A Christmas Recap

Hello Again! It seems I blog in spurts doesn't it? Oh well....


Here are a few shots from our Christmas festivities. We really did have a wonderful time. I try every year to de-stress it all for myself but, that never really seems to happen. I always say I'm going to have all my sewing done by Thanksgiving so I can just enjoy the month of December. Yeah right! Maybe next year.

Anyway...

We got our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and got it all decorated beautifully. I tend to lean more towards white lights for the tree but I get outvoted every year.

Fisher putting his ornaments on.

Piper just playing with ornaments. Again with the no pants! It kind of seems like theme around here doesn't it?

The boys putting the star on the top.

This became a nightly ritual. Turning off all the lights in the house to look at the tree. Then the kids would run around the living room in circles by the light of the tree. Relaxing no?

So typical of this boy.


Little Sister joining in.

For the very first time IN HIS LIFE, Fisher ran in and jumped on Santa's lap. This is at James' work party for the kids. They have Santa come, crafts to make, and pizza. It's a great time and we aren't fighting crowds at the mall to visit with the big guy.

Last year I pretty much just got a shot of the top of Piper's head as she struggled to get off Santa's lap. This year.... she did much better with Anta, as she calls him.

Mr. Nunn (James' boss) showing Piper the ornaments on the tree.

Christmas eve is usually spent at Nana's house. We have a nice dinner then the kids bounce around waiting for the grown-ups to finish. Then we head downstairs to open presents. Sound like someone you know? You know you did the same thing when you were little!

Waiting at the top of the stairs for the go ahead.

I don't usually get pictures of the present opening itself. Piper is still a bit young to do it all herself and Fisher is just a blur of paper. But I did get a picture of Nana and the Colorado kids. (Sounds like some kind of weird gang doesn't it? Oooh or a band!)

And finally we get to Christmas morning!!! We immediately check out what Santa brought us. We play with toys. And we have Nana over for Christmas brunch. (and to check out our haul)

Santa brought Fisher a gnome tree house!!

And Piper got a fairy village.

They (very sweetly I might add) played together with each other's toys.

This is a terrible picture but they were playing well together.

Art Time together!

It was such a wonderful Christmas. It was filled with traditions from each side of our family blended together beautifully. We are all so blessed!

Thanks to you all for following us in our adventures. I hope your 2010 was great and that 2011 will be even more amazing. Happy New Year!!!

Love,

JKFP and Bob

Celebrating the Pipey

Hi! Have you all been missing me? Yeah, me too. It has, of course, been insanely busy around here. (As I'm sure it has been for all of you too.) My poor little blog has been terribly neglected. I have been sewing Christmas giftage pretty much non-stop. I lost count of the many up til 2:00 in the morning sewing sessions. I do have a post about our mostly homemade Christmas so stay tuned for that. But this post is not for that...

This post is about celebrating the Pipey. Our sweet Little Miss turned 2 years old December 4th!! She is so completely 2 years old that it's kinda ridiculous. Bless her sweet little heart. She is so much fun. As a pair, she and Fisher are nothing but trouble. The fun, crazy, wide open kind. Just this morning I asked her to look out the window. We had a bit of snow yesterday. She saw the snow and immediately says "Mommy, boots ON!" Nevermind that the temp. read 1 degree. ONE. We are waiting for the warm up?!?! That's my little mountain girl.

I was able (in the midst of all the Christmas sewing) to get her birthday banner made. All except her name. That'll be ready for next year. I think it turned out well. She was excited anyway. (Now I just have to get them sewn up for the grownups and we'll be set for life.)

Here's a detail shot. This was my first attempt at needle felting and I think I'm in love.

Opening her presents

Fisher helping with his gift to her. He painted a wooden jewelry box for her. He was super proud!


I know this one is a bit blurry but I couldn't resist. I love the excitement in her face! He did a great job helping her.

And here's her new birthday outfit from Nana. She LOVED the sound of her shoes on the floor!

We didn't do a traditional birthday party but we did attend one! Sweet Onora turned 1 on the 3rd so we went to her party. (Nikos and Melanie's little girl and Fisher and Piper's good friend. Well, we love her too.)

Here's the other birthday girl, Onora.

And here she is eating cake.

After the birthday party we headed over to Nana's house for some Nebraska Football watching. (or as Pipey calls it "feetball") Piper LOVES football. I'm not kidding. Anytime she sees it on tv she yells "FEETBALL" and runs around clapping. Again, her Daddy's child.

Relaxing watching Nebraska play.

Talking to Bella and Papa on the phone...and waiting for dinner. (We forgot a bib and it was chili - that's why she's half naked)

Blowing out her candles!!! With help from the boys.

All in all, I think it was a great birthday! She had so much fun with her friends and family. We look forward to another year filled with fun, love, and adventure with our Pipey!

Love,

JKFP and Bob

Happy Thanksgiving...oh and Halloween

Hello All! I hope you had or are having a most wonderful Thanksgiving! This was my favorite one to date! Wanna know why? I ate turkey on the couch, in stretchy pants, watching a movie with my three favorite people in this world! (Four, if you count the dog. And lets face it, I do.) No rushing, no driving (unless you count hitting the grocery store for MORE butter), and eating in my pj's. Sounds perfect to me.

James cooked the most amazing turkey ever. EVER! Lets see...injected with a combo of butter, honey, merlot, and creole seasoning AND stuffed with apples. Stupid good. We also had super easy crockpot green beans (with brown sugar - yes they are the best ever), garlic cheesy mashed potatoes, fresh bread (breadmaker) , and salad. It. Was. Awesome. Just the four of us. No stress. Awesome.

My crazy husband has gone to Costco this morning with the kids to look at computers. Not to buy one, just to look. I tried to tell him black friday might not be the best day for this. Whatever! I'm not getting out of my pj's today. Which means I'm not shopping. And, I think all you black friday shoppers are crazy! (For the record.) Anyway, as I sat here thinking of you all I realized... holy cow I haven't done a Halloween blog! Sorry. Life happens. BUT, here we are. A little late.

Halloween Weekend Festivities!!!

This was my first year hitting the Manitou Springs Coffin Races. And it was pretty awesome. A little background: I guess back in the 1800's this lady, Emma Crawford, died and was buried on top of a hill. Well, it rained. A lot. And she was washed down the hill. So, they took her back up and buried her again. And it happened again. Seriously. (Supposedly.) So 16 years ago someone stumbled across that information and said "what a great idea!" And the coffin races were born. The basic idea - teams get together and come up with these themes. Then they super dress up. (all themey) Then they build a coffin on wheels and super dress it up to match, hold a massive parade to show everyone off, then have races. They push their team's coffin (with one woman inside it - the Emma Crawford's of course) through the streets of Manitou Springs. It made for a very interesting Saturday! Manitou people, Manitoids as they're called (not kidding), take Halloween VERY seriously.

Here we are waiting for the parade to start. We're getting a little sleepy.

Coffin example.

They also bring out their crazy pimped out hearses. And if your wondering If fire shoots out of this one somewhere...

Why yes, yes it does.

I told you they take this stuff seriously. Bob better watch out next year!

Fisher had the best spot for parade viewing.

A couple of my favorite themes... Smurfs.

And Star Wars. You can never go wrong with Storm Troopers and Princess Leia. Or people painted blue.

The parade was really fun. The kids were pretty tired by that time so we didn't stay for the races. After some lunch and a nap they were ready for... Pumpkin carving with Daddy!

The fruits of their labor. I think he looked fantastic.

Which brings us to trick-or-treating. We've been going to a different neighborhood for the last couple years and it's our new home for Halloween. Flat streets and wonderful people! What a combo. I made the costumes of course. After the success of the bulldozer last year - Fisher never even asked to buy one!

Piper went as Angelina Ballerina. She wasn't too sure about the whole knocking on strange doors and asking for stuff thing.

But she got the hang of it.

And after much discussion... Fisher went as a Robot!

Boxes, inserts that came in boxes, dryer vents (that were already in the garage), beer caps, duct tape, spare wire and tubing bits, and spray paint. If you're wondering.

Waiting...

Just a cute one of Piper and her Dad. A lovely fall shot.

I think this can be the last house.

They got a tremendous haul. This year we tried something new with all that candy. We had talked for several weeks about the "Candy Fairy". (Though some people call her the Spirit Sprite or the Halloween Fairy) She works along the same lines as the Tooth Fairy. And we LOVE her. The kids picked over the candy and got out a few of their favorites, then left the rest for the Candy Fairy. Fisher left her at least 3/4 of the candy this year. She leaves little toys or money for the candy you don't need. So we got down our Halloween tree and left her a basket of goodies.


Fisher (especially) is money motivated so the Candy Fairy left them each $5! They were super happy about it! Not a word was mentioned about missing any of that candy. I think they even have a little left. The Candy Fairy is sooooo sticking around!!

Well, that does it for us on this black friday. I hope you get the deals you want and eat yourself silly with leftovers.

Peace and full bellies,

JKFP

The Big News

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? Ever stood on the edge? Looked up, down, or straight across and just be amazed at what's in front of you? What about that feeling you get at the top of a roller coaster? When you can feel that switch from pulling up the big hill to freefall. Yes? I'm kinda there.

It seems we are hanging on the edge of something huge. An amazing adventure waiting to be had. What??? (Just tell us already.) James is in the process of taking a job with an international construction company. Huh? An INTERNATIONAL construction company. (He's still with Nunn for now. In Gunnison. He left right before we left for the road trip.) He's in the process now of getting his paperwork and passport, etc. lined up so that when they have a place for him ... INTERNATIONAL. And we get to go too. Depending on where and how long the job is for. We thought for a little while that we were headed for Germany in January. That was going to be for 4 months. But it turned out they didn't need him on that one. What's next? No one knows for sure. China for 4mos? Switzerland for 3? It's kind of exciting. And totally freaking me out - all at the same time. I have learned this about myself so far. I do okay with change. I do okay with staying the same. I do NOT, however, do well with limbo.

So here are some Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Q: Are you excited?

A: Um, yes. Very.

2. Q: Are you scared?

A: Um, yes. Very. But also really aware that this is something not everyone gets the chance to do. And not one you turn down lightly. Or accept lightly.

3. Q: What about school for Fisher?

A: Well, there are tons of options as far as that goes. There are International Schools, homeschooling (which I'd not ruled out even if we just stay here), or online school. He could technically follow a District 11 (one of our local districts) schedule and curriculum online from anywhere. Imagine learning about China IN CHINA!

4. Q: What about Bob?

A: Bob. This has actually been the hardest part of all for me. I hope he will visit one of you for a few months here and there. (I'm looking at you Bella and Papa!) But no, he would not go with us. I think that would be too much, logistically speaking. Imagine apartment hunting in a foreign country (or your company doing it for you) and insisting on bringing your dog. I just don't see it working out well.

5. Q: How long are you planning on doing this?

A: Definitely not forever. If we only look at this from a financial standpoint (and not the adventure side) even just two years would put us in an amazing place. We'd be totally debt free (if we sell the house too) AND have saving built up for when we decide to settle again. So if you look at it from the adventure side as well... it's a win win.

I think most of the jobs are in the 4 to 6 month range. Which, even if the kids and I don't go, isn't REALLY all that bad. (Worst case scenario - we don't go.) Imagine what all those military spouses have to go through! 4 months is a drop in the bucket. For the time being, nothing changes. We will still keep our house and cars. Just leave them here. After we test the waters and see how we like things, we may change stuff.

So for now... we wait.

JKFP

P.S. I really didn't intend to string you along like this. I wanted to post about it before the trip. But with LeeRoy passing - it just didn't feel right to be so excited and share it all when we had this huge hole in our hearts. So forgive me for dragging it out.

In NC!!

Hi Again. Now that we've gotten all that unpleasantness out of the way (with The Drive) I can fill you all in on the fun that we had while we were there. Unfortunately, my camera broke while we were in Kansas (there's that awful place again) and my Dad was able to fix it about half way through the visit. So things like Piper's first haircut and playdates with the cousins on the Rogers side are all on Carly's camera. So, it's gonna be up to her to post those pictures. But no pressure Carly :).

So these are starting from the middle of the visit. (I warn you - it's a little picture heavy.) For the second straight year we've gone to my grandmother's old church to pick out pumpkins. It's sort become an annual thing now and Fisher expects to cut jack-o-lanterns with his Bella. So here we are at the pumpkin patch. Note to self, if you want cute smiling pictures of the kids, bribe them with the suckers, don't hand them out up front.






I had a really rare opportunity present itself. Most people who still live where they grew up have the option of lifelong friends being close by and everyone's children knowing each other. I don't have that. I have my sister and her son close by. But, she's the only one. Through facebook I've come to find all my old school friends. It just so happens that one of those friends and I decided to get together one night. And our children played together! She has 4 beautiful daughters Maddie, Delaney, Elizabeth, and Caroline. And my children LOVED them. I think they all had fun playing together. It was neat to see my old friend and all these little faces that hold so much of her in them.




And here she is... Haley. She used to be Haley Neal for those of you who would remember. I believe it was our junior year in high school that just about every other weekend we headed to the beach. We had our little separate life there. Friends. Places. Boys. (I think I even sat my SAT's at the beach.) Anyway, I have too many good memories with her to list and it was such a blessing to reconnect. I hope our children continue to grow up with each other. (even if it's just a yearly visit)


A highlight of our trip (aside from all the fun with cousins and friends) was going to downtown Charlotte to the Discovery Place. Or as Fisher called it the Dee scovery Place. We parked on the edge of Charlotte and rode the light rail into the heart of the city. For a little boy who loves trains - that was almost more exciting than anything else.



He counted all the stops and just loved every minute of it. Then came the actual Discovery Place. Big fun. They have all sorts of exhibits and this amazing aquarium.

This one of the jellyfish is one of my favorites.

The kids learned all sorts of amazing things. Hands on experiences with air and water. Learning through playing. And my parents got to enjoy all of it with them. (something that doesn't happen too often)

We saw a 3D movie about sharks. Fisher's first movie in a theater I believe. He kept saying, "Mom! It's swimming right at me!"

This area was also really fun. Fisher and I had made a much smaller version of these out of toilet paper tubes and a cotton ball one time for our fridge. He is fascinated with lining things up and making stuff go where he wants it to.

And here was Piper's favorite. Remember lite brite from when we were kids? Well this is like that ... on steroids. This actually held her attention for a really long time. She loved setting the tubes in and seeing the light come through. (I've been trying to come up with something like this we can do at home too so if anyone has any suggestions on making one I'd love to hear it)


And what could be more fun than a water table? I came up with something similar for the house that you'll see in a later post! It's awesome by the way.

A neat shot of Downtown Charlotte

Back on the train to the car. I'm fairly sure they are BOTH asleep here.

A cute one of Pipey and Johnny. They really do love each other.

This is Fisher showing Kendall (my cousin's daughter and one of Fisher's NC favorites) the cool thing he got at the gift shop of Discovery Place.

Fisher and Kendall baking cookies with my Mom.

Kendall is one of Fisher's all time favorite people. He starts talking about her (among others) as soon as we set up a trip. And all the things he plans for them to do. It's super cute and she willingly goes along.

And to cap it all off ...pumpkin carving. Piper was way too little to "get it" last time. She's still a little confused at first but, she figures it out in the end.

Fisher draws out the design on paper and Bella recreates it. Perfectly I must say.

So that about does it. Some of you have wondered about the trip home. It sucked too. We left around 9:00 Sunday night and drove to St. Louis, MO. About 10 or 11 that next morning we got a hotel room just for a few hours. We thought napping in a real bed and even playing in a pool would maybe help everyone sleep better in the car. But, as usual, it did not. I had all 3 kids in the pool trying to wear everyone out. I succeeded. However, when we all laid down to nap... Piper started cutting a molar. So, no sleep for mom. Again. We left St. Louis about bedtime for the kids and again - drove til we got home. I have never been so happy to see my crappy tiny house. Ever.

I vowed not to go anywhere for at least 4 days. And then, continuing with our theme, Bob got into the trash. There just so happened to be broken glass in it. Long story short, Bob had to go to the hospital. He basically shredded the underside of his little tongue. He had already had an ER visit in NC. He got attacked by fire ants (who are on the devil's payroll, by the way) and was on antibiotics and steroid antihistamines so I guess that was a plus? They just added painkillers into the mix and this....

is what happened next. One part awful trip home and two parts painkiller = really funny dog picture.

So far, November has treated us much better than October did.

I still want to update you with the "Big News" (no I haven't forgotten) and Halloween and a couple others so stay tuned.

Love,
JKFP