Oddments from December

 How about that title word - oddments?  Just learned that bad boy.  Which reminds me, I am due to post my latest list of great words here before the year-end.  Will get to that this weekend maybe.

Not since my first year blogging, 2008, have I had less than 200 posts in a year, but I am easily gonna land well below that mark this year.  Not sayin' that's a bad thing, but it's definitely a sign that the times they are/have been a'changin'. And it's ok! Real life.

Our water heater went out last weekend and we boiled water on the stove for dishes, baths, and showers for 4 whole days.  Didn't complain about it once because, hey, cold water is better than cold air, right?  I did grimace at the extra expense for repair here at year's end and during the holiday season, but it was only a little grimace.  A whimper, if you will.

I also whimpered at the fact that we just dropped another $300+ on two new tires for my car.  Which we think ALSO needs to go to the repair shop soon and the only reason we haven't taken it in already is that we are living in denial.  Along those lines, we are probably living on borrowed time in terms of our washer/dryer and our fridge, too. :(

Noah and Anna have gotten into making up their own jokes these past few months.  And as you would imagine, they are never funny like they are supposed to be.  They are really, really bad ... which I will admit, is funny in its own right.  For example: "Knock knock. Who's There?  Good Deal.  Good Deal who?  Hey, Let's go to the store and get that good deal!" or "Why did the chicken go to the store? To get away from the kids!" Sigh.

But then, something magical happened last week when Noah came up with a joke that actually WAS right on in its play on words.  I think it has finally clicked!  He said, "Why are cows so good at math?  Because they use cowculators!"  Then, he took it a step further.  I could actually HEAR the gears turning in his head to come up with another actually funny joke when he saw how impressed I was at the first.  "Why did the cow go down to level 9?  Because he was MOOOOOOving!"  True story, we were in the drive-thru at CFA when these happened upon him. He was feeling inspired!

Speaking of Noah, he said something else amusing the other day, which if you know my love of language, was so precious in my eyes.  There was a knock at the door.  Noah peeked around the corner and said, "Don't answer.  It's just a solittler."  (solicitor)  Anna is usually my big word user, so I was touched at his attempt to use a big word.  He's been doing that more and more lately ... realized, securely, expedition, etc. Music to his mommy's/teacher's ears!  Also precious, is how tongue-tied he gets pronouncing them. No matter, I knew what words he was saying. ♥

I picked me up a pretty framed chalkboard the other night to hang in the living room with different words, verses, and lyrics from season to season.  Now I just have to wrangle Josh into rigging up the hooks on the back since I am using it on the wrong side from what hooks it came built with. :S  Here's my first attempt at chalkboard art.

My sweet Anna is drawn to the lettering like a magnet and has already begged to help me do the next one and is using the curly-cue lettering in her Christmas cards and banners she is making for our cabin trip next week.  It's kinda special having a little creative, crafty spirit to do these things with.

We are signed up to attend an informational meeting for Jonah's Journey, a local (sort-of) foster care ministry for children of incarcerated mothers. Meeting is next month.

One of my favorite things about December is all the great movies that come out.  This year, that includes The Hobbit one, Night at the Museum 3 (Noah loves those movies, so we love them, too), Exodus, Into the Woods, Mockingjay, Annie, Unbroken, American Sniper and The Theory of Everything (which I probably won't get around to seeing til it's on Netflix).

Noah's ringworm on his face seems to have come back.  Boo!  So I upgraded the oil treatment from Tea Tree Oil to that of Oregano Oil which is apparently a "hot" oil.  I about burned the kid's cheek right off with that first application.  I have since learned how to dilute it and have also picked up my first ever coconut oil to do it in.  Excited!  Coconut oil has been a cooking oil switch I have been meaning to upgrade to for, like, ever.  Using it as a carrier oil for some essential oils finally got me more motivated. And also, apparently, you can use it for like, everything.  So there's that bonus, too. :}

Look at the craziness that is my daughter chilling in her splits at gymnastics while all the other girls moan and groan and struggle in far less splits than this.  This girl is something else.  She has improved so much that one of her coaches has started an evaluation on her to see if/when she might be ready to work with the team instead of recreational classes.  Not sure if that is a direction we wanna head, but it doesn't hurt to get the feedback on her skills.

I chuckled to myself at lunch yesterday at how pretty and random Noah's lunch requests are.  He will eat, but doesn't really prefer, sandwiches (just like momma), but when given the choice will request all sorts of odds and ends, like this stuff...  and then be hungry again in an hour. I can't keep him full these days!

And while we are on the subject of Noah again, here's his updated smile minus that other tooth on top that came out this week.  He has officially lost all four of those top front teeth, so were it not for that one permanent tooth that has already made itself at home in his face, he would have that adorable toothless grin that one of my nieces is sporting these day. 

What a precious and transforming season of life!  More proof of his preciousness is his unwavering belief in Santa.  He has basically made it his mission to convince his non-believing buddies that Santa is real.  He just doesn't get why they don't get it.  Bless him. 

In other holiday news, Josh has been making a little moolah making and selling these this month. 

And he also dusted off his scroll saw to whip out a number of little ornaments that I quickly paint and tie off for him. I love that he has the time to do a little woodworking during the week.  He really enjoys it!  He's made a number of these and some snowflakes and reindeer as well.

Other than all that, we are about ready to pack up and head to GA for the holiday next week.  Counting down the days!