We decided to try something new and hot glue our gingerbread houses together before decorating them. Since we didn’t plan on eating them, it saved in frosting and time! Win-win!
After the decorating was completed, we polled several family members and here’s how the results came out:
Best use of frosting: #4 (Shecklet #3)
Best use of candy: # 1 (Shecklet #2)
Best traditional house: #3 (Shecklet #4)
Best whimsical house: #2 (Shecklet #1)
Our SIL/kids’ aunt is in town and was planning to help her brother’s family move into their new house. We piled into the suburban and gave them a hand. The extra hands made short work of the unloading moving truck!
My SIL asked if I was interested in going to the (rescheduled) Lauren Daigle concert with my girls and a friend of hers. I added my friend, MS, to our group and we made it an outing for the 6 of us. It was so much fun to hear live music. Lauren definitely loves to entertain and her voice is amazing in person.
My Aunt Deb sent me home with three diamond dotz starter kits when I visited her back in September. The girls and I finally had a chance to sit down and work on them during MEA break. What fun! I can see why my aunt has enjoyed working on them!
Today’s CC race brought us close to Aunt Larissa’s house. We called her en route to see if she wanted to come watch. She was free, so she joined me and the girls to cheer on Shecklet #2. He improved his time almost 50 seconds over his race last weekend!
Shecklets #1 and 3 spent the day with Aunt Larissa while Shecklets #2 and 4 went with Jake and me to the lake to help take out and wash down the dock. Larissa took them to the orchard where Grandma Patti works each fall.
Here are some of the latest “how tall” stats for 2021.
I haven’t seen my aunt and uncle (my godparents) in over two years. A lot has happened to all of us during those two years. Seeing them today and being able to catch up in person was so good for my heart.
My aunt Deb gifted me a cedar chest that my grandfather made and several knitted items that my grandma and her twin sister made. I had asked her to write up a brief history of the piece, which will be a treasured piece of information about the chest that I will keep with it.
Here it is in its new location in our home.
Aunt Deb introduced me and the girls to diamond dots. (The peacock in the photo of the two of us was done by her.) She sent home three mini kits for us to try.
Shecklet #2 had the trip of the summer thanks to his grandparents, uncle & aunt. This kid got to experience everything from flying high (literally) to getting down and dirty. His aunt wrote an amazing recap of his week with them on her blog. I’m so grateful she took the time to document the things that they did. She provided us with WAY more detail than our 13 year old! Bri included numerous photos of their adventures on her post, but here are a few of them as well.
Before he left for his trip, he needed a pair of shoes that would grip, not slip. These fit the bill.
The travelers had an early morning flight. I dropped them off before 4am.
The kitties made sure to warm up the bed for Shecklet #2. First day they hit the bike trails.
Day 2. The first 4 miles of this bike ride were up hill. But they made it!
Always the jokester!
They had clear skies to start the trip, but the fires eventually impacted the views.
Ride stats:
Parasailing with his aunt and grandma. Shecklet #2 got to go twice!
Camping with Uncle Jason and Grandpa.
Hiking with Jason and Bri. The views are amazing!
This terrain area was inspiration for making a track back home at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. The picture of Shecklet #2 launching off the jump is one of my favorites from the week.
Check out the size of those pine cones!
Heading out for another ride. It’s awesome to have an uncle that can tire a teenager out!
Per the stats: Lunch Walk
Off road drive with Jason and Grandma.
Like I said, Shecklet #2 had an amazing summer adventure! He’s already talking about going back during the winter to experience the ski runs with snow. We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of family for giving this kid a vacation to remember!
Jake’s aunt from NY is in town this week. She is always so good about reaching out and visiting while she’s in town. She is like me and enjoys catching up with people in smaller groups – so you can have an actual conversation. She wanted to see all of us, and since the boys were at camp all week, we connected with her today.
One other thing she is good at is capturing photos of her time with people. We were able to ask our neighbor to snap a group picture after we got back from our walk around the neighborhood with her. Pretty great group of people here!
