The Boone Family

This school year I stumbled upon this book called The Christmas Tree Farm.  The story tells about a little boy who helps his Grandparents on their Christmas Tree Farm.  They cut down the trees, Grandma makes cookies for the customers, and it's a family business.  At the end of the story they have one tree in the backyard they don't cut down because it was the first Christmas tree they planted.  Instead they use food to decorate this tree for wildlife.  It inspired me to start a new tradition with the boys.  We rolled pinecones in peanut butter then birdseed and strung fresh cranberries on strings. Next we took them over to Beaver Creek Park by our house and decorated the trees.  There were birds flying into the trees as we were finishing up.  It was pretty cool. Eat up wild animals!  Merry Christmas!

Grochowalski Christmas always happens on Christmas Eve...however this year we celebrated it earlier due to scheduling conflicts.  In the past two years it has been held in the basement of a church that my Aunt Pam attends.  It is a huge room with a kitchen which makes it easier since all of our families are growing in number and size.  This year Micah, my cousin's son, wanted to play the piano for Grandma Grocho so we all went into the sanctuary to listen.  Nolan cuddled right on up to Grandma and she loved every minute of it. We always play the white elephant game with gifts and now the kids are old enough to "help" us choose/fight for our gift of choice.  They get a kick out of it and it makes the game more fun! Before we all went our separate ways, we gathered all the great grandkids around the Christmas tree for a group photo.  It's hard to see Grandma tucked back in there but you can see her smile.  Being with all those little ones just bri...

Right now this whole parenting thing is exhausting... Carter is currently testing us every chance he gets with his attitude and sarcasm.  I give him credit for thinking things through but at times it takes everything in me to not yell out, "Stop being a smart ass!" Yep, this is a dinner plate full of rocks by Carter's bed, the reason is yet to be known? Landon has taken being a "picky" eater to the next level.  He refuses to try anything new and judges every meal by what it looks like.  Last night Bob made homemade mac and cheese, Landon said he wouldn't take a bite.  That kid sat for over an hour at the kitchen table while the rest of us ate, cleaned up dinner plates, and began watching a movie together.  I hope that his strong will ends up helping him later in life but right now it's giving me gray hair. Nolan is so "matter a fact" with information right now.  At dinner, he out of now where says, "Mom, did you know everyone h...

It's time to grab our Christmas tree but unfortunately the tree farm we have been going to for several years closed down.  We stumbled upon a cute little tree farm called Wilcox Tree Farm in Grafton.  The weather was wonderful so we were looking forward to the adventure.  When we arrived they handed us a hand saw and said, "Go and find your tree". The trees were sprinkled all over this beautiful field and they were all different sizes and shapes.  Grandma Angie was with us too.  We walked all over looking for the perfect tree. Lumber Jack Carter Cutting it down ourselves was so much fun!  Each boy worked so hard to saw it down. The Boone Family Christmas tree...of course the tree was quite far from the car so Bob and the boys had to drag it back to the trail for the tractor to pick us up. The Boys are nothing but fun! Nolan got so lucky because they let me stand on the pedal that shakes the tree.   Daddy-o tying ...

The holidays approach so quickly and at times I feel like me miss out on doing the "token" fun things because life gets busy.  The Malears were able to head on over to our house for a few hours to join in the gingerbread house decorating fun.  I usually hot glue the graham crackers together and let the kids cover it in frosting.  Carter's only request was that we use only frosting to hold the crackers together.  I made a mad run to Target to buy gingerbread house kits to use.  OH MY GOODNESS...trying to get the houses to hold with the frosting was a nightmare.  I was so close to throwing all the crackers and frosting on the driveway and driving over it until I asked Carter to help and by George, he got his house to stand up on his own!  Needless to say the rest of the houses were held together by hot glue and life is good! Ben and Lilly chose to work together on the "gingerbread mansion".  They worked hard for about 3 solid minutes and then ...

This Thanksgiving we were headed down to The Lodge.  The boys had been counting down the days until we were jumping in the car to head down to The Lodge.  Oh how we love our time outdoors in nature at the Lodge. This year James was so excited to smoke the turkey and inject it with some sweet juices.   Our new favorite game is Clue Jr.  Wow, this game takes quite a bit of time to complete!!! All of the adults took turns playing with the boys. We lucked out with some great fall weather where we could take four wheeler rides, nature hikes, and spend time out by the campfire. So thankful for the moments we get together as a family The boys are in their element when they are outside On our nature hike we found a deer skull.  The boys thought this was so cool and we even scared Maw Maw with it too! When Lincoln arrived, Nolan and him were inseparable. Mostly up to no good, but having the best time while doing it. All the boys love their sweet ...