The Rotary of Lights

by Steph // Monday, January 3, 2022 // Comments off

Every year for probably the last five years or so, some (or all of us!) have volunteered for an evening at the Rotary of Lights Christmas lights display in December.

This was the first year that I went along, and I hope to not miss it again!

There were a couple of years that Tate and Eliza were just too little, and another year where the weather was really bad – so I had stayed home with them.

Team Moschel was all together that night this year!

It was SUPER FUN!!

The weather was good for it this year – cold – but not windy, snowing, raining, or sleeting.

Our jobs were to collect money and food donations, load the food truck, and to direct traffic.

We were mostly together the whole night, except when Grant and Lane would run together to other drop off points to gather the food donations to go onto the food truck.

I stood at the spot where the cars were leaving the drive-though display holding the donation bucket and must of said “Merry Christmas! Don’t forget to turn your headlights back on!” close to 2,356 times, ha, ha!

I always had someone next to me to grab the food donations and put them in the truck.

We worked a two hour shift, and Chad was on traffic duty the whole time.

He really enjoy it!

After our shift was over we walked through the light display all together.

Some of us were getting tired!

What a fun night and a wonderful Christmas tradition to have with the kids!

This is organized through Blake’s work, and we are always so thankful for how much they get involved in supporting our community!

We always do this the first weekend of December, and it is a great start for that month.

Do you all have fun traditions like this too that you do with the whole family?

Here’s to many more years of the blessing of participating in this, Lord willing!!

The Rotary of Lights is a beautiful place to be!!

A Family Outing

by Steph // Tuesday, December 14, 2021 // Comments off

I messaged Kayla one morning on marco polo to ask if the kiddos and I could come over that day after their afternoon rest time to love on those grand babies.

Of course she said yes!

I told her we would be over but then we planned to go to town to meet Blake, eat at Chipotle, and run errands afterward.

She messaged me right back and said “can we join you for dinner and errands in town?”

Tate and I gave each other a huge high five before we messaged Kay back to say OF COURSE!!

Addie was off of work that day, and Chad decided to come to town to meet us too!

We headed to Kay’s (Lane stayed with Chad) but didn’t stay at the farm long as we wanted to get to town early enough to accomplish all the things!

We had a two car caravan to town through the most beautiful and longest ridge top sunset I have ever seen!

We started our town adventure at Target to help Kayla get the things she needed.

Seeing the world through these kiddos eyes was inspiring and hilarious at the same time!

If you are counting kiddos in this next photo, like I did the ENTIRE time we were in that store (ha ha), don’t worry!

Briar is in the cart – can you see a bit of her little blond head behind River?

Next up was dinner at Chipotle.

We accomplished the goal of filling all the bellies with yummy food!!

Chad followed Kay to her next stop to help her with her grocery pick-up orders, and the rest of us headed to the grocery store to get our own grocery.

Two huge carts full!!

Things like this are what my dreams are made of!!

Just doing life TOGETHER.

We were just missing David and Grant!!

I have a few Chipotle gift cards in my wallet so we will have to do this again soon!

It was a super fun outing and gave the kiddos a chance to experience town during the crazy Christmas season!!

In full disclosure, I do not like to shop….but I LOVE to shop when I have kiddos and grand babies that make it so much fun!!

Memories made and memories kept!!

I love making memories with my crew!!

Thanksgiving 2021

by Steph // Tuesday, November 30, 2021 // Comments off

What a wonderful week we had last week!

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful too!

I started the week with plans to do school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

After we did school on Monday, I had a little chat with myself and decided to declare the rest of the week off.

The kiddos were thrilled!

We still enjoyed our read aloud time, as always.

I took a big chunk of time on Tuesday and Wednesday and tackled the storage room.

That room needs gone through at least once a year, but quite honestly, twice would be better!

I filled the trunk of the van on Tuesday, and my trio and I ran it all to the donation center.

Wednesday morning I continued on with that big job, but Addie was home and she helped me!

Of course my trio was helping too – coming when I called them to load the van or bring me something.

Many hands make light work!

We finished right after lunch on Wednesday and took a HUGE van load to the donation center that day.

This is the first time in the four years that we have lived here at Twin Oaks that I actually know what we have in that storage room!

It holds a lot!!

It’s our pantry, Grant’s closet, our school book shelves, and our storage!

I washed up a bunch a blankets I found in a tote down there.

Seeing this one brings a flood of feelings and memories.

I ordered this blanket for Eliza not too long after China said we could adopt her and we picked her name.

It was seven months later that we held Eliza for the first time!

Tate’s toe has been healing well!

Let me just say, this boy does NOT like shoes.

He has always carried his shoes to the van and does not even put them on until we arrive at our destination!

So wearing shoes all day long everyday has been stretching him quite a bit, ha, ha!

Blake re-tapes Tate’s toes after Tate showers each night.

Chad got a couple of deer on his big sis Kayla’s farm last week!

They are at the processor getting ready for our freezer.

Clyde and River were thrilled to see the deer before Uncle Chad took them away.

I have been enjoying cooking a lot these days!

I always do enjoy it, but some seasons more than others.

I am trying new recipes a lot these days!!

On Thanksgiving day we were scheduled to deliver meals.

The La Crosse Civic Center prepares meals to be delivered for free, or you can come to the Civic Center and eat there for free too.

We had two vehicles and we did two one hour shifts.

It was SUPER fun!!

Getting to hand folks a hot meal that they had ordered was so special and we all enjoyed it very much.

After we finished our deliveries, we came home and all worked together to make a special evening meal for ourselves.

It was delicious!!!

We finished the night with the game Scattergories, dessert, and then a late night Christmas movie.

It was SO, so fun!!

Friday night Blake and I had a date!

We got to start our date earlier than usual because Blake was off of work on Friday, and I did not have to drive all the way to town to meet him!

It was fantastic!

We did a lot of Christmas shopping and also stopped at Sam’s Club and filled the van with dry goods and paper products.

Look what we found!

I was SO excited to see these chips again – we have not been able to get them for a long time.

Saturday started early for me, as usual, but I was excited to make our Thanksgiving meal for our whole family Thanksgiving with Kay’s on Sunday after church!

I had a GREAT crew of helpers in the morning and we got everything done so quickly!

Our menu: roasted chicken, mashed yams, roasted ranch cheesy red potatoes, brussels sprouts with bacon and pecans and a balsamic reduction glaze, glazed carrots, cranberry relish, and fresh homemade rolls with raspberry butter.

For dessert Addie made pumpkin pies, and an apple crumble pie, and I made pecan bars and whipped cream.

Yum, yum!!

I also got a large quantity of waffles and cooked spaghetti squash into the freezer!

Sunday morning came…..and I got sick.

I have been doing a new “protocol” to try to help with my health – I’m not sure what bothered my stomach (one of the new supplements? something else I have added?) but I was so sick I missed church and wondered if I would be able to participate in Thanksgiving.

Thankfully I was back on my feet by lunch time, even though I felt so weak after being so sick!

Blake and the kids took care of everything and I sat on the couch and enjoyed everyone.

It turned out to be a wonderful day!

We are back in the swing of life here after a lovely change of pace last week!

And already looking forward to Christmas very much!!

So long November – can you believe it??

Don’t worry – I did not forget my sky photo –

God is so creative!!

And so kind to give us skies like that one!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Happy December, friends!!

Winter Days

by Steph // Monday, November 22, 2021 // Comments off

It’s winter here in SW Wisconsin.

What a wonderful idea God had when he created the seasons!!

We are anxiously awaiting our first real, good, stop-everything snow storm – can’t wait to enjoy playing in the snow!

It’s cold though.

Crisp air and bright blue skies are my favorite!

You just don’t get a blue sky like a cold winter blue sky, do you?

The cold weather changes up the smells in our kitchen…to those warming comfort winter foods that hit the spot on a freezing cold day.

To start this post, at least you know I am still making food, ha, ha!

Don’t worry, I still have lots of help in the kitchen from my trio!

Tate and Eliza made us a roasted chicken (with carrots and onions around it) for dinner one night.

Right before I snapped this photo Eliza said, “Hurry, Mom, this is HEAVY!!”

Which would explain the look in Tate’s eyes!

All that food has to come from somewhere….I snapped this photo on date night Friday night while Blake went to get a second cart so we could finish our grocery shopping.

At least I am never bored!!

I love the day after grocery though!

Beautiful berries!

While I had some muscle home over the weekend last weekend, I had the guys move the furniture in the living room in preparation for our Christmas tree.

Which means I took away someone’s view out the front window!

Poor Ruby Jane!

Speaking of that fluffy little cutie, she got a haircut last week.

She was SO fluffy (first two photos) and now she is SO cuddly (last two photos) – I think because she is freezing cold!

Early last week Blake got our tree up and lighted for me.

I LOVE Christmas lights!

Then I had an awesome trio who helped me decorate it after school one afternoon.

Tate and Eliza had piano assessments one evening last week and they both passed with flying colors!

They are now in level 3 in piano lessons and their love for it is still very strong.

We enjoyed school this week, a new read aloud, and games with hot cocoa in the afternoons!

Lane has been building more cool things in the garage – it is his favorite time of the day.

After lunch one day as Eliza cleared her dishes she said, “I filled up all my tummy spots!”

They say the cutest things.

Thursday morning Tate had a little accident – he slammed his baby toe into the cold air return vent as he was headed down the upstairs hallway to the school room to start school.

That’s one way to get out of doing math!

Because his toe was sticking out at almost a 90 degree angle we knew it was broken.

I took him to the neighborhood clinic to get it set back in place and make sure he didn’t need more intervention to help it heal.

An x-ray showed that it was indeed broken, and broken in the growth plate even.

Poor guy!

The doctor was awesome, and thankfully Tate only has to keep his toes taped together and some good shoes on for six weeks.

When we got home from the doctor we jumped into art class – none of us want to miss art class!

I have a new website and art class we are doing now called Lily & Thistle.

It is free, which fits our budget, and the kiddos loved it – so win, win!!

Saturday morning brought the opening day of deer hunting season, which means it was just girls here at Twin Oaks!

Addie had to work, so that left just Eliza and I.

Eliza is not our morning person, so I let her sleep till she woke on her own.

It was SO quiet.

I LOVED it.

I didn’t even want to turn the lights on!

Once she woke up she helped me do some things like wrap birthday presents and run errands.

It was a nice change of pace!!

Saturday night was our beloved monthly hymn sing!

This month we added a pie baking contest to the evening (for Thanksgiving and all!).

It was super fun and a huge hit that I think will now be a tradition!

All the mom’s were the judges, and I was able to be a judge on the smell and appearance of each pie since I could not eat any of them!

We rounded out the week and weekend yesterday enjoying a birthday bash at Aspen’s place!

We celebrated Clyde, who just turned six, Ellie, who will be six in a few weeks, Briar, who turned three yesterday, and David whose birthday is today!

It was wonderful spending time at the farm, with Kay’s and the grand babies, and with David’s family too!