TBT: Three Years of The Hobbit

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Wondering if our journey has finally come to an end . . .

 

 

Will the Journey Ever End?

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We've waited a whole year for this!! Another Hobbit field trip. And this time two lovely ladies were added to the mix. :)

What a fun time we had! If you'd like to trace our Hobbit/LOTR Journey to the very beginning, like when Mullin and Lincoln were just little tykes, click here.

Until the next movie . . .

The Unexpected Journey Continues

Pin It Now! Recently, I reminisced about how Middle Earth has impacted our lives for the past 9 years. (If you missed out on how it all began, feel free to catch up by clicking the link.)

Well, the journey has indeed continued. It was quite a Hobbity Christmas at our house.

 

Shiloh spent her very own money on a Gandalf key chain for her big brother.

Hobbit Legos® galore

 

Hobbit action figures

 

Hobbit Poster, so cool!

 Our dear friends blessed our family with this beautiful Hobbit book. If you want to see what girl dwarves look like, this is the book. Oh, and I saw way too much up close and personal nasty stuff regarding the Goblin King. Ew. ;) It's a really neat book!

 

Lincoln loves combining different Legos® to create cool scenes. Isn't it fun to be a kid?!

Over Christmas break, my hubby took Lincoln and a friend to see The Hobbit in 3-D. So, now they've seen it twice already. I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can be a total nerd and watch all the behind-the-scenes stuff!

An Unexpected Journey

Pin It Now! I had no idea that a made up world would have such a profound impact on our family. As we counted down the days until December 14th, the day The Hobbit was released, I couldn't help but think back on the day Middle Earth invaded our lives.

Well, I honestly don't remember the exact day. I do know that my husband and I watched The Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers on DVD, probably sometime in early 2003 because I remember being crazy excited to actually see The Return of the King at the theater in December 2003. I do, however, know the exact day we introduced Lord of the Rings to our oldest son - February 13, 2004.

I remember Mark and I seriously contemplating whether or not we should allow our almost 5 year old to watch this movie. In the end, we decided to let him, and it's been quite an adventure ever since!

 

Mullin receiving his first LOTR character - Frodo - for Valentine's Day, 2004. The very next day, he bought a black rider character. That's when you could buy them at Wal-mart for like $5.00. I was probably even more excited than Mullin to scout Wal-mart weekly for new LOTR characters. :)

 

The craze didn't end there. Mullin wanted a Lord of the Rings birthday party, so in August that's what he got! We played Pin-the-Crown-on-Aragorn, Black Rider Tag, and Seek and Find the One Ring. Such a fun party!

 

Mullin found the One Ring - yea!

 

Mullin's it! The Black Rider must tag another player with the sword of Elendil - Anduril, flame of the west. (Yes, I know that is Aragorn's sword, and technically a black rider wouldn't be using it. *wink*)

Of course he got lots of LOTR characters for his birthday! He's thanking Grandma over the phone. :)

Wow, just 6 months after receiving his very first character, he has quite the collection.

 

When I used to have time for scrapbooking, I even wrote "Happy Birthday Mullin" in elvish runes.

 

 

Mullin loved pretending to be Frodo. Before his birthday and before he actually owned the swords, Anduril and Sting, he got quite creative. He used part of Cranky the Crane as his sword, a Lego bucket top as his shield, a pillow case as his cloak, and a chip clip as his leaf broach.

 

 

 

Over the years we've read Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and other Tolkien books. We've watched the movies, the extended editions, a bazillion times. We've watched hours of behind the scenes material. We've listended to the Return of the King soundtrack on long car rides. We've played LOTR Trivial Pursuit, LOTR Stratego, LOTR card games, LOTR and Hobbit video games, LOTR Tic-Tac-Toe, and oh my, so much more!

 

 

 

Goodness, back before red-eye was so easily remedied. Makes me feel so old. :)

 

 

Somewhere in there early on in our homeschooling venture, we even named our school . . . Rivendell Academy. Dorky, I know. My boys didn't think it was dorky when they were little, but I think they are wishing for us to change the name now. We can't be too cheesy now can we?

 

We still have a huge tub of LOTR characters, though most are pretty beaten up. My boys have all the LOTR Lego sets and now they are working on collecting all of the Hobbit Lego sets. My daughter still drags out the LOTR Trivial Pursuit game even though Daddy knows the answers to ALL of the questions.
 

 

It was so amazing to finally see The Hobbit after all these years of waiting! Now that our kids are so much older, they have friends with whom to share their obsession. :) On December 14th our kids went on the best field trip ever . . .

 

 

 

 

Amazing movie! Can't wait for the others. Love sharing this unexpected journey with my four favorite people!

It's so hard to believe that it's been 9 years since our Middle Earth craze started. And we have many more years to go so it seems! It's been an unexpected yet very pleasant journey indeed.

 

I think sometimes we have to remind ourselves that Hobbits, Dwarves, and Elves aren't real. ;)

 

 

Sweet Naomi House Moments

Pin It Now! Once again, our family, along with several of our church friends, had the opportunity to travel to the Naomi House in Winslow, AZ. On this trip, we helped set up Christmas decorations, gave out Christmas presents, cooked and served several meals, provided entertainment, made crafts, played with the kids, and tried to give the staff a little break.

I was really proud of my kids for jumping in to help where it was needed and for playing with all of the children. My kids are kind of quiet and shy (Yeah, that's what happens when two introverts get together and have children), but they were awesome! Mullin even helped out in the kitchen some. :)

 

 The guys did most of the outside decorating on the big porch.

 

 

 I helped set up the inside Christmas tree - it was mostly kids who decorated it, though. :)

 

Don and Tracy brought their sweet, old dog, Spinner. The kids loved him. I did have to rescue him when one of the toddlers decided to pour his apple juice all over him.

 

Tracy, Don, and Cathi did all of the cooking for the weekend. Cooking and serving over 40 people 4 times was quite a feat!

 

Jack provided some really cool entertainment on Friday night. He creates chalk drawings (it has to be dark) and uses a black light to reveal really neat images.

 

 

Lincoln playing cars outside with several of the boys. They'd made a huge track in the dirt.

 

Oh my, this was one of the longest UNO games I have ever played. All rules completely made up by this sweet little 5 yr. old who I totally fell in love with! I so wish I could show her cute face. This was the girl we bought presents for - I was so glad we picked her name!

 

Shiloh and her friend from church making beaded Candy Canes with some of the Naomi House girls.

 

Play-Doh® was a HUGE hit. I found it so interesting to watch how differently the boys and girls played with it. The girls quietly and sweetly set up a food shop and made cupcakes and stuff like that. The boys created battle scenes and monsters. Battle noises and monster noises are not very quiet. ;) (Not that girls can't get loud. *wink*)

 

Edible Christmas tree decorating and other crafts. At the beginning of craft time things got a little crazy, and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Halfway through craft time I bailed volunteered to take some of the restless kids outside to play. I hope Mark and Jim can forgive me for leaving them to finish!!!! Toddlers and frosting - what was I thinking?

 

 

Our sweet girl showing off one of her necklaces and a Barbie. I absolutely loved shopping for the items on her wish list. She was so excited over the Cinderella watch - wish I'd gotten a picture of that, too.

"Roughing It" At My First Women's Retreat

Pin It Now! When my girlfriends and I pulled up to our cabin in beautiful Prescott, I knew right away that my boys would be proud of me. My kids haven't exactly been blessed with a mom who's known for roughing it. And believe me, staying in a cabin with 5 bunk beds squeezed into a tiny room and a bathroom the size of a closet is unfortunately for me, roughing it. ;) (I will add here that I was ever so thankful for that tiny bathroom and that I didn't have to use an outhouse or a chamber pot!)

Lincoln was kind of jealous that I was getting to stay at a camp -- the setting of many of his favorite books. Only I was hoping that no ill fate would befall me like all of those characters in Goosebumps! I am happy to report that the only excitement I experienced in that department was a black spider in the bathroom and some overly curious bees.

 

Wow, and here is my bed. Right next to a wall and a window. Two things I don't like! Again, the whole roughing it thing, right? I faintly remember staying at a place like this in Tennessee when I volunteered as a leader at a youth camp while I was in high school. Yeah. There's a reason it's only a faint memory and that I have never been back to a place like that again. Did. Not. Like.

 

Anyway, after adding my daughter's pretty pink flower sheets and my nice, warm blanket made by my hubby's grandma, the bed was perfect. With the help of Tylenol PM and some earplugs, I did miraculously manage to sleep about 4-5 hours per night.

 

Because of my aversion to roughing it, having a history of not being able to sleep away from home, having little children to tend to for the past 13 years, and many other excuses reasons, I had never been to a women's retreat until now. I really was a little apprehensive about not being able to sleep and being tired and stressed, but I knew it's where I needed to be. Where I wanted to be.

Over the past couple of years God has brought some amazing ladies into my life through our plant church. Because life can get so busy, it's been difficult to really spend time with some of them. Plus, I can tend to be a loner even though I long for close friends. For some reason it's been hard for me to really get close to anyone since moving to AZ. I knew I needed to just be with these women for a weekend fellowshiping and studying God's Word together.

I loved every minute.

And I can't wait to share more. Another day. :)

A Grand Adventure

Pin It Now! Columbus Day has never been a homeschool holiday for us, but since Daddy gets that day and all those other government holidays off, he surprised us with a quick little trip up North.

After church, we drove to Flagstaff and stayed the night. You would've thought we'd spotted gold by the way we all ooohed and ahhed over the aspens dotting the roadside woods and far-off mountains. Rocks, cacti, dirt, and HOT-as-you-know-what temps do tend to wear on the soul after a while. Cool, tingly temperatures, the musky scent of pine, and vibrant fall colors were the perfect ingredients to awaken the senses of this desert weary girl!

We stopped and stretched our legs by the neatest looking chapel. If not for the paved road and cars whizzing by, I might have thought I'd stepped back in time. I imagined myself sitting inside wearing some kind of vintage dress, worn Bible upon my lap, and a horse-drawn carriage waiting outside upon my return. Anyway . . .

 

 

My favorite thing about this chapel was the door. Love it. :)

 

 And what do we modern-day folks do when we like something? We pose by what it is we like and take a billion pictures!

 

 

Shiloh couldn't wait to collect pine cones, something we can't really do in the dust bowl.

 

 

And, yes, if there is a tree, Lincoln WILL climb it. I've been waiting for the day he falls and breaks something. Thankfully, I am still waiting. ;) I hate to admit it, but when I was much younger, I loved climbing trees, too, only I'd go one step further and hang upside down. Don't tell Lincoln, though.

 

After a fun night of going to dinner at Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, then to Starbucks for fun drinks, and getting a little bit of sleep, we were ready for The Grand Canyon! (The best part of going to Flagstaff was getting to comfortably wear a sweater and a pair of boots in October - yeehaw!)

 

This was my second time to see The Grand Canyon. It was Mullin's and Shiloh's first time to see it. As expected, the 7 yr. old wasn't all that impressed - said it just looked like any other mountain. Oh well, I enjoyed seeing this amazing raw beauty up close again. (I didn't enjoy the agonizing shin splints I suffered the next few days. Too much walking on an incline, I guess? Seriously, I couldn't walk, I had to shuffle.)

 

 

 

 

Totally off the subject, but I just think it's so neat that all 3 of my kids have different hair colors. And at least for now, all natural. :)

 

And, yes, I saved the best for last. The picture below was taken in May of 1996. I was a mere 20 years old. Ahh, so young! It was my first time to ever see the Grand Canyon. Mark's, too, I suppose. We were visiting my mom and sister. Little did I know that Mark would propose 6 months later and we'd be wed that very next May.

 

I never thought I'd actually live in Arizona again, but here we are 16 years later taking our 3 kids.

 

Life. Goes. By. So. Fast.