Wrapping Up 2013

Thought I'd write a little holiday catch up post. Now that I'm in the throes of homeschooling again, I'm just not having much time to blog. Christmas day was MUCH better than last year (when we were recovering from wrecking our truck Christmas Eve 2012). My mom and step-dad joined us and we had a very relaxing day of eating too much, opening gifts and playing games. It is hard to get good pics in this trailer house with all the dark wood paneling and the sun pouring through the windows.

Looking for the pickle ornament. Whoever finds it gets to open the first present!

This town girl turned country got herself some cowgirl boots for Christmas!

Josiah's big gift was a Hobbit Lego set. Can you tell he was excited? The kids both got a whole bunch of Lego sets from grandparents. They both adore Legos! So good for the brain.

Right after Christmas, a dear homeschooling family came for a visit. Oh how we love it when the Mays come to town! No end to the role playing and fun. They were playing "spies" in this photo. Absolutely love that all those boys included Hailey in their play. I think they loved having a "damsel in distress" who could shoot with the best of them. 

Soon after the Mays left, my sis arrived with her tribe and we had so much fun celebrating Hogmanay (Scottish New Year Celebration). We had haggis, homemade steak pies, colcahnan, fresh veggies and cucumber punch.

Josiah attempted to recite part of "Address to the Haggis" a poem by Robert Burns. He needed a little more practice but I was surprised at how much he remembered for reciting it cold. 

Josiah had the honor of slicing into the haggis.

Some of us dressed up. Hailey is dancing a jig. My sis is a good sport. She looked beautiful!

My nephew, Jacob, with the bagpiper nutcracker Josiah got for Christmas.

These pics don't do the fireworks justice. My mom provided a slew of fireworks for the occasion.

 After the fireworks show, we came back home and played musical chairs. It was so fun! We got to use the padded retro-vintage chairs I bought with a fermica dining room table to go with my 1970s double-wide. If you can't beat it, just go with it!

You can see the detailing on the table I bought with its matching chairs. It is perfect for this space since the trailer is decked out in gold accents everywhere. My nephew, Marcus volunteered to be our "dark-haired stranger" bearing gifts at midnight. Salt, wood and a bottle of spirits (we used Italian soda syrup) are all traditional Hogmanay gifts.

The day my sis and her kids left, my MIL, Kay, and SIL, April, and her daughter, Layla, came up for a short visit. It was wonderful having them. My MIL helped me burn a huge pile of wood left on the place since Michael had to work that day. The kids really enjoyed playing with Layla and we hope they can come up again sometime. 

Since then, we've started homeschooling again and are doing things with the homeschool group in this area. The kids are doing AWANA and I've started a women's bible study.  Poor Michael has been waiting for 2 months now to have his shop built, but we've had some frustrating delays. Hope to start the building process by the first week of Feb. Overall, we are adjusting well and starting to make friends. God is good! We are sure looking forward to spring and getting some chickens and perhaps some other animals.

Happy 2014 To All!

God Bless,

Jackie