Setting Up the Christmas Tree

 The day after Thanksgiving is typically the start of Christmas decorating.  This year was no different!  Sadly, I now realize that we did not get any pictures of Thanksgiving!   We hosted here and had Nana Vicki, Bumpa, Uncle Cory, Nana Karen, plus the three of us here.   Connor was at his Mom's.

I lugged everything upstairs (I couldn't wait for anyone else to help!!!).   Eric and I fluffed branches for the tree.  Ramsey helped put ornaments on the tree.  

This is always the start of my most favorite time of the year!  We're praying for a year free of COVID, illness, etc, and full of FUN and activities and CHURCH!

Being Thankful

 Every night, when we say prayers with Ramsey, we talk about what we're grateful for and we thank God.  For Thanksgiving, the kids wrote a creative writing piece about what they were thankful for.

I loved it!   He sounded so grownup.  Then, he gets to the part about his silly dog.  ha!  Here's what he was referring to:

Jango literally sleeps upside down!!  

Ramsey, we're thankful for you too, sweetie.   We've got a pretty darn nice family.  :-)

Junior Achievement - Our City

 Ramsey's class really gets some fun visitors; from the museum, guest readers, and also various community people for Junior Achievement classes.

During this session, the kiddos learned about Aberdeen; from its streets and byways, to many things it offers the community.

Connor's Home!

 Everyone gets pretty excited when Connor comes home for a visit.  We hadn't seen him for so long!!

The roads to the south weren't as bad from the ice.  He had to drive super slow for about 20-30 miles or so.   We were happy the storm didn't hinder his visit!

One Wicked Ice Storm

 Rain in November!  We thought that was strange.  

Then, it started freezing.  The drizzles froze to the ground, roads, telephone poles, and anywhere it could stick.   It made one HELLUVA mess.  We don't see ice storms usually.  Those usually occur more south.  It's a weird year, so anything is possible.

After a while, we started hearing cracking, loud crunching, and bellowing thuds!

The noises we heard were quite scary and had no idea what was going on.   When we went outside to check (trying VERY hard not to fall on our butts, as the ice on the deck was about 3/4" thick at the time), we saw branches that were so weighed down with ice, they were hanging on the roof.

The sounds we heard were large branches cracking and falling to the ground, most likely brushing on the side of the house and deck as they fell.

Needless to say, we had no school for a few days.  Driving was NOT an option as it was too cold for the ice to melt.

Eric and I were glad that we had the tree trimmers come a few months before to cut down large branches that were actually overhanging our roof and also the HUGE limb that was lingering over the neighbor's house.  Sidenote: The neighbor was bummed when we had done that, as he liked the shade.  ...bet he's glad we did it after this wreck of a storm!!

This is the nieghbor's little Elm tree that's usually spry, with branches sticking straight up in the air.  Now, limbs were touching the ground.

When the temps warm up and it's not too dangerous to walk in the yard, clean-up efforts will be a real mess. Ugh!

In the midst of all of the chaos, the ice was quite pretty. 

When the roads were finally decent enough to drive, I had taken a quick trip to town.  Here are some pictures I took of the crazy ice that covered everything.  

Every blade of grass had a thick coat of ice.  Walking on this was like crunching over glass.

Here's a pic from the North Bridge, looking south.  

Allergies

 Ramsey has had horrific and rather dibilitating headaches for a while - dozens in a month for a while.  We have to figure out what's going on.  Is it motion sickness from an hour on the bus at night, is it dehydration, stress, or something serious.  Maybe it's allergies?!?!

By the process of elimination, Ramsey was scheduled with the local allergist for a standard "poke test".

He took the small pokes very well.

Yet he still told me to take his picture so he could make this particular face:

He knows he was being rather melodramatic!

In the end, there was nothing "serious" they could find; only very slight allergic reactions to chicken, beef, and eggs (unless they're baked in cookies, cakes, etc).

First Snow of the Season

 Ugly picture of a bland terrain.  But, for my yearly documentation, the first snow of the season was today!

And, so it begins....  *groan*.

Learning Our Lineage

 Oh, our family has a LOT of history and a number of stories, from their emigration from other countries and travels to their homesteads within the United States.

Ramsey's class's most recent creative writing assignment was to learn about their lineage and where they came from.

I dug out a centennial book from 1986, plus a history on my Dad's side of the family.  

We found all kinds of crazy stories.   One of them, a great great great ancestor came to South Dakota from Wisconsin (originally from Wales) on a trip, to survey the land for homesteading.  On the way back home, he and his friend (who were traveling by boat on the Missouri River) got into some nasty weather and waters (in frigit temperatures). The boat capsized and they lost everything.  Our ancestor's friend drowned.   That said, the ancestor returned to Wisconsin and brought his family.  They homesteaded by Hecla, being some of the first settlers in the area.  

Ramsey talked to grandpas and grandmas and Auntie Sarah who all gave him good information!  Auntie Sarah even had some terrific pictures from Eric's side of the family.

The writing assignment apparently wasn't meant to be long, as he had a very small amount of writing space.  But, the information he learned about our family was pretty amazing!

Reading Challenge - October

 ...Another successful reading challenge completed for the month of October.   Ramsey's class has nightly homework to read (aloud) for at least 15 minutes.   If they surpass 24 or more days a month, they receive a special bonus treat.  Many times, it's a personal pan pizza.   This month, juice and candy!