The Workhorse

This morning, as we were watching the snow flying outside, Jacob asked if I thought we needed to snow blow the driveway. I told him to go talk to his dad about it. He wandered back, and after he asked me again about snowblowing for about the fifth time, I finally told him he could go out and snow blow. This was him today.

He has always been a worker, that kid. Back when we lived in Texas, the pine trees dropped tons of needles in the heat of the summer. And since pine needles kill grass, we had to rake them up. We returned from vacation to find the yard blanketed in pine needles. Not fun to deal with in 100 plus degree heat, with what felt like 100 plus percent humidity. Joseph would come and go with the work, Katie I don't think picked up a single pine needle, but Jacob just kept going and going. He said over and over again how great it was to be working together. When it was time to go inside (we bagged a total of 16 black garbage bags, probably not all that night), he sobbed and sobbed because he wanted to keep going.

Just last night, I was looking through some albums from when the kids were little. I had come across these pictures. The situation changes, but some things never change. This is when we got our first riding mower. Jacob was not quite two years old here. He loved to just sit on the mower for hours on end.

Joe's dad has a back hoe. When we visited them that winter, all Jacob wanted to do was sit in the backhoe. Literally. All day. Pulling him out brought major tears.

And then, when Jacob was three, Joe took some time around Christmas and did something one on one with each of the kids. He took Jacob to a construction site. Jacob had never had more fun.

I'm pretty sure that within a few years Jacob will be rich because the other kids will pay him to do their chores.

Happy New Year from the Cat Lady

I am still catching up on my December posts, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. We are getting tons of snow today. We had some friends over this afternoon, and I look forward to an evening of football and leftovers, wearing my pajamas and warm slippers...and these socks:

Back when we lived in Texas, Joe took the kids shopping for Mother's Day gifts. Katie was, I believe, three, when she picked out these socks for me. They make me laugh. And since I only wear them around the house, they have lasted me these many years.

Decorating

Emma made really cute ornaments for each member of the family with their names. They were the first decorations we put up.

Katie was doing her angel wings imitation, but would only do it very quickly when I pulled out the camera. It was like a game to see if I could snap the picture quick enough. We had some good laughs over it.

The finished product

Emma was providing the holiday entertainment while wearing the Rudolph nose we picked up at the white elephant exchange over Thanksgiving. Which we had given Josh in the first place.

O Christmas Tree

We went to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree. Amazingly, we made it out without injury. Have I mentioned our theory that puberty kills brain cells? Let's just say that the morning was one of narrowly averted disasters, and Joe and I both were counting silently under our breath before speaking several times. All in good fun, right?


"The Tree"

Marine Corps Museum

Our final family activity took place on Saturday, Nov. 28 when we all visited the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico together. Our family and Dan and Tracy packed up and continued on home from there when we were done. Grammy, Josh, and Laura braved the I-95 traffic getting back to Williamsburg. The museum was far beyond what I had imagined. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it. I thought it would be a few guns and tanks that we would look at with my brother Dan the Marine explaining it to us. The exhibits were extensive and interactive, and really interesting even for non-military buffs. Exhibits covered each of the major wars and conflicts that the Marines have been involved in. The Korean War exhibit was in a room that was kept really cold. To enter the Vietnam exhibit, you walk through the body of an airplane and offload into the exhibit, which is kept very warm. We could have spent a lot more time than we did. The trick was finding eachother at the end of the day when it was time to leave.

Dan in the Korean War exhibit with the boys

We stationed Grammy in the lobby to catch people as they came out while others went back in to retrieve those who were still wandering around.

Emma never, ever runs out of energy. Ever. As we were leaving the museum she was doing so bouncing in circles on one foot gradually moving forward each time. She kept shouting, "Bounce with me, Aunt Laura!" Laura declined.

the farm

The day after Thanksgiving, we went out to visit the farm where Josh and Laura live. It was really cold, and a little wet, but we still had fun exploring.

Playing in the massive magnolia tree

White Elephant

Laura has very kindly been helping Josh sort through his collection of "memorobilia" that he has collected over the years. He is ready to part with some of it. They divided up the treasures and wrapped them beautifully in Christmas paper, and we had a Chinese Auction style white elephant gift exchange. It provided the biggest laughs of the weekend. Thanks Josh and Laura!