And what exactly is that?  This year, as part of a present to our mom, we siblings are spending three days cleaning her house from top to bottom (as best as can be done in three days on their enormous house).  Today was day number one.

To back up a little bit, my sister Miriam and some of the rest of my siblings have been cooking this up for a whole year, and planning it in earnest for the last several months.  Miriam, one of my very organized and scheduled siblings, is spearheading the event.  She has concocted up very detailed plans and a schedule of what is done each day.  The list is several pages long and color coded.  She even has the meals for each day planned with different ones responsible for different days.

Today, Rachel, Miriam, Laura, Katie, my mom, and I rolled up our sleeves and got started.  The thing with most seemingly insurmountable projects is to get strated.  And we did.  We hit the library before lunch, and got it finished.  Then, after lunch we attacked the basement, which is no small matter.  Boy, oh boy, if you ever need to see the most incongruent conglomeration, you can sift through the clutter in my parent’s basement and on the porches.  Rachel soon came upstairs, as a few of us were still finishing lunch, and asked what was the plan for the electric bedpans in the basement.  I have no earthly idea what they were, I didn’t see them, and they have long since went on a nice little trip.

We sorted through stacks, we broomed, we shoveled up the broomed-up piles, we moved furniture, we wiped washers, we gazed a rows of roller skates, we sneezed, we looked through clouds of dust, but we did make some headway.  Anyway, the basement is in better shape for playing games on New Year’s Day.

I really wanted to be one of the “movers and shakers” up at Mom’s today, but I spent about 80% of my time tending my kids, and just did a little here and there in between.  Hannah did not like today for some reason and was quite fussy.  Finally, I took her upstairs and she seemed happiest to be with Laura and Katie as they cleaned Katie’s bedroom.  That gave me a little freedom to clean in the basement–until it was supper time, which came pretty quickly.

About supper time, fresh energy and new bodies arrived.  Gail and Bobby came, as did Lucy.  So, I decided my tired and increasingly crabby kids would exit and come home after supper.  When I left, they were changing the world on the outside-attacking the porches.  (I asked why didn’t they wait until tomorrow when it would be warmer–since it was dark and cold–but they said “It’s on the list for today”.  Ahh, yes, the mightly list!)

Once home,  I bathed bathed Paul and Hannah and Andrew helped get them dressed and in bed.  Hopefully they will get good sleep and be happier tomorrow.  I hope I get good rest and can be a more profitable cleaner tomorrow!

Here are some pictures.

Hannah trying to be happy in the basement.

Paul loved riding in this purple car–without a steering wheel.

Rachel

Mom & Miriam sorting stuff.

Luke gets down some cobwebs.

Paul gets his Uncle Glen to play with Carom rings.

P.S.  I will post about Christmas–probably sometime after New Year’s.

Merry Christmas to everyone!  We have had a wonderful Christmas day.  Out of keeping with our ideals, we have had a day of merriment and loot on Christmas Day.  The Vogan family tradition is to celebrate Christmas day in a calm, relaxed way, commemorating the birth of Christ.  Then, on New Year’s Day, have a day of greed and loot and lots of chocolate.  This year, and it has happened in the past too, we have bent the rules because that was the day the most family members could come together at once.  With people having jobs, being in the Marines, and some living in the western U.S. we have to get together when they can come.  Everyone was there except Heidi & Glenn, who are spending Christmas with Glenn’s family in CA.  We are looking forward to seeing them next week.

As I have prepared gifts for special people this year, and some treats for some of our neighbors, I have thought about who we give presents to, and why we give presents to them.  That led me to think about God and Christ.  God sent his Son, Jesus, to us when we were sinful, loving our lives of darkness, and completely unthankful toward God–and not wanting to change.  Rom. 5:8  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  God didn’t pay for our sins because we were nice people, or because we had done something good for him, or because we would give him nice things.  No, Christ gave us the most precious and unique gift, salvation from our sins, when we were ugly, not nice, rebellious, and with nothing good in us whatsoever.  And, not only that, God keeps on giving us gifts–forgiveness when we falter and sin, strength for our weaknesses, peace in the midst of trials, perseverance in persecution, love with which to love others, and the list goes on.  He gives us all these things now, even though we still are not perfect (fully sanctified).  So, He is the Gift Who keeps on giving.

That made me view my own giving in another light.  I want to give with all the love and graciousness in my heart, gifts to people who may not be nice all the time, may not be gracious, and may even try my patience (that could be my own children at times!), because Christ has given to me when I was in far worse shape.  Not that I give gifts grudgingly, I just have a bigger picture of giving with a Christ-like spirit.

Finished, yes, that’s what it says!  I was getting all in a kink trying to figure out how I was going to get my Christmas and New Year’s shopping finished with my two little people.  I knew where I needed to go, and I was just dreading struggling through stores with Paul and Hannah, especially ones with fragile stuff hanging out into the aisles.  Plus, I knew it would take a couple trips to town, because they slow me down, and they have to get back home for naps, and meals, and…so I called Julia, my sister.  She was coming this morning at 8:30 to take over care of the kids so I could be out “towning” until I was finished.  Well, then she called on Wednesday and told me that lo and behold!  Their cattle were being loaded first thing on Fri. morning.  So, we settled on that I would wake the kids up early, take them to her house (she lives at least 30 min. away), and start their breakfast routines.  As soon as she was done loading cattle, she would come and take over so I could go to town.  That was o.k., but then I was dreading loading up the food, the clothes, the potties, the pak ‘n’ play, writing out Paul’s and Hannah’s schedules…but, what does one do?

Ahh, does the Lord look after his own, or what?  (Yes, he does, even in small things like this.)  After working day and night for this whole week on a programming job, Andrew found out last evening that he doesn’t have to have it finished before Christmas; they moved the delivery date to after Christmas.  What a blessing for my husband!  He then offered to take care of Paul and Hannah for me this morning so I could tramp through the stores and finish buying loot and food for our gatherings.  Boy, I can’t tell you how happy I was!

This morning, I woke up soon after 5:00 and couldn’t sleep any more (because I was so excited–going to town by myself to go shopping almost never happens!).  I got out of bed around 5:30.  I skipped my exercise today (abnormal, but I wanted to get home as soon in the day as I could), and just headed out to town.  Did you know that Wal-Mart is not crowded between the hours of 6:30 and 8:30 a.m.?  It was great!  There was even an open check-out lane when I was ready to check out.

I got everything on my very detailed and organized list (except another little potty, and that’s because I didn’t find one that suited me).  And, I got home around 11:40 a.m.  I was so happy.  So very happy.  I had had a good time, and a successful time.  And, hams were on sale at Wal-Mart for 98 cents/lb.!

This evening, after Paul and Hannah went to bed, Andrew worked on putting together his “goodie bags” with some stuff I got in town (the rest we have to make yet).  I got all the pie crusts for Christmas and New Year’s made and in the freezer.  I put part of a pork tenderloin roast in the crock pot with some chopped up onion and BBQ sauce for pulled pork BBQ for sandwiches tomorrow.  Now, I am ready to turn in for the night.  I’m still very happy about my wonderful shopping experience, and so glad it was stress-free and fun.  My God is good, and my husband is really wonderful.

Can you figure this out?  Yes, Hannah had her first success on the potty!  Yay!  I was so thrilled!  She has been doing her bowel movements at the same times for about a week now, and it seemed foolish not to take advantage of this predictability and not put her on the potty.  The problem was her little feet don’t quite reach the floor and she falls off the potty forward.  I rememdied that by putting the potty facing the island.  She could hug some softies and concentrate, and I could keep an eye on her.  She likes to be ignored while she is busy, I found out.

Paul was finishing his lunch (eating tangerines) while all this was going on, and he asked me to take his picture too.  So, here’s our handsome son with his fresh haircut (which he got while he was completely unclad and sitting on the potty (no less!) just before getting a bath one night.  It worked pretty easy, run the clippers, then the scissors, then the vacuum cleaner.).

Well, I need to rush along.  More blogging another time, Lord willing!

Don’t get in a tizzy, we were helping my sister Gail move last week.  We aren’t moving, not really, even though every time we go away for a little while, it feels like we are moving.  By the time we get diapers for Hannah, extra undies for Paul, bottles, formula powder, water, and food for Hannah, then Paul’s potty or the potty seat ring, plus toys if where we are going doesn’t have toys, well, it feels like we are moving.  But, then we move back home again!

Anyway, last Tuesday, Paul, Hannah and I went up to Gail and James’ to help them move into their new house.  My mom came for part of the time, and Ruth and Wayne Varner were there and helped a lot.  Now, of course they are moving all of about 75 feet, from a trailer into their newly-built house, but it still takes some muscle and work.  It is just handier that they aren’t moving a few hundred miles.

Here are some pictures from that day.

Bobby

Paul is putting Bobby’s tractors in a “nice row”

in the window sill.

Hannah

My mom and Hannah at lunch time.

Grandma Gardner (I picked her up and brought her

over for lunch.  She stayed until about 3:00 p.m. and

really enjoyed being there.) and Gail

After lunch, Paul and Bobby had “library time” on their

own potties in the same bathroom.  Typical males, noses in

books and not communicating with each other at all!

Grandma & Hannah on the couch after lunch.

Bobby & Paul

Bobby’s first nap in his new house.

I feel like I didn’t do so much to help clean their house or help them move.  I mainly babysat my own kids and met their needs.  I did get a little done while they were napping in the afternoon.  But, I was able to bring the lunch and be part of the cheering team.  They spent their first night in their new house that night.  It is a really nice house.  Not a big house, but a really nice one.  I really enjoyed being there, even if I didn’t get much done.  At least Ruth, Wayne, and my mom could work like troopers and do the movin’ and the shakin’ while I was feeding, diapering, pottying, and soothing.

One evening last week, I put Paul on the potty and sat Hannah in there (as I usually do), and soon I heard them both just laughing and laughing.  I grabbed the camera and sneaked up on them and this is what I captured!  I still don’t know what was so funny.

Just a nice picture of Hannah on the tractor.

Here’s how I worked at the computer last week, at least

part of the time.  It’s easier once they have gone to bed for

the night.  (And yes, Paul is on the potty.  I’m not the first to port

it out of the bathroom; my mom used to have the

little potty out in the kitchen under the

counter, and I remember Rachel sitting on it there.)

Paul & Andrew got our Christmas tree on Sat. morning.  Yeah, it was

the great expedition–to the Lowe’s store where the trees are all

trimmed and cut.  One of these years, we will go up to the farm and

saw down a scrubby cedar out of the fence row like we did when I was at home.

Too many long days and nights of work and Hannah

has to coo her daddy to sleep on the beanbag chair.

And then once he’s asleep, she sneaks away.

That brings you up to the minute on my picture news.  We went to the Christmas play at Moscow (CoB) last evening.  My three youngest siblings were in it.  Alas, I forgot to take the camera!  They did a fantastic job!  It was a great play, very entertaining.  I don’t know how they remember all those lines.  (And even more, I don’t remember how I ever remembered lines like that back in the days of my youth!  My brain is so different now!)

Today, Paul, Hannah, and I launched out from our pad and went over to Lynn’s house to try to help her today.  Poor Lynn, Hannah is into the pick-up-everything-and-put-it-in-your-mouth stage.  Well, with four children and the youngest just 3 weeks old, there is no time for vacuuming.  And, to make matters worse, every time I pulled something from Hannah’s mouth, she cried like I was stealing candy from her.  So, the first chance I got, I pulled out the vacuum and got up the dirt out of the middles of the floors.  At least Hannah could be happier.

I wish I had remembered my camera!  (I’m telling ya, my brain just isn’t what it used to be!)  Hannah just loves a newborn baby.  I was holding her while Lynn was taking a nap, and Hannah was sitting beside me on the couch.  She was happy as could be and grinning like crazy and trying to pick up/hold the baby like a toy.  Eventually, after helping Hannah gently stroke the baby, I had to help Hannah move onto toys she could pinch and grab and wave around.

Well, another big day is going to dawn tomorrow.  So, this post will go up as is!

tonight.  I have been heeding Andrew’s advice and focusing on getting things ready for New Year’s so I’m not all in a crunch at the end (well, this is near enough to the end).  So, I’m going to bed with the kitchen dirty, and the wash unfolded (from several days ago), but I have made a happy amount of progress this week.

I hope to put up some blog-worthy items next week.

I don’t know how our weekends always fill up, but they do.  Our church is even taking a break from Sun. evening services through the month of Dec. (since so many people have family events going on), but our weekend still seems full.

On Saturday, we had a lady from our church, Angel, and her daughter over.  They wanted to come and learn how to make bread.  Angel and Abigail mixed up a 5-loaf batch, and I mixed up a 5-loaf batch.

It turned out great!  And, she has since written me e-mails saying she has already made two more batches of bread!  That impresses and encourages me.  She is actually using her new knowledge right away!  I’ll bet she will soon be baking more and better bread than I!

Paul and Hannah had a world of fun playing with Abigail.

Today, Paul went into his own separate Sunday school class for the first time.  There is another Hannah in our church who is 2 years old also, so she was in his class.  Their teacher said he did very well.

After church Andrew took us to Cracker Barrell for lunch (and it was crowded!  Others must have had the same mind as Andrew.)  Then, from there we went to the Moscow CoB where my mom and younger siblings were singing in a Christmas cantata in the afternoon (my mom directed it).  They did very well!  They blended, their timing was excellent, their enunciation was great (about the best I’d heard in a long time!), the choir people smiled and looked excited, and you could tell they had practiced a lot.  I took some pictures, even though they didn’t turn out very good since we were in the back row.

Hannah played with the pastor’s daughter toward the end of the program.  Her name is Lydia and she was born about a week or two after Hannah.

Paul has been playing with blocks recently.  He has learned how to lay them in a “nice row”, and how to stack them up.

Paul also likes to lay out the puzzles he got for his birthday (from his Vogan grandparents) and pretend he is going to sleep on them.

Wendy, I’m sorry to tell you that the vacuum got replaced, at least temporarily, as the bedtime must-have.  He likes to take his “three little cars” to bed with him these days.

Well, there’s the last few days in pictures!  I’m hoping to help my older sister, Gail, get moved into their new house this week.  Also, Andrew has given me the “get moving” speech (maybe it was more of a “get focused” speech, he never encourages me to do more, he nearly always encourages me to do less and rest more) to get stuff ready for New Year’s so I’m not up night and day for the three days before then trying to get nice presents ready for people.  So, if my blog lags a little, assume I am heeding his advice!

Paul sang his first song (with words, that it) today!  That is, the first that we know about.  As Andrew was getting Paul dressed this morning, he just launched into “Happy Birthday”!  He was so cheerful and did it so well (with his own melody, of course), and we wished we had the video camera.  Throughout the rest of the day, he sang it when I asked him to.  What a wonderful guy!

Here’s a picture just for the fun of it.  Andrew and the kids were having fun last Sunday evening.

Now, I predict that Lucy will get this immediately.  What is it?  What is that rare and occurred here, in our own house, before the eyes of Andrew and me?

I won a Scrabble game!

And not by a squeak, or a hair, or even a sleight of hand.  And, not due to Andrew’s generosity.  It was, however,  due to his extreme tiredness and his brain was shut off, I think.  He even allowed me to use one of the triple word score places.  (He nearly always uses all of them.)  (Oh, in case you didn’t pick this up from the picture, my score was 354 and Andrew’s was 232.)  (Oh, Wendy, it’s that sand-art thing!  It truly is turning my husband into a moron!  He never lost a game before you gave that to him!  Better clear all of those out of the lab out there before more people are in worse trouble than losing a Scrabble game!)

The other thing that really sealed the deal was, I spelled “hideout”.  Have you counted the number of letters in hideout?  It’s 7!  Yes, I got those 50 bonus points, plus the word covered several special-extra squares, and the whole word came up to a whopping 95 points!  Later, I added an “s” to it, and then it was hideouts.

The only other time I “won” at Scrabble against Andrew, I’m not sure I actually did, because I think we forgot to count one of his words.  Since then, we have used a computer spread sheet to keep score, so we can see what is there and what isn’t.

Well, I just had to do a little clapping for myself.

Now, thankful # 29.
I am thankful that I had all the excitement and exhilaration of winning a Scrabble game.

Thankful # 30.

I am thankful that Andrew plays Scrabble with me, even if I don’t give him a challenge equal to his abilities.  He never complains or seems to get tired of it, and I love to play.

Well, I am back to do a little more post-blogging (meaning after the fact).   Thanksgiving time also falls right along the same time as finals for college students.  So, Paul and I boxed up some “finals care packages” for his Aunt Laura and Aunt Lucy (hey Lucy, did you get anything unusual in the mail yet?  I hope the landlord’s dogs didn’t wolf it all down before you got home!).  We gave Laura hers when she came up over Thanksgiving, but we had to send Lucy’s by mule across the U.S. to Wyoming (well, the postage should have bought a decent amount of mule feed, even if the postman doesn’t eat mule feed).

Paul making cards.

On Tuesday of the week of Thanksgiving, Paul and I spent about 2 hours one morning making 13 pie crusts (only four of them double crusts) and with the left-over dough, we had just enough for one quiche crust.  We put them all in the freezer, and now, only the quiche crust is in the freezer.

As you can see, Paul was busy scooping flour from one place to another.  He was scooping it into an empty pie tin.  After doing that for about 2 hours, you can imagine the mess.  He wanted to get down when we were almost finished, but I had him stand there until I was done.  Then, I took him into the bathroom and had him stay there while I cleaned up the island, the chair, and the floor.  Then, I cleaned up Paul, which included vacuuming off his clothes.  Whew!  I decided the next time I need to make pie crusts, I will do it when he is asleep.

We had a little change of pace when Paul’s Aunt Rachel came and brought him a birthday present of an abacus and two little lions.  He really likes things to be in a “nice row”, and the abacus is perfect because the beads are always in a nice row.  Hannah enjoys it too.

Paul & Aunt Rachel

On Thanksgiving morning, we made and baked 7 pies (two pecan, two apple, and 3 pumpkin) and took them up to my parents.  We got there soon before noon time, and we stayed until about 8:00 p.m.  It was a good and relaxing time.  We didn’t get too many pictures though.  Somehow, when each of us is trying to keep up with a small person, the camera often gets left to sit.  Here’s one picture that we did get.

Hannah

When we got home that evening, Andrew’s sister, Heidi, and her husband Glenn were at our house.  They were spending the night with us and we were having the Vogans over to our house for a Thanksgiving celebration on Friday.  Heidi and Hannah hit it off right away that night.  Hannah was laughing and carrying on with her Aunt Heidi.

Andrew and Paul were outside putting up Christmas lights on our evergreen bushes.  Paul was shrieking with delight and running all around.  It was quite a ruckus, especially for Glenn who had already gone to bed.  Sorry Glenn!

Friday morning, we started out all over again.  Only this time I had some more help with the pies.  Heidi peeled all the apples.  That was a huge help!

In addition to the pies, I made some rolls and we roasted two ham shoulders in an electric roaster I borrowed from my mom.  Heidi and Andrew’s mom brought the rest of the food.  We were happy to excuse Lynn from cooking duties since she had a new baby that was barely a week old.

Paul had the time of his life getting his Uncle Glenn and Aunt Heidi to read stories to him on Friday morning while the food was baking and we were waiting for people to come.  I’m not sure Glenn knew it before, but he knows now that Paul has an insatiable appetite for books and will sit and listen about as long as you keep reading.  Glenn finally just stopped reading and took a break.

Here are some random pictures.

Hannah & her daddy

Lynn & Emily

Steven

Thanksgiving day was actually Glenn’s birthday, so we celebrated it on Friday when he was here.  No, I did not make the cake!  After the pie business, I couldn’t get a cake made.  Andrew suggested getting one from Wal-Mart.  I didn’t quite do that, I had my sister Miriam make one and bring it up on Thursday.

Heidi & Glenn

Well, there you have the Thanksgiving post.  I am sorry a lot of people couldn’t make it, both to the Thurs. event and the Friday one.  However, I completely understand that a person can only be one place at a time.  So, to Wendy, Dustin, & Ben, and for Rachel, Julia, & Lucy, I apologize for not getting more photos of these gatherings.  We hope to see you all in Dec. (or Jan., whichever).