November 26, 2021

Friday Night Photos

It's only 5:00 PM as I start this, but man, it feels like it's so much later! I don't like that it gets dark so early. I actually have a lot of photos from this past week, so I'll just get right to it...

When I bought those Muk Luks from Kohl's the other day, they were in a large bag. For some reason, the cats were all obsessed with this bag! Estelle hogged it for a while, and then when she finally got out, Chick went in there and leaped out to attack anything walking by. (Don't worry, they were supervised and not in danger of suffocating themselves.)

Oh! And the Kindle Paperwhite I mentioned was only $85 a few days ago? Well, two days later the price is now $160 for the same model with the same options! I had been planning to buy one to give away on the blog, but I was going to wait to see if they were even cheaper on Black Friday. Well, that definitely did not happen. If you got one for $85, that's awesome! I've never seen them cheaper than that.

These are just some more pictures from when Luke and Riley were over. In the morning, Luke and I played a squirrel game (for ages 3+) and it was so cute! If you're looking for a cute game for kids around that age (I'd say about ages 3-6 years) this one is super easy for them to learn. It reminds me of Hi-Ho Cherry Oh from when I was a kid. Here is the (affiliate) link on Amazon: The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game


The kids love to make popcorn at my house! We use various methods of making it, which is what they find most entertaining.


Luke and I went for a walk in the morning and he loved running up the dike and then sliding down. He happened to sit down right here and I thought it would make an awesome picture.


I thought this was cute--Jerry was outlining the kids in chalk on the chalkboard clock. I just wished there was more room so he could get a full outline!


We told the kids (Noah and Eli) that we were having a family night--pizza for dinner, a board game, and setting up the Christmas tree. I was surprised that the kids were actually into it! (Clearly, Joey was, too.) Jerry was making that face on purpose--no idea why. Notice the three water bottles--one holds my water, one holds my ice, and one holds my decaf coffee. I have an obsession with water bottles!


The game we played was SUPER fun and I highly recommend it for a family looking to reconnect (with older kids--I'd say at least 12 or 13 years old). It's called "Do You Know Your Family?" (Amazon affiliate link) and it's basically a box of questions that you take turn asking. Things like:
-What do I complain about the most?
-What do I wish we could do more of as a family?
-What is my favorite family memory?
-Who is my favorite singer?
... and things like that. Then everyone has to guess what that person's response is. Keeping score was kind of irrelevant for us; we just had some great conversation with the kids and we all learned a lot about each other! (There are "challenge" cards, too, where you are supposed to do some sort of challenge for points; we just discarded those and stuck with the questions.)

The only downside to the game, in my opinion, is that you wouldn't be able to play it over and over. We went through a lot of the questions in the first game. To me, though, it was totally worth the money to even play it one time. It was a heck of a lot cheaper than a night at the movies or something and we all truly enjoyed playing it. I felt like the kids talked more to us in 90 minutes or so than they have all year! (Not really, but as teenagers, trying to get real responses to questions is like pulling teeth.)

One of Noah's questions was one thing he finds to be a disadvantage about himself, and I was surprised that his answer was his height! I wanted to see how he measured up to Eli, who is the tallest in the family at 5'10". I think Noah is about 5'7"--he really hopes to grow taller, but he's 17, so I'm not sure he will. (Most boys reach their peak height at age 16.) I don't think Noah looks short, though--I wish he didn't feel insecure about it.



Then we started putting up the tree. Jerry took some pictures, and since I was wearing all black (a black hoodie and black yoga pants), along with my black hair, I asked him if I looked like a person or if I looked like a hole in the wall; he said you could totally see me, but I laughed when I saw the pictures, because I really do look like a black hole. Hahaha!



Duck was SO FUNNY the entire time. He immediately climbed the tree (as I showed in yesterday's post) and then he was trying to grab the lights, garland, and ornaments the entire time.




Look how focused he is on the garland Noah is holding!



My boys <3



And here is our final tree--just before Duck climbed up and knocked several things off, hahaha. 


Do you notice the squirrel skeletons in there? ;)

Speaking of squirrels, I nearly died when I saw this review on Amazon. A reader sent me a link to these squirrel finger puppets (because I'm obsessed with squirrels, of course):


I thought they were funny, but I wondered what people did with them, so I started reading the reviews. I was crying laughing when I saw this one...


I'm not at all a fan of taxidermy, but I love that this person bought this poor squirrel to save it from going in the trash. And that they dress it up now! I would have bought it, too. Poor thing.

This meme made me laugh. Remember when I posted about my kids not putting their laundry away? (You will only understand this if you've seen Squid Game on Netflix).

So, like I said I was going to, I used my winnings from my last DietBet game to buy a new tool--this is a plunge router! (Remember how I tried using my fixed base router to cut out a circle and I almost started a fire in my garage? Well, this will keep that from happening.) I ended up winning more than the previous games I did (I got a little over $120 on a $100 bet). This router was $135, so it was close enough! ;)



I used it today to FINALLY build the jig I need to cut perfect hexagons for the cat shelves I'm making. I need to be able to cut a perfect hexagon for the back of each shelf (the part that goes against the wall). So, this will help me do that:


I was excited when I saw that the angle was a perfect 120 degrees. It's adjustable for larger and smaller hexagon sizes, and also for different angles (in case I want to do octagons or something in the future). I haven't tried it out yet, so I'm just hoping that it works! It took me a long time to build it.

And finally... I was on my own for dinner last night, so I made a huge dill pickle sandwich. I stuffed as many tomatoes and pickles on there as I could. (There was only one slice of pickle left in the jar, so I just ate that. This was a delicious Thanksgiving dinner ;)


Have a great weekend! xo

6 comments:

  1. I loved these pictures, thank you as always for sharing! Also tell Noah to take heart ... Actually boys don't officially stop growing until their early 20s! It may not be a half foot, but then again only time will tell. :)

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  2. Thank you for posting your review about the Kindle Paperwhite--I already have a Kindle, and thought I couldn't borrow library books on it. Back when I got it (years ago now!) I was told I couldn't borrow e books unless I had a Kindle Fire. So I was reading e books on a very old tablet that was not great for my eyes. Well, after reading your review where you mentioned library books, I went to the Amazon page and read some Q and A about library books, and learned that yes, the Libby app I use DOES support Kindle reading! I figured it out and now am happily reading all my Kindle Unlimited and library books on the same device! Just wanted you to know how your post led me in the right direction to simplify my reading experience.

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    Replies
    1. I'm so glad I could help! I wouldn't read much at all if it wasn't for the library. I just can't justify spending so much money on books that I'll only read one time. The library is invaluable!

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  3. So many fabulous photos in this post, Katie! I think that my favorites are your gentlemen around the tree and the next shot with the skeletons holding up the tree (and, of course, the squirreltons 😉 in the tree). The game nights look like they were both fun and meaningful. (Hi-Ho! Cherry-O was a favorite game of mine growing up, so the squirrel game looks like a blast too.)

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  4. I bought a Kindle Paperwhite a while ago - on your recommendation! I'm not sure how much I paid, but I do think it was on sale. I can't say I only read on that, I still enjoy a real book in my hand, but I love the new one. I took it on my trip to Mexico this summer and the backlight was perfect for reading on the plane and the fact it was waterproof was great since I spent a lot of time by the water. Not to mention one of my favorite places to read is the tub!

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  5. Love the tree. We haven't put ours up yet.

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