Skip to main content

A Memorable Family Gathering

This past weekend we were in Oklahoma City celebrating Christmas with Vince's side of the family. Everyone was gathered at his grandparents' house.
We arrived on Friday evening. After dinner we decided to drive around and see some Christmas light displays. That was a lot of fun! There was one house that had what looked like millions of lights very beautifully done and a couple of their trees just took your breath away. They looked like pure ice! Of course pictures of lights never do them justice, but I tried to take a couple.
(they had tons of *presents* piled under the trees)
We visited another home that actually had six...yes, six....metal storage buildings full of Christmas villages on display. The owner opens them each evening during the holiday season for people to go through and view. He also had a massive doll collection and about a zillion other smaller collections of random things. The collections were way over the top for me, but it was fun to see and the kiddos were absolutely enthralled!
The drive back to Vince's grandparents' was the most memorable though. I noticed that Mr. B was looking pretty sleepy (I thought) and was really quiet. Then he said "Mama, my tummy hurts." Well...I thought maybe he was just feeling hungry since he had pretty much picked at his dinner and when I asked him, he agreed. Yes, he was hungry. So we thought a snack before bed would be in order and solve the problem. All of a sudden The Princess pipes up from the backseat: "Mr. B just threw up!!"
Y'all, I don't do vomit well. It's embarrassing to admit and I thought I would improve after I became a mother. But no. I just throw up with them. It's really terrible.
So we hurried and pulled over in a random parking lot and we all (except Mr. B) jumped out: my MIL and The Princess so that they didn't get sick, too; Vince so that he could clean up Mr. B as well as possible; and myself so that I could hand Vince wet wipes while he did the clean up. Of course, I was doing all I could not to get sick as well and I thought I had it under control. We finally all got back in the truck to head home and just as I closed the door, it hit me. I couldn't take it anymore. I totally lost my dinner. I was so humiliated. But what do you do??!!
We finally made it back to Vince's grandparents' house and to bed eventually. A bath never felt so good as it did that night! What a memory! Thankfully everyone was fine after that. I guess all of the travelling just got to Mr. B.
The next day we had a big Christmas lunch and gift exchange. Even more family were there and we all had a good time together. After all of the fun, it was time to head back to Arkansas where we'll be the rest of the week. Here are some shots of some of the day's fun:
The Princess with her new Barbie
Mr. B having a grand time with his new tool kit and a box
Look what Vince got for me in the dirty Santa gift exchange!
I caught the kiddos sneaking fudge in the kitchen
The kiddos with their Aunt Alicia feeling their new cousin kicking--so precious!
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...
Read more

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year.  This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning.   But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom.  Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming.  It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility.  And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year.  So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important.   How do I do this?   Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom.  Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...
Read more

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...
Read more