finishing up

I knit a quick hat for my niece E. She requested one when we went to Canada for Spring Break.



I attempted to make presents for all the family members. This was so boring I only got a couple done. Sister #2 gets them because she actually told me to make them last year for Christmas. I wonder if she even remembers.



We're dreaming of a white christmas.





I can't remember snow on Christmas ever. It has snowed around New Years. It has snowed on Thanksgiving but not on Christmas.

Here is the national weather service info. There was some in '74. I was 3 so I don't remember.

Christmas programs

J had his Christmas program last Thursday. He did a great job! And since he was on the end, he was easy to photograph.





B had his Christmas program on Friday. He did a great job too. The hardest part was forcing him to wear church clothes to school. I got the pants on him and then he realized what was coming next and shouted, "I'm not wearing the green striped shirt." Luckily, I won that fight. It looked much better than the red dinosaur shirt with holes in it that he wanted.





Christmas vacation has been all about spending time with the cousins and playing Wii Lego Star Wars. J got it for Christmas or birthday last year and we're just now getting around to playing it. We can only play for short stints because we tend to start yelling at each other because our characters kill each other or I want to go one direction and he wants to go another. Luckily I found this site so when we get stuck and can't figure how to kill the bad guy/open the door/make C3P0 go up to the ledge, we can figure it out without too much fighting!

Transformation

It took just 5 days to finish the porch. It looks great. Now DH is itching to buy new furniture for outside. I think I can convince him to wait a little while.







Here is what it looked like before: porch

Solo

Tuesday night was the Christmas program for the 3-5 grades. A was picked to sing a solo. Well, she would point out that it was a duet because another girl was singing with her. She did beautifully.





We need to buy a new video camera. Ours is 10 years old and we were out of video tape so we didn't record her performance. I need to find someone who did.

All he wants for Christmas is..

His two front teeth!




Thanks to a wrestling match with his brother, J's snaggle tooth is finally no more. I guess we'll have to stop calling him Nanny McPhee!

If a nail pops on your roof . . .

you'll get a small leak.

If you find the leak, you'll call the roofing guy to fix it.

While the roofing guy is there, you decide you might as well fix the gutters that are useless.

When the gutter guy arrives, you discover that the gutters where hung improperly and there is wood rot.

So while the gutter guy is fixing the eaves, you decided he might as well replace the back porch posts to shore up the sag in the porch roof.

When the gutter guy adds the new posts, it will cause more cracks in the porch ceiling, making it look even worse.

When your porch roof is looking bad, you'll hire Manuel to come tear down the dry wall ceiling and replace it with plywood.

Once Manuel gets the ceiling down, you and your husband will look up and see what a nice vaulting ceiling the porch could have.

Next thing you know, you're buying all kinds of bead board and rough cedar and you're getting a whole new porch.

Merry Christmas to us!

Trip to Disney

Our family went to Disney the week after Thanksgiving. I'm just now getting around to the photos. There were so many good ones, so bear with me here.


kids & rides












B didn't like his first rollercoaster ride very much


A & J both braved Space Mountain and loved it





DH's artsy fartsy photo of the castle and the moon


B's bday at Disney






The sand beach at the pool was a big hit


That tooth is still hanging in






A's Mickey Mouse sandcastle


Character breakfast with Pooh


Luau hula pictures




This was how we all pretty much felt by the last day!




It was a great week. I think we did Disney well, spending mornings at the parks and afternoons at the pool. DH has us up and going every morning so we packed it all in. We got to do everything we wanted to do.

Kids are still coming down from the Disney high. Life here just isn't as great as it is at WDW. B keeps trying to pack a suitcase so he can go back! They all are begging to return. I guess I need to start saving my pennies.

P.S. The Joovy Cooper was an excellent purchase. I would definitely recommend it as a great Disney stroller. Plus it was easy to pick out of the sea of strollers when you came off the rides.

Thanksgiving

We did things differently this year. We went to Maggiano's for lunch. We had too much going on this year for the commotion and mess of trying to host the meal. Eating out was so easy and the food was wonderful!!!!

I loved waking up and enjoying the morning vs rising early to start cooking. We took a family walk, our own personal Turkey Trot, so we didn't have to deal with the crowds downtown.

After eating the family came over to watch the Cowboys. It was a lovely day and everyone (I think) had a great time.

We have so much to be thankful for...

Having fun making things:


Losing a front tooth with the second one just hanging in there:


Celebrating turning 4 and a brand new football shirt:


Most of all being thankful for our family!

another weekend

We had another one of those busy weekends.

Friday night was soccer practice, Cub Scout Pack Night & clean the house.

Saturday morning I got up early to start dinner in the crock pot, bake a cookie cake and finish cleaning the house.

Next we went to the North Texas Outdoor Expo. The kids had a good time at this. Especially J. He shot lots of guns.









A did the obstacle course, rock climbing, face painting & archery. B did archery. I talked to a lot of nice people about girl scout stuff. I'm looking forward to taking them to the Trinity River Audubon Center. They have a program for Junior Girl Scouts. Our family went the weekend it opened. It is a great place.

We rushed home from the Expo to go to a 1:00 soccer game (A) and a 1:00 flag football (J). Luckily they were at the same school. After A's game there was an end of season party. I brought this masterpiece!



I think I should start selling them.

DH took J to his soccer game at 2:30 and we all met at home afterwards. We had 2 families coming over to watch the A&M v Oklahoma game. I finished cleaning and making dinner. They came over about 5:30. The company was great. The game not so good. Poor Aggies. Kind of like Poor Irish, except I didn't get to watch that game.

Sunday I got up and went to church early. I worked at the church blood drive and then gave blood. Finally we had J's last flag football game at 2.

I'm glad that soccer & flag football is over. We have a break for a few months. It will be nice to have a few weekends where we don't have to rush around like crazy!

Date Night

We're going for date night tonight, dinner at Al Biernat's with friends.

I obviously don't do date night nor dress up very often. I went to say grace with the kids before we left.

B piped up, "Mommy, what's that stuff?"

I'm thinking he's referring to something on the pizza and ask, "What stuff?"

B replies, "That pink stuff on your lips."

The things they sell

I went to the gas station tonight. I had a problem with the pump so I had to go inside. Something caught my eye at the register. They were selling glow in the dark nude playing cards. I mean, glow in the dark playing cards are one thing, nude pictures on playing cards are another. But glow in the dark and nudes all in one! I was tempted to buy they just to see what they were like and if specific parts glowed.

Unfortunately they were $2.99 and I only had $2.00 on me. Maybe next time.

confessions

1. I fed my children Easy-Mac for dinner. It is noxious stuff, it goes against everything I would like to be. But it was easy. I'm hoping that the family walk to the local elementary and the civic lesson of watching us vote will balance out that horrible dinner.

2. I've wasted a lot of time Saturday playing this game. I was seriously getting mad at trick or treaters for interrupting both the ND game and the Clockworks game. Do not click the link if you don't have time to spare or if you don't like word games or if you can't type.

3. I have a Girl Scout meeting in approx 20 hours and I have done nothing to prepare. I'm up a creek. Oh wait, I did have A steal a log from a backyard on our walk home from voting so the girls could count tree rings. Maybe it will take them an hour to count rings?

4. I have 3 loads of laundry in the laundry room not folded. I'm not going to do it tonight either. It can wait for another day. I hate folding laundry.

Trick or Treat

Felicity


Ninja


Football Player


Waiting



I took the kids to a few houses on our street. Afterwards, DH took them over to Molly's house. I stayed home to watch the ND game hand out candy to trick or treaters.

I'm not good at trick or treat.

First of all, I was handing out all the bad, old candy that was in the pantry. Most of it isn't that old, just leftovers from the school carnival 2 weeks ago. But it was the candy that I know if I didn't give it away, it would still be in the bag in the pantry next Halloween.

I was anxious to get rid of the stuff so I gave out big handfuls (or hands-ful?) to each kid. Not many people had come by so I was doing okay. After 8:15 we had a big rush. By the time the last wave of kids came through around 9:15, I had to give out one piece of candy per kid. I felt bad and apologized to all the kids that I was running out. Well, almost all. There was a group of teenagers who came by, not in costume, who made comments. I almost gave them a piece of my mind. Instead I said "Happy Halloween" and closed the door.

I'm a pumpkin digger

We carved pumpkins tonight and that's what Brian told me. In fact, he told me I'm a great pumpkin digger. I found a great new tool for cleaning pumpkin guts, an avocado slicer. It did a decent job.

Here are the masterpieces. Both boys wanted mean faces. A did her all on her own.







The first picture I took had a ghost of DH in it. The kids thought this one was cool.




I think the kids had fun but they are a little glum. One year ago, the cousins were here. A, especially, was missing her cousin today. She is going trick or treating with her friend Molly tomorrow night. They are both wearing Felicity dresses and they should have a grand time, even if E isn't here to trick or treat with them.

We made the web!

Here's an article about the girl scout trip to the garden.


Garden outing

The Halloween Parade

The Annual Halloween Parade is a neighborhood tradition. Everyone gathers and walks two blocks down Snow White. At the end of the parade, there are pinatas, popcorn and apple cider. A very simple celebration and the kids really enjoy it.

Here are my participants.

Hermione, Ninja & Football player.