Me Too, Iguana

Nicky doesn't want to get left out of the project praise this weekend. He also had a project to complete - a poster of Venus. He did a really nice job on it.

Why is he working on it on an unmade bed with unfolded laundry behind him? Well, to tell it like it is, Scott and I are sick. I've had congestion and coughing and sneezing and headaches and stuffed up ears and body aches since Friday. Scott's worse off, though. He ate some expired yogurt and ended up throwing up all night so now he's exhausted and his abdomen muscles are in pain. Considering all of that, it's pretty good that the laundry at least got cleaned, the house is clean except for our unmade bed, the kids' projects are done, groceries were bought, Sunday School was taught, nieces were watched overnight, and the kitty box for our caged cat was replaced. Along with runs to the store for Gatorade, saltines, new printer ink, and various other needful things.

Tomorrow I will probably go to work. Probably. Cause I think I might get more rest there.

Kairi's Rocking Animation Skills

Kairi created this stop-motion animation film using Powerpoint slides and Windows Movie Maker. She changed each slide a little tiny bit, and then saved all 200 slides as .jpeg images. She then used the images to create her movie. It was pretty irritating to her that over 200 slides only made a movie about 2 minutes long (and that was with some of the slides repeating 20 or 30 times so that the characters would dance, talk and sing). Still, not too bad for a thirteen year old screenwriter/animator/director!

It was a project for her science class about the rock cycle, but I'm sure you'll figure that out when you watch. (The video seems to be only sporadically working. If you're dying to see her project, let me know and I'll send you a DVD.)

Not Even Possible

It's not even possible that I just went to a meeting about choosing my daughter's high school classes.

Not even remotely possible.

This course catalog?

Optical illusion.

The whole "this-is-what-she-needs-to-take-to-get-into-college" business? Inconcievable.

'Cause there's just no earthly way Kairi is going to high school next year. I haven't even gotten used to her being a teenager yet.

In fact, didn't I take this picture of her yesterday?

Playoffs? Playoffs?

Who needs the NFL playoffs? (Granted, we might have a slightly different take on that if either of our teams had made it past the first round.) But thanks to the thawing temperatures Scott and Nick had their own playoff round in the backyard.

Granted, football is a bit odd when you have no defense. Or maybe it was no offence. Hard to tell at times.

Basically, it involved a lot of running, catching, and tackling - so that's close enough, isn't it? And I did mention it thawed, right? So it also involved a lot of mud.

While victory celebrations broke out often...

I think the final score may have been "who knows" to "who cares".

P.S. Yes, I know I still haven't figured out how to work my new camera. It was nearly dark, and I was taking pictures out of the second story window. I'll get there!

One Resolution Down

One of my New Year's resolutions was to finally finish my Disney trip report. I didn't include our Disney vacation on this blog since I didn't want to duplicate it in two places.

Our summer vacation story can be found here:

A MouseEars View of Grand Gatherings

Whew! Now all I have to do is read the Bible, catch up on my scrapping, and keep this blog up to date. (Cause there's just no way I'm going back to over 200 lbs, so that resolution is in the bag.)

By the way...

Like my new camera? From Christmas morning on, all the photos on the blog were taken with my new Kodak Z915. It's not exactly the camera I wanted, but it's a million times better than the cheapo replacement for my last camera, and at least several thousand times better than my last good camera. It has a 10x optical zoom, too.

I'm still figuring it out, so my pictures aren't great yet, but I've taken a few that were pretty much beyond the range of my previous cameras. Like a shot of Kai that's reasonably sharp in very low light:

And our Christmas tree without a weird orange glow:

And an extreme close-up of some Hershey kisses:

Maybe someday I'll get an even better camera, but for now I'm lucky enough to have a husband who knows that I can't go without a decent camera for very long! And this one is more than decent. Lucky me!

And My Resolutions, too

The new year is a time for reflection and to find a guidepost for future goals. But for some reason, I'm just not feeling any of that this year. I do know there are things that need to get done, and some places where I can improve myself, so I'll go with this:

1. Keep my weight down. Both Jenn and I lost a lot of weight this year, but we still have some left to go. I want to be able to step on the scale come January 1, 2011, and see a number that indicates a healthy weight.

2. Be more patient. With the children, Jenn, work, traffic, myself...

3. Fix up the house. Finish painting the halls and bathrooms and garage door. Clean up the yard. Tedious work, but I'd be happy when it was done.

4. Read the Bible and pray more. This is always on my list, but never seems to happen. This time, for sure!

Happy New Year!

We had a very low-key New Year's Eve. I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week, and I took a long afternoon nap after sleeping late. When I finally surfaced, we headed out to dinner (Lone Star) and a movie (The Princess and the Frog). I liked the movie better than dinner and I liked dinner quite a lot.

When we left the movie, it was sleety and nasty, so we drove home carefully and spent the next two hours putting away all the Christmas decorations and doing a quick housecleaning. That left us with about half an hour to watch Dick Clark (who just makes me vaguely sad since his stroke) and wait for the ball drop.

My new year's resolutions for this year are:

1) Never. Ever. See a three-digit number starting with 2 on my scale. Ever again.
2) Keep up with this blog.
3) Read the Bible more.
4) Catch up my scrapbooks so that I'm less than 2 years behind.
5) Finish my Disney trip report.

My chances of acheiving those goals? Hmm....

1) I BETTER freakin' acheive that one. I'm so not going back there.
2) Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha.... (Okay, so I'm not starting out with the right attitude there...)
3) I'm going to try - and not just when I'm waiting for church to start.
4) Hm. We shall see. The problem is, I take too darn many pictures.
5) Question is, do I even remember the trip at this point??!!

Ah, well, here goes nothing! Welcome 2010!

But Where Is Our Snow Day?

We've had two spectacular snow storms already this year. First, the night of Advent Workshop, it snowed enough to coat every tree, house, car, and yard in fairy-tale white. Then, on the 18th - 19th, we had a big ol' NorEaster that smacked the mid-Atlantic with 1-3 feet of snow. We only got eight inches, but that's not half bad. Now they're calling for snow on New Year's Eve.

So what's the problem with all this pretty seasonal weather?? It keeps happening on weekends and holidays! That means no snow days, and of course, getting out of school is half the fun.

Lucky 13

Could somebody please tell me where our cute little 5 year old is, and how she got replaced with a teenager? I mean, really, how rude!

This was not a year for Kairi to have a big party, but we were blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa here to celebrate with her. The six of us had breakfast and watched Kairi open her birthday presents. Mostly she got clothes and DS games, but she also got a makeup box from us and a beaded cross necklace that her great grandma had made.

Hannah, Faith, and Juli were dropped off for church, and we met up with Barry after church at Burrito Grill. Everyone had their fill of tacos and burritos and quesadillas and chips and guacamole. Barry and Hannah gave her another makeup kit, so now Kairi has enough makeup to last her entire teen years! Then we had to hurry back home in order to get to the Rave to buy tickets for Kairi's birthday movie, Sherlock Holmes.

Kairi's friend Kaitlin was visiting from Nebraska, so Kairi invited her along to the Birthday movie. We met at the Promenade Shops and had ice cream from Maggie Moos and let the girls wander around Claire's and Aeropostale while Jenn and I browsed around Barnes and Noble. It was a big step for both of us letting Kairi wander around without us. Kairi and Kaitlin had a great time, but unfortunately none of us particularly liked the movie. The girls said they didn't understand, Jenn was bored, and neither of us thought it was "Holmesian" enough.

After the movie, Kaitlin had to go home, but the rest of us had a great dinner of fettuccine alfredo, which was Kairi's pick. She also picked a red velvet cake which we had picked up at the Fresh Market. Kairi got to open one more present, a frog from Cyndy, who wasn't able to make it to lunch or dinner.

All in all, it was a happy birthday. But if it were up to me, she would be 13 again next year.

Christmas Chaos

Let's put it this way.

There were presents.

And there were hugs. And there were relatives.
And there were more presents.And more relatives.Which meant more presents.And more hugs. With kisses. And cooties.And lots and lots and lots of food.
And, of course, presents. And did we mention the food?

A merry Christmas to all. And is it time for good night yet???

A Very Special Present

I got a very special present this year from Mom. The nativity scene above (actually, there are many more pieces, that's just a close-up) was hand-painted by my grandmother. I have always loved it, and Mom decided she wanted to give us heirlooms this year. I will treasure it always!

Best of all, it reminds us that the greatest gift of Christmas can't be bought. He was already given to us all, on a quiet night in Bethlehem.

Yes, You Can Open ONE

Every year, it's the same thing.

Everyone gets to open one present early.

Why? Cause we all know what's in them, that's why! It just wouldn't be Christmas without snuggly new PJs!

Thanks, Grandma!

Nicky's First Concert

According to his quarterly writing piece in fourth grade, Nicky is "living the dream". He's wanted to play brass for years, ever since his sister started with the French Horn. But his aspirations are longer and slidy-er. He wants to play trombone.

Turns out, he's pretty darn good at it. After a slight mishap where he traded his slide with another player and neither of them could get their trombones together, Nick played "Jingle Bells" like a pro in the Holiday concert. Best of all, Grandma and Grandpa were here in time to see his very first concert.

Here's hoping he sticks with it - so far he's loving band.

Nobody messes with Santa. You know that, don't you???

This year both Jenn and I decided to do most of our shopping online. Many of our presents were ordered through Amazon.com on December 10th and December 15th.

Shopping online was supposed to be easier. Neither of us would have to brave the crowds (although we did go out for Black Friday again this year). The presents were going to come right to the house. It was going to work out perfectly.

Except now it is December 22nd and we are still expecting three shipments. We got a lot of our presents yesterday. Maybe it was because of the snow over the weekend, I'm not sure. All I know is that I think next year I am going to order online earlier, or brave the malls instead.

Must Be Santa

Who else could get away with giving out presents a week early? Only Santa. Or as our family calls him, the "REAL" Santa. See, Faith and Nick have both noticed those imitation Santas that seem to float around this time of year. But the REAL Santa goes to Daddy/Uncle Scott's work for breakfast. So we caught up with him there, and got presents and delicious breakfast.

Good thing the photographer had a nice camera. My replacement is HORRIBLE, and I was frustrated all morning trying to get semi-decent shots.

The girls were delighted, but I caught a vague hint that this may be a dying tradition for our own two. But they still love the bacon from the buffet!

But I Like a Cookie...

Christmastime in our household means it's also baking time. This year, Jenn and I had the extra challenge of dieting while making the cookies, which is no small feat. Friday night, we made the sugar cookie dough so it could be baked this morning and decorated by our kids along with Faith and Juli. We started early this morning with fudge and candy cane cookies, since both were somewhat difficult, so the little ones couldn't help us with them. Cyndy, her friend Ben, and the girls came over sometime midmorning and helped with peanut butter blossoms, reindeer cookies, and cutting out the sugar cookies.

Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan. With only one mixer and one oven, it was hard to get the cookies done in an orderly and timely fashion. By the time the sugar cookies were baked and cooled, the girls had already left, so Jenn and Kairi did most of the decorating while I replaced the thermostat in the water heater, which had broken for the second time this winter.

In the end, we made about 25 dozen of assorted types of cookies, including two new recipes (peppermint blossoms and peppermint double-decker fudge). They were all delicious. Many of them ended up going to work and church, with some left over for Christmas.

Advent Workshop

We finally got to go to Advent Workshop after several years of conflicting schedules. But it couldn't be TOO easy, so of course we had a snow storm that evening.

It was no big deal, though, as we arrived before the snow became a driving issue. And when we left, kind members of the church ran out and brushed off the cars. Cyndy brought her girls, and we all had fun making crafts, eating yummy food, and watching the talent show.

Next year, I think Drew and Nick need to work up a comic routine. They are already the church clowns, anyway!

Deck the Halls

We got our Christmas tree early this year because the marching band ran out of trees last year before we had a chance to pick ours up. It was Jenn's turn, and she got a tree that was nice and full, but unfortunately it was a little shorter than we usually get, and it turned out to be crooked. But it was the first one we saw, and it looked good enough.

Jenn and I got the lights and garland up, then all of us hung up the ornaments. It's an eclectic mix of older ornaments, gifts from Jenn's students, and things that the kids made at Advent Workshop and school over the years. They might not match, and they might not fit a particular theme, but they are definitely "Us".

Baby, It's Cold Outside

So it's been unseasonably warm since the freak snow we got on October 15th. But of course, if we're going to go stand in line at Target at 4AM, it's a great day for a cold snap.

Better yet, if we're going to go sit in town square to listen to Kairi play carols and watch them turn on the Christmas lights, it should be cold and WINDY.

Brrr..... maybe we SHOULD move to Australia!

Thanksgiving

I've been racking my brain trying to think about how to write about this Thanksgiving, but in the end I decided to go with truthful, but not rude.

This year, it was a bit hard to face this holiday. Finding things to be thankful for was a challenge. Barry and Cyndy were separated in August, causing some stress through both their family and ours. Then Cyndy spent most of Monday of this very week in the hospital, causing Jenn's Mom to come down on Tuesday, only to leave on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Jenn was having problems with a student in one of her classes and I had been transferred to a new department at my work in June right before vacation, after spending the past 8 years with the same team leader and group of people. My mom was having back problems, causing her have to use a walker and also to get bi-weekly steroid injections.

With all of the flux going on with family, we didn't know how many people were going to appear. We were assuming at least 9, and as many as 11, so we prepared a lot of food. It turns out the only people who actually came for dinner were my parents. Barry, Faith, and Juli stopped over for dessert and watched part of the Cowboys game. Cyndy never made it over.

The food was great (especially the stuffing and pie), and we enjoyed seeing everyone who came. But it was far from a perfect Thanksgiving. In the end, we did have things to be thankful for. We were thankful that in the tough economic times that Jenn and I both have employment, and were able to have such a nice meal. We were thankful to see my parents and Barry and the girls. And we were thankful that Cyndy was getting well after her medical emergency.