It snowed...

an inch...maybe...but it was gusting wind at 40 mph.  So...two little boys just stayed inside and watched from the window.  NOT!

Nope.  The Hawkins duo put on multiple layers covering their entire bodies...and ventured out into the wind, cold, and snow.  And they loved it.

Mom finally got up enough desire to head out and join them!  (I believe the wording to Josh was "They are only this age once! And some day I'll wish I went out with them in the freezing cold...I think!")

Daisy was the smart one.  She darted out the garage door as soon as it was (blown) open.  But, after two steps, she darted back in the garage like she had just been shot out of a cannon.  I think the wind was blowing hard enough that she probably had great assistance from behind with her speed.

Anyway...the boys shoveled the drive (Jake wanted to be sure we could get our cars out.) And then we got our slick sled out to test the hill in the woods that we cut out.  It worked pretty well the first few times, but it just wasn't enough snow to really have fun for long.
So, we traveled the yard looking for a better spot.  Not much luck, though.

Our feet were cold...so we went inside.

A couple weeks of random things...

 Josh was going out to cut wood.  Joe eagerly dressed and followed to help.
Then, Josh decided to fill in some low spots on the driveway.  Joe wanted to get his wheelbarrow and help, too.   Wished I had the video camera on as Joe pushed his wheelbarrow across the yard next to Josh...but these pictures give you the idea! :)

I was fixing lunch one colder day and Joe said..."I think I'll just warm up right here!"

   Interesting in December...a rainbow after a thunderstorm.  When I see a rainbow, I always think "God keeps His promises" and then I ponder the promises He has shown me in recent days.
   However, in light of the Christmas season, I found myself chasing thoughts of His birth and of the promises people had to cling to for so long before seeing the promise fulfilled.  This led me to a series of thoughts before I realized I probably hadn't really thought about a lot of those things before...b/c rainbows are so rare in December.  Amazing where a simple rainbow took me for a few moments...God Keeps His Promises! :)

So, Jake was out practicing with the pellet gun and a box.  Shortly, thereafter he and Joe were traveling the yard looking for things to shoot at. (Joe had a stick gun.)   Then, this was how we saw the boys...hunting for birds in the tree by the barn. 

Daisy wanted to check on the fun. I found this series of pictures to be a funny short "movie" where Daisy creeps up...

Daisy checks out the attacker...

 She tries to attack...

 Daisy goes down! :)

Here the boys are watching a video that has a segment on the Blue Angels.  I realized they were pretending to be the planes on the video...switching places at times in order to act like the stuntmen in the planes! Quite creative and worth the 2 minutes of watching...

Cookies, cookies...and...

Sunday we made sugar cookies.  The boys each got half the dough to help make the cut outs (insert "lots of flour making a big mess").  They had so much fun picking which cut out to use next...talking about the details and the shapes.

Then, on Monday, they iced the cookies.  This, of course, was to Joe's great delight. "Can I lick my finger?" must have been asked 100 times.  But, despite the mess, it was interesting to see their creativity and their different styles of decorating the cookies.

Tuesday found us at the library for a Family Christmas story time.  We saw friends we hadn't seen in awhile which was really fun.  And we enjoyed stories, songs, a couple of crafts, and, of course, milk and cookies! :)


And...of course, the week has been filled with schoolwork, talking about advent, learning about the books of the Bible, talking about compassion (from their Sunday school lessons) and attempting to put all we are learning into practice.  Fun stuff...!

The BIG bus

  This week has had several highlights...but Joe was super excited about riding with the swim team on the big yellow bus.  The mini-busses were fun for the the first couple meets, but he would ask, "When can we ride on the big yellow bus?" 
  Tuesday was the big day.  All day Joe talked about riding on the bus.  "I can't wait to ride on the bus," said Joe to Jake.  Jake said, "A pretend one...oh, yeah, the one with the swim team this afternoon. Yeah, I know, it will be fun!"  (One was obviously anticipating it a little more than the other! :)
   Once on the bus, Joe took his seat and said, "No seat belts, Mom?" "I guess not." I replied, as I realized how fear-inflicting those words can be.
   Not phased, Joe eagerly peered out the window sitting properly in his seat...legs barely wrapping over the front edge of the seat.  Jake sat behind him-equally intrigued by what was out the window...so he could stand up and lean forward to tell Joe what to watch for.  They talked back and forth between the window/seat space...eager to share what they were seeing.
  On the ride home, Jake was asleep (upright) within 5 minutes.  But Joe kept watch, taking it all in.  He gets so excited when he sees outdoor decorations.  So, eventually, I thought to have him sit on my lap so he could see over the seat in front of him at the road.  This was when the bus driver realized this was Joe's first time on a bus...and commented how it was obvious Joe was taking it all in.  Despite how tired he was, Joe managed to fight it off and stay awake all the way home.

Cutting down the tree...

  Don't worry.  This task came with the season...not the house! :)

  On Saturday, we ventured to find the right Christmas tree at the nearby tree farm.  The boys were excited...especially Joe.

   They enjoyed the tractor ride out to the hillside and scrambled off to start checking out the trees.  We found some "not so good ones".


And after much "up and down the hillsides" (which are very steep in places, I might add), we finally selected "THE ONE"! 
The boys said "timber" as it fell.  Then, Jake helped Dad carry the tree to the tractor/trailer and we watched the process of prepping it for the car trip.
We enjoyed hot cocoa and popcorn while Josh loaded the tree. 

And then we journeyed through the countryside (which made Jake think we were lost) and unloaded the bundle into our family room...where it fits perfectly!


Joe has been especially excited about decorating for Christmas.  (If only you could actually hear him try to say the word!) :)   After I pulled the few house decorations out and let them decorate the tree that is in their room, Joe was asking where all the outside decorations were and when we were going to put up all the outside lights.  (apparently a strong influence from Mama and Papa's house last year)

Every day (and even while in Walmart), Jack...I mean, Joe... has been trying to find decorations that go outside.  :)  Maybe next year....

The Week...

It has been a busy but good week  so far as we try to get back in the groove. 

As we have been talking about each book of the Bible with school this week, Jake has opened his Bible to find the book.  He started reading the first couple of verses in Numbers and was SO excited that he could read from his OWN Bible.   Fun moment!


We have enjoyed some beautiful mornings where the pink glow of the sun is on the horizon while the full moon/near full moon is setting out the family room window.  And then the reverse at the end of the day.  Pink glow in the west with huge moon in the east!   
Joe thought the moon went down and turned into the sun that comes up on the other side.  So, we were able to prove this to be false! :)   It is also fun that our science lesson this week is about the sun, stars, and moon...as we talk about creation day 4 and then see the beauty outdoors.  (What a reminder that God is the God of perfect timing!)


We found some fun books at the library this week.  It is always fun to find good books at the library.  We enjoy reading stories so much.  Joe loves to cuddle as we read and Jake never likes to miss what I am reading to Joe.  This week, Jake signed up to get his own library card.  So, he is very excited.  And he is able to read more books on his own.   What a fun process to watch...

Jake and Joe went to Mama and Papa's Tuesday while we had  swim meet.  Joe was delighted to flip the switch for the outdoor lights and help turn on all the indoor lights.  And...apparently Papa was watching the weather report out west where they have gotten 10 feet of snow in the mountains.  Jake wants to travel back to Winter Park and sled down the big hill. 


Wednesday was a beautiful day.  So, the boys and I rode bikes around the yard.  Then we rode out into the field next door to check out some of the hills.  From our kitchen window they looked like good sledding hills...short but steep.  So, we checked them out and found a few good spots to drive the 4-wheeler to. 
Then, we found a ditch area that fed into a dried up creek bed.  So, after lunch, we put on our muck boots and we came back out to investigate it.  We climbed into the dried up creek bed and dodged thorn bushes as we traveled along.  Daisy found us and joined the journey...!  We reached a point where the dried creek bed met/intersected some water and we discovered a whole winding creek that has water in it.  Some of it was frozen on top; so the boys enjoyed poking it with sticks.  Joe was very worried about Daisy falling in.   We continued to follow deer paths (they were everywhere...and I do mean everywhere...tons of them) along the water and through the woods.  By the time we reached the area with the ice we could see our neighbors' house.  So we had perspective of where we were...although Jake quickly recognized the meadow that we had hiked to from our house in January.  So, that was helpful for the boys to see how close they are to the house while still being able to explore.  Basil joined us for awhile too.  And we ventured back through the deer trails to our house.  A fun journey!

Flipping the switch

The day after Thanksgiving, we decided to take the boys to the lighting of the tree that is in the center of downtown Indy.  The boys were very excited. 

We did a little shopping while in Indy and then headed downtown.   It was a COLD night. So, we were bundled and ready to try to keep warm.  Fortunately enough other people chose to do the same ...which helped keep us surrounded by other warm bodies.  Although, the songs being performed did have repeated songs by a different performer and Jake was heard saying "This is boring!" ..as he stood in the crowd....looking at people's legs!

As we held the boys, listening to music and waiting for "the moment"...Josh mentioned the fireworks to Jake.  Jake got worked up and worried about fireworks...and then Joe got wind of it...and he got worked up and worried about them, too.   So, we had to do some constant calming for the next 10-15 minutes. 

But finally...Santa journeyed through the crowd in his "sleigh" (a decorated truck).  And he took the stage... and flipped the switch...

Then...the fireworks started...and they were on the other street behind some buildings in front of us.  So, we could see the fireworks' reflection in another building (sometimes seeing them above the building in front of us) and the sound was muffled.  So, it all ended up being okay !    Whew!  And the boys enjoyed it after all! :)