I got frustrated & the perfectionist in me couldn't bear to go back & try to fix it...so I am now attempting.
Our family had a good holiday season, which seemed less hectic than usual...no complaints!
Thanksgiving was spent at my parents house with them, us, and my grandma. It was a good day, with good food & very relaxing. The photos interspersed in this post are from that day.
It was discovered by a quick glance of the calendar that the lateness of Thanksgiving this year left us with one less weekend before Christmas, so we decided to get our Christmas tree over that weekend rather than wait. We made our annual trip to the local tree farm. Rather than the usual snow we were met with rain & mud, but a lovely tree we got! (It DID take a week to get it decorated, but we got it done).
We finished up club wrestling the first week of December with the state tournament in Post Falls on my birthday (I can't remember a birthday in recent history that we did not wrestle on). Ike made the decision to wrestle one weight class up from where he had wrestled all year for the state tournament...this was a risky decision, but he knew the risks. He ended up taking 2nd place which was a particular good placing for that decision. He wrestled well & was very proud of himself. Afterwards we all went to dinner with the head coach & his wife, so that was fun.
The next weekend was VERY busy. It was the St. Maries High School Wrestling Invitational tournament (Friday & Saturday). We host 20 teams for the 2 day tournament & it takes great effort to put it together. We worked hard all week helping & late into the night on Friday. On Saturday we did not plan on attending as it was Ike's Middle School wrestling district tournament. We left quite early, following the bus. We had received a bit of snow over night & it was freezing rain when we left. By the time we reached Coeur d'Alene the roads were a sheet of ice, the rain was freezing to the windshields, & the wind was blowing very hard. We trudged on for a while longer, but then between Mike, the bus driving, & the coach the decision was made to turn around & go home. The kids were very disappointed, but all of the parents were quite glad we did not try to complete the trip, then come home in the weather & the dark. So, we got back about 10:30 am & worked all day at the high school tournament...it all worked out.
Kaittlin's drama club performed the play they had been working on three times in the month of December, it was quite funny. Cassidy had quite a few deadlines for the yearbook, and Ike had his band concert. The last two days of school before the Christmas break were cancelled due to the first real snow of the season...and SNOW it did.
Between December 17 and December 31 we received just over 5 feet of snow at our house. We got a lot of snow last year during the month of January, but it was over a longer period of time...this came fast & hard. We have already shoveled our roof this year!
It was Cassidy's birthday on Christmas Eve...she is 14! Can you believe it??? She requested homemade clam chowder for her birthday dinner & Grandma & Grandpa came & enjoyed it with us. Afterwards we went to our church for the candlelight Christmas Eve service...she is only one who gets a candlelight church service for her birthday every year! hahahaha!
Christmas was a good time for us as well. The kids had already had nearly a week of snowboarding, sledding, & movies due to the extra days off of school. We never spend an exorbitant amount of money on Christmas & this year seemed extra tight, we were in the middle of remodel work on the house when the gas prices went haywire & just the general upswing in all prices affected us, as it did everyone. We are fortunate that our kids are not spoiled (I think sometimes they would like to be), but really they ask for very little...Kaittlin asked for a purse this year...so Christmas was a little leaner than usual. But it was just as fun. Kaittlin received her purse & was thrilled. My mom & dad got snowed in for their final shopping trip of the season so gifted some cash, the kids actually were happy with that as they are all saving for some things. Kaittlin is looking forward to Junior Miss this year & memorable moments of her senior year & would greatly like a digital camera. She saved up some gift cards from her birthday & Christmas. I believe those, along with the newly acquired cash will now buy one. Cassidy wants her hair & nails done (she's SUCH a girl!) and Ike wants to purchase new wrestling headgear, so all were happy.
We were all ready for school to start up again when the new year started, but it was short lived. Monday was business as usual, but the snow started in the afternoon. All after school activities were cancelled, as was the very first Junior Miss practice. Monday night there was a huge snowstorm, but St. Maries had school on Tuesday....I think we were the only ones who had school...in their defense the roads were pretty good in the morning, as they had plowed all night, but everything degraded pretty quickly throughout the day. Our high wrestling team was supposed to go to Timberlake on Tuesday night, but that was cancelled because Timberlake did not have school. By Tuesday night it was 40 degrees & raining like it was April. Wednesday school was cancelled because of severe ice on the outlying roads (roads in town were slushy, but not too bad). Thursday school was cancelled because of water over the outlying roads (by this time roads in town were great). Home wrestling match was cancelled. On Thursday they evacuated Calder because of the river flooding & an ice jam.
On Thursday afternoon Mike called me & told me that one of his bus drivers had been given four tickets to the Washington State Cougars basketball game in Pullman for that evening & wanted to know if we wanted to go...YES! How exciting! So we went with Jim & Linda to Pullman, had dinner, & went to the game. They lost by 7 points, but it was so much fun. I am not a HUGE basketball fan UNTIL you get to the college level, then I love it. That was the highlight of my week! :)
There WAS school today...the kids were all very happy. Ike & Cassidy went to a middle school dance tonight put on by the Humane Society. Cassidy is going to spend the night with a friend & Ike is going to an overnight birthday party. Kaittlin left with the wrestling team for a 2 day tournament in Kamiah this morning, they should be home tomorrow evening late. Mike is out at a friend's shop working on his pickup, which is why I had time tonight to try & fix this post! :) Mike's sister will be in Plummer tomorrow & we will go there & spend the day with her & her husband.
In other miscellaneous news I & all three of the kids have recently gotten FaceBook pages & started communicating with friends that way, Ike is thinking about wrestling the Washington wrestling season, we have found THE Junior Miss dress & will be ordering it very soon, Cassidy is going to cut her hair.
That's it for now...I apologize for not posting for awhile...I will try to do better! :)
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