Class Christmas Party

Friday morning I helped out with Madelyn's class Christmas party. They started the morning off with the entire gradeschool singing Christmas songs in the gym. Then all the kids headed to their classrooms for the parties. Madelyn's class started with a blueberry muffin and hot chocolate snack. Then they made candy cane reindeer and reindeer food. I sure hope Rudolf can spot all the glitter from way up high. Then the kids exchanged gifts. Each child brought a gently used book for a gift. I thought that was a nifty idea especially considering the financial crunch some folks are feeling right now. Then Mrs. Olson gave each of the kids a new book. Madelyn received a Skippy Jon Jones book, her absolute favorite. The party was over and I was on my way to work shortly after 9:00am.
**I tried to get Madelyn to wear a cute Christmas shirt but she insisted on wearing her Lincoln Elementary School t-shirt. It wasn't a battle worth fighting.




After eating pizza hut pizza for lunch, Madelyn was picked up by her daddy and got to ride the wrestling boys bus to the JV tournament in Council Grove. Now Ryan and Madelyn are out of school for two whole weeks. On the bright side, the house will be clean and laundry will be caught up for two weeks.

Elf on The Shelf

Our Elf on the Shelf arrived on Saturday. Madelyn came up with the creative name, Elfie. We then registered his name on-line and printed out his adoption certificate. He is a cute and clever little elf. The book that came with Elfie explained what he is all about. He reports straight to the North Pole when we are sleeping. He tells Santa whether we have been good or bad and if you tell him what you want for Christmas he will make sure Santa receives that report too.




When he returns from the North Pole you never know where you might find him. The first evening he was on Madelyn's book shelf when she went to sleep.


When we woke up in the morning he was on top of our TV.


This morning Elfie was resting in the Fig tree.


Where Elfie lands tomorrow nobody knows. But, there sure is excitement in our house every morning when we are looking for him.

Snowy Days and Baking

The colder the weather the more I'm in the mood to bake. Well, Tuesday it was pretty darn cold and we had a couple inches of snow. As soon as Madelyn and I got home that afternoon, she put on her warm winter clothes and was out the door to play in the snow.




I finally had to drag Madelyn back inside so we could make sugar cookies for her 1/2 birthday celebration at school. We listened to Christmas music and had a grand time baking cookies. I let Madelyn do most of decorating so the cookies were just beautiful. She also made her own dough in her little mixer, but I didn't think the kids would like cookies made from just flour and water so we decided to throw that batch away. The kitchen was a complete disaster when we were done baking but we sure had fun.

Hunting Bambi

Wednesday, December 3 - Opening Day - I was in the deer box by 6:45 in the morning, stayed until 9:30am. The heater was sure nice until it quit. That afternoon I picked up Madelyn from school and after she changed into her hunting clothes we headed to the box. We arrived at 3:45pm and stayed until after 5:00pm. Madelyn was quite the hunter and fell asleep. She didn't miss out on any action because I did not see a deer the entire day.




Thursday, December 4 - I decided that I would hunt before work since I didn't see a thing on opening day. I was in the box from 6:45am-8:30am. It was a balmy 20 degrees. I was sure thankful for the protection from the box. Two small does came up to the feeder. I decided to pass them up because they were really small. I was just happy to actually see a couple deer on the property.

Sunday, December 7 (early afternoon) - Ryan, Madelyn and I headed out to the property to put corn in the feeder and fix the heater in the box. On our way, we spotted a nice 8-point buck hot on a doe's trail. We drove home changed into hunting clothes, I grabbed my rifle and Madelyn grabbed her bb gun. When we got back Ryan sent me to a hedge row while he and Madelyn walked through hoping to scare out the buck. Sure enough they did scare up the doe and buck, but they weren't stopping for me and I'm not much on shooting a running target. Ryan's buddy, Andy, then met us at the property and walked more brush, as I found a nice resting spot on top of an oil tank in hopes to get a good shot at the buck. We never did see the buck and doe again but it sure was an exciting hunt.

At 3:45pm Ryan headed to his deer stand and Madelyn and I got comfy in the box. After Madelyn talked herself into exhaustion, she fell asleep. Ryan called me on the cell about 4:30pm to tell me that a small 6-point buck walked under his stand and was headed my way. Shortly after 5:00pm I called Ryan's cell to tell him we were heading to the truck, he didn't answer, and as I hung up I spotted the 6-point walking towards the feeder. I attempted to shake Madelyn awake and tell her I was going to shoot. She opened her eyes but fell right back asleep. I had no time to waste, I opened the window and rested the gun on the ledge. At that time the deer had went behind a cedar tree and I thought maybe he heard me talking and ran another way. I waited what seemed like forever (probably less than a minute) and the deer appeared from behind the tree. I looked through the scope and pointed right at the deer's lungs. I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. The deer jumped and trotted off. I quickly dialed Ryan's cell and told him I shot him and then called my dad. Although at that point I wasn't sure if I had really got him. I then looked out the window and thought I saw the buck drop. Madelyn was awake by then, of course, and we headed out of the box to go to the deer. Ryan called to tell me he was going home to get his knife and wait for Andy to bring the key to the gate because I had them locked off the property. He then said to get back in the box because he didn't want me jumping the deer and then we would have to track it further. I knew that, but was so excited I had forgotten. I went back to the box, but couldn't wait so we got back out and went to the spot where I shot the buck. At that time, Ryan, Andy, and Andy's cop friend showed up. I told them where I thought the buck had dropped, but was still not sure I had actually hit the thing. Sure enough there the buck laid, dead. I had double lung shot him. Perfect shot!!! I was still shaking and giddy from the excitement. I could not believe I had actually shot my first deer. Ryan and Andy assisted me with gutting the deer. Madelyn was in awe and stood by quietly soaking it all in. Once we got home Ryan hung the deer in our shed. Madelyn kept telling me she was so proud of me and that it was awesome that I shot a deer. I am so happy that Madelyn was with me when I shot my first deer. Although, she basically slept through the actual shooting, she did experience the excitement afterwards. I'm very thankful for Ryan on our friend Andy for setting up the hunting box. They even laid carpet and had a propane heater set up for me. They also set an automatic corn feeder to lure in the deer. I was one pampered and spoiled hunter.






Tonight Ryan and his buddy, Chuck, cut up all the deer meat and Ryan is going to process the meat in the near future.

I can now scratch off shooting a deer on my bucket list. Although, I'm thinking I may just be tempted to go out again next year for a bigger and better deer.

Snack with Santa

Madelyn and I went to the local library for snack time with Santa today. In addition to getting to see Santa, the kids colored, made an ornament, had story time and then had a snack. When it was Madelyn's turn to sit on Santa's lap she hopped right up there and told Santa that she wanted a 4 wheeler and pixos for Christmas. Not sure if Santa will be able to get that 4 wheeler to her. I'll have to do some major convincing to Santa's financial advisor first.

Biggest Loser

For the past two years Ryan and his co-workers have competed in The Biggest Loser contest. Although I'm not an active competitor in the competition I did join Ryan along in this challenge last year and again this year. Ryan and I give up deep-fat fried foods, pop, cake, and cookies, for the length of the competition. Last year Ryan and his partner were The Biggest Losers. Ryan got way too skinny but with money as a motivation there was no stopping him. I lost 11 pounds last year but through the year found 4 of those. Today was the final weigh in for the competition. This year Ryan went from 185lbs to 171lbs. He looks great now (he always looks great though) and I can even see part of his six pack. He and his partner did not win this year but they were both among the top competitors. I, on the other hand, weigh exactly the same as I did when the competition started. I lost a couple pounds here and there but then would find it again. This morning with my first weigh in I actually weighed 1lb more than when we started, but I ran 2 miles and took a good poop and was back to my starting weight. I'm not sure what happened this time around because I still gave up all those foods I just must have been eating more of everything else.
Today I celebrated my lack of weight loss with some pop and brownies.. mmm...mmmm. However, Ryan is continuing the weight loss through wrestling season. I guess I will be enjoying the chips and salsa without him.

BAH HUMBUG

Today after Madelyn and I got home from church we decorated the tree and house. I really wasn't in the mood to decorate, even with the Christmas music blaring. It just seems like so much work when it is going to have to be taken down in less than a month. I'm also a bit particular about where ornaments go on my tree and when Madelyn helps they all go in the same area and I end up moving them. Call me a scrooge, but I really would like to resort to a table top tree that doesn't need decorating. However, since I have a five year old in the house I will do my best to put on a happy face, sing a Christmas tune and decorate until Madelyn is old enough not to care. As we were decorating inside Ryan was putting the lights on the outside of our house. His grumpiness about putting on the lights makes me look like a Christmas Saint.



Jen and Garrett came down today to pick up Matt. They were lucky enough to get to witness my grumpiness. But, they did put me in a much better mood. Matt showed off his airsoft gun to Ryan and as I stepped outside to take a few pictures Ryan unloaded the gun on me. I have several welts on my back, neck and arms from that. Jen, Matt and Ryan couldn't stop laughing. I had a few choice words to say about that. Needless to say I will not be playing airsoft with them any time soon. OUCH!!



Garrett and Madelyn played outside and were pretending to be poor folks. Then they decided they were going to rake leaves and throw them in Madelyn's playhouse.