December 2017

December was busy until the last week, when things suddenly slowed down for the holidays.  This was a good year for Christmas-related activities.  We attended several parties and shows, Kylen went caroling and started a little ministry handing out candy canes and tracts.  He also volunteered in concessions at a local theater and went to a Christmas dance and a couple of teen writer's events.  Greg had basketball Tuesdays, and Kylen had voice lessons Fridays.  Between the three of us, we saw four movies (two free from a rewards program), which is unheard of.  Usually, we see one movie every several months.  Our favorites were Justice League and Star Wars.

Christmas party #1 at a friend's house.  Kylen and his partner won the Christmas trivia game!  Their prize was festive antlers.  :)

Christmas party #2.  Technically, a game night.  I played Telestrations for the first time and was impressed with one of the drawings by a talented teenager.

Let this be known: my son seriously does not need to wear socks with holes.  He just doesn't tell me when he needs new ones!  Greg said when he was a kid this was called new crop potatoes.  Lol.

Christmas party #3.  An annual event at our co-op.  I helped make the yarn ball decorations.  :)

We ordered Christmas cards from simplytoimpress and were quite impressed!  A little more expensive than most but better quality.

I saw this picture in a magazine by Ken Orvidas and absolutely loved it, but I wasn't able to find a title or a way to order a print.  My picture of it is a little washed out, but you get the idea.  I love the happy colors!

We saw a couple friends' basketball games.

One of the shows we saw, Elf Jr., with several friends in the cast.  They did fantastic!

Kylen was inspired to write his own tract.  We added stickers, put them in plastic sleeves with a candy cane, punched a hole in each bag, and attached a rubber band.  A couple of families helped place them on doorknobs one afternoon.  Kylen got the idea shortly before Christmas, so we had to scramble to get them printed and prepped, but we were happy with how it went.  He'd like to do it again next year.

We enjoyed a Christmasy meal at the CDA resort.  I love, love, love their salad bar.  They have the best Caesar dressing.

I received an awesome belated birthday package from my cousin (belated is tradition!).  :)

A friend of Kylen's published his first book!  We went to his book launch party at a library and heard him speak about self-publishing.  We haven't had a chance to read it yet but will soon!

In recent years, we've made fudge for our holiday indulgence.  This time we made haystacks.  I grew up having them at Grandma's and my parents' house.  Definitely nostalgic, definitely yummy.

We had friends over for fellowship and a Christmas gift exchange.  They also gave us a great anniversary gift!

My first set of tiles in a Scrabble game.  Too bad proper nouns aren't allowed!

I posted about Christmas here.

After Christmas, we went to see Star Wars.  Greg and Kylen waited in line while I browsed shops.

The last week of December we mostly hung out at home and played Zelda.  We were going to have friends over New Year's Eve and meet family New Year's Day, but Kylen got sick.  So the year went out without a bang.  2018 should be eventful with Kylen graduating.  Our lives will change drastically, but we look forward to seeing what God has next.  :)

On Your Mark! Game

Ever since I've considered teaching a drawing class at co-op, I've had an affinity for drawing games.  I stumbled across one at Hallmark with good reviews and decided to buy it.  You wouldn't normally think of Hallmark as being a game store, but this one is actually pretty good!  I enjoyed it most with two or three players, but it can handle up to eight.

There are categories for drawings such as "things", "activities", and "famous characters".  Everyone has to guess the title of the other players' artworks.  Here's one by Kylen.

An added challenge is that players are required to draw on a surface that already has markings.  The markings must be incorporated into the drawing.  It can require a lot of creativity, which is a big part of what makes the game fun.  We all enjoyed seeing how the other players worked their markings in.  Greg and Kylen are very creative and artistic, even though Kylen doesn't usually express himself through drawing.

We ended up taking numerous pictures, because we were often impressed with each other's work.  Here is one by Greg.  He had to incorporate the moon shape.

I did this one.  It had the black circles where the table and chairs are drawn.

I highly recommend this game, especially for people who like to draw or are creative.

Late Summer Outing

To celebrate Kylen's completion of hunter's ed, we treated him out to dinner at Clinkerdagger.  It was such a nice evening that afterwards, we took a leisurely walk beside the river.  :)

We could still see traces of a wedding below that had just ended.

 

This is Kylen's meal, which he LOVED.  I have mixed feelings about this place.  The food is good but not good enough to justify the prices.  The outside seating and views were a bonus, but we had to deal with bees (which - to their credit - they warned us about).  It wasn't horrible, but it was annoying. One of my biggest complaints is that the food was sloppily plated.  You don't see it on Kylen's plate below (I cleaned it up a bit with my photo editor), but my plate was excessively sloppy with smears of food everywhere.  I don't remember having this problem at any other restaurant, except maybe a place like Denny's.  It's inexcusable at a pricey establishment.  And our server was quite cool, almost to the point of rudeness.

Time for our walk!  This area is right next to the restaurant.

On to the falls!

Greg captured a couple of really nice shots of the dam!