The Accidental Boilermaker

 We decorated the Christmas tree yesterday. We still have lots of Christmas decorations to put up around the house so my big task today is clean and make space for all of them. While putting Jameson to sleep last night, he asked that we please don’t set up the nativity without him because it’s his favorite part. The other fun or kinda fun kinda stressful, remind me not to sign up next year, was door decorating at school. I wasn’t going to sign up. Then I had an idea and both Evelyn and Jameson’s door needed a volunteer.  Then I waited and thought do I really want to do this. Then Jameson’s door was taken so I said ok fine I’ll do Evelyn’s. Overall I am happy with how it turned out, especially the fireplace. After the fact I wished I had taped paper to the whole door instead of taping the letters and books to the door. But I also wanted to finish as soon as I could. There were some highly creative doors at school so while there category prizes I don’t think I will be winning on...

 We spent Thanksgiving in Decatur. We ate lots of good food and watched lots of soccer.  On Friday Evelyn, my dad and I went on 4 mile run/walk. My Uncle Phil came over for lunch and brought his new puppy Charlie.  Later in the day, we went for a 3 mile hike which was a little longer than we had planned but it was very nice.  Evelyn and Jameson got new Christmas pjs too. Another great Thanksgiving in the books. 

 I recently finished two crochet blankets. The first one was a baby blanket for my cousin who just had a little boy. I also made two hats to match. The second blanket is for Nate to use at work. His office can be cold and he is also moving to an office that doesn't have good acoustics so he wanted to something to help soak up sound. 

 Tonight was the winter wonder dash 5K where you get to run through the fantasy of lights. It was very cold and quite windy and even a little snowy but still a lot of fun.  I ran with Jameson while Nate and Evelyn stuck together.  Jameson had a good race.  He ran 31:21 and was 229 out 1050 runners overall. I was just a tiny bit behind him at 31:28.  Nate and Evelyn did awesome with a time of 33:37.  They finished 306 and 307.   You get to run two loops through the lights which is fun and allows you a good chance to see everything. Nate said Evelyn was focused on looking at the light displays for the first loop and then focused on running the second. Jameson was just go right from the start, but I still felt like I enjoyed the sights. 

 We took a weekend trip to Michigan and the cottage. On Friday, the third graders had a nice Veterans Day program we were able to attend. Evelyn was allowed to be dismissed after the program at 2pm so we also took Jameson out of school a little early and were able to get a head start on our drive. It was cold with snow on and off all day Saturday.  Evelyn didn’t seem to mind. She would go outside for a little while to swing or look for rocks and then come back inside to warm up. We watched some sports, enjoyed watching for birds and squirrels, played some games, and mostly just relaxed.  Sunday morning we had an early start so we could attend church back in Hudsonville. Nate got to play guitar with Grandpa Paul and the worship team which was extra special. Evelyn also helped greet with Grandma Pat. While not an overly busy weekend, someone was quite tired on the drive home. 

 Evelyn and Jameson had a small piano recital today. Jameson was definitely a little nervous but he did a great job. They were the first and second performers which meant we could all relax and enjoy the other students’ pieces. We also learned a friend from school and from GOTR also takes lessons from our piano teacher.