Ethan's Birthday

Despite now being a full legal adult, Ethan opted to spend his birthday with us! 

We had a homemade dinner of mashed potatoes and hamburgers. Libby was home for the holiday. It was so amazing to have everyone gathered around the table for dinner, even if we barely fit now that everyone is adult sized and adding significant others. It still makes me happy to have everyone together.

If they all spend too much time together, the childhood bickering starts up again, but an evening of cake, presents, and food, and sometimes magic happens. 

I love watching them crack each other up.

Ethan's cousins bought him presents for his 21st, and he was very excited.

Honestly, it was just an amazing evening. 

Even when the exhaustion hit.

I can't believe he's 21. Sometimes I want to gather them all up, read them a picture book or two, tuck them into bed, and watch them sleep again. These babies just keep growing no matter what. That is the blessing and the curse.

Traditional Photo

Every Christmas Eve we take a photo in front of the stockings. Every. single. year. You would think the kids would have figured out how to do this by now. Apparently not. This is how it went this year.

"Okay, everyone come over here. Let's take a picture before we go to bed."

"Sam, get out of the corner. I would like to see your face."

With an added sigh, "Sam, put your shirt back on. I want your face, not your chest."

"Can we try it with everyone smiling? And please control your fingers."

"Good enough."

Happy holidays from our incompetent family to yours.







 

Sam's Hair

 This is Sam the night of the concert. What ever happened to his hair, you ask? Well, let me tell you a story. A story I was completely unaware of, until my child came home looking like he had mange.

Sam lost a bet to his friends. The payment was that they could shave Sam's head into the Avatar the Last Airbender Arrow design. 

Sam was hanging out with his friends and they decided it was time to make good on the bet. Micah's father would not let them shave Sam's head at their house. So all of the teens (there ended up being eight in total) headed off to the dollar store for razors and shaving cream. They then plopped down outside of McDonald's parking lot to get the job done. They were quickly chased off. They then wandered over to the outside of a pizza place where one of the older brother's of the mob worked. Sam got ready to be shaved, but the older brother chased the mass of hormones off. Having been run off twice now, the group camped out in the alley behind the Dollar Tree for the great shaving. 

Six boys and two girls were encircling Sam, with razors and shaving cream, in an alley. Why, yes, someone did call the police. Two officers pulled up to check out the situation. Sam was asked if he had consented to this tableau. Sam assured the officers that it was all in good fun, and he was not being threatened. After every sentence out of Sam's mouth, the female officer shook her head, and said, "You're going to get razor burn". Personally, I think she deserves a medal. After the police left, the boys decided that it was time to return to their respective homes. They had mostly shaved Sam and they were getting tired of being run off.

Sam walked into the house with a very patchy shaved head and a sheepish expression. He told me the whole story. I explained the concept of only doing one dumb thing at a time. Shaving his head was dumb, hanging out in the alley with a bunch of teenage boys was dumb, adding in shaving cream and razors was extra dumb. If you are going to do dumb things, choose one at a time. 

Michael came home, took pity on our son (who had a concert the next day) and did the best he could to fix the "haircut". The bright side is that it was pretty much grown out in less than two weeks. Thank goodness for fast growing hair.

December

It was a little weird this year to only have one concert to attend. I'm glad Sam is still enjoying choir and I'm so proud of the growth he has made. I'm going to be sad when we have no concerts to attend.

With few less concerts this year, Michael has a little more free time. He uses some of it to volunteer at the Boise Bike Project. December is the best time to volunteer, as he gets to help distribute bikes for the annual Christmas Bike Giveaway. He also get to volunteer with Ethan, who is still enjoying working at the BBP, and loves this day in particular.

The crowds just waiting to celebrate all the kids receiving bikes. Over 600 bikes were cleaned, refurbished, and delivered to the children of the Treasure Valley.

On a random weeknight, and with no other commitments, my teenagers bounced in to inform me that it was $5 to fill a cup at the local frozen yogurt place. After a little begging, I loaded everyone in the car and we went for treats. Alas, I have to pictures of my teens. They currently are not fans of having their pictures taken.

Thankfully, I have great nephews who love having their photos taken, and love to go places with us. 

We spent an afternoon at JUMP enjoying the Christmas decorations.

We then came home to decorate the tree. The teens helped but the little guys did most of the work. All of the decorations ended up on one square foot of the tree, and it was perfect! Let Christmas come.

 

Thanksgiving or Just Things I'm Thankful For

Becca hosted Thanksgiving this year, I'm thankful to her for creating a wonderful evening where I got to hang out with these gorgeous people.

Libby came home for the holiday and we were all excited to see her. CJ even submitted to her cuddles.

Not pictured is the food, the rest of the people, and the chaos. I'm thankful for all of it.

Saturday we went to the Hobson's house for our second Thanksgiving. Look at these amazing people. Sometimes I miss my babies, but also look how cute they still are! I'm thankful for the people they are growing into. The path has been different than I expected, but I'm not disappointed. They are pretty amazing, strong-willed, people.

I'm thankful to get this weird moment saved for all the ages.

I'm thankful to this man for creating the feast.

I'm thankful for a lot more, but I was too busy being thankful, and eating to take any more pictures.