Day 1785 | Naturally Sweetened Cranberry Sauce

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It seems like I’m one of the few people at my Thanksgivings that actually likes cranberry sauce. It’s me, Chase, and Robbe and maybe one or two more folks that add it to their plate. I love it, though. I think it’s the perfect compliment to turkey and I will happily make a batch for just myself, if need be.

I’m really excited about the recipe I found this year. As you might remember, I make it a goal of mine to remove refined sugar from my baking and cooking whenever possible. Typical cranberry sauce recipes have a cup (ONE WHOLE CUP) of sugar. I think that’s just crazy. I’ve tried sweetening my cranberry sauce with pineapple juice in the past but this one with maple syrup is even better!

I’m going to put the recipe right here so I have it saved for next year (in case you’re curious, I added the orange zest but not the juice or cinnamon):

Click here For the recipe

Why yes, the cranberry sauce pictured above is in one of the pottery dishes I made. Thanks for noticing! ;)

Day 1784 | 4-H Card Making

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Have I told you how much I like 4-H? Today we spent part of the afternoon at an assisted living facility making holiday cards with the residents. I’ll hope for a bit more interaction between my boys and these residents in a future visit (they we’re pretty much head-down focusing on card-making during this trip), but I just love the inter-generational socializing. It brings so much joy to everyone involved.

Day 1783 | Christmas Tree Hunt

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I know it’s early. But Thanksgiving is so late this year. We figured if we waited until next weekend (our usual tradition), we’d only have a few weeks of enjoying the tree. So, here we are with a Christmas tree up, lit, and decorated before Thanksgiving. I never thought this would happen to me. I am pretty excited about having it done, though. I can’t wait to come home from our holiday travels next week and just enjoy the festive decor.

Day 1782 | The Christmas Stroll

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This is one of my favorite new holiday traditions. For the third year in a row, the boys and I (along with my mom and Ms. Barb) toured several houses around Eau Claire fully decked out for Christmas as a fundraiser for the community symphony. Such a fun fundraiser, right? It’s always the weekend before Thanksgiving and I love that it feels like the official kick-off to the holiday season for me. Even though it’s not exactly a kids event, the boys love it, too. And that makes me so very happy.

Day 1780 | Sports Fan

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The boys have been really into football this season. It’s sweet to see them watching the games and learning the rules. I remember being in that exact situation with my parents.

Robbe is not only a fan of football but most other sports as well. He’s also particularly interested in teams that aren’t from Wisconsin—a phase I remember tormenting my parents with as well. So when a friend of mine dropped off a hand-me-down Pirates jersey, this guy couldn’t have been happier. Thanks for making dreams come true, Amelia!

Day 1778 | The Weekend of Two Musicals

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It was a busy weekend for us. Maybe too busy. With three out of four members of the family continuing to battle coughs and fatigue, it took all our energy to check everyone off the list this weekend…and we did it!

On top of the big recital, the other highlights were attending the high school musical Tarzan starring all three of my brother’s girls. It was a blast to see them on stage together rocking their individual roles. As if that weren’t enough, we attended a community theater production of Elf: The Musical. It was the absolute best segway into the holiday season. So full of laughter and energy and Christmas spirit. Can you tell I love musicals?!?

Day 1777 | Piano Recital

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Our favorite pianist was at it again today. Chase played Golden Harp for the fall recital and he nailed it. It was a really lovely piece—more flowy and technical than he’s done so far.

I have a video of him playing it but I can’t get the upload process to cooperate right now and I’m too tired to fight with it. Check back tomorrow. I promise it’ll be worth it.

**It’s up! Here’s the promised video:

Day 1776 | Castle Knock Down

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What do you do when you can’t quite visualize the phys ed game the boys are both raving about? Take a detour past the hoola hoops at Target and ask them to reenact the game. Castle Knock Down involves each team (there are three teams) building three of these hoola hoop “castle” structures and then throwing balls to try to know down the other teams’ structures before yours go down. Apparently it’s a big hit with the early elementary crowd. Who knew?

Day 1773 | Hamster Headquarters

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I’ve been tasked with building Blossom a special hamster headquarters. Robbe is fairly excited about this project. Today was just step one. We got the general layout of the headquarters organized. Now we just need to find awesome things to fill the rooms with to help entertain our favorite furry friend.

You’ll notice that all of the rooms that branch off are connected by tubes so it can be dismantled and stored when we need a break from the headquarters. My previous attempt at starting the headquarters failed because I went too big with my box. It’s hard to store a giant box when you don’t want to stare at it anymore. You’re welcome for that time-saving tip.

**Health status update: Robbe was home sick today. His fever didn’t come back but he still seems pretty wiped out. He’s lobbying pretty hardcore to go to school tomorrow. Apparently gym is a pretty substantial motivator. We’ll see how he sleeps.

Day 1771 | The Game of Life

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Ever since finding this gem of a game at my parents’ house, the boys have been playing non-stop. I think I’ve played it more in the last month than the entirety of my childhood. It’s a solid game, though, and it really makes you understand the important of a high salary. Just the lesson we want our children to internalize. Ha!

Also, the little one was looking pretty rough tonight. Think happy thoughts for a fever-free morning, would you? Much appreciated.

Day 1770 | An Update

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I’ve been skating by the last couple of weeks with a post here and there, but I realized a full update about what’s going around here might be nice.

A few things to note:

  • The bathroom is completely gutted and now it’s starting to be built back up again. The process has been incredibly interesting. I’ve enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The plumber was here yesterday to re-work all the pipes and the carpenters are back today to start framing up the new spaces. No one is willing to commit to a finish date, but there’s *a bit* of hope that they could wrap up before Christmas. Otherwise, it’ll be just after the new year. We’re handling it just fine, though, so you don’t have to worry about us…yet!

  • As you might remember, Chase was sick last week. He got the Walking Pneumonia diagnosis on Friday and I’m happy to report that he’s hugely improved. I’d say he’s at about 90% at this point—quite a shocking turnaround from last week. We’re all healthy at the moment so hopefully that continues for a least a little while.

  • I’m officially [mostly] done with the book festival. There are a couple of wrap-up meetings next week and I need to finish compiling the survey results (but I’m getting close), but, other than that, I can put the 2019 festival to bed. It’s been an exhausting few months and I’m grateful to a supportive husband and patient kids that enable me to do this volunteer work and help the community and a worthwhile cause. I’m definitely ready for a break, though. I see more puzzles and reading in my near future. Here’s the photo gallery with lots of shots from the festival in case you’re interested.

  • One final update: it’s cold here. Like, middle of winter cold. I’m not sure what’s happening (I mean, we all really know what’s happening), but I’m a little worried about what’s to come this winter. Right now it feels crisp and refreshing. I don’t think this sunny disposition is going to hold up for the next six months, though.

There you go! All caught up. :)

Day 1767 | Boys Weekend

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This was supposed to be the weekend my dad and Chris take the boys up to the hunting cabin for some quality solo time. Unfortunately, Chase’s Walking Pneumonia diagnosis means that he had to sit this one out. So sad, I know.

The three healthy ones hit the road this morning and Chase and I made the most of the mommy and me time. It still didn’t make up for missing the hunting cabin but I’m glad to say he [finally] turned a corner today and seems to be feeling much better. It made me so happy to have that sense of humor and spunky personality back again.