My New Toy

No, we haven't turned Nicky into a wooden puppet. By toy, I mean the lovely, shiny, RED Kitchen-Aid mixer on the counter behind him. I got the mixer in the middle of November, and have been churning out muffins, cookies, rolls, bread, brownies, whipped cream, meringue, pies, and anything else I can think of ever since. As you can see, the kids are loving it, too. Juli and Faith love to bake with Aunt Jenn, and Kai and Nick are just as happy to help.

In fact, when Grandma came up, she had this conversation with Faith:

Faith: We make everything in here [the mixer].

Grandma: Everything?

Faith: Cookies and muffins and brownies and cakes and everything.

Grandma: That must take a lot of ingredients.

Faith: [pointing to my pantry] All of the ingredients are RIGHT IN HERE.

Cute, huh? I better watch it though, or all of the ingredients will be going right to my waistline!

Stylin'

Kai's new haircut is so cute - but it makes her look so much older! She is only eleven, you know. Stop growing already, kid, or I'll have to put a brick on your head!!!!

When is Light-Up Night??

Situation Normal, All... you know how that ends, right? (I am trying to keep this site family friendly....) To judge by the smiling faces in this picture, you'd never guess that Kai had been sobbing moments before. See, this was her first year playing in the brass band at Light-Up Night. And we missed it. (Except Daddy!) He took Kai over ahead of time, and good thing, too - turns out we had the wrong time! We showed up just as the lights were being turned on - well after the band played and the girl scouts sang.

Then we had to wait in a REALLY long line to see Santa because we didn't join the line until after we found Scott and Kai. And Grandma and Grandpa didn't really care about Santa, you know - they were there to see Kairi. *sigh*
And when we got to Santa, with two small girls in tow, what happened? Lots of tears, of course.
Worse yet, Nicky looked on the verge of tears after the fact. He finally explained - he had figured out that the helper at Light-Up Night is NOT the real deal. After I explained about helpers, he realized the REAL Santa comes to Daddy's work for Breakfast with Santa, so that's all right. (You can tell because that Santa has the real beard.) Phew!

But being us, a little drama can't keep us down for long. Not when there's Viennetta in the freezer and goofy children swinging from the chandeliers!

So Thankful

Can you believe it? I didn't take a single picture on Thanksgiving Day. I had eleven of my favorite people, all in the same room. I had a picture perfect dinner (the turkey was a work of art). But did I lift a camera? Heck no. We did lift thanks, though - and that's what's important!

Here's what I'm thankful for this year:

• While it is hard for me to imagine giving up any of my beloved family, God loved us so much that he gave up His Son for us.
• We are richly blessed in love, happiness, and family.
• Between our two families, we have a beautiful house to celebrate in.
• Most of our family is healthy, and those that aren't are getting the care they need.
• My mom and Gordi were able to travel down, Jon was feeling well enough that he and Laurie travelled over, Cyndy had the day off so she, Barry and the girls could spend the whole morning with us, and we were generally surrounded by family and love.
• We got to watch the parade with our family.
• We were able to buy a new computer with the sales this weekend.
• Most of the food turned out delicious (the soup was cold, and the second batch of stuffing - the one in the bird - was a bit soggy, but generally, everything rocked).
• The weather was conducive to a bit of backyard football.
• My table could fit everyone.
• The chocolate meringue pie set.
• Sampson found a new home - and we can still visit him because it's Grandma and Grandpa's house!

And that's just to name a few! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday, Dear Cyndy.....

Cyndy's birthday was fun for everyone. We had a yummy lunch at TGI Friday's, a tasty ice cream cake, and all the fun of buying nifty Christmas ornaments to outfit her tree as presents! Happy, happy birthday sis! Hope each year gets better from now on!

A Little Cheese With Your Turkey?

The third grade turkey project is great. We didn't know how we'd top Kairi's hippie protester turkey (who was wearing tie-dye and peace signs and carrying a sixties style chant placard telling the farmer to go away). But when we're talking about Nicky, the theme was easy - and our cheese-headed turkey turned out great!

Woohoo!

Does it make me a sap if I cried when the election results came in?

For the first time in a long time, I believe that things are going to be better for our country.

(But I better not let any of my students have this web address - they've been trying to figure out who I was going to vote for, but I wasn't telling!)

My own kids, on the other hand not only knew who I was voting for, but might have beat Scott or I with sticks if we had tried to push any other button. They're Obama supporters all the way!