Christmas 2021

 Another Christmas has come and gone. It's a great time of the year and we have our regular traditions that we try to accomplish. The annual sugar cookie decorating went well and I can say between that, the vegan fudge and decorating the gingerbread houses I probably gained 6 pounds. It was worth it even if it means dieting in January (and February....who am I kidding). 

Christmas 2021 was small with just my folks coming over. We had good food and a fun time opening presents. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Annual Night Before Christmas reading.

Finally a bike that he won't outgrow in a year.

Rudi is always by their side.

Jealous of the sherpa pullover.

Favorite picture. The dogs were praying for something to drop.

Cooper loves a warm lap (or whole body) to sleep on.

So excited to get a cell phone.

Beanie loves all the attention.

 

Desi

 I knew this day would come but I was hoping it wouldn't be this year. We had to put our sweet miniature horse Desi to sleep. He'd been battling laminitis for years, hobbling around on sore front feet. He had foundered in his previous home before we got him in 2006 and was never 100% but he got around ok in his earlier years. It was selfish to ask him to go through another rough winter. He was 24 years old. 

 

Our little Desi didn't get to eat lush green grass very often since he foundered, the sugars in the grass make the condition worse. But he got to free graze for 20 minutes before the vet got here, I'd like to think he had a pretty good last day.

We'd never had to bury a critter of his size, he was around 250 pounds (down from 330 a few years ago). I was prepared to go out with a shovel and just start digging but Sean talked me into renting a mini excavator instead. It was $110 for a 4 hour rental and we got the hole dug in about an hour. 

 

We have two miniature horses and I've got to say I was worried about going down to only one mini since they are herd animals and have been together nearly their whole lives. Rocky is doing ok though. He was pretty concerned while the vet was here but I walked him over and let him see Desi once the vet left. That seemed to calm him down. It makes me sad that he's out there without another horse but he aren't getting anymore horses. This property is not good for horses. Rocky is doing pretty good with his goat buddies and whines when they go out in the grove to graze. 

 

Addams Family

 Wesley has taken an interest in singing in his school choir. This lead to an interest in trying out for the high school play. This year they did the Addams Family broadway version play. He's a freshman so we weren't thinking he would get a main role but he did end up getting one. He played Mal which was the dad to Lucas (Wednesday Addams love interest). He put so much work into that role, not missing a single practice. 

He had many lines and even a solo. I was one nervous mom but he did fabulous! Not sure where he got the acting gene from as both his parents are rather introverted. Anyways, super proud of him for trying something new. He's excited for next years play. 

Alex was also in the play as an Ancestor.

Jessica had the privilege to orchestrate the decorating of the entryway. She also did this fabulous painting.

Halloween

 Halloween was a little different this year. As the kids age they seem to outgrow certain activities and Wesley has aged out of Halloween. He opted to hang out with Alex, who lives in town, and give out candy to the youngsters. They had a fun time with lots of food and candy so I don't think he felt like he was missing out on anything. 

Greta on the other hand loves Halloween more than any other holiday. She starts decorating in September and completely soaks up the fun of this time of the year. I don't tend to decorate for Halloween so Greta made sure to decorate her room fully. 

We did go trick or treating with Jessica like normal and can't see that stopping anytime soon. Greta said she'll go trick or treating forever.....we'll see. 

They insisted on carving pumpkins this year. It was hard to find any, I had to go to several stores and finally found some at the feed store. It's nice because they are at an age where I just toss some carving kits on the table and say "have fun!". Older kids are so much easier than young ones! 

No idea what Wesley carved, something from YouTube perhaps?

This and That

Greta's favorite class is art. They have been doing some really fun projects in class. Latest project was for them to make a ceramic pumpkin. Everyone did these cute little orange pumpkins. Greta wanted to make a rotten jack-o-lantern. I think it turned out pretty cool.

These kids crack me up. They sat in front of a mirror and perfected the "angry face". It's harder than you think to make your smile turn upside down intentionally. Greta perfected it several years ago (perhaps unintentionally) and Wesley figured it out recently.

Do you know what "shark teeth" are in humans? It's when your adult teeth come in above your baby teeth and you end up with two rows of teeth. Poor Greta had six adult teeth coming in above the baby teeth. It was painful to eat and the dentist said she'd be happy to remove the pesky baby teeth. So that's what they did. Poor kid!

 

 

The middle school has teamed up with the public library to offer fun events for the kids once a month. This months project was to decorate a wooden pumpkin. They had cute cutouts and stencils to decorate your pumpkin but Greta had a more gruesome idea. Blood splatters and an eye ball hanging out were painted on their pumpkin. Oh and can't forget about the brains. lol  

 

 

The fall parade proceeded even though it was raining and Wesley got to walk alongside the float for the high school play The Addams Family that he was playing in.