Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a happy, joyful, safe Thanksgiving day! :-) Ours was just a pretty much normal day. We'd planned on going to a friend's in the evening, but they got sick so we didn't go. I was pretty disappointed. Not because of the food, but because it gets very lonely and long for me these days. I don't have the strength to go out much at all, and I'm missing church and fellowshipping with church friends. We were also invited to Jere's folks for lunch, but the invitation came as we were fixing a VERY late breakfast and it just didn't work. Instead, we did school (horrors I know, but we got behind over the time of my surgery so we're working hard to catch up) and the little ones got nice naps. Jere took Jaron hunting in the afternoon, and then Jere's parents came for a little visit in the evening. So it was a nice, quiet day.

I was very thankful to find my strength returning some! I actually made pancakes for breakfast as a special treat, and still had strength enough to sit up to the table and eat with the rest of the family. And then I spent some time working at getting my violin in working order again. Our new piano is just out of tune enough that I can't quite get the violin tuned right to play it, but at least now the pegs don't get so stuck that I'm afraid of breaking a string every time I try! One of these days I'll try dragging out the keyboard and see if I can't get it right then. It's been years since I played my violin... By the way, anyone know of a luthier in the area here? It needs a bit of a touch up to a few areas that are starting to crack, and I don't want to stress it out too much and ruin it. And one of these days we need to get a piano tuner up here to get the piano sounding right. And, since Jere JUST found my camera, I should be able to post pictures of it pretty soon!

Things are feeling more and more like home around here now. Not that it's really looking any homier inside yet, but we're starting to make memories in it. It helps that we're still living on the same property so that already feels like home. Jere got the lights in the basement hooked up today--hooray! Now we don't have to use the big, too bright work lights anymore! He also got some outside lights working, so that will be nice too once it gets dark out again. Now that the wiring is about done in the basement, he's going to finish the insulating on the exposed basement wall so that should help things not be quite so cold in our "bedroom". Even the little bits of progress are exciting!

I think about the best news yet is that it looks like we've sold our mobile home! Someone came to look at it today, and offered us a decent price for us. Now they need to go to the bank to finish applying for the money to buy it, or something like that. So, we're cautiously optimistic that it's sold, and hoping and praying they come back with money in hand and trucker in tow. :-) We have a LOT of memories wrapped up in that little house--two of our children were born in it, and we brought the other home to it from the hospital. I walked out of the house pregnant with Treasure, and have never been back into it since he was lost. We've laughed and cried and argued and played games and enjoyed raising our family in it. So, it will be a little sad to say goodbye once it takes the journey out of our yard...

And we look forward to life in our new house! Even though we're not even heating the upstairs yet, we have so much more living space. The children love being able to run about, playing hide and seek or tag. I think it eased their transition into it because they were thoroughly familiar with it before we actually moved in. We've had a few interesting times since they are all sharing the one bedroom, and naps have been cut short because of one thing or another. Oh well. I'm just hoping not too many more months go by before we can get the upstairs livable and all have real bedrooms again! But come to think of it, that means I have a lot to look forward to, doesn't it? Real bedrooms, a working bathtub, doors on my kitchen cabinets, a utility tub in the back entry... oooh, I can hardly wait!

Deer butchering!

Well, Jere has taken advantage of the special landowner's season for deer hunting, and brought home 3 deer! One he shot specially for Preston and Carolyn, so they helped us butcher. The men skinned and halved the deer while Carolyn and I made supper and visited, then we all went to the shop after supper and butchered deer. The two dear baby girls sat in their carseats while Eliott either rode the trike or pulled the red wagon around and around, and Jaron was given a hunting knife and a hind-quarter to butcher all by himself. He kept at it a good little while, happily adding hamburger to the burger pile. Then he went and played for a bit. Once Carolyn and I had taken our littlest ones home and put them to bed we came back to wrap the meat. Jaron then was given the important job of writing on the packages, and he kept at it for much, much longer than I thought possible! He was truly a trooper and big help. We finished wrapping at the stroke of midnight, then I took Jaron home to put him to bed while the others quickly washed up. It was after 1 till we finally got to sleep. Then of course the little ones who hadn't stayed up super late were up at normal time, so today's a bit of a challenge! But we now have a freezer full of meat, and a very satisfied feeling.

Jere got TWO!

After missing the regular deer hunting season due to a certain little someone showing up around that time, Jere took advantage of a special extended season. He did have to jump through a few extra hoops to get in, but he did. Yesterday evening he decided to go out for a little while, and came home with two deer! We're very glad he only had to be gone for a few hours, and now we have meat for another year. What a blessing that is.

It's been colder here, with some blowing snow, etc. It's hard to keep the house warm when the wind blows right through it! But at least we're getting a little taste of winter this year. It wouldn't seem right to have spring show up on the heels of fall. . .

Dear little Leanna has been sleeping through the night fairly well until the last couple of nights when she's decided to get up a time or two to eat. I don't mind her eating more often on one hand, but then, it is good to get a full night's sleep too! Plus all of the sudden the last few days she's been drooling like crazy. Maybe teeth? Guess she is almost 3 months old and teeth could be thinking about starting their journey. She is an incredibly good baby over all--she has her moments, but then don't we all? She loves "talking" to her big brothers, and they'll often all be laughing over each other's antics. Wish we had high speed so I could post a video or so. Oh well. :-) Last night Leanna was sitting on her own! She wasn't on the floor, she was in my lap, so that adds a little extra stability, but I was surprised at how well she did. I could hardly sqeeze her into her nice dress Sunday morning, so we're already looking seriously at moving her into the 6+ month clothes! I though maybe dresses would fit longer than sleepers and boys' clothes as they aren't as fitted, but I guess the little chubby miss is only getting fatter as time goes on and she's outgrowing the dresses first!

Hooray! Tonight we're going out for a Valentine's date. I'm excited!!!!!! We of course will be doing some ordinary shopping since we're going clear to La Crosse, but it will be some rare time together none the less.