It Came! It Finally Came!

This is the only picture I took on Christmas day. This is after all the gifts were opened and they were checking out what they got.
And Sunday morning before we head off to church. They each got new church clothes from Grandma and looked so nice.

Christmas is Coming!

Here is the tree all decorated and lit up. It is a monster! From the outside looking in you just see a big green blob. We thought the friends we went chopping with were crazy for picking out smaller trees. Next year we'll get a little bit smaller one. It is pretty though. Only tipped over once and when we turned it a little, we could hardly notice that it is crooked. Silly Elli. Can't wait for Christmas Day. They like to poke around and arrange their own gifts into piles then I come behind and redistribute.

It Got Cold!

We've had 2 snows that stuck around a while. Not a ton of it, but enough to make it pretty and to play in. Riley shovels and I stay inside and watch. The kids are getting snow clothes and boots for Christmas so they can stay out in it longer than 10 minutes without being soaked thru. I told a few of you I got arm warmers and here's the proof. I do feel like dancing whenever I put them on, but they don't keep me as warm as I thought they would when I bought them.

Isn't that Nice

When they think I'm not looking, they can be very nice to each other. That is why they squeaked onto Santa's Good List, barely.

Weight Loss Challenge

My friend, Christina from church, is starting a weight loss challenge. It's a competition that starts January 2nd and goes until April. Each contestant puts in $10 and the person with the biggest percentage of weight loss at the end gets all the money. She created a blog where the contestants have to post their weight each week. I am totally doing it! I don't have a huge amount of weight to lose, but I think the accountability each week will be just the motivation I need to get back on track. Looks like I need to buy a scale. If you want to join, let me know and I'll give you Christina's info to get started.

Chopping Down the Christmas Tree

So we had a real tree last year and loved how big and sturdy the branches were. Riley has some pretty large ornaments from his childhood that just about tipped over our little fake one. So of course we were going to get another for this year. I thought we'd go to a stand and pick one out, but our adventurous friends, the Willardson's, were going to chop down their own. We thought that sounded fun and tagged along. First we had to look for the perfect one. Everyone had an opinion. Then Riley had to saw and saw. It took longer than I thought.

Getting It Down the Hill

Adam got to bring the cart all the way up, so Elli wanted a turn to bring it down. Here are Adam and Amy standing back, thoughtfully giving Elli her turn.
Then upon seeing that it was too heavy for Elli alone, and after getting permission from Dad, they ran to her aid.
Heave Ho! With Adam behind and Amy on one side, the cart started to lurch forward.
Riley had to help steer and Elli, realizing that everyone was ruining her moment of glory, looks to the ground in despair.

Appalachian Trail

Another part of Riley's plan was to take us to part of the Appalachian Trail. Shortly after we started, we came upon a half shelter for hikers along the trail. The trail goes from Georgia to Maine, so they have these every 15 miles or so. They also have a notebook there to leave a little note to other passers by. Riley stopped for several minutes making the kids listen to entry after entry.Adam listening intently.
The girls breaking out the snacks. It was a 3-4 mile loop and we were excited to see the view from the top.

Climbing the Rocks

We knew the end of the trail was near because of all the rocks. Riley kept promising it was just over this climb.
No, just over this climb. Maybe not, but close.

At the Top

After all the rocks, we finally made it. Amy didn't want to get too close to the edge.Riley likes to point out all the landmarks he knows, but when I asked him where they were one more time to get a picture, he stopped.
All of them checking it out.

Philadelphia Phun

The kids had a 5 day weekend and Riley gets antsy sitting around that long, so he had big plans for us. First was a trip down to Philadelphia to see the sights. It sure was a right chilly day, but it was better than sitting home in my nice warm house. I guess.This is Independence Hall behind them where the Declaration of Independence was actually signed in that building! Maybe. We think. Pretty sure. We didn't go inside it. You had to buy tickets.
And this is THE Liberty Bell! THE one!
And this is Benjamin Franklin's grave. There is just so much history out here.
And the last thing we did was tour the US Mint. The coins that have a P on them came from this very building. We couldn't take pictures inside to show though. Adam was pretty excited for this. He's been collecting coins for a couple years.

Thanksgiving at Home

We decided to stay home and have a family dinner this year. We had friends over for dessert later that day, so we had an earlier meal. Somehow this threw off the whole day for the kids. They couldn't understand why we were eating "dinner" so early and kept asking what we would have for real dinner. Here they are waiting, confused and grumpy that we were eating so early.
Nice candles to create a dinner "mood".
Finally Adam was happy when he got his big drumstick. He wasn't able to finish it.
Each person got to pick one thing they wanted for dinner besides the bird. It was my first time cooking the entire meal by myself. I was in the kitchen ALL morning! Seriously! That's a lot of work right there. It was yummy though.

Week with Grandma!

My mom came out from Idaho to watch the kids while we went to the ball this year. We had a whole week to spend with her and here is some of what we did.Amy had a puzzle for her to help put together almost every morning.
One night we played games and had popcorn and snacks. We played Cadoo, Uno, and Go Fish! We also enjoyed some of the famous caramel popcorn my mom makes, but it was gone faster than I could get a picture of us scarfing it down. Mmm.
Amy got her hair curled a couple times and she looked like a new lady. Mom always did our hair cute when I was little. Maybe I should take more time on that.
And she read stories and watched movies most days, too. What you don't see is all the WORK that my mom did. I got so spoiled with her here, it was hard to start my chores on Monday. She vacuumed and scrubbed my floors, ironed my curtains, did dishes, folded laundry, sewed a few projects, weeded my flowers, and probably did things I don't even know about! Oh, and she found our mysterious filter and washed it out, but my favorite was when she cleaned my banister and showed me the rag. Then she said, "Look at how dirty that was!" It's OK. I'm not offended. My mom is the best cleaner around! She's going to find these things no matter what!

On Our Way to the Ball

Before we head out the door, let's get a picture! This is the 2nd year I wore this dress, but we didn't get any pictures last year, so whatever. The kids ordered pizza with Grandma and watched a movie. Thanks Mom for coming out to watch the kids!

Costumes 2009

Adam is a Ghost Buster. He made the blaster pack out of boxes and parts of our old VCR and some foam tubing from the hardware store. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but once he got the goggles and knee pads on, I was pretty impressed.
Elli is a not-green witch. She wanted to be Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, but when we put the green makeup on, she screamed, "My Eyes! My Eyes!" So she rubbed it all away. Still pretty wicked though.
Amy switched from Little Red Riding Hood to a Cheerleader at the last minute. People thought she was Barbie.

We thought Adam was old enough to go out Trick or Treating alone with friends this year. Riley took the girls out with the neighbor and his daughter. About 20 minutes into the fun, it started raining hard. Adam came home and called it quits. The girls were already soaked so they kept at it a while longer. We have much too much candy.

Carving Pumpkins

Pulling out slimey pumpkin guts. Gross.
We got a lot of seeds for roasting though. Mmm Boy. (We did a cinnamon batch and a Worchestershire batch. Smelled so good.)
Amy got a spider, Elli did a two sided pumpkin face, and Adam did Frankenstein.

Kindergarden Parade

The schools here let the kids dress up and have a parade around the building. I remember doing it when I was little, but thought it was long gone. In all the other districts we've been in, they are allowed "Fall Festivals", but definitely no "Halloween". Amy was Little Red Riding Hood, but didn't want to carry the basket, which I told her she needed. Adam and Elli's parade was at the same time but I had already told Amy I'd go watch hers.

Valley Forge

We went to Valley Forge a couple weekends ago after it stopped raining all those days. It is where George Washington stayed for several months during the winter. We saw the house he lived in and the army cabins scattered around. No fighting took place here, so it wasn't super exciting. Riley always has to stop at every information plaque along the way.
These are the soldiers cabins. It probably was a long, cold winter. I would not have been a happy camper. Not while Georgie Porgie was in a nice warm house across the yard.
The kids are standing in a well they used for, well, water.
Adam claims not to have fun, but I snuck a picture of him and he looks happy to me. I think we were taking bathroom breaks and playing with Sandy on the grass.

Happy Trails

Since there wasn't much else to look at, we parked the car and picked a trail to try out. The fall time is beautiful in Pennsylvania and it was fun just to walk thru the woods. Elli found a huge leaf that they fought over and carried around trying to find which tree it came from.

It's What Boys Do

On the trail, Adam started pretending he was a soldier. I asked Riley where he learned this from and he said, "I don't know. It's just what boys do."
First he ran. Then stopped and looked.
Then ran, rolled, and paused. Shot a few times, then...
... was up and running again. He did this whenever we walked thru the "prairie" as he called it.