A toothsome tale? I think not!

I'm not a tooth person. They creep me out.

I get the willies even wriggling one of my kids' loose teeth. I got the willies losing my own teeth way back when.

Clara and Sophie both had teeth pulled today. Clara, because the enamel on her back upper molars had a genetic defect that made her teeth nerves very sensitive, and the teeth susceptible to decay. The hope is that her wisdom teeth will now move forward into the empty spots.
Sophie had two baby teeth whose roots did not dissolve.

Joe took them in since I was at work. But they generously offered to describe their experiences for me when we all got home. BIG SHUDDERING UGH.

Sophie's were a little worse than Clara's, which seems strange to me, since Clara's were permanent. Both of Clara's were done before Sophie's first one was out.

First, the redhead pain-med-not-working thing kicked in. They couldn't get Sophie's mouth and face to numb. They had to keep trying more and different and stronger things.

Then one of the roots broke off and they had to dig it out. If it was permanent, they could have used the drill. But since it was a baby tooth, permanent teeth were above it.  So they had to dig it out bit by bit.

Then on the second tooth, they ripped a big piece of nerve out with it. She said they held it up and the bundle of nerve fibers was flopping off the end of the root.

Ok, so by this time in the story, I was totally grossed out. A, "plugging my ears and going lalalala," kind of grossed out. Willies all up and down my back. And a little bit of bilious feeling in my throat.

Later in the day, the girls were comparing how deep the holes in their gums felt and looked.

And then I made the mistake of reading about dry sockets.  There are some things it's just better not to know.

The Blessing of Grandparents

One of the great blessings of our new home is that we live only half an hour away from Joe's folks.

Two days ago, with no set plans for it, I brought home some sample Gluten Free breading from Kay's. Yesterday John F. dropped off a gallon bag of Northern fillets and pieces.

FISH FRY!

Joe called his parents and asked if they wanted to come for supper.  When the kids got home from school I had them scurry around accomplishing some last minute household clean-up.  Sophie peeled and cut sweet potatoes into fries.

On the menu:

• Fried fish in three varieties of coatings.  Joe did the Chili Nacho breading as is.  He put some GF beer in with the Parmasan breading to create and beer batter, and he ground up some less than satisfactory GF srirache crackers for the third selection.
• sweet potato fries, par-fried in oil, then finished off in the oven.
• garden corn from the freezer (originally from Ed and Kathy S.)
• lemon chess custard for dessert

We had a fun and delicious supper, thanks to my Joe.  I am NOT a fryer.  I don't have the patience to learn how to do it well.  But I definitely have the fortitude to eat fried food in large amounts.

After supper we all sat around the living room visiting.  A few of the kids started playing Apples to Apples.  Soon Grandpa was playing, too.  Gradually the others kids trickled in and joined the fun, too.  I don't think Grandma ever officially joined in but she helped here and there, when littles needed help with the words or concepts.  

Someone didn't want me to post this picture, ... but every else looked so good.

It was ten o'clock before Grandma and Grandpa left!  What fun!  And what a great gift for my children to be able to enjoy periodic spontaneous evenings with their grandparents.

Update #1, to the previous post, "Stages," in which Mary gets a job

Joe and I had talked about me looking for part time work after we moved. I wanted to get settled a little bit more before taking on this new thing. Besides having a little bit of extra money, Joe felt strongly that if I had too much discretionary time might, it might prove to be fertile ground in which my depression could again take root.

I was not actively looking for work yet. But I was starting to get more serious about the idea. I imagined to myself that perhaps in February, after the Christmas rush and recovery, I'd try to find something. I had "poked around," a little bit on the internet to see what kinds of jobs might be available. I did not want to work full time. I did not want to work when my kids were home from school. I did not want to have to buy a whole new wardrobe. I did not want to work in some food service type job in which I'd bring home gluten dust to drop into Joe's life. And I definitely did not want to drive 20 miles into Willmar for an entry level part time job.

So the couple of eating establishments in town were out. The bank was out. I am sorry to say that I don't feel like there is enough compassion left in me to be a CNA at the nursing home. There are a handful of other small businesses in town that I imagined might be suitable, but whether or not they'd be hiring anyone part time when I wanted a job was questionable.

There are two manufacturing places in town that seemed like possibilities. Kay's and Impact Innovations. But when I had periodically looked at their websites to check on employment opportunities, when there were jobs listed, they were always full time jobs.

I said in my previous post,

I have this fall, for the first time in 22 years, no children at home. People have asked what I'll do with myself. "Will you be bored or lonely?" "Are you going to look for a job?"

I further said,

When the time is right, I know God will present me with just the right "outside the home" job.

Just after Thanksgiving I got a call from a woman named Kathy at a local business, Kay's Naturals. Kathy said something like, "I understand you're looking for part time work. I can't say for sure I have a job for you, but if you're interested, I can present the idea at this afternoon's meeting and get back to you." Wow! That just blew me away.

And so I have a job. Just like that.

There is a little big of background to the story. One of the men at our church, Adam, is a supervisor at Kay's. Adam and I were talking in perhaps mid-November about my casual search for a job that maybe would turn more active in a few months.

Adam was at the other end of things with his job. Kay's had lost some full time employees. And there had been some difficulties with finding full time employees with a good work ethic.

Hmmmm, thought, the two of us somewhat in unison, "Too bad the companies that need people would not consider hiring part time. It seems like a part time person who is a good worker would be better than an extended search for the right a full time person."

Adam mentioned that he might ask about that if the opportunity arose.

And I gave the conversation really no more thought at all. I did not imagine that this conversation would lead to a spontaneous offer of a job.

But it did. Out of the clear blue sky.

Within about two weeks or our conversation.

So I talked to Joe. And I said yes.

I work from 8:30-12:30, Monday through Friday. After the kids leave for school I have about 45 minutes before I have to get ready to get out the door. I work in the shipping department, so I am moving all the time, which is good for me, since I've always dreaded the idea of a sedentary job. I work mostly with Adam and Cheryl F. Both are wonderful coworkers and they have been great trainers.

Oh, and did I mention that I can see the plant from my front door. I usually go out  my back door, but from the time I head out the door and get into the building and into the break room where I have to clock in, it's a four minute walk. I walk down the road, over the bridge, through a small green space, across the railroad tracks and around the warehouse to the front door. It's about 1/4 mile.

I've lost six pounds since I started working there.

People ask how I like my new job and I can eagerly say that I like it alot.

I still don't like that I am no longer a full-time, stay-at-home mom. But that is a post for a different day.

Stages

This is a post from October.  Some things have changed. But I'll save the updates for a different post.
Each stage has its own challenges and blessings. Each mommy has different skills and coping devices and stamina.

For me, my most productive and organized time was 4 and 5 kids. I don't know what happened in there, but I finally "got the hang of" the whole homemaking/ mothering organization.

But then I lost that after the two moves in 16 months that happened between babies 5 and 6. I never "got my groove back." I've gotten some parts back at some times, had new challenges thrown at me, totally lost any efficacy at other times, and then eventually sunk into a several years long depressive episode.

But now I'm back. I'm off antidepressants, feeling good, still struggling with concentration and motivation, but I really think that, too will improve with time and quiet.

Sometimes I see everything I've let slide over the last, say, ten or twelve years, and feel, .... overwhelmed. But I try very hard to not "go there," in that it's not productive and for me, I know now, might trigger the horrible depression into which I lapsed.
And now I find myself at a new stage, a new season. I have this fall, for the first time in 22 years, no children at home. People have asked what I'll do with myself. "Will you be bored or lonely?" "Are you going to look for a job?"

These are all valid questions. And things I've wondered myself. Joe has suggested I look for part time work. It would certainly help the budget. But for right now, I think there is plenty to do around the house. Plenty of organizing, plenty of cleaning. And of the making of lists there is no end.

I'm focusing on small steps. I'm trying to exercise. I'm trying to have after school snacks and meals ready at appropriate times. Healthy ones even! I try to not buy much prepared foods, or processed food, convenience foods, or whatever you want to use for a description of that stuff that you buy pre-made and just have to open a can or take something from freezer to oven. But this last six or eight months, after a move to a new house and having big kids home for the summer and people needing meals to go and meals at strange times, etc, .... And me having my kitchen kind of totally non-operational. I confess I've slipped a little bit. I've bought canned beans rather than cooking my own. I've used frozen pizza more times than I like to admit. I've used way more pasta than meat and potatoes. Even a quick pot of rice sometimes has seemed like too much work.

So meals, yes. It takes much out of me. And I need to get more organized, plan ahead, learn to shop at my new home, and finish tweaking the kitchen function.

I need to get the family office space or desk or file cabinet or whatever into a functional order. I need to know where the bills get put when they come in. I need to know where all the mail goes, and where to put the church mail for Joe. I need to have a good workable place for the kids to put the reams of paper they bring home from school. I need to research and be ready to discuss with Joe different option for debt reduction, since yes, over the last 15 years the level of our consumer debt has crept up and up and up. Something we were never, ever going to let happen. But it did. Gradually. Little by little. Month by month.

I want to create a smoothly enough running home so that when the kids are home, I like them. Say what?!?!

Of course I like my kids. I love them, in fact. But when the household is chaos, and all those bodies come tumbling in from the school bus, and they all want to tell me about their day. Some want snack and some like to do homework first and then snack and nobody wants to pick up their coats and jackets or put their shoes away right. Some can't find pencils, others need the computer, and there's always a line for something or other I need to sign, or something for which to write a check.

When all of this comes at me at about 4:30 in the afternoon, if supper is not already in the oven and laundry for the day done and folded, and other other daytime tasks I'm focusing on finished up, ... if I'm not up and running and ready for the afternoon commotion, ... sometimes by 5:00 I do not like my kids very much. And sadly, they do not like each other or me very much either. When the mom's not on top of things, the dynamic of everyone is adversely affected. It's one of those times of day that really can benefit from a mom with all her brain and a goodly part of her energy accessible.

That's what I hope to establish for my family in the next few months. There are signs that things are getting better.

I have been exercising. I have been brave enough to tackle some financial things. I have been about 70% on target with meals. I'm still only at about 50% of the time up-and-running kind of ready for the kids when they come home from school. The kitchen and living area tweaks continue, each one bringing a bit more order and therefore a bit more stability.

And we've started having read aloud again. At first it was only maybe once a week or so. But we're up to maybe two or three times a week that our evenings are smooth enough to manage it. I love being able to do that for and with the kids again. Some of my older kids' happiest memories involve something about the stories we read together when they were young. Either playing pretend with the story line, drawing scenes from it, repeating our favorite phrases at appropriately humorous times. It is something I cherish. So far I have not had much success in managing to work it in with the younger kids.

And so life goes one, the stages run, one into the next. Each with its own blessings and challenges. I praise God that I've been able to kick the prozac. I am so thankful for the gradually returning of my "old self." I thank God for each of my kids and each of the many joys they bring me. I am thankful for my Joe, who has sustained me, and put up with me, and loved me, just as I have him through all his stages and seasons.

And I pray God's blessings on this new and different stage of our lives, that of having no kids home during the day. When the time is right, I know God will present me with just the right "outside the home" job. I know until that time there is plenty to do here. I pray that I am able to continue to improve with focus and energy to get it all done.

End of Summer = New School+New Things for Adult Children= Excitement and Trepidation

Anther post from early August that never got posted.  I'll add comments in purple with updates where applicable.

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Where has summer gone ? ! ?

The kids start school on September 1.  The MACCRAY (Maynard, Clara City, Raymond) school district is about 1/2 again as large as Red Lake County Central, but from what contact we've had so far, it still seems like a very personal and caring atmosphere.  Just as we had up north,  there are several school workers among our members.

Sophie and Clara will be in school here in town, just a mile away.  Our younger kids will be in the neighboring city of Maynard, seven miles away.  That seems blessedly close compared to the distance our kids used to have to travel to school.  The junior high/high school in Oklee was 13 miles away, and the elementary school in Plummer was 17 miles from where we lived.

MACCRAY has a four day school week for at least the next year.  I'm excited about that.  When we first put our kids in public school five years ago, one of the neighboring districts had a four day week.  I remember saying to some of the other moms that I would really enjoy that extra day with my kids.  Well, now I get that extra day and I'm tickled pink.

Another change for us this year will be that the high school and part of the elementary is what's considered an iPad school.  My kids have had tablets.  I'm not impressed.  I was assured by the counselor we talked to regarding enrolling our kids, that the iPads they use in the schools are strong and durable.  I hope this is true.  I do not relish the thought of forking over replacement money when my chronically destructive children damage their iPads.  Oy weh.  Some of the kids are excited.  They think the idea of having a gadget/device that they are allowed to use in school is pretty cool.

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So far, no broken iPads.  In the elementary school the kids leave them in cubbies at school when not in use. "That's a mercy anyhow!"

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Louisa has moved to Moorhead into an apartment with some girlfriends.  Whitney is one of Louisa's best friends from up north.  The girls have known each other since they were six.  Sabrina became a good friend of theirs this past year in the MSUM Nelson Hall.  Louisa has just a couple of prerequisites to take before applying for nursing school at M-State, so she has registered to take them on-line this fall and put in as many hours as able working at Eventide Senior Living.  She hopes to start her nursing classes in January.

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Louisa ran into some unexpected snags with her online classes. She was familiar with the website through which she was to submit her work, but for some reason, her instructor was not seeing her assignments come through.  Because of this and other factors, she decided to simply work this semester.  She got a full time job at a day care and she's still on call for her CNA work at Eventide if she wants to pick up shifts.

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Elsie will be returning to Bethany in Mankato this fall for her second full year of college and her final year of high school.  She will continue to live with Lance and Cassie for now.  She has hopes to get an apartment with a girlfriend once she turns 18 in January, but that option is still being, .... bandied around.  I'm in much less of a hurry for her to grow up than is she.  Because of the difference in graduations requirements between Oklee and Clara City, Elsie will graduate from RLCC in Oklee on May 27, 2016.  She is in fact in Oklee this weekend to take care of some school related business and to see her friends from there.  Elsie will move to Mankato next weekend.'

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Elsie seems to be doing well.  She is still working at Hillrest nursing home in Mankato, but has limited the number of shifts she can do in a two week period to five so she has more time for school.  

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Matt is also hoping to go to school at some point.  Because of expenses and missed work due to his car accident, he has decided to postpone his start date once again.  But he is still planning to move to Fargo come fall.  He's been checking out apartments and filling out the necessary paperwork.  I've not heard yet whether he has found anything for sure yet.  As far as jobs go, he's open to just about anything that will give him enough hours to pay his expenses and save some money for school.  With his experience working for Quinten, and other summer workers heading back to school, he could probably find work for a general contractor if that's what he decides to do.  He's also keeping his eyes and ears open for anything else that might sound good.

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Matt has his own place in Fargo now, a studio type apartment.  Last I heard he still had one more load of stuff to bring down from rural Oklee.  He has a job, installing siding, but he doesn't start until Monday, since he had Marine drill this week.

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Jeremy has also moved to a new apartment, with one of his Mankato area acquaintances.  He's working at Hardee's to pay his expenses and is also continuing his various creative pursuits such as writing and electronic game producing.  He's also in line to start with the British Amway affiliate, Britt Worldwide, once he gets his driver's license.  

Except for having been mugged in Mankato over the summer, I think he is mostly happy with his life.  I'm taking him a dresser this weekend.  Then he can stop living out of boxes and be happier still.  

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Scary thing in the midst of the moving rush

This shot shows clearly the reason for the great joy we feel and the prayers of thanksgiving we send heavenward.

As some of you know, Matt was in a serious car accident a week before we moved.  He broke the left side of his sacrum.  Totaled his car.  But we are very thankful that is all that happened.  He had to be off work for several weeks and he had to reschedule his USMC annual training.  His boss, Quinten at Nelson and Nelson Construction was very patient and accommodating.

Matt had planned to live with a friend up north, Lana, the mom of the same Nelsons brothers Matt works for.  She ended up being ersatz nurse for him, and perhaps babying him through his recovery.  I definitely think Matt had a pretty good deal for his convalescence.

Matt now says he's pretty much back to normal, but during cold  and damp times he can notice the little bit of arthritis that came with the healing.

We thank God for allowing Matt to walk away from his accident with as little pain and inconvenience as he had.

The truck was balanced so precariously that the truck kind of rocked back and forth.

Catching up

I can't believe I've not blogged since before we moved  in April.  Wow!!!!

I'm not even going to try to make a nicely written summary of everything that's happened since then. I plan to write a few little posts on some of the bigger things that have happened.

But for now, some highlights:

• Sad to leave our old home.
• Excited to meet our new people.
• Former members gave us a great send-off with a parish-wide final service and a nearly all-afternoon going-away party.  We had a huge turn-out of helping hands to load the truck and finish off the packing.  And I am still embarrassed by how we left the parsonage.  But we are grateful to those who said, "Just go, ... we'll finish up.  There's not going to be anyone moving in right away anyway."
• New members helped much here, with unloading truck and unpacking necessities.  And they worked diligently to build a second bathroom in our basement.
• Living on the edge of a small town rather than 13 miles from closest smaller yet town.
• Farm fields across street one direction, much used BNSF railway line closer in another direction than our mailbox was at the old place.
• Kids can play in the creek and catch crawdads in one direction and can walk to library, pool, grocery store, bakery, in other direction.  
• Lesser used city park with playground and extensive green space right next to our house, and separating us from the rest of town.
• Tight fit in smaller house, still trying to figure out how to best make it work.
• Installed storage shelves and working on additional living space in basement.
• Louisa and Else came home from college for summer.
• We get to see more of Jeremy, less of Matt.
• Clara spent most of the summer at Tiffany Bs outside of Plummer, MN, doing farm chores with horses and other animals, helping with toddlers, continuing to train her filly, working for Doc Hagen 
• Swimming lessons and annual pool pass = very brown kids and mom, and some pretty good swimmers
• Louisa and Elsie working at Clara City Care Center as CNAs
• Joe's office in the living room = oft-frustrated dad and many spur-of-the-moment outings for mom and kids
• First one-day VBS experience: Jesus the Good Shepherd: prophecy and fulfillment.  The church here does three one-day VBS's a year, one at Christmas, one at Easter, and one during the summer.
• Helped Louisa move to Moorhead and into her first apartment.  
• Egress window in basement done.

Besides that, I can say that we love our new church and our new members and our new community.  Just as each pastor is wonderful and challenging in his own way, and each pastor's wife and family, can be both a blessing and a challenge, so too each new home and community, and each of a pastor's calls presents it's own challenges and blessings.  We are still getting to know everything and everyone here and they are still getting to know us.  But in all things, God is good.

The summer has flown by, with getting settled, kids coming and going, Bible camp, visiting new members, and all the regular stuff like meals and laundry and cleaning toilets. And eating and preserving all the wonderful garden produce our new members and friends have provided for us.

We look forward to next Sunday attending the installation of Pastor Jeff Merseth as the new pastor of Clearwater Lutheran Parish.  Jeff and Megan and their kids are very dear to us, as are the members Joe formerly served, and among whom we lived and made a home for over 13 years.  We pray for all involved God's richest blessings, and many years of joy through this special temporal manifestation of the Communion of Saints.

Dishonest Memories of homeschool days

I had to give up homeschooling before all my kids were through school.  My memory of that era, ... well, pregnancies, nursing babies, homeschooling, meals, laundry, ... I really don't remember much at all.  But I thought I remembered being an abysmal failure at homeschooling. 

Because we couldn't afford to join the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, I saved everything the kids did.  I wanted to keep proof of what we had done.

And now I'm weeding through that proof.

And throwing out all those assignments.  Math.  Spelling. Grammar.  Writing.  Handwriting.  Science.  Thinking Skills.  Book after book, binder after binder of Jeremy's work.  7 years.   Book after book, binder after binder of Matthew's work.  8 years.  Louisa's.  Seven years.  Elsie's.  Six years.  And even Clara's.  Four years.  A few of Sophie's, John's, and Stella's but not much.  The kids went into school the year John was going into first grade. 

I can't believe how much they got done.  Really.  I paged through most of the workbooks, expecting to find big chunks of incomplete work.  But no.

I have no memory of all the work they did.  Only of all the fights.  All the nagging.  All the failure.  All the sitting in the school room on Monday morning throwing together some assignment lists.  All the tripping over the ever growing piles of dirty laundry.  Joe cooking supper, because I was still busy with school.

I even had a gradebook.  I had a couple full years worth of grades entered.  For each and every assignment.  Each and every child.  Impressive. 

I am, ... stunned.  Without words.

I guess, ... I guess, ... I guess I'm not a failure after all. 

Kids! Jeremy, Matt, Louisa, Elsie, Clara, I'm sorry I only remember the hard parts of it.  I'd love to remember all those accomplishments. 

You other homeschool moms out there, don't despair.   You're likely doing much more than you think.  But save their work so that one day, you'll find out. 

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

To Grandma's, to Grandpa's! Got everything done, 

Dishes and sweeping and vacuuming some. 

Laundry was washed, dried, and finished just so,

Put into duffel bag, ready to go,

For mom and four littles, for church and for play.

"Everything's ready, let's get on our way." 

Got down past Wadena, we're almost half way! 

"Mom, where's the bag?" we then heard Stella say.

"Did anyone bring the big duffelbag out?"

Nobody answered.  Oh, what a rout!

One hundred and fifty miles in our big rig

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

There sat the duffel bag, nice as can be, 

Looking so lonely by the Christmas tree.

Kids all to bed and now Mama's done, too.

We'll get up at six to try start number two. 

John's bedtime reading

Although I no longer officially teach most of my kids at home, I do keep some of my favorite children's books on a shelf in our main hallway in the hopes curious or bored little person will pick up something and learn.  After watching the Liberty Kids DVDs all day today, John did just that.  

 Cornerstones of Freedom

• The Story of the Constitution
• The Story of the Declaration of Independence
• Mt. Vernon
• The Story of The Thirteen Colonies
• Valley Forge

America's Frontiers

If you grew up with George Washington

If you lived in the time of the American Revolution

A History of Us: From Colonies to Country

The Golden Book History of the United States: The Age of Revolution

Benjamin Franklin, a Photo Illustrated Biography

The Story of Benjamin Franklin, Amazing American  

A discovery book: Benjamin Franklin

Happy Birthday to my birthday twins and their Grandpa Hinderer

Inge and Clara

Inge

Clara

December 27. A special day for us. Two birthdays in one day. My beautiful Clara turns 15 today. And my beautiful Inge turns 6. 

And as an added bonus, my dad was also born on December 27.   Clara and Inge didn't ever know their Grandpa Hinderer, and truth be told, I hardly knew him either. God called him home at the young age of 45.  But it's fun that they share his birthday.  It gives us an extra reason to think of him and talk about the Grandparents Hinderer.

Donna Leah Follin Hinderer b.Aug. 20, 1927 d. Jul. 13, 1973 

Alfred John Hinderer b.  Dec. 27, 1927 d. Jan. 7, 1973 

We had a quiet-ish birthday day today, with only half of us here at home.   Donna helped me make cream of wheat for breakfast, which is quite a treat, since we don't often have wheat products around.  A neighbor dropped off a box for us awhile back.  We use about 2/3 of a box in a sitting, so the rest of the box was sitting with only about half of our usual sized meal left.  It made a perfect treat for a day when there were only half of us home.

We prayed our special birthday prayers at breakfast, thanking God for our girls and asking His blessing on them the coming year.  And asking Him to grant us many more years with them.

We are all still kind of in recovery mode from Christmas rush and illness, so we lazed around most of the day.  I had placed an order for some Bible story books for some members before Christmas and needed a few more dollars to get the free shipping.  So I added a very discounted Liberty Kids DVD to the order.  I pulled that out today and let the kids sit just about all day watching it.


In the afternoon, I made two cheesecakes at Inge's request.  Clara wanted to make her own cake, but Sophie also wanted to make her something.  So they ended up both doing it.  Clara made some sort of confection atop a flour tortilla.  Inge and Sophie made pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes.

For the dinner I made some gluten free penne pasta with tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms, in a cream sauce.  Very tasty, if I do say so myself.  And Inge's cheesecake was the perfect accoutrement.  I'm sure the other desserts were tasty, too, but I'm a cheesecake kind of gal.  I think I could probably live on cheesecake. 

A new baby doll

"I spy with my one little eye"

Christmas 2014 Part III : What's in the Bag, Dad?

Inge

Inge and the Candy.  Always her favorite.

Where's the dancer?

I have to add a little paragraph here to explain about the jewelry box.  We try to not spend much money on gifts at Christmas.  AS you can imagine, the cost would add up quickly.  We usually buy one "real gift" in the $10-15 range and otherwise fill in with little fun things from second hand stores.  This year all the younger girls got a little keepsake box or chest of some sort.  Inge had seen this jewelry box at some thrift store and I bought it, thinking at the time I'd have one of the older girls rig some sort of something to spin when the music played. 

Apparently I forgot that part.  When John wound the back, before Inge even got it opened, the music started.  Some of the kids noticed that and thought it was strange.  But then when she finally figured out how to open the clasp, after waiting with anticipation to see what kind of do-dad the spinny things was, there was nothing there, they all burst out laughing.  I was totally clueless, since I was snapping pictures and didn't even notice the deficiency. 

Poor Inge!  Oh, well, she liked it anyway, and I assured her that Clara or Sophie could put something cute on it to spin.

Everyone got new gloves this year.  It's hard to keep everyone in decent gloves with our long winters. 

Donna

Donna with the snowman ornament Sophie made her

A new game

You can tell in the pictures that Donna is still feeling a tad peaked from her influenza over the weekend.  But her extreme expression in the following picture is because she ate one of Clara's super sour gumballs.  After I snapped the picture, she had to wipe away the tears that started dripping down her cheeks.

Donna modeling her new scarf.

Since Inge is my only little home during the day these days, she ends up getting to do things the others didn't have opportunity for when they were little.  She picked out gifts for the other littles at the local consignment store.  The brightly colored scarf Donna has on in the above picture is from Inge. 

Stella

Stella's gives her gifts a thumbs up

The activity book Inge picked our for Stella

You might be a redneck if ...

Sophie made the smaller girls little Christmas ornaments.  She wrapped a few of them in this handy-dandy redneck packaging:  Clay pigeons picked up after the youth group shoot out in the fall.  Perfect for housing small treasures.  Just add a strip of packing tape around the seam.

John

New gloves and a new book

John's new book is a deaccessioned book from the TRF public library.  Han Solo's Revenge, copyright 1979.  I don't know for sure where I found the book, but it's got a 25¢ sticker on it.  It  looks like a very John-ish book.

The Scooby-doo from Inge.

John's arranging the candy "chunks of coal" Sophie got him. 

 Sophie

Fixtures for her new purple and orange bedroom

Orange bath towel, a trinket box, and a new skirt

New gloves and a book on Medieval Chivalry

Clara

Clara saw an antique bedroom set at Community Consignment in Thief River Falls last fall.  It was a great deal, but still more than we'd spend on something just because we wanted it.  In fact, it was more than we'd spend on birthday and Christmas together.  

But Clara really wanted that set.  And I really wanted the store room organized.  And Clara wanted the store room organized, too, so she could move her bedroom down there.  I told her that if she cleaned and sorted and straightened the store room and hauled out all the big stuff that didn't really need to be down there so there was room to bring more stuff in, we'd get her the bedroom set for her Christmas and birthday gifts combined.  

And she did.  

And we did.  

At first glance the pair of gloves she got for Christmas might seem a little sad and pathetic.  But she did get a pretty nice gift.  Just nothing she had to open today.  

The bedstead

The dressing table and night stand

Clara's room at this point.

We still have to sort through and move more things.  But at least she has a little bit of space to call her own.  The curtain hanging behind the headboard is our big storage shelves for boxes and bins and other large items.  That will be removed eventually, giving Clara another two feet further toward the right along the whole length of the room.  The area behind the camera in this last picture is a heaped-to-overflowing closet area that is still inaccessible.   But it's a start.  And I'm happy to spend the money on something that will hopefully be something lasting for Clara. 

theMom

Joe usually shops for me sometime in January, since his brain is pretty full of pastor things all through December.  But I did get a few things.  Clara gave me some candy and Matt gave me some bullets for my Bersa.  I had mentioned to him that I hardly ever shoot because I feel like the expense of ammo is such a luxury item.  What a guy!  I also got many fun things from my Sunday school students, but my computer stopped reading my memory card half way through the upload so I don't have pictures of them.   One of my favorites is one of those printed metal family name necklaces.  Among other things, I also got a handmade wall sign from one of my little guys, a goodly selection of candies, a new coffee mug, some ornaments, and a couple of luxurious handcreams by Perfectly Posh.  

What my son got me for Christmas.

What my daughter got me for Christmas  (Man, that's a really ugly picture, isn't it?)

Now I can Eat, Shoot, and Leave.  Kind of like that book from a few years ago. 

Christmas 2014 Part II : Christmas tree photos

Jeremy and his friends were just here for Sunday, so we exchanged our gifts with them at that time.

Louisa and Elsie left in the wee hours of the morning to be with Joe's mom and dad.  Bergetta's father, Stanley, passed away yesterday after several months of gradually failing health.  Joe and Matt left after Joe was done with his Christmas day services.  So those four got to open their gifts last night.  Matt also had some gifts for others that they opened last night while he was still here. 

The six youngest kids and I had a relatively quiet Christmas day today, opening the remaining gifts.

Our tree with gifts for 6/12 of our family

Inge Kathryn

Donna LouElla

Stella Maud

John Alfred Christian

And yes, Sophie Irene's picture ought to be here, but alas, she didn't want to pose with the tree.

Clara Annaliese