A sight around our house just before Christmas. Cold tootsies in our winter weather, and then Santa didn't even bring socks!
We did our annual cookie decorating and also got to decorate some gingerbread men thanks to Mana and Trader Joe's.
On Dec 20th we stayed up until midnight, then set our alarms for 0130 so that we could view the lunar eclipse. It was a beautiful sight, but absolutely freezing outside and we were all very tired. It was worth getting up for to see the shadow completely cover the moon, but we didn't stay up to watch the moon reappear. Riley was the only one wanting to pull up a lawn chair and enjoy the show into the early morning, but we out voted him and all went to bed.
On Christmas eve we went to a party at my dad's for a bit and then headed back to Bennett to attend a small church service in the rec center gym. After rushing to get there on time we arrived to find everyone in the middle of a potluck. I knew this was happening, but had wanted to skip the potluck and just attend the service, however, I had my times wrong. The boys were certainly not disappointed and filled their plates as if they hadn't just left a party full of yummy food. We enjoyed the service and met some nice people there.
One of our Christmas traditions during Advent is to write notes of appreciation to each other. We then gather on our bed Christmas morning, and read them aloud before going to see the stockings. This year I surprised the boys with hot chocolate too. We also sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus at this time. I love starting the day like this because it's not a mad rush to the stockings and presents and we really get to love each other with our thoughtful letters. We save these notes from year to year with all our Christmas decor and read the past ones during an evening of Advent. The first year we wrote these Tegan wrote a not so nice one to Conner, but he didn't intend for it to be mean. It said something to the effect of - thanks for annoying me so I can learn patience :). When we read it aloud this year Tegan actually acknowledged it and said, "That wasn't very nice of me to write." It just took some growing and maturing for him to see that. Maybe he can replace it next year with a different note so we don't have to keep reading that one over and over. After reading our notes we all made our way to the living room and found the stockings. Sadly, it was much too warm for a fire, but we had a wonderful morning together.
Some fun dress-up stuff received for Christmas.
We didn't have a white Christmas, but the following week we got some beautiful, white, fluffy stuff to enjoy.
Sunrise, the day after it snowed. Everything was truly pink - beautiful!
The boys learned about country sledding from our neighbors. TONS of fun for seven kids and seven dogs! There aren't an abundance of hills out here on the way to Kansas, but our neighbors have a decent slope extending from their horse stalls. They also know how to get a very long ride when everyone is hooked up behind their vehicle. They got enough horse leads tied on that seven could ride at once. It was always a challenge to see who could stay on the longest. We learned we need to purchase more saucer sleds as those ride through the pasture the best.
Our piano saga has finally ended with the delivery of a wonderful sounding and nice looking piano. The guy who agreed to fix it all up for free did an amazing job and the boys are enjoying it immensely. Ed, the guy who sold us the piano actually came through and paid his measly court settlement to us. However, this was after he tried one of his little tactics to not pay. Right up until almost the deadline he kept trying to find ways to get out of it. He finally wrote me a long email explaining all the stipulations we would have to meet for him to pay on time. At this point I was completely fed up with him and a bit exhausted from our moving, so my response was not exactly kind, but it was to the point and it worked. I replied to his email with something along the lines of, "You're full of crap. Either you pay or you don't and we file the appropriate paperwork on the date agreed." In response I received the shortest email he has probably ever written, saying simply that he would have the check to us on time. Miraculously, it showed up and I let him know. We haven't communicated since - thank goodness!
On January 12th I felt like the biggest loser of a mom ever. I took Tegan to pick up his new glasses and the first words he said were, "Wow, those are lights up there with little shades on them, not just yellow blurs." Then we got in the car and he saw the beauty of the Rocky Mountains for the first time. "Look! I see all the peaks and those are clouds on top. I didn't know they were separate. It's always looked like one big blur." Next he viewed the Denver skyline. "Wow, those buildings are so cool with all those little windows in them. I felt so horrible for waiting so long to get him his glasses. He's still in awe over things he sees each day. Just today (Jan 26th) I saw him wearing his glasses around the house. Typically, he only wears them when we go out because they are just for distance reading, so I asked him why he had them on. He replied, "I've never seen the cabin in that picture before and I like seeing it. Plus, I can see the mountains out our window." No wonder the poor guy is rarely aware of his surroundings. He can't really see them. I'm so thankful he can appreciate even more of God's awesome glory now that he can see further than the books in front of him.
Our handsome scholar
We made the possibly, not-so-smart decision to get a puppy on Jan 18th. This had been arranged with our neighbor in Dec when she was looking for a guardian for a new breeding dog she wanted to keep. She breeds Goldendoodles and we have seen several of her adorable litters. We never considered getting one however, because my policy has always been and will remain that I will never pay for a dog. But, by being a guardian, we didn't have to purchase her. We will care for her through her breeding years (2-6 years old), then she will be spayed and she will be officially ours. The boys were thrilled with the arrangement as they've always wanted a puppy. I think, at this point, they would be okay not having a puppy and just adopt an older dog, but they are in love with our little girl. She is a real pain, but thank goodness she's so cute. She'll be a great dog once she outgrows this puppy stage, but it's so hard being consistent with her right now. They boys are doing pretty good helping out, but she certainly knows they aren't her pack leaders and she takes full advantage of that.
After much discussion and whittling down of a name list with over 30 names we settled on the name "Aspen." I can't believe how difficult is was for the five of us to agree on a name and you'd be amazed and the different names on the list. I'm the only one not thrilled with this name, but it's okay and the boys like it. Since we're trying to make Aspen their dog it's appropriate that they name her.
She's growing fast, but we're still working on housebreaking. Life will be much easier once she has that down. The rest of the training will come slowly. Hopefully we will get a fence up in the next few weeks so she can spend some time outside, unsupervised. That will greatly reduce some of the puppy-induced stress around here. Until then, we all love to cuddle her when she's worn out and so cute. When she's hyper and nibbly we shove many chew toys at her in an effort to save our shoes and pants.
There you have it - a long overdue, very random, update. Life in the Truitt house continues to move along into 2011.
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