Winter Camp

K and the techie came home today. They've been at Webelo Winter Camp. As a boy scout, the techie is now at the age where he teaches the younger boys. It seems so recent that he was the younger boy and looked to the boy scouts for their wisdom.

Every camp has its challenges. This time it was the weather. While the techie has a very warm sleeping bag, K usually makes due with a cheaper one. This time it wasn't enough. The temperature was in the 40s each night, and during the day it was rainy and wet. The athlete and I had to bring a few extra blankets for reinforcements the second day. Thankfully the camp is only 20 miles away.

Scouting runs in my family. I was a girl scout. My father was an eagle scout and my grandfather was a huge supporter of scouting in his community. The techie is in line to earn his eagle in the next couple of years. But we're not done.......

The path of scouting is just beginning again for our family as the athlete will start as a tiger cub next year!

The tree

Several Christmases ago, K and I decided to do away with the Christmas tree. It began as a series of unfortunate events. Our old tree has seen way too many holidays and was looking like a Charlie Brown sort of tree. So we trashed it after Christmas and bought a new one for the coming year (on sale after Christmas at 75 % off).

Anxiously the next year we opened and began to assemble the tree. It was slightly larger than we expected...to say the least! Actually, it completely filled our living room. So we donated it to our church and began looking for another one. We couldn't find one that would fit our needs and then we saw it.... a lighted palm tree. We had been trying to change the focus of our Christmas, and this was perfect. It reminded us of the nativity.

The next year I wanted to put ornaments out. But the palm tree wasn't conducive to them. So I hung ornaments on the wall?! At least they were out. By the next year I was begging for a regular tree again. The ornaments were sentimental and had no place to be displayed. So we compromised. Now we have a regular Christmas tree with ornaments that the kids and I have made, and we have the palm tree which highlights the nativity. The best of both worlds. At least for now...

Christmas gifts

Christmas Day has come and gone. This Christmas we got a family gift from Santa...a Wii with games and accessories. K and I are hoping that it will help us get off the couch and move more.
We got the "Biggest Loser" game and both of us are sore. The techie and the athlete love playing all sorts of games. For now we've allowed playing almost endlessly, but that will have to stop as soon as school starts back

But the favorite gift of the year is always a mystery to me. For the techie, it is probably the Wii, but for the athlete it is a pair of rubber boots. He points them out to almost everyone we meet. He also wants to wear them everywhere we go. I had to draw the line at wouldn't allow them to be worn to church on Sunday.

My favorite gift? hmmm....not an easy decision. But I am kind of surprised at one gift I really love. A snuggie. It is so comfortable and warm. I can't joke about them any more....I'm a snuggie-lover!

Christmas traditions

About six years ago our family began a new Christmas tradition. Every night during the holiday season we gather around advent candles. Then K reads a chapter of one of three books designed for this type of reading. All were written by Arnold Ytreeide. They are "Jotham's Journey", Bartholemew's Passage", and "Tabitha's Travels".

Each book is designed to read one chapter per day, and each chapter ends with a cliff hanger. In our family, there is the challenge to remember the title of the next days reading, and what happened in the story.

Listening to the retelling of the previous day's reading is interesting as everyone seems to remember different parts. The athlete tends to recall the action moments...ie a fall, the bad guy, or losing track of someone. The techie recalls the cliffhanger, and I remember the sentimental moments.

The stories are all set in bible times and involve the adventures of fictional children during the time of Jesus' birth. The stories weave together and the characters end up appearing in each of the books. Yet somehow there is just enough time between readings that we never remember what is happening. Each ends with the birth of the Savior.

After the story, the boys take turns blowing out the Advent candle. This is always a special moment and a treat for them. I'm sure it is because of the meaning of Christmas, and not because the blower gets a small chocolate treat.

Hard words

In the past couple of months the techie and the athlete have been having nerf dart wars in the house. The athlete especially loves this game and walks around the house looking for something or someone to shoot. K and I had to laugh when he came in and asked dad, "Where's the emenies?" That isn't a typo. He can not figure out how to say "enemies". We have practiced this word over and over but it always comes out wrong. It is soooo cute.

Then, during the daily advent reading we are doing, the title of one of the chapters was "Bartholemew". When the athlete had to repeat it, the word that came out was again hilarious. "Barf all of you" Thankfully after lots of practice he WAS able to say this one correctly.

This is such a precious season of life.

Starting Off...

I've been pondering the idea of having a family blog for a couple of years now. I'm on the computer daily, but what kind of record do I have of my time.....nothing. So many precious moments are all but forgotten and have never been shared with others. So this is an attempt at sharing our lives (and remembering them).

As I'm sure all bloggers do, I played with different names for a while before I got one that was unique to us. "theLarsons" was long gone as was "JoyNthe journey", "Enjoythejourney", and a whole bunch of others. Finally I remembered that our best friend's lovingly called us "backwoods" as we called them "Amish". I guess it was fitting since we live in the Texas country, K hog hunts (with dogs), and we've eaten squirrel.

Today is....

Four days until Christmas. K and I are finally going Christmas shopping tonight. We have a few ideas about what to get the techie and the athlete, but I'm wondering what will actually be in stock at the stores. The boys will be at their Nana and PawPaw's house. That's always fun for them.

The athlete's adoption is scheduled for January 7. We are so excited after waiting almost three years for this date. His CASA worker came today and brought him presents...GI Joes.

The techie has spent most of his day on his PSP and computer. He is updating his website. When he is ready I will post a link here.