We Interrupt the Spotlight for a Brief Update

Spotlight on Kenna and Lucan to come, but for now I hope to catch up a bit. I'm writing from my mom and dad's house in Wisconsin, the first time we've been here in 6 years! Last time we were here, we were celebrating Thanksgiving with a one-month-old Arden. Hard to believe it's been that long since we were here!

Last weekend was very full. Friday evening we hosted the first meeting of a new family-integrated community (or small group). There were 5 families all together, all of whom were part of the Visionary Parenting class we did this fall at church. We plan to meet once a month beginning in January for a potluck dinner, fellowship, and a devotional that includes all the kids (there are at least 18 kids in our group). So we packed everyone into the house and enjoyed one another's company for almost 3 hours. Ted commandeered the gathering to announce that my birthday was Sunday, so everyone sang to me and we had birthday cake. :-)

Saturday I did a vendor event for my Stampin' Up! business along with a downline member. Unfortunately, the investment so far seems to outweigh the results, but we'll see what happens. I do have a couple of leads; one lady seems eager to schedule a home party after the holidays, so hopefully that will come to pass. It was a long day, and I was happy to get home to a clean house and a completed family picture wall, thanks to Ted and Charis. (To clarify, the boys helped with the clean house, but not the picture wall!) This picture wall is one of the last tasks that needed to be done to finally be unpacked/settled! I love the way it turned out, though now that we have everything up, Ted and I are wondering why in the world we ordered 8x10s instead of 10x13s of our recent family pictures, so we may end up re-ordering those. (Thankfully the prices are good!)

Sunday morning I was treated to some hand-stamped birthday cards--even Ted stamped me a card! He and my ma-in-law went in together to get me a beautiful and comfortable office chair with a mat for my stamping area. This is something we've talked about getting me for a long time but never have. I am happy to have it! Charis gave me a nice watercoloring of a turkey she had made, along with a cute hand-made turkey card. (I should take pictures to post on here later, or maybe I'll have her put them on HER blog!)

After our pancake breakfast, we attended the early service at church, a good ending to our missions emphasis that has been going on this month. I had hoped to get a nap after lunch, but I should have known that wouldn't happen...after being gone all day Saturday, I needed to sort and organize my bags and get things packed up for our trip to Wisconsin on Monday. It was a beautiful day, so I thought I'd get out of the house a little for a short run to clear my head and be able to focus on what I needed to do. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes into the run my knee started to hurt. This is the same knee I injured while running a little over a year ago, so I immediately stopped and walked home. Sigh.

Somehow we got ready for our vacation and managed to hit the road by 8 a.m. on Monday. Our travels were pretty smooth for the most part, though Kenna decided to whine and yowl the last hour. We figured out the problem after we arrived--she had a fever. :-( She's almost over whatever it was that was bothering her but is still pretty pathetic and whiny, especially when tired.

It's good to be back in 'Sconsin, but I must say, my parents' house seems to have shrunk, LOL. But we're managing--we knew we'd need to be prepared for kids waking up at night and going stir crazy during the day. Sure enough, both Kenna and Lucan have been waking up each night, and the boys are driving us crazy during the day!

We woke up to a white Thanksgiving this morning! It's been cold and rainy (and snowy) the whole time we've been here. We're looking forward to getting out of the house tomorrow when the whole clan goes to New Glarus for the big family gathering. It will be our family, my brother and his family, my mom's twin sister and husband plus their three kids and their families...and possibly more people as well. I can't wait! Lots of folks, lots of food, and we'll be eating in their little church's fellowship area, with a gymnasium right there for the kiddos to run around while we old folks catch up! Mom and I have done some baking today--she has made her famous apple pies and is working on the pumpkin pies. I made two recipes of Rose's famous chocolate pecan pie. Tomorrow we'll make some casseroles in the morning before making the drive.

And I guess that catches me up a little here. Happy Thanksgiving to all!