Thursday, December 26

I had grand plans when I woke up on Thursday morning.  I was going to un-decorate my house from Christmas.  But then my dad sent me a text asking me what I was doing and invited us out to his house for lunch, and I decided the un-decorating could wait.  My dad is no spring chicken, and I've decided that when he wants to do something, everything else can wait.  I treasure each day with him.

(I love his Christmas tree.)

We ate sandwiches, chips and dip, then I cleaned up and the boys went outside to shoot their shotguns.  Noah took his bow and arrow and target, so he and Drew did that while Graham and Jonah shot the shotguns.  After I got the kitchen back to clean, Dad and I retired to the living room with cups of coffee.

At one point, before we left, Dad pulled out this notebook that he has been writing his life story in.  I snapped a picture of him reading it to us~I wish I'd gotten one of him laughing.  At one point, all six of us were cracking up listening to him regale tales of his youth.

Isn't he cute?

We left his house at about two thirty so the boys could come home and go on a bike ride.  They've found this trail that goes back in the woods kinda near our house, and they've gone every single day for the last five days.  Drew invited his friend Tom to ride with them, then they all came back home to play basketball.  Graham got invited to a friend's house to spend the night and Tom spent the night here with Drew.

About Graham~not only does he work for an amazing company, working there has given him the opportunity to make new friends.  One of them is Daniel, who is at least three years older than him.  (We've also discovered that when teenagers are homeschooled, age does not matter.  Two of Graham's closest friends are seniors.)  Daniel invited him to a motor cross race last Saturday night, and last night they were just going to hang out at home.  They live in the country and have a firing range in their backyard, so I'm sure fun was had.  Graham wasn't going to do any shooting, but Daniel got a new bow and arrow for Christmas that he probably tried out.  ;)

I am so thankful for this about Graham; prayers have been answered regarding this oldest son of mine.  For some reason I will never understand, his "friends" pick on him relentlessly.  (I've actually witnessed it, which was a painful thing for a mom to have to do.)  Because of that, he hangs out with girls and older teenagers.  I'm thankful that this doesn't seem to bother him as much as it bothers me.  He has a huge personality and he overlooks a lot.

After Graham left, the other boys played basketball all evening.  We left to get dinner at one point, then the boys went upstairs to play ping pong.

I love Noah in this hat.  :)

When they went upstairs, I watched the last of my Christmas movies.  Twinkles did this for the next few hours.

Well, I have tons of laundry just waiting to be washed, dried and folded.  Happy Friday to you and happy 37th birthday to my favorite man, the one I like to call Toddley.  He's finally as old as I am.  ;)  Here's my favorite recent picture of him~it was taken while we were on vacation in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Love to all!