A Highly Unusual Game of Battleship

Snowshoeing Expedition

No, we didn't just work... we also went for a beautiful snowshoe hike this afternoon. The littlest two just walked along in normal boots after the trail was broken.

Winter Hazard Removal

Here are the before, during, and after photos of removal of several downed birches that were hanging over the power lines at Ste Em. Neal and his nice German chainsaw got a good Canadian winter workout.

Skating with Jonathan

There was no snow in Montreal, but we had lots of fun skating the first week. Portia and Jonathan both learned to skate. Wiley re-learned and Graydon is an old pro. They also got to "drive" the Zamboni!

Watching the Zamboni

Granddad and his No 10!

There's something about the connection between Granddad and the really little ones. Welcome to the club of 10, Elliott!!

Fun in the Snow

Here are a few catch-up photos from our first week in Montreal. Sneaking them into the blog while it's still 2018...

Watching the Zamboni

Portia at Olympics Day!

Tante Nise’s Mesquite Bean Brownies Revival

Apparently Nana stored away some of Graydon's mesquite bean flour from last year, and now that Portia is having a couple of days with Tante Nise, Nana, and Gramps at the lake, it has resurfaced for an encore performance in brownies. Looks like Portia thinks the batter is yummy!

Claudia’s Christmas Concert!

We all attended the Christmas concert put on by the community orchestra Claudia has been playing with for a couple of months now. We really enjoyed the music - they even had a short song-along segment!

What IS that thing???

Graydon's hair has been getting so long that I joked we could braid it. Turns out not quite... but the effort took a turn for the hilarious and once started, Claudia and I couldn't be stopped. Graydon left it in most of the day, even to the end-of-year party for his soccer team!

Fall Leaves!

Thanks to Claudia for getting this great photo!

Christmas is Coming!

How do we know? It's not the weather!! In a German house, you can always tell Christmas is on the way when industrial-scale cookie baking commences. Claudia (and Portia) have been busy!!

Gooey gone just a little too far...

Graydon has finally crossed the line from "gooey in the middle" to "it's blueberry cobbler, not blueberry bread." We swapped out plates for bowls and spoons and enjoyed it nonetheless!

Trampoline-Induced Static!

This exemplar puts our tree-wrapping efforts to shame...

It did look quite beautiful, though!

YTD growth totals

Graydon: 2.5"
Wiley: 2.5"
Portia: 4.0"

Thankful for Dripping Springs

Thankful we can spend a beautiful long weekend post-Thanksgiving here in Dripping Springs. We finished the last of this year's scheduled "lopper duty" today and even took a bite it of the areas scheduled for 2019 (plus tackling an area we had forgotten in 2017...). The kids were big helpers: Wiley put in a full-body effort with the loppers and Portia was our "cedar spotter." Graydon is an honest-to-goodness member of the clearing team with his "super loppers" (no photo, sorry). Now we're spending a relaxing afternoon at camp, with a game of Settlers to while away the afternoon in between tending the fire for our dinner (burgers and cobbler, yum!!). The Spanish Oaks are so beautiful this time of year!

Cleaning up after cobbler

How did we get the Dutch oven this clean? Click the YouTube link to find out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKpIy9WFEtY

Claudia’s Favorite Vehicle

Claudia has taken a shining to the four-wheeler. She was also a big trooper on our trip, hauling cut cedar to the chipper for hours to help clear a four-wheeler capable trail from camp to the big new clearing.

Before-and-after on the “Missed Clearing”

This clearing was scheduled for "lopper duty" in 2017 and we somehow missed it. Being late 2018 now, there were a bunch of 3-4ft saplings that needed to be taken down. That makes the before-and-after pictures all the more striking!

LHAB

Graydon got to march back from the stadium with Daddy and Gramps.

Bedtime Fail

They were supposed to have gone upstairs to get ready for bed.

Cyclocross

Graydon won another cyclocross race (with authority), but Portia came home with the real prize (picture coming soon).

Hoppity Hop

Look who I found hopping around the house.

More Soccer!

Graydon's team battled back to come back from a 3:0 first-half deficit to win 5:3 in the final game of this weekend's tournament. What made the victory all the sweeter was that it was against another Lonestar team that they have lost against several times in their last few matches both this season and last year. It really was a great game!

Rockin’ the Ninja Turtles

Looks like our preschool hired an honest-to-goodness photographer for this year's school photos. I had to scroll through reams of proofs of little girls in fancy dresses and (ridiculous) bows in their hair to find our little miss rockin' her Ninja Turtles. That's my girl!

Hey, a Real Family Photo!

This represents the rarest of rare occasions... where we are *all* in one picture at the same time! This was taken at an even hosted by our Au Pair agency, and they brought in photographers. The photo above is just the quick iPhone version sent by our agency coordinator. Hopefully one of the "real" photos will make it onto our Christmas cards for this year!

“Hiking” in St Edwards Park

'Uncle' Erik came to visit so we went for a hike!