Merry Christmas 2021

 

We didn't get our Christmas cards out this year. That was on purpose because we didn't have our family pictures taken until a few days ago, so New Year's cards it is! This year has been just as eventful as most years seem to be, although a little less pleasant with COVID and everything surrounding it. We have managed to remain healthy though, so we can't complain.

Clark (Peanut Head to my faithful readers) and I are empty nesters now and I'm not going to lie, I hate the empty nest. Well I don't hate it, I would just rather have all of my people with me. It's selfish, I know. This last week has been Heaven though because both girls are home and I've been focusing on just enjoying them.

My mom, Julie, moved in with us in June and that has helped me with the transition to an empty nester. It's been a lot of work merging our stuff and making decisions about where to put things and what we should get rid of, but we aren't in a big hurry so we just chip away at it as we have time and interest. In the meantime we have a large container on the property serving as a storage unit for everything mom brought with her. Mom calls it her POD and I call it the dumpster. Mom brought her dog, Pamela, with her, so now we have three dogs in the house. I'm here to tell you that three dogs is a lot of poop. Especially with Bane and his horse sized logs. Pamela settled in pretty quickly and claimed her space. She growls at Gunny and Bane when they go into her end of the house. Gunny just ignores her and does what he wants anyway. Bane doesn't like conflict so his body language telegraphs "Yes Ma'am, whatever you say."

Zoë is living full-time in Pocatello where she is a junior at Idaho State University. She shares a large apartment with three other girls and they each have their own bedrooms. It's a pretty nice set up. She is adulting well and is much more responsible than Clark and I were at her age. Over the summer she started working for Fish & Game as a tech/intern in their habitat department, and she loves her job. She's a Nature Nerd. She fixes fence, puts up fence, weed whacks, chases cows, irrigates, fixes stuff, and sometimes she gets to do cool things with wildlife. Did you know that they make weed whackers that operate underwater?! Zoë already had trailer backing skills when she started this job, but her skills are on point now. She makes me proud.

Annika has had a very exciting year. This time last year we were waiting for a congressional nomination for her application to the service academies and she got three of them. It's recommended that you apply for more than one because each senator and member of congress has a limited number they can give out. That and you don't know who has their ducks in a row, so better to be safe. Shortly after receiving the nominations, she received and accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. The rest of the school year was spent wrapping up senior year courses and other obligations. She spend a lot of hours with the Civil Air Patrol where was was Commander of her squadron, working at Walmart, and taking flight lessons We were hoping that Annika would head to West Point with her pilot's license already completed, but there were many obstacles in her path. The final nail in the coffin was the day of her final flight test, and just days before she was to leave for CBT (Cadet Basic Training which is West Point boot camp), and the plane did not pass inspection. It was a huge let down, but there was no time to dwell on it. She left Idaho Falls for West Point on June 27th and her world changed forever. She survived CBT and her first semester at West Point, and she came home for the first time December 19th. I've been peppering her with questions about her new life ever since. It's going to be hard to let her go with the new year.

I spent another summer working outside in our yard and I shouldn't brag, but I'm getting pretty good with a shovel. Clarkie better not cross me. :) At work I changed schools. Our district opened up a fancy new middle school and I was determined to teach there. Now I'm teaching Pre-Algebra and Algebra to 8th graders. It's my favorite grade and subject. My classroom is beautiful and I have more than three outlets. I haven't tripped the breaker once! My classroom is on the second floor and the flight of stairs is loooooong. More opportunities to trip means I trip more. Tripping going up the stairs is my superpower. Compared to last year, this year is a lot easier, although it's still a lot of work. I like the people I work with and I like my administrators.

Clarkie is still working from home some, but going into the Lab more now. He was one of the first in his group allowed back this last year but it depends on what needs done. More than half his department is still full-time teleworking from home. He earned a promotion this year and is training for new positions, so that means more meetings. His favorite. He's working on his interpersonal skills right now because his boss told him he has to stop growling at people and start using his words. He is traveling more than ever and that's good because we need flight miles and hotel credits now with Annie being so far away.

We're still hard at work on the money pit. We spent most of our late summer and early fall pulling out and relaying the patio at the back of the house so that it slopes away from the house instead of towards it. In other projects, last winter Clark redesigned his closet and made it a lot more functional. All he has left to do now is to add doors to the top to hide all the stuff. Together we redid the laundry room and it is so much more functional because we added upper and lower cabinets as well as a countertop for folding clothes. We also replaced the ridiculous plastic utility sink with a stainless steel sink and cabinet surround. We would still like to add shelving, but that may not happen for a couple years. Next up we have some plumbing and electrical projects to tackle.

There's never a dull moment here, even without the girls to liven things up. We hope this year was as good to you as it was to us, and we wish you a very happy and healthy new year. Take care.

Love,
Clark, Jill, Zoë and Annika

Merry Christmas 2020

 

We’ve almost survived 2020!

This has been one wild and crazy year, hasn’t it? I’m sure we can all agree that 2020 did not live up to our expectations. Here’s hoping for a much better year in 2021.

We were never more thankful to be living out in the country than this year. We were able to lay low and keep our minds off the pandemic and all that came with it by occupying ourselves with our bottomless to do list.

Zoe came home from college in March and ended up finishing the year online. Annie and I went on spring break and completed the remainder of the school year online. Clark started working at home at the same time and we were all competing for our inadequate internet. The girls and I went back in the fall, but Clark is still working mostly at home. He has been traveling a bit too because the source recovery missions must go on. He is very careful though, and to be honest, Annie and I are the biggest threat to our health as we are around hundreds of people every day, many of them incapable of wearing their masks properly. Everyone hates the masks. We hate the masks. Teaching in a mask and making sure my students wear their masks properly is wearing on my nerves, but it is our reality right now. Complaining about it helps none of us. On that note, I’ll shut up now.

I spent my entire summer working outside in our yard and it was wonderful. Little by little, this place is becoming a home that we love. It’s truly my favorite place to be. Clarkie still regularly exclaims that he hates this *$#@ing place, but we know he really loves it. He has multiple pairs of farm pants to prove it, and so do I. They are my favorite pants and I even wear them to town sometimes. It can’t be any worse than wearing pajamas to Walmart.

I went back to the classroom this fall, and it has kicked my trash. There’s so much stress having to teach in person and make sure everything is accessible online for quarantined and Covid positive students. I just make a to do list each day and get through it, doing what I can with the hours that I have. Many days I fall short, and I don’t beat myself up over it. I’m thankful that I have remained healthy and that I still have a job. I do enjoy the kids. I’m teaching 7th grade math, and there is not a more awkward age than 7th grade, so my entertainment is free.

The dogs are loving Clark being home. With him at home I don’t have to go through the routine of putting the couch screamers on the furniture every day to keep the dogs off. I’m a little jealous, but at the same time I do not want to be teaching remotely. I didn’t expect that  we would be able to stay in person, so I am thankful for that. Clark is not traveling as much as he was before March, but we are hopeful that it will pick up after the first of the year. He likes to travel and we like the miles and hotel rewards that he earns.

Zoe bought herself a car in early Spring. It’s a 2011 Nissan Rogue which is an all wheel drive vehicle, so it’s perfect for Idaho winters. She spent her summer working at Cal Ranch and the vet clinic and she was exhausted working every day of the week. I think she has learned her lesson about that. She went back to ISU in the fall and has been home since Thanksgiving. Her finals were online and her spring semester will start mid January. She will be doing a career path internship this semester in a lab with a plant ecologist. Then this summer she has an opportunity to work on a Fish & Game work crew and continue with an internship with them in the fall. On the work crew she will be doing grunt labor like fixing fences, spraying for weeds, planting to reintroduce native plant species, etc.

Annika is in the middle of her senior year of high school. The little slacker finally got a job last summer. She works in produce at Walmart where she puts her OCD skills to good use inspecting and discarding imperfect fruits and vegetables. She has had to deal with some disgusting rottage which we quite enjoy hearing about because it causes her so much discomfort. Everything she throws away has to be weighed and logged. It’s awesome.

We are in the stage of wondering where our child will be this time next year. She has her eggs in several different baskets right now. She has active applications with the Naval Academy and West Point and they are progressing. We are waiting for Congressional nominations right now. She also has applications with the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Idaho. The latter two she picked because they have ROTC programs. She seems pretty set on the military and Clarkie strongly suggests that she go in as an officer, nevermind that that’s not what he did, despite his own father’s wishes. He forbids her to go to the Air Force Academy because he says if she wants  a business major with a minor in religion she can just go local to BYU. Yes, he is a funny guy. I think it’s a Marine Corps thing. They are very particular about the other branches of the military. The other consideration is that she wants to fly and she will have a better chance at that in the Navy/Marine Corps or the Army.

Gunny and Bane are getting on in years. Gunny had a pretty nasty case of pneumonia in the spring and he’s still not 100%. We’ve had many visits to the emergency vet and he is on a steady diet of hot dogs with his various prescriptions. He has turned into my grandparents with his assortment of pills, except that I’m pretty sure they didn’t need hot dogs to choke their medicine down. Baney had a bizarre case of geriatric something something. I can’t remember the technical term and I have no documentation because his care was free at the Emergency Vet Clinic where Zoe works because he has been a blood donor for them. He woke up one day and he couldn’t walk without falling down because his equilibrium had left the building. I’m telling you, it is not possible to carry a 130 pound dog around to do his business. If it weren’t so frightening it would have been comical. Who am I kidding, it was comical, but it was also frightening. After a back door drive up at the clinic, a shot of anti nausea medicine and a few days taking Dramamine he was mostly back to normal. His head is still a little half cocked, but he’s still Baney and we love him. Although he won’t sleep in his bed now because when he was not himself he overshot his bed and clocked himself in the corner where two walls meet. Now his bed is from the Devil and Gunny quite enjoys having choices.

The goats, horses, and chickens are still keeping us from sleeping in too late on the weekends. Oh, and we have kittens! Well, they are cats now, but Zoe found them as kittens in our pasture in June and we had to keep them because destiny brought them to us. Clarkie is super grouchy about excessive cats, so they are barn cats. It’s pretty funny because cats loooooove Clarkie. 

Work on the money pit continues. This year we replaced our well pump and our roof. In fact our roof just happened and it was a nail biter. I’m just so glad it’s done.

This thing is too long so I’ll wrap it up. We hope this letter finds you all happy and healthy. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Clark, Jill, Zoë and Annika

Merry Christmas 2019

Seasons Greetings!

Here we are again, winding down another year. I’ll never get used to how quickly time flies. This was another busy year in our house with changes and accomplishments, despite the usual two steps forward and one step back.

The house is really starting to come together. Last winter we converted our basement family room into a home gym, and it’s been really nice to have a place to work out without leaving the house. We also made our way into our master bedroom, which used to be a garage, and was easily the ugliest room in our house. It had wallpaper that had been painted over and the most hideous hunter green carpet I’ve ever laid eyes on. The carpet made a nice drop cloth for me while I was stripping wallpaper and painting. 😊 Last month we finally had new carpet installed. We still have trim work to do in the room, but it’s so much better than it was.

As usual, summer went by too quickly. Clark did a lot of traveling. A lot. I felt like he was gone more than he was here, but truthfully, that’s probably an exaggeration. I spent my entire summer working outside on landscaping projects, and whenever Clark came home, he had projects waiting for him as well. Hmm, I wonder if that’s why he traveled so much? Besides the garden, he put in a nice back sidewalk and an arbor, with my occasional assistance.

Zoe graduated from high school at the end of May, and at the start of summer she left Cal Ranch to work part-time at an emergency vet clinic. It was a relatively relaxing summer for her, not taking online classes or volunteering at the zoo. She needed to rest up so she could start college fresh. In August she started college on an academic scholarship at Idaho State University in Pocatello. She lives on campus in one of the dorms, and she absolutely loves it. Freedom is a beautiful thing. She used to be a morning person, but she transitioned easily into a night owl college student. She is majoring in Biology on a pre-veterinary track. She really likes her science classes, but Chemistry has been challenging. She’s a hard worker though, so we’re confident she’ll get through it.

I’m trying to get used to having an adult child. Even though I knew our kids would grow up and move away, I didn’t really think it would ever happen. It’s a strange place to be. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve opened my mouth to give Zoe some unsolicited advice, as one does with their children, and then stopped, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. I keep having to remind myself that she’s an adult now. This is the part where we push her out of the nest to see if she learned anything from us. So far she seems to be exceeding our expectations. She is more responsible than either Clark or I were at her age. She just finished her first semester at college so she’s home for a month now.

Since Zoe left for college in August, Annika has had the exclusive use of the Subaru, and it’s been so nice for us not having to accommodate her transportation needs. She is still over involved with interests and activities, but the little slacker has yet to get a job. I tease her, but I don’t know when she would have the time to work. In June she was accepted into the Naval Academy’s Summer STEM program, and she was able to spend a week in Annapolis, Maryland, at the Naval Academy. Then in July she went to Pennsylvania for Civil Air Patrol’s Ranger School. That was about ten days of rough living with only two showers, neither of them involving soap. Most of what she ate was packaged or came out of a can, and when the cadets in her squadron were given a McDonald’s hamburger each, they fell to their knees and wept.

When she came home she stunk to high heaven and her boots were rotting. It made me laugh because she is such a germaphobe. Then she had three days to clean all her gear, catch up on her sleep, and pack to leave for Civil Air Patrol Encampment where she had the honor of serving as First Sergeant over all the cadet flights. I saw some videos of her leading P.T. on the Encampment Facebook page, and I did not recognize the command voice coming out of my baby’s mouth. I don’t know why she can’t seem to answer a simple question at home without mumbling.

Gunny and Bane are alive and well. Gunny has slowed down a lot and it takes him awhile to get up and down, but he’s still happy as ever. I can relate to the struggle. When I get down on the ground I look around for a piece of furniture to help me hoist myself back up. I miss the agility of youth.

Baney has really settled into life on the farm, albeit inside the house. He’s such a big baby, he doesn’t like to be outside without a human, and he throws quite the fit when we keep him in the paddock. During the nicer months, both dogs are put in the paddock while we’re at work and school, and we quickly learned that Baney is an escape artist. The first time he got out, he left a toddler sized hole in the gate. When the girls got home they found the goats grazing in the driveway, Gunny swimming in the canal, and Baney running up to greet them. That happened half a dozen times, at least. Multiple repairs were made to the gate. Annika welded several metal panels to the gate, marching higher up the gate with each escape. When he could no longer bust through the gate, he started on the fence. We finally had to nail cattle panels to our goat proof fence and that seems to have done the trick. Of course now it’s colder and they are lounging inside the house while we’re at work and school. Since they aren’t trustworthy, we have a routine before leaving each day wherein we put stools on the couches and lock the trash in the mudroom. One day we came home and Baney had consumed a 24-oz. container of raisins, including most of the package. Many Facebook friends warned us that raisins were poisonous to dogs, but Baney didn’t seem to suffer any ill effects, except for being extra regular. The next day, he got into Annika’s 24-hour pack and ate two MREs, although he struggled a little with the packaging because it was so intricate.  The MREs made him very thirsty and the laxative gum that sometimes comes in the MREs really works.

We still have goats, horses, and chickens. They keep us from sleeping in too late on the weekends.

We also still have Lucinda and Cecilia. Clarkie never got me that kitten I wanted so badly last Christmas. He keeps saying “When one of the two cats we already have dies, then we can get a kitten.” To which we reply, “But we live on a farm!” So far he hasn’t budged. He’s very stubborn.

So that’s life on the farm. I’m doubtful that you will see this letter before Christmas as we just had our pictures taken today, so I won’t be ordering the cards until tomorrow after work. If we get lucky and all the stars align, you’ll get this in time for our “Merry Christmas” wishes. If not, there’s still “Happy New Year!” Either way, we hope this letter finds you happy and healthy.

Love,

Clark, Jill, Zoë and Annika

Merry Christmas 2016!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I actually got my Christmas cards out earlier this week and now that all my friends and family have (hopefully) received them by now, I'm safe to post my Christmas letter here without taking the fun out of getting my Christmas card. There was lots to share in our Christmas letter this year, although it's maybe not news to you, my Internet Friends.

Before I begin though, I feel I need to remind you that Peanut Head is not my husband's real name. Hard to accept as it is, his real-life name is Clark, and I know, Peanut Head is a much easier name to remember, as many of my friends can attest to. 

Hello Friends!                                                                                 

What a wild and crazy year 2016 has been. Whew! We are exhausted. That’s on account of we moved out of our house and into a farm house ten miles outside of town. For years Clark has said that he wanted some land. It was never something I wanted because . . . dirt . . . and outside. Although I wasn’t against it per se, I just didn’t have any interest in pursuing it. Well, we’ve been married for 25 years now and we have two horse crazy girls for which we were paying way too much money for weekly English riding lessons, and one day we just got on the internet and started looking at property. We were looking at houses with five to ten acres where the girls could have a couple horses. Within a week we made an offer on a place and started frantically getting our house ready to sell. It’s been a whirlwind ever since. Our house sold in two weeks and we moved into our new (old) house in June.

So, a little about the new house . . . the original house was built in 1954 by a contractor, and it has beautiful crown molding in the living room. It was a teeny, tiny house with just two bedrooms and one bathroom. Technically there are two additional bedrooms in the basement, but there’s no bathroom down there and it smells like grandma, so we’re not using it for much. The original kitchen was about six feet by six feet, and has since been turned into an office. I’ve had small kitchens before, but I can’t even imagine cooking in a kitchen that small!

In 2006 the house was added onto and it basically doubled in size. Thankfully, a huge kitchen was part of the add-on, and we are loving that part. The rest of the add-on, however, is a little hokey. Also added was a family room, which is much too skinny, a mudroom, a three quarter bathroom, a strange room that could be called a den but we call the hub, a master bedroom, a laundry room, a sewing room, and a garage. The master bedroom was originally a detached garage, and the house was extended to meet that garage. Then a new garage was built on, which added the laundry room and the sewing room. The former kitchen window looks out into the garage. It’s bizarre. This house has character for miles, let me tell you.

There are also two outbuildings. The former owners ran a saddlery business out of one of the buildings and the other was a barn. Both outbuildings have been added onto, trailer park style. This is how I imagine DIY went down in la casa before we moved in:

“We need another room on the barn, Vern, let’s just nail up some plywood and slap some paint on it.

This door doesn’t fit my new wall. I’m just going to saw the bottom two feet off of it. So what if the doorknob is positioned for Hobbits? We’ll get used to it.

You say you want electricity? Here, let me just install an outlet on this pole, right here, out in the open and exposed to the weather. GFCI? What’s that? Heh! We don’t need no stinkin’ GFCI.

There’s a hole in that exterior wall, let’s just nail the Ping-Pong table to it. We’re not using it anyway, and it’ll keep the rain out.”

All of the repairs and improvements are like that. It’s terrifying. Clark is at his wits end, and his former dream of owning land has turned into a living nightmare. I feel bad about it, but ironically, I love it here. I love being out in the country. My doorbell never rings and I’m okay with that. I can put my jammies on at 5:00 p.m. and nobody cares because nobody knows. It’s a beautiful thing. And it is beautiful. There’s so much beauty that I never noticed before, and now it’s all around me. I enjoy looking at the countryside as I drive to and from work. I love coming home.

 

The girls love it because they can ride horses whenever they want. We’re boarding some horses and taking care of them, and the girls get to ride them whenever they want. Their chores have increased exponentially, however, and they have very little free time. They still manage to work in plenty of time for riding on the weekends though.

Personally, I’ve never been much of a horse person, but that’s probably because I never spent much time around horses. I have fallen in love with these horses though, and I thoroughly enjoy their unique personalities. They’re practically people, but better!

Bo aka "Mr. Bo-Jangles

Sweets aka Sweetie Boy

Bo-Bo and PJ aka Mr. Pajama Pants

We also have two Nigerian Dwarf Goats. Zoe volunteered at the zoo all summer and she insisted that we must have these goats. Oh my goodness, goats are basically creepy looking, pot-bellied dogs. The girls walk them on leashes while they wag their curly little tails. They run and chase after the girls, and they jump and climb on everything. It’s bizarre. They also cry like babies when you walk away from them. It’s enough to break your heart.

Since we moved out to the country, we accidentally got a second cat. I fell in love with a big, two year old Tom Cat at Petco, and I named him Barnaby Jones on the spot. After several weeks, and much dickering, we had finally settled on Barnaby Tiberius Jones for his name when the news came that he was a she. This threw us into a state of confusion and he/she was briefly Catlin Jenner while we sorted the whole name thing out. We finally decided on Cecilia or Ce-Ce for short. We spend a lot of time singing the Simon and Garfunkel song to her, and she knows that she has been adopted by crazy people. She is easily the most laid back cat we have ever had. She sleeps only on her back and with her entire body stretched out to its maximum length of two and a half feet. It’s a sight to behold.

Gunny is still alive and kicking, although he has had a rough year. At this time last year, Zoe was setting up obstacle courses for him to jump through and making videos of him, happy as a clam, jumping whatever jump she set up for him. Well, come spring we found out that Gunny had a torn ACL and he had to have surgery to repair it. This happened the week of our move, which we are calling the beginning of our season for hemorrhaging money. It’s been a long season.

In addition to Gunny being laid up, I had rotator cuff surgery three weeks before the move, so I was practically useless for all the packing and moving. Thankfully, both Gunny and I have healed and I’m happy to say that it was worth the pain and suffering. I like to pretend that I have a bionic shoulder now. I can even hear the Steve Austin music playing in my head.

Clark is still working for the Department of Energy and he has been doing a fair amount of travel this year. He even got to go to New York City and I was super jealous! The travel makes things extra challenging with us living farther away. The girls are waivered into our former district, so they don’t have the luxury of going home on the bus if one of us has something going on after school. I am also still working as a Math Specialist for the secondary schools, and I enjoy what I am doing. More importantly, I’m really enjoying my free time outside of school.

The girls and I are very happy, and we are working on slipping some relaxation and fun into Clark’s schedule. He is pooped. He is such a handy guy though, and there is much to be done . . . We hope this letter finds you all happy and healthy. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Clark, Jill, Zoe, and Annika

And that's it. Another year is just about in the books, and it has been a good one. I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, no matter what you celebrate.

Thanks for stopping by!

Crazy Wonderful Year

Hello Friends! I'm on Christmas break right now and I absolutely can't let it pass without popping in for an update.

What a crazy, wonderful year this has been, with lots of turmoil and so, so much to be thankful for.

When I left the classroom in June, I had every intention of stepping up my blogging, and as you can see, that hasn't happened. I don't have a good excuse. I've certainly had the time. I just haven't had the blogging mojo. I think about it all the time. I just can't seem to dig up the motivation to sit down and write.

Often I'll have something small I want to share and I can do that much easier and quicker on Instagram or Facebook, so I'll go there. I'm not ready to give the blog up though. I'm just not that into it right now. I hope that will change.

I think a lot of it has to do with the changes I've had this year. Leaving the classroom has given me some wonderful opportunities and I have been thoroughly enjoying myself, but there is a part of me that misses it terribly.

In my new position I'm at the high schools frequently and I've seen a lot of my former students, and it makes me long to be back with them. 

As sure as I was about leaving education earlier this year, I'm looking at teaching in a whole new light. If, or maybe I should say when I go back, it has to be different. I knew when I left that I was part of the problem. A big part of the problem. I put too much of myself into my job and there was nothing left for me.

My new job has been such a gift. I feel like it has thrown me a life raft and said "Hang on. It's not over yet. Take some time to recover and then get back in the pool." Truly the best part about what I'm doing right now is helping teachers. I want to do whatever I can to ease their burdens.

Enough of the heavy stuff. I don't want Zoe Bug all up in my business about always whining about my job.

Did I mention that I'm on Christmas break? Wa-HOO! It's a beautiful thing.

I'm dedicating part of my break to working on Stinkerbell's stocking. I'm only a third of the way finished, so there's no way it will be ready this week, but next year it really should be. If it isn't, well then I'll just suck that much more.

And Stinkerbell reminds me about the stocking often. She's all "MOM! I'm 12 now. Do you think you could finish my stocking before I go to college?"

Well, I'll certainly try, Sweetie.

For years we've had three of our stockings finished, and Stinky's stocking is still on the cross stitch frame. It's so sad. It's like she's the orphan child.

In order to motivate myself to work on it, I listen to audiobooks or stream Netflix while I'm working. If you've never done cross stitch before, it's tedious. When this project is finished, I will never cross stitch another thing, as long as I shall live.

I have another tedious project I'd like to work on over break, but I'm not making any promises because it's one of those projects that I find depressing to look at.

It's this table. Take a moment to drink it in.

Actually, now that I'm staring at it, it doesn't look that bad. It just looks like I don't want to do it. And I really, truly don't. I'm such a whiner.

This is something else I want to spend some time on. I am now six years behind on my digital scrapbooking. It wouldn't be so bad except 2009 was a very long winded year on the blog.

Geez, I'm bored with myself already. Thankfully I also went back to work that year and I didn't have as much time for all the yapping, so things should be picking up here soon.

I've started using Digital Project Life with PhotoShop Elements, and it has changed my life. It's so much easier and faster to get my photos into books now. No mess either.

I'm hoping that future books have more than a year in them. I work on pages until I have enough to fill the maximum number of pages that Shutterfly will print (over a 100), and then I let them sit in my cart until Shutterfly runs a 50% off sale.

I started taking piano lessons in September. It's something I've always wanted to do and I'm so happy to be doing it right now.

Things were going great until a couple weeks ago when I realized I wasn't really learning which piano keys played which notes, or even what notes they were, but instead I looked at a note and by its position knew which finger played it. Well, playing the piano isn't like typing, apparently.

Dang it.

I feel like I need to start all over again. I'm a little frustrated, but not frustrated enough to give it up. I just need to start fresh.

Peanut Head and I did our usual holiday baking this year, but while attempting to apprentice Kimikaze and Angelina Ballerina, the crazy science teachers.

Man what an organizational juggling act that was. The flip side was that it was a blast. An exhausting blast, but it took the chore out of the process and put a whole lot of joy in its place.

This is Angelina Ballerina. She was all business showing up with her apron and everything. We had a hard time trying to get her to focus on Bon Bon and Buckeye nights though. The middle school boy in her was fixated on the spherical aspect of the treats. We're not going there, just setting the record straight.

And then there's Kimikaze. This girl is a handful and she puts the snap in Gingersnap. 

We had a little chocolate fight, and I'm not afraid to say that I won. She was a chocolate mess. There were pictures, but they were all too blurry on account of we are lightning fast like ninjas.

Check out our ornaments for this year from Liane and Alison. Do you recognize them?

If not, go refresh your memory with my Crazy Town post. Alison, you nailed it.

Gunny Man!

Zoe took this awesome picture of him with her phone. She's taking a photography class at school and has been taking some crazy good pictures with just her phone. Most of the pictures on our Christmas card were taken by Zoe.

Zoe has also been taking hours of video footage of Gunny jumping and we set up a You Tube channel just for him called Gunny Bun Bun. Click on the link if you want to check out the one video we were able to upload successfully. 

We're having some serious technical difficulties uploading videos because Zoe made the movies in iMovie and they are in .mov format when they need to be in .mp4 format. Does anyone have any experience with converting those files that can give us some advice for converting those videos? We are pulling our hair out trying to figure it out.

Lastly, I leave you with our Christmas card and "This is How it Really Is" letter, should you care to read it.

I hope you all have an amazing, restful, peaceful, and healthy holiday season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!                              

I know you’re probably wondering why there are three pictures of the dog on our holiday card, and only one each of our two children. Well, it’s partly because we have more pictures of Gunny than anyone else in the house, but mostly because he’s such a lovable guy. He’s never grouchy or unpleasant to be around (except when he has flatulence), and he will let us dress him up in practically anything we’d like. In fact, as I type this letter, my friend Betsy Wetsy is making him a reindeer hat. He is very excited about it. And since our kids no longer let me dress them, the Bunnery Sergeant is now my favorite child.

Now that that’s out in the open, here’s an update on the human kids.

Zoe is 14 and a Freshman in high school. She’s always doing homework and doesn’t have time to get into trouble (as it should be). She thinks she needs to start Drivers Ed in January. I don’t know what’s wrong with Idaho, but kids can get their driver’s permit at age 14-1/2. She’s barely out of diapers, for crying out loud! One thing is certain, and that is that we are not teaching her how to drive when there’s snow on the ground. So let’s have some snow, Weatherman, shall we? On the other hand, we still have the mini van and I am itching for a new car.

Zoe has started setting up obstacle courses for Gunny to master, and I am astonished at how high the dog can jump. He will do anything for Zoe Bug. She has taken to making videos of his jumping and we have more video footage of Gunny than any new parent has for miles around. She has gotten pretty good at trimming and editing video as well. Now we just need to set up a You Tube Channel for Gunny and we’ll be set.

Annika is 12 and in seventh grade. She has been wearing a very short haircut this year (lately sporting blue bangs as well) and is regularly mistaken for a boy. She doesn’t help matters when she wears boy clothes and walks like a truck driver, but she doesn’t seem to be bothered in the least by people’s gender identification mistakes. On the contrary, I think it amuses her. We went out to dinner one night and a little boy followed her into the women’s restroom. When he realized where he was he looked at her, alarmed, and exclaimed “We’re not supposed to be in here!” She just stared at him with her stone face, compliments of her father. I’m pretty sure it bothers me more than it bothers her. Before school started, I ordered her a couple t-shirts with #notaboy printed on the front to help people out. Middle school is awkward enough. Why make it harder, right?

I had a job change this year and I left the classroom at the end of the school year. I am now working in the same school district as a Math Specialist for the middle and high schools. It’s a curriculum position where I get to nerd out on data and help teachers. I’m on a teacher schedule (same days off and vacations) without the stress and bringing work home. It has been such a wonderful opportunity for me, and I have learned so much. The only negative is that it’s only a one-year gig. It has the potential to be extended, but there are no guarantees. It’s okay, though. I am so thankful for the time I’ve had to put the focus back where it belongs. I do miss the kids and a lot of things about teaching, but right now I’m just enjoying my free time. I’m finally taking piano lessons, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.

Clark hasn’t had any changes in his job this year. Last spring we decided to start getting our house ready to sell. We’d like to have some land and eventually Zoe would like a horse. We’ve both been pretty busy working around the house, replacing things and sprucing it up. We were going to try to put our house on the market by fall (just passed) but we’re not sure now when we will. Maybe this summer? There’s no rush now since the bond for our school district finally passed (after four tries), so we are no longer in a rush to get out of this house.

We still have five chickens, two gerbils, one cat, and one dog. Lucy (the cat) has taken over sleeping in Gunny’s bed when he’s not in it. We recently bought him a second bed to keep in the living room because he’s such an old man when it comes to his bedtime. As soon as the sun goes down he starts rolling his eyes and trying to get us to go to bed. Now that he has a bed in the living room, he’s in it all the time. Last night Zoe was yelling at him because he wouldn’t get his gnarly carcass out of his living room bed to go to his bed in her room. His living room bed is much more plush, you see.

As you can see, all is well in Idaho. We are happy and healthy and so thankful for what we have. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year.

Love,

Clark, Jill, Zoe, and Annika