School Pictures

Yeah, home schoolers pretty much do everything on their own time tables. The home school group here in town (I should call them a home school confederacy, because we're pretty loosely affiliated most of the time...) had an opportunity to do back-to-school pictures for free - someone in the group knew a guy from church. So, I decided to give my kids the experience. It took weeks and weeks to get the pictures back, because hey! It's free and they're home schoolers. But here are the results:






(I just wish I could get Eliza to stop sucking her thumb, so those sores around her mouth would finally clear up and go away.)

So Far So Good

Today, George is three months old. He has such a sweet, mellow personality. I can't get enough of his big grins or snuggling his warm little neck. I love this baby.

Totally Carried Away

I remember that, when my mom was frustrated or overwhelmed, she sought therapy in the form of rearranging furniture. She called it "beating up on the house". It works, too. There is something cathartic about shoving and tugging and cleaning and dusting and purging piles of stuff and stepping back to look at it, all improved and clean...something that you can walk away from and when you come back, it will still be done.

Anyhoo.

So, I wanted to move the couch and chairs around a little in the living room, feng shui it up a little bit to make the Christmas tree fit without being crowded. We put our tree up on the 15th because A) it was Nana's birthday, and that's tradition, and B) it was Family Home Evening, so that's convenient.

Really, all I was going to do was move the couch and the two chairs. And maybe the one end table. OK, both end tables. Danggit, now the lamp needs to be moved. What about the piano over on this wall? No, it will block the heater vent. Well, I'll leave the piano where it is. If only the book shelf wasn't there...no, moving a book shelf is just too hard, because you have to unload it and all that. Besides, where would I move it TO? Nope. Don't even go there. I'm just moving the couch, remember? Probably the chairs. And maybe the lamp. NO. No book shelves. But, maybe. Hey, I could put it on that wall in the front entry! Where is my measuring tape? It fits perfectly! Let's do it!

So, yeah. I moved the book shelf. OK, I moved both of them. I mean, it worked out just fine. And Hyrum and the girls were a huge help. Besides, I had the living room all ready for the Christmas tree decorating by FHE time, and the shelves look great in the entry way. I don't know why we didn't put them there in the first place.

pictures Lucy took of our humble, child-designed tree

Now I just need to find a home for all the refugee stuff that USED to be in the front entry way...

Crack Me Up

a-HaHaHaHaHa!


(yeah, some little kid had the camera...again)

Cellular Relay

Friday morning, while we were down in Olathe for Mark's post-surgery follow-up visit (to hear the low down on his knee surgery, go here), his mother called on his cell phone to tell us that Ruth had her baby just twenty minutes earlier (boy, 7 pounds, 11 ounces, twentysomething inches long, still haven't decided on a name yet, so I'm going to call him George Junior just to be obnoxious). Ah, cell phones! We're so connected. Except we're not. Because Mark's brother, Caleb, called the same cell phone two weeks earlier and left a message saying that he and his wife were expecting. But Mark only got the message two days ago, because the notification never rang through. So, yeah, babies! But, darn cell phones!

Viva La Gingerbread!

[ another long post, with lots of pictures that will mean nothing to you if you don't already know about this event and aren't acquainted with these people...sorry]

...and then, it was on to the Gingerbread!

I am the only nut who actually made gingerbread this year. Everyone else was working on graham crackers. But that's just as cool, and definitely less stress beforehand. As usual, Grandma was on Royal Icing duty, but she had plenty of help. We discovered the joy and convenience of plastic icing bags this year, which made a huge difference in how much the kiddies could do before their little paws got too tired of squeezing the icing bag. I think it was Uncle RJ who pioneered the concept of the "treasure box" house, wherein the architect puts up the walls of the house, and then fills the inside with all the candy one can put one's hands on. Then, on goes the roof, and then more candy. Brilliant. A lot of candy went to this construction method. You know, this gingerbread building thing is where dads really shine. RJ, Seth, Mark and Ryan jump in and help out. Seth really gets into it, and has some serious techniques and trade secrets
Lots of people teamed up.
A lot of the "building materials" never made it onto a house (read: there was a whole lot of snackin' goin' on!).
It's fun to see what the kids come up with.
For a long time, none of the grandkids were really old enough to do this on their own. But now, they're paving driveways with Nerds and making DirecTV satellites with licorice whips and pretzel sticks. They get serious about it, and the best building stuff goes quick!
Annie & Sarah hard at work
Hyrum pointing out architectural features
Rachel covering every last centimeter with icing and goodies

Eliza

Laurelin

Blake

Hyrum

Caleb

Erin & Lucy

Matthew

Gabba

Sarah Sue

Wyatt

Kyle

I took this picture because I was so pleased with how the kids did this year (my house is the one thatched in frosted mini wheats), but I also knew that these houses were structurally doomed. By the end of the next day, they were nothing but gingerbread crumbs and Royal Icing dust:

Give a Little, Get a Lot

- WARNING -
very long blog post ahead, mostly due to the obscene number of photographs I will be posting. I have an obligation to out-of-state family (hi, Rosie!) to include as much documentation of the festivities as possible.

OK, so it was almost two weeks ago, but the Annual Galbraith Family Gift Exchange and Gingerbread Extravaganza was amazing and awesome, as usual. It works like this: Cindy - with Rachel's help - mixes every one's name up in a hat, and then draws them out, and tells us who we have (hopefully enough months in advance so that we can get creative and resourceful). The Married Couples give to other Married Couples, and the Cousins and Single People do likewise. For instance, this year, Mark & I had RJ & Rachel, Rachel with the really big indestructible mixing bowl + homemade cake mixes and recipes

and Andrew & Ruth had us: Mark and I with the stack of awesome games we got. Yee-HAWH!

Each of the children have someone to give to: Hyrum had Caleb Rowley (green striped shirt and a solar powered assemble-it-yourself robot frog); Gabriella had Wyatt

 

(pop-gun from Cabela's, which was an instant-but-very-loud hit); Lucy had Annie (a handmade bracelet, an awesome red purse that I made because I'm cool like that, and $5 to add to her funds, because she's saving up to buy herself a camera); Eliza had Grant

 

(another pop-gun, so he and his brother, Wyatt, could drive their parents crazy...hee hee hee!); Yvette had Jason

 

(an indestructible red container full of 25 colored balls that won't break anything if he throws them around, which he will); and baby George has Uncle Nathanael, who is on his mission, so George is giving him postage stamps and stickers, and maybe some homemade Christmas candy, if I can get it in the box before it is all eaten.

Cindy started it all off by calling everyone into the living room,

 

and having all the children sit down. Each one held the gift they would be giving
below: waiting to give their gifts - with surprising patience!

 

Katie and Gabba

 

Eliza, Caleb with George, and Erin

 

Laurelin and Yvy

 

This is actually Konner receiving his gift, and he was SO excited about it, 'cause he KNEW what it was. Look at that glee!

...while she talked about Christmas and Christ and the Spirit of Giving.

 

Then we started from the bottom, which meant that Ruth went first (because Baby Boy Wold couldn't open his own gifts, and every person who is born before Christmas is included...George was on the list in July, and he wasn't born until September!) Then George got his gift, which was a super-adorable monkey suit coat. Yeah, "George of the Jungle" and "Curious George" are all running jokes around here. We love it. Thank you, Sarah Beth (and whichever of your children had him, I forget, and I'm sorry).

And it went from there. There was a small mosh pit of grandchildren that went from one gift-opening child to the next,

 

watching each one open a gift in their turn, oohing and ahhing rewardingly. It was a tad difficult to take pictures around, but oh-so-charming. Laurelin with her new and fabulous block set
I don't remember who all gave to whom, but I got some great photos. The best part is this: most of the children didn't care so much about what they got. Sarah Sue and Maggie, with Maggie's new babiesThey were keenly interested in what they were giving, and how it was received. And that, my friends, is wonderful indeed.

 

Sarah Beth with baby Jason
Yvette opening her gift.... Yvette modeling her new dress and hair bow...

 

Yvette goofing off with part of the gift she gave Jason...
Mark on self-appointed Trash Duty Annie and Sarah Sue measure up: look at those tall blonds! Jacob: try to read my mind and guess this gift... Jared: when is my turn?
Jared: all RIGHT!

Here is Hyrum with his bionicle - because he's way into anything he can take apart withOUT getting in trouble - and Jacob with his mini action figures:

Gabriella got a plush Pet that whimpers and thumps its tail if you set off the motion detector (yes, it has an off button). Here she is trying to coax Yvette into giving it back: I am SO relieved that Aunt Cindy did NOT follow through on her initial impulse to give my daughter a LIVE kitten. Thank you, thank you.

And I'm still cracking up over the fact that Bekah and Ryan gave Ammon two cases of Dr. Pepper.