Stairway to Heaven

 I have heard about this "Stairway to Heaven" for the last two years, and a few weeks ago, my fiend Amy took me there.  You have to park on base and walk 3/4 a mile to get to it.  Then you hike up 260 steps to the top.  There is a fence at the top, so you have to turn around and just go back down.  And then you do it again.  And when your legs are all jelly and incapable of going up again, you walk back to your car and take your sore little self home.

I am triumphant at the top!!

And there's Marian, kicking my fanny!  She and Callie wanted to go do it with me  since they were out of school.  Marian went 3 times. 

I only did it twice.  This is the view from the bottom.  You can't really tell that the steps are too long to easily walk up them.  You have to run or double-step.  So that's awesome. (I do not run it!)

Marian at the top!!  She's a rock star.

How was your Thanksgiving?!

I made a few pies.

There were some Levi snuggles. 

 And I made a turkey.

What I did not do was take any pictures.  I made my favorite things (Pie, turkey, stuffing) and we took those to the church potluck.  It was full of good food and it meant I did not have to cook all the things.  We got to eat and enjoy friends.  There were lots of leftovers to take home, so that was awesome.  all in all, it was a nice, low-key day.  I prefer Thanksgiving with family, but in the absence of that, I like the potluck.  I don't really want to slave over cooking for other people because that means less leftovers, and ...well, it isn't family.  So the potluck gives me some social contact, and leftovers, and doesn't try to pretend like it is a family gathering.  I know, I have issues!

Rylee vs the Dentist: Take 2

 Rylee did have to go back to the dentist.  He wanted to put a spacer in where the tooth had been- the tooth that had been pulled a few weeks prior.  Rylee was mostly cooperative, but very stressed out.  The dentist was super patient and nice and he was able to get it on after much work.  Apparently the tooth he wanted to attach it to was an odd shape and the spacer was tricky to get placed.

Rylee whined a lot and cried a little.

But Dr. Buttars was incredibly kind to her and was able to get it done.

Random things

I made fuge.  It made me think of my dad, so I took this picture.  But I'm pretty sure I forgot to send it to him.

The middle school PTO sold pies again this year.  I provided 8 pies for them to sell. And I found boxes to stash them in, which made my life much easier.

Rylee borrowed someone else's glasses and wanted to know how she looked in them.  Spoiler:  she looked cute!

And Mother Nature apparently did not get the memo that it is the end of November and these temperatures are NOT okay!

Why I love Playing Telestrations with the Girls

Smart Cookie

I had to attend an awards assembly for Rylee. 

I don't even know what she got.

Something for being an awesome kid. 

 This is her with her fabulous teacher, Mrs. Nisely.  We like her a lot.

My cute little goober. 

Rylee with her gang of hooligans.  I love these 4 girls nd I'm so glad Rylee has good friends this year. 

 And we had to take this photo because it is so cute. 

Totally unrelated..... Marian got a card and was so confused as to why someone would send her a card for no reason.  She was delighted though. 

Making Macarons

If you know Rylee, you know she has a slight Macaron addiction.  Not to be confused with macaroons.  Maracrons are hard to get and are expensive.  I did google how to make them and it looked overwhelmingly complicated, so I refused to.  

Rylee is nothing if not persistent.  I'm sure it comes from being the overlooked last child!  She nagged for months. She printed out the recipe and made sure we had all the ingredients.  So finally, I told her she was welcome to make them.  I figured if they came out terribly, that was okay, then she'd know how hard they were to make.  

Her sisters assisted with reading and following the directions, and lo and behold!  They came out nicely!  If we'd figured out how to make them the right size, they would have been perfect.  As it was, they looked nice and tasted delicious.  I was really impressed!

Delaney

I got to go to the Award Assembly for Delaney.  She got good grades.

And she was just thrilled to go up and get a certificate that says so.

 She did give me this cute smile.

But she refused to pose after with the certificate. 

 She also has managed to damage herself.  Something about landing badly doing a round-off and then having to do jump-rope in gym caused a sprain.

It is not broken, but is causing a lot of pain and discomfort, mostly to Delaney but she's happy to share the unhappiness.

What's happening at our house

Marian and I went to some thrift stores and we had a marvelous time.  This hat was awesome. 

I don't know that I mentioned our freezer died.  I am assuming that being on the back porch and losing power multiple times (either due to a neighborhood wide outage or the outlet shorting out) had something to do with it.  But the freezer did stop actually freezing, and I was sad.  I was at the store for something else and saw that freezers were on sale, so we took advantage.

 And to prevent future unexpected power losses due to outlets shorting out, I purchased this waterproof cover from Amazon.  I had grand designs to install it myself, but discovered that the covers already installed were incompatible.  I emailed the Housing Office who told me I had to fill out some form, but then they sent workers over.  The workers looked at it and then installed it for me.  Yay!  So now I have a freezer keeping my Turkey frozen till Thanksgiving.

Rylee has a little too much fun with my phone. 

My new favorite shirt. 

I decided I am going to make a T-shirt quilt.  I have tons of race shirts that I never wear because they never actually fit.  So I have begun the complicate process of figuring out the best way to do this.   

 I made my first purchase with what I like to call, "The Sandy Fox Legacy Fund".  I have been coveting furniture like this for years, and could not justify spending the amount of money necessary to make it become mine.  With Mom's life insurance, I decided I could.  So now every time I walk by my gorgeous cabinet and cute chest of drawers, I am thrilled- because I still love them so much, and because I think of Mom when I look at them.

It is always fun when every phone in the house goes off with an emergency alert.  It is even better when you remember that there is a practice drill happening.  There was an earthquake drill that morning, but apparently the sirens were only suppose to go off for 2 minutes.... not 40!