Isn't this cool?

Hey look what I figured out how to do!

(the pictures are a little stretched, but it's pretty cool anyway :)

Joyeux Noel

Peace be with you.

Uh oh, Charlie Brown seems to be missing his tree!

One of the really nice things about living out in the country at Christmas (at least where we live) is that you can go out your back door and cut down your own Christmas tree, thus saving $30 some odd dollars on a tree that was cut in another state a week ago and shipped to a tree stand where it sat for another week before you bought it and brought it home to decorate. Although there is something to be said for taking a drive to the mountains to tromp through the snow on an expedition for the perfect conifer (although I think you have to have a permit for that now), it is so much easier to just walk out your back door with a flashlight and a chainsaw (bad combination?) and cut a tree down by flashlight in the rain.

The downside is that the tree has not been pruned ever so the branches are few and pretty weak. My friend Michelle stopped by yesterday and proclaimed it "Charlie Brown's tree." I'll admit it is a bit sparse and limp, but I still think it's the best darn tree we've ever had! The worst thing about it is that we have to hang all our ornaments on the top three branches because otherwise they will fall victim to either Wendall or Quinn. Four very nice ornaments, in fact, gave their lives to the cause during the decoration festivities.

Decorating was not the idyllic scene I had imagined. I was feeling particularly humbugish and did not take the news of the ornaments' demise very well. But nevertheless, the tree got decorated and we all managed to escape with our lives. But just barely. (oops, Connor just brought me another broken ornament, bringing the count to 4)




It was really fun to see Quinn's face light up as I plugged in the string of lights and they began to twinkle. I know Christmas morning is going to be really fun. I love Christmas morning in the toddler and preschool years. But if that is to happen, I better get crackin' cuz I have not nearly finished my Christmas shopping. And if you have been talking to me and keeping score...I also have not yet begun any Christmas baking.

But I think we will make cutting down a tree from our property a new Metzger family tradition. We can find some naturally sprouting trees and prune them each year a little until they are big enough for our Christmas liking. It might even be a good homeschooling project for the kids and it would be fun to watch our trees grow. And this way we can prune them just enough, not over prune them like the ones in the stands, which just don't look natural to me. This year's tree looks pretty just the way it is. I don't think it looks wonky at all; it looks natural and graceful tome, but we will need some stronger branches.

"Oh tannenbaum, oh tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine blatter!"

Happy Newt Year!

Wow, living in the country is really something! I have lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of my life, and in Oregon for about 15 years but I am so surprised by all the wildlife we have in out own backyard, literally! Before we even moved in, we noticed a covey of quail, several deer, including a doe, a buck, a yearling and a fawn, we have seen wild turkeys (big FAT ones!), LOTS of wild birds, and these strange "love bugs" that I swear I have never seen before. After we moved, we found a mole wandering across our drive, and field mice by the scores (but usually only the hind legs and tail thanks to our hunter extraordinaire, Roscoe).

Then today Connor came running in saying he caught a Salamander! Ok, I have to admit I wasn't really sure what a salamander looked like. I remember getting lizards at the fair, which was really fun as a kid but I'm sure a really bad idea since they usually only lived a week or so an most probably died of starvation. And I was fully expecting to see a little tadpole in the bottom of the bucket he was carrying but when I looked in, there was this HUGE animal in there! I had no idea if it was supposed to be in the water or on land or what to do with it. We had to leave and Connor assured me it would be fine in the water while we were gone (it's great when your 6 year old knows more than you do!). Connor also told me that his skin is poisonous....which sounded odd to me. He dubbed him Shadow, and we were off on our errands.

So we ran our errands and when we came back, sure enough, he (she?) was just fine. Connor wanted to name is Shadow and keep it as a pet. I thought maybe we should look online and see what we could find out about it. When I looked up online I found that salamanders and newts are cross referenced everywhere. Upon further investigation, I learned that it is apparently very important to know which you have so you can determine what it eats and how it lives. I found this website and posted a picture of our creature in the forum to see if someone could help us identify it. While I was waiting I found a link to this page. The kind respondent agreed that it is most likely a Rough-skinned newt, commonly known as an Oregon newt. Apparently Connor know what he was talking about (said he learned about it the coast with Dad...where was I?) because I discovered that indeed, the oils on the skin are toxic and can burn your skin or eyes and make you violently if you eat them (eeewwww!!!). And were advised that it's not a good idea to try to domesticate them. Good to know. So Shadow will hang out in his bucket until Dad gets home so he can get a look-see then it's back to the great outdoors for our new little friend with the toxic skin.

What a wonderful experience for the kids! And what a great homeschool experience!

Just who *IS* Duane, anyway???

Quinn went to the eye doctor yesterday. I have been noticing that her right eye seems to be crossing sometimes. We had to wait about 10 weeks to get an appointment and yesterday was the day. I was fully expecting to come out of the appointment with some kind of patch or prescription for glasses for my baby but that is not how it turned out. If you look really closely to this picture, you can see that her right eye is looking at the camera and the left eye (near one) is looking straight ahead. It turns out it's not a problem with her right eye, but a problem with her left eye. Her right eye tracks correctly but her left eye will not turn outward past the midline. This is called Duane's Syndrome. Quinn has type I. You can read more about it here and here. Here is a link to an animation showing Duane's Syndrome. So Quinn doesn't need glasses or a patch. There isn't anything that can be done. It's not correctable. She will prefer to turn her head and look to the left more head-on. She has already learned to compensate for this. I'm a little sad that Quinn has this problem with her eye but I am really thankful that it's not a sign of some more significant and scary problem. I am so thankful for her overall health and wellbeing. She is such a precious little angel of a girl and such an amazing gift to us.

"Let's go to a party, Quinn!"

Quinn and I just got back from my cousin's wedding yesterday. It was stressful traveling with a toddler, but we had fun. We went with my Mom and Dad and I couldn't have done it without them! Thanks guys! My cousin was BEAUTIFUL, as expected and her papa threw one heckuva party! Here are a few pictures of the festivities. Quinn, of course, is the main subject of my picture taking. You will also all be glad to know that Wendall's health continues to improve. I hear he was a very good puppy while we were gone. John and the boys had some guy time which included getting dirty in the shop, playing with the dog, and watching movies. Sounds like a good time was had by all.