have a coupon for 15% off at Kohl's so I am planning on going over there and doing some clothes-for-the-trip browsing (and hopefully finding). I think I will also stop by the Goodwill and look for a super fluffy warm winter coat too. I figure my odds of finding one are about 50/50 since we live in a sort-of mild climate and people here don't buy those kind of coats much but at the same time, people who do, realize that those kind of coats are unnecessary here and end up taking them to the Goodwill, where they stay till I get there...Hopefully!

I think I may do some grocery shopping too. Then my big plans for the house are to tackle the storage room. If I don't post for several days you'll know the closet won...

Sounds like fun, right?

29 Days to go.

Enjoying the nice fall weather and making rustling leaf piles.

Ivy said to me later in the day, " I fwim in da weeves!" ( I swim in the leaves!)

I'm hiding from responsibility...

I have so much to do that I am down here on the computer pretending like I don't have

only 29 days till I leave the country!

I need to make a list. Or dig up one of the thousand lists that I have already made!
29 days, Y'all, 29 days... Is it possible?

Yesterday, my gums felt like they were aching so I thought it was because of a cavity that I had recently noticed in one of my back teeth that had formed under and old filling. So, I looked. Nope, worse... My tooth right behind that one was crumbling away right at the gum line, badly! How did that happen!!?? So Steve and I called around to a bunch of dentists ( We were in the car when I noticed and we have a miniature yellow pages in there) Everyone is booked forever!

So Steve remembered a dentist that he does some work for and we swung into their office. They were just closing down for the day. She listened sympathetically to our tale of woe and our reason for some urgency--since we were less than a month from leaving the country.
We visited a bit. She was very kind and wanted to help but they were booked through February. She took my phone number in case she had a cancellation in the hopes of fitting me in. Steve left one of our prayer cards with her and we said our goodbyes.

So, the good news is, she fit me in...today! Not even 24 hours later and they had a cancellation!
I have never been so glad to go to the dentist! ( I don't think I have ever been glad to go to the dentist.) Haha!

From there I have to go to church to help teach our girls' Wednesday night class. Only a couple of classes to go. And word is, next week is a pizza party!

OK, time to get to work, now... where's that list?

Planting flowers

The girls and I packed our shovels, rakes, hand-spades , two buckets full of iris bulbs that I had dug up when we changed the landscaping, and a bunch of baggies and packets of seeds that I had but didn't know where to plant and headed down to the end of our street which is a dead end and turn-around. That may be a run on sentence, but if you read it a few times it may begin to make sense....

Annette donned her overalls for the job. Ivy grabbed her pink poodle. I am not sure what the poodle was for.
The winky-eyed smile again.

Planting. I don't know how much will actually grow. I kept thinking of the parable of the seeds and the rocky ground. I hope we have a rainy spring!

Heading home again. Ivy wanted to pull the wagon.

Annette picked me flowers that she found from way back in the weeds.
She rode her little tricycle.

I like this close-up. It shows her pretty eyes and toothless gap.

I like this one too.

Maybe next spring or summer, I'll be showing you pictures of all 6 of the kids picking flowers we planted today!