I can’t believe it’s the first week of 2024! For the last several years, it seems like January lasts for 27 months, and then the rest of the spring moves like a bullet train from Liv’s birthday in February to our anniversary in March, to Henry’s birthday in April, then the end of the school year. We have still been on Christmas break this week- the kids’ go back for a short week next Tuesday, and then the following Monday is a holiday, also.

Over the weekend, we had our besties at the new ranch on Friday for a tour and picnic and just general bestie fun. Our besties’ youngest are twins that are Liv’s age and her best friends. They all tolerate Henry pretty well, but he is a bit of a pesky little brother at times (like trying to sneak into the middle of their “Kitty Squad” huddle).

Saturday was one of those good busy days! We went about mid morning to Coleman, a town about 30 minutes from our house and 20 minutes from the new ranch (the three make a triangle- it’s 30 minutes from our house to Coleman, 20 minutes from Coleman to the new ranch, and 30 minutes from the new ranch to our house). We ran a few errands, grabbing feed from the local feed store there, and a new GFCI outlet from the hardware store.

Then we wrapped it up with lunch at one of our absolute favorite places- Owl Drug Store. It is a 100 year old pharmacy with the old fashioned soda fountain and grill inside. And delicious is an understatement! They have a impressive array of burger options, plus other types of sandwiches and soups/salads, as well as a full breakfast menu that we are anxious to try. I normally get a “1923” burger (bacon, grilled mushrooms, crispy fried onions, havarti, and fig spread) and it is SO good. I decided to mix it up on Saturday and get “The Spectacular”, a grilled chicken sandwich. Equally delicious! Steven is a loyalist to the “SOB” (Super Owl Burger), basically a double meat cheeseburger. We always love getting an appetizer of fried pickles, and the kids usually talk us into a single scoop of Blue Bell at the end.

We headed out to the ranch after lunch. While throwing out some feed for the cows, we met a new neighbor as he drove down the county road. He couldn’t have been nicer, and told us that the area is mostly centennial ranching families, which makes us so happy. We are so intent to build this into a generational venture for our family that it’s reassuring that we aren’t on the cusp of being overrun by developments. At this point, we were up to 4 sweet baby calves!

Some friends of ours from church came out to go arrowhead and deer hunting, so we hung out with them for a little bit. Another friend from church that runs a bird hunting guide business came out for a quick tour of potential duck hunting tanks a little later. We ended the afternoon with Gran and Bud joining us to check deer feeders and visit the cows. We ended up back in Coleman at the Cattle Drive Cafe for dinner, which is another of our favorites. For a small town, Coleman has a disproportionately large amount of really good places to eat!

We had another abbreviated church service on New Years Eve, and ate lunch with Granny at her assisted living afterward.

For New Years Eve night, we had one of our favorite new traditions- what I call “Greatest Hits”. Basically it’s a smorgasbord of all our favorite foods- Hawaiian roll sliders, smoked queso, nachos, french onion dip, spinach dip, pretzel chips, jalapeno poppers, pigs in a blanket, etc. This year, we had Bud and Gran, and friends from church join us and we had an epic game of Chickenfoot/ Mexican Train dominoes. Epic as in we started with double 12, and didn’t stop til we finished that double blank round close to 11:30. We didn’t even remotely plan to stay up that late, but once we got that close, we couldn’t give up!

We woke up late the next morning, and I confirmed I’m not meant to stay up that late anymore because I felt a little like I was dying, haha! After checking the girls at the ranch, and Bud out there dove and deer hunting, we came back for our New Year’s Day dinner that had to include black eyed peas, of course. We also had reverse seared filets, twice baked potatoes, rolls, and roasted okra.

The rest of this week has been pretty quiet! We had a rainy day on Tuesday, so I reorganized our office space and caught up on some bookkeeping. Wednesday was a laundry room purge and clean day, and a reset the family room day, plus we went back to regular Wednesday night church with class. My kindergarteners reviewed Abraham sending out a servant to find a wife for Isaac and made little paper camels to review how the servant prayed he would know the right woman when she offered him water for him and his 10 camels.

Thursday was a big day- we closed on the last 1/3 of the new ranch! This is a big piece; it is the tract with the cabin so we are now ready to have full weekends at the ranch! Steven and I took kids to Bud and Gran’s for a sleepover for the night (a much anticipated holiday sleepover!), then went to closing, and then a kid free dinner reservation at our favorite restaurant (the one where I had to make the copycat loaded mashed potatoes).

And now we’re ready for the weekend! Happy Friday!

Linked with Andrea for Friday Favorites!