christmas tree hunt

here are some scenes from our christmas tree hunt today. we went to the same place we have been going for the past eight years - grupp's christmas tree farm! remember last year? snow was on the ground! not so today. but it was still cold!

and this year pa clubb got to join us! and, of course, it was mallory's first christmas tree hunt (outside of the womb), so that was exciting (though she slept in the backpack carrier for most of the time).

enjoy the pictures!

girls' night in

as i mentioned in the previous post, all the boys went out to look for deer after thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and all the girls stayed home. here's a look at the fun-filled evening. (it looks like mallory was the life of the party!)

pretend driving with pa clubb

yesterday before thanksgiving dinner, griffin wanted to do some "pretend driving" (this is where i let him sit in the driver's seat of the truck and he pretends to drive to different places. you never know where you're going when you get in the truck with him!). this time instead of daddy being his passenger, pa clubb was the lucky one who got to ride with griffin. and guess where they went? costa rica! yep, griffin told pa clubb that they were going to costa rica! luckily they made it back in time for thanksgiving dinner!

griffin: "on our way to costa rica!"

griffin: "what is up with all this traffic?!"

made it back safe and sound!

after dinner all the girls stayed at home and all the boys took a real drive just down the road to north park to try to see how many deer we could find. we found lots! we probably saw 40+ deer. we used our headlights, some flash lights, and a pair of night vision binoculars to help us since it was dark by the time we got to the park. griffin loved it. and pa clubb taught him a funny sound to make to get the deer's attention. i'll have to get a video of that soon!

after spotting the deer it was time to head home for some chocolate pie! mmm!

turkey day mtb (tradition still alive)

this morning mark and i met up at 6:30am to continue our annual tradition of starting turkey day with a mountain bike ride. there was no rain or snow and temperature was about 40 degrees (not too bad, especially compared to last year when there was snow on the ground and the wind chill was in the 20's).

i forgot my bike light and his did not work for some reason, so we started riding in the dark (the sun does not rise until close to 7am). we rode very cautiously in the dark, then were able to pick up the pace and ride normally once the sun starting popping out.

it was a great way to start the day. next...thanksgiving dinner!! mmmm!

off to work

i took ainsley and griffin to work with me today since it was going to be a slow day due to the thanksgiving holiday tomorrow. it also gave shannon a little less chaos to deal with today as she was taking care of a few things around the house and getting ready for the arrival of pa clubb.

ainsley and griffin both took their backpacks with them. and they were packed full of "work stuff" since they both kept saying they were going to do so some work at my office. griffin even said he was going to "work on some email." cracked me up!

it was a fun day. we had a good time at work and also (especially) on the bus ride to/from work. this is how ainsley and griffin felt about our time together today as we were preparing to catch the bus home at the end of the day...

now it's off to bed early tonight. have to meet my friend, mark, at 6:30am to continue our annual turkey day mountain bike tradition. if you recall, last year i had to keep the tradition alive solo! i'm glad i'll have a partner in crime this year.

thanksgiving comes early

when i got home from work today i was presented with a wonderful present from ainsley and griffin - a thanksgiving craft they made for me. it was a thanksgiving wreath of little hands with "thank you's" written on each one for me (e.g., "thank you for chocolate milk"). shannon said that ainsley and griffin came up with almost all of the "thank you's."

coming home to a greeting like that makes me one of the most thankful people in the world! thanksgiving came early for me! (and, in reality, we strive to make every day in our house a day of thanksgiving. more on that later.)

here are a few pictures of my warm welcome home!

they also made some turkeys! good times!

happy thanksgiving!

contrasts, convictions, and crazy choices: unpacking "packing hope" (PARTS 2 and 3)

i have added PART 2 and PART 3 of this three-part post to the end of PART 1 so that it is in one continuous flow for reading and you don't have to switch back and forth between different posts.

read the entire post (PART 1, 2, and 3) in one combined post here.