2021, November 22-28

We enjoyed a low-key Thanksgiving week with generally sunny (if brisk) weather and time spent in preparation for the holidays. 

Eliza and Landon had two days of school this week, but it didn't amount to a whole lot. Eliza reiterated to Dad that she has no desire to go back to doing school the old way. We may not be able to accommodate that wish, but we'll do what we can while we can. Fergus has gotten used to having snuggle buddies at home, and he may be in for a shock (or not. He is a cat after all) if we ever get back to us being out of the house most of the day. 

For one of her assignments, Eliza had to disguise a turkey. It was done electronically, and that really didn't satisfy her creative urge, so she went to one of her favorite channels, Art for Kids Hub on YouTube. 

The adults have been donating plasma for a couple of months now, but Hallie had a negative experience on Tuesday that left her bruised and discouraged. This is her arm after they did some digging in her arm for a good vein. On Saturday, she got told she needs to hold off for a couple of months and to start doing bicep curls so she could get more accessible veins. Uff.  

No school for anyone on Wednesday through Friday meant that the parents got to see things they don't always get to. In the morning, Hallie watched and filmed Landon at gym for the first time in quite a while. 

In the afternoon, Mike got to take Eliza to her riding lesson. He took pics of her preparation to ride process along with her lesson itself. 

(and the sunset too)

Hallie bought some sugar cookies for decorating a little while back, and the kids spent a little of their Thanksgiving painting them. 

And eating them. 

In the evening, Eliza got it into her head to curl Mom's hair. Mom indulged her. 

On Friday, Mom and Eliza ran a few errands and did some shopping while Dad made the downstairs festive and Landon played video games with the neighbors. 

Coming home from running an errand for Hallie, Mike caught another sunset in progress. Just because of hazy clouds all around, this sunset turned the whole sky pink from horizon to horizon for a little bit. Photos don't do it justice. 

Our neighbor Lincoln helped put ornaments on the tree. Thanks, Dude! 

The tree is a perfect size for the space, although 20-some years' worth of ornaments do weigh down those boughs. Ah, memories! 

We didn't do a whole lot Saturday. Well, most of us. Hallie ran quite a few errands in the morning. Mike and Hallie went to a Christmas gift and craft show in Spanish Fork. It was kind of a bust. Lots of interesting goods, but a lot of the vendors were on their phones. Mike has come to the realization that if he were to try to become a vendor, he'd want to make something consumable that doesn't require tons of prep time, before-event effort, and inventory (like kettle corn or lemonade). This is simply because with so many of the items available for sale, it seemed evident to him that lots of love and work had gone into making things he ultimately found himself not being able to justify buying. Maybe if we had more space, disposable income, and awareness of who among our family and friends would appreciate those beautiful baubles. 

Sunday morning dawned with Mom downstairs after Eliza (who has had trouble sleeping the last few days) pushed her out of our bed after sneaking in during the night and Dad held captive by Fergus, who fell asleep on him after coming in after a night on the town. 

Finally Fergus moved enough for Mike to sneak out from under the covers. 

He left Sleeping Beauty to her slumber.

Once upon a time, she had this look as a slumbering toddler. One waxes nostalgic at the thought. 

None of us are thrilled to realize that tomorrow we hit the ground running on "real life" again. So many things on the to-do list.

2021, November 15-21

Fairly low-key week. With the kids' help, Mike built the LEGO version of the "Ship of Dreams." It hasn't sunk (yet). We did school, finished the next part of the downstairs update, and loved on the kitty.  

Eliza read about John and John Quincy Adams' diplomatic voyage to France during the Revolutionary War. She drew this scene of them weathering a storm on the Atlantic.  

The kids were very helpful (at least until they lost interest) in helping Mike build his Titanic model. Many, many details in a total of 46 stages and 9,090 pieces. 

Here is the first third, complete. 

Another project Eliza had this week was to write a descriptive essay about a specific gourd. Here is some of her prewriting. 

Here's the essay: 

My gourd is very colorful! It is as green as a ripe lime, as yellow as a fall leaf that has fallen off a tree, and as orange as a cutie. It is plump like Santa Claus, chubby like a cat who has overgrown fur, short like me, and round like an O. It’s very abnormal. I’ve never seen a pumpkin like this. Out of all of the pumpkins that I saw, this gourd is pretty ripe. Great for carving. It’s really, really pretty and cute. I could run a marathon with this. It is so small and light.

We made more of a dent in the Titanic. Due to a part error, Mike rummaged through the last part of the set and opted to build the thing out of order. 

While admiring the alpenglow . . .

. . . Mike saw a very large flock of seagulls circling overhead. We've seen plenty of geese and other migrating birds pass our way, but never this. 

As a final touch to our downstairs transformation, our shades finally came in (we had to reorder them). We're pleased with how they turned out (and to have our nighttime privacy back).

As a result, we had (at least for a little bit), the Tiny-tanic. 

Now for the middle bit. 

As the late autumn chill sets in, Fergus likes to cozy up to warm bodies. Sometimes doing remote learning has its advantages! 

Eliza continues to learn new skills at horseback riding. One of her favorite horses, Annie, got leased by another family, so Eliza has started riding Tilly. 

Another day down, another chunk of the Titanic finished. Getting close! 

Mike and Landon attended Landon's second parent-teacher conference on Thursday. Junior high has proven to be more challenging than elementary school, but Landon is a hard worker and has a great attitude. He's fun to be around too! 

Due to the part issue (a string that was too long), Mike delayed building the middle portion of the ship until last. 

He rigged up a work-around until the replacement part comes in. 

By Friday night, the set was complete! All told, we put in some 12 hours' work over five days. Not too bad! She looks quite fetching. Awful shame how the real vessel ended up, and hopefully this one doesn't suffer a similar fate. 

Eliza is amazed by the set's overall size. It's almost as long as she is tall and about 1/4 her weight. 

Here's a (Dole) banana for scale. 

Our buddy Fergus is quite the photogenic fellow and a real cuddler. 

He likes having his padded perch by the window.