Dogs and Horses and Snow

This sweet girl, Katelin, and her parents, Brian and Rellie, came and visited us last week a few days before Christmas.  One of Glenn's many great nieces.

She's a delightful little 2 year old who was especially enamoured with our lovely menagerie of pets.  She was constantly worried about where dog, Zoey, was located.  Zoey was a very good sport about it.

She loved playing with a plastic horse and a stick horse, so I tromped through the snow to get out the real deal.  She wasn't all that excited about the horse, because she was loving playing in the snow.  Crazy girl.  And yes, she has bare legs.  She had on a skirt and rubber boots for the few minutes she was outside and didn't mind at all.  REALLY crazy girl!

Poxleitner Crazies

Another fun Poxleitner Christmas party last weekend.

We had about 26 guests who enjoyed homemade chicken noodle soup....

...small children having fun...

...adults coloring....

...a little bit of chaos.....

...a fun game (working together to stack cups with 

strings tied to a rubberband)...

...and even a family photo!

A general fun, crazy time was had by most.  I married into quite the family.  And I love them all.

Merry Christmas!

Quinceañera

This sweet girl made us into a family of four 15 short years ago.

After only FOUR weeks of bed rest, she finally came into the world with the sweetest, most laid back personality.  That didn't last very long.... :)

Little Nicole was only 19 months old when Ellea was born.  She was just a baby herself, but she's always been an easygoing soul, so she just rolled with it.  They've grown up to be the closest of friends (usually), which I love.


Dear Ellea,
I thank God that he blessed our family with your fun, spunky, loving personality.  Thank you for all you do to keep us laughing (and cleaning!).  I love your big, soft heart and beautiful smile.  I hope the coming year is full to the brim with many blessings and much joy.

I love you!!
Mom

Music and Sewing

It was Christmas concert time around here this week.  Morgan has taken up the trumpet for 5th grade band.

He's doing really well, but seems undecided whether he loves band or not.  As a former band nerd myself, it makes me happy that our school requires all students to learn some sort of instrument in 5th and 6th grade.  That way kids get a taste of band and can decide to stick with it or move on.  We'll see in a couple years if he sticks with it or moves on.

Nicole was not in band last year for the first time in 6 years.  She went back to it this year and is loving it.  Most of the songs played by the band this year at the junior/senior high concert were played by the combo jr/sr high band and they did very well for such a young band.

The high schoolers also presented one song together.  For a small group they sounded great.

The quilts in the background were put up as decoration for the concert.  Sadly, although Ellea is in sewing this year and had a beautiful pieced quilt on display, I didn't think to get a picture of it.

So, while I failed to document this beautiful quilt's display, I can still document it's craftsmanship. This girl is an excellent seamstress because of her incredible attention to detail.  She was tasked with choosing a pattern and material from the school's supply of miscellaneous fabric to create a scrap quilt (we purchased the border fabrics).  She whipped this puppy out in no time.  

So, there you have it.  Between band and sewing, we have our creative juices flowing.

Yucky Drinks & Expensive Naps

Because my dad had colon cancer in his 40's (which they caught and treated, thankfully), I am the lucky recipient of regular colonoscopies at a younger age than most.  My first colonoscopy was about 6 years ago.  I have been procrastinating scheduling another, but I finally had it yesterday.

The worst part?  Not the stuff they make you drink (although it does taste pretty awful).  Not all the time in the loo (although that gets a little old...you might want to take a book along - you'll be in there awhile).  And not the procedure itself (thanks to some fabulous drugs it's really just an expensive nap).

No, the worst part is the requirement to fast on a clear liquid diet the day before.  I like food.  A lot.  It took all my willpower not to just wander into the kitchen on Sunday and quench those hunger pains.  It sure makes you appreciate all our abundance.  We are very fortunate.

They did remove a couple polyps, which is not unusual.  Haven't heard if those polyps were precancerous, but if so, I'm grateful they're gone.  It's not fun, but I'm happy to comply if it means keeping myself healthy.  If you're over 50 and haven't had a colonoscopy or are due for another, or if you have a family history of colon cancer, do me a favor and talk to your doctor about it.  It's important.

I'm going to go eat something now.  I'm hungry.

Three Christmas Trees

We finally went out and got a Christmas tree this weekend.

We killed two birds with one stone, so to speak, because Glenn thought this particular tree looked like it was rotten inside, so wanted it gone anyway.  I love it when his forester tendencies and our desire for a nice tree come together!

We offered to help him carry the tree, but he was determined to do it himself.  Morgan talked us into getting a little tree for his room, too.  And then Ellea got in on the tree action, so we have three trees in our house.  That's a first!

Hauling our tree home.  

Morgan sledded his tree home.  Not many people can say they've sledded with a Christmas tree.  Not many trees can say they've gone sledding.

Glenn's New Wheels

The sawmill has been short enough help to manage all the logs that are getting delivered lately.  Glenn has volunteered to help out by operating heavy equipment which isn't part of his normal job responsibilities.

The kids and I stopped by one day last weekend to bring him lunch and check out his new wheels.

And we were duly impressed.  The wheels are about as tall as Morgan.  Glenn was tired at the end of the day, but I think he had fun.

What little boy doesn't love operating a life-sized Tonka truck?  All those years playing in the dirt piles outside have payed off.

Birthday Bowling

We enjoyed an all-day celebration of my mom's birthday last week.  Ellea painted one of mom's favorite bible verses in art class as a gift.  She was very touched and made us all cry when she told us through tears that this verse got her through the difficult time after my dad died. ("This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.")

After lunch, we drove to Lewiston to go bowling.

None of us played especially well, but sure had fun doing it!

Then it was off to Costco. We rarely go to Lewiston without stopping at Costco!  Nicole was sad that she walked half way around the store with food dribbled down her front after sampling some yummy guacamole.  Hopefully, no cute guys noticed her mess! :)

After Costco, we had a yummy dinner at Applebee's.  No pictures, you just have to take my word for it.  We were too busy eating to take photos.

And finally, we took in the Christmas lights display in a downtown park before leaving town.  It was beautiful and COLD, so it was a brief stroll.

Happy, happy birthday, mom!  Hope the coming year is filled up with many blessings and happy times.  Love you!

Baby Wrangling

Two weekends in a row now Ellea and I got to go hold these sweet babies.  Mom and dad loved having a couple extra sets of hands to help with baby duties.

Ellea holding BOTH of her cousins.

Nothing better than snuggling with a sleeping baby.

The expert baby wrangler.  We'd move in if we could.  And they'd happily welcome us! :)

Photo Booth Fun

One of my favorite things at Jeanene and Phil's wedding this summer was the photo booth.  A friend of the bride's brought the whole set up as her gift to them.  Camera with remote and a printer.  Each session printed out two strips so you could take one with you and glue one into a memory book for the bride and groom to keep.  Isn't that awesome?!

Morgan talked the groom (his Godfather, who he is rather fond of) into doing it with him.

And, of course, our family had to get in on the action.  Good times.

June Wedding

 I blogged about the beautiful family wedding we had this summer, but life quickly got away from me and I got busy with other summer activities and failed to post all the great pictures we took.  I was digging back through old photos today, and found some I'd like to share.

This couple is beautiful inside and out and it was a joy to be a part of their special day.

The groom, Phil, is Morgan's Godfather and Morgan was touched to be asked to be a server in the wedding.  It was only his second time serving in Mass, and his first wedding.  He did great.

Phil is also Glenn's nephew (his sister, Dori's son).  He asked Glenn to participate as a groomsman which was fun.  He cleans up pretty nice.

And of course, with dressed up kiddos, we had to take some pictures.

They clean up pretty well, too.

If I do say so myself.

Pink House Pictures

Of course, no family photo session is complete without some pics of me and my man.  Ellea is a great little photographer.  This is the first shot she took and I think it's my favorite.

We'd been outside taking pics for quite some time at this point.  We were cold.  We're attempting to keep our hands warm.

We took these pictures in front of Glenn's grandfather's old house just down the road from our house.  It's no longer inhabited.  Yes, it's painted pink.  I've never understood that.  Apparently that's the color that was chosen many years ago.  I've seen more than one pink house around these parts. Not many more, but more than one, so pink houses must have been a thing.

 
We interrupt this photo shoot for a pesky little brother.

And we always bring along our old red chair to our photo sessions.  You may remember, my family was super skeptical the first time this thing was brought along for a photo shoot, but it has served us well.  We didn't use it much this time, but it had to make an appearance.

It's unfortunate that I'm not a photoshop user... I would remove that ugly black cord behind us.  Oh well.  Maybe someday.

Glenn was over having his picture taken.  That's enough.  We're done.  Go away.

I thought I'd be a good sport and join him in making faces at the photographer.

 No, really, he's over it.  He started threatening the camera with a large stick.  We must be done.