It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...

Michael, Leila and Emma with Teddy

Well, it's still November and we're all set for Christmas. Jon and the kids picked out a tree the day after Thanksgiving. I spent the next two days putting away fall stuff and getting out the winter / Christmas stuff. It's a lot of work and a big mess during the transition, but I enjoy changing things around in the house. It's like getting a "new" house without spending any money! I always find a couple of different ways to try the furniture. This year I followed Emma's suggestion for furniture arrangement in the living room. Her and Leila are quite the little decorators in training.

Daddy's girl

For the first time ever, Emma hunted with her dad. They hunted on the Hurlburt family land in Ruby with some of her uncles and cousins. Nobody got a deer that day, but Jon shot a doe when he was out alone (on a different day), hunting at our neighbor's farm. It was a big deer so we should have plenty of venison for the coming year. Jonathan did a little hunting with his dad too, this year, and we were sorry he didn't end up with a deer of his own. But we'll probably pass some venison on to him. It was kind of a tricky hunting season because much of it was warm and snowless. You would think "warm" would be good, but not when you're wearing layers of gear!

No, you can't hunt, Leila

What else? Well, Jon's new job has him working in Independence, WI, which is only about an hour away from where we live. So he's been driving home and staying with us every night... like a normal family! He's home by six every night, and this particular project they're working on is expected to last 2-3 years. So this is just incredible news for our family. Jon has leisure time; I have help with the kids. And the paychecks are enough for us to maintain our home and way of living. We feel very, very fortunate.

Lindsay, Jack, and Jonathan

Jonathan, Lindsay, and Jack came over for Thanksgiving at our house. As you can see by what they're wearing, it was unseasonably warm that day... I think in the 60's. Jack LOVES to play outside with balls, and it was fun watching him play fetch with Teddy. I'll end this short blog with some other pictures from that day... along with more "Christmas scenes" from our house.

Sweet big boy Jack

Jack and Teddy love fetch

Big brother Jonathan tosses Leila a ball

Did you know Littlest Pet Shops are magnets?

This picture of Leila requires more explanation than a caption will allow. Today Leila was delighted to discover that Littlest Petshop toys, with their magnetic bottoms, work as ice skaters on our magnetized musical skating pond. She took the little ceramic skater off, put her Petshop character on, and it skates around the pond's magnetic path while Frosty the Snowman plays. Fun!

Some of my snowman collection

Baby Bear (Leila calls me Mama Bear)