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.