The year of the Wii and other things

Against our better judgement and the advice of others; Santa got permission to bring our family a Wii. Brady got the guitar, the whole family got the drums, Gary got Mario Cart and the steering wheel. As you can see, the entire day was spent getting acquainted with the new toy.


So far there has been no fighting and all seem to really enjoy it. Alyssa is thoroughly disgusted with us for breaking our cardinal NO video game rule. We will see how things go.

Lexie got this really great dog from Santa. His name is Lucky and he does really cool tricks. He is decidedly better at the tricks that an earlier version named Poochey that belonged to Alyssa.

She also loves all her new barbies, new pajamies and the stroller for her dolly "Tananna". Tananna's old stroller got broken in the move and she needed a new one desperately.

Alyssa spent the day trying on all her new clothes, texting on her new "scoop" and trying on her new outfits (because she needed new clothes--not)!

Merry Christmas 2008

Well thanks to my good friend Michele; I am finally the proud blogger of background paper! Several fellow bloggers have tried to no avail but Michele finally found my problem!

Thanks Michele!

Here we are making our cookies for Santa last night!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

There was hope in the air when we went to bed last night because it looked like the storm had missed us. Alas, we woke this morning to a driving sleet/snow and wind. School is cancelled. No delay time--cancelled for the whole day. I would be partying because of the fact that the break just started one day early but the kids are really upset because the are really ready for their finals today and want to go and get it over with.

I still have to go take my last final at 3:30 so I might have to go to the library to find a quiet place to study!

Have a great day!

Santa makes house calls

Twas the week before Christmas when all through our nest,

all the creatures were stirring and studying for tests.

Sitting at the table reading a story to my kid

what do you suppose that Santa did?

He showed up at the door without invite;

visited with the family and was off into the night.

With confusion we welcomed him in,

greeted and chatted and posed with a grin.

Who was this person you might ask,

As you can see from the pictures--he's on his yearly task.

Checking the list twice was the story he gave,

He waved off their questions with a smile and a wave;

checking addresses and chilren in the abode

and then off into the night he rode.

Where he came from we can not speculate,

Little people with doubts were left to ruminate,

Why he was here was anyones guess

Parents giggled and shrugged and decided not to press!

Seriously, we have no clue. Possibly collecting for some kind of charity but when he realized the kids were so into it he definitely adjusted his agenda for their sakes. His suit was amazing. High quality, etc. One of those moments that the kids will talk about at family reunions when they are old "remember when Santa came to our door".

Winter--Ohio Style

Everyone warned us about winter storms here. We have been built up to believe they are the worst ever and that the entire town shuts down for storms because they are so terrible. Well, today we got our first taste.

These are the pictures of the kids playing in our first snow of the season.

They had plenty of play time because this was considered bad enough for the schools to have "delay time"--all schools in the area open 2 hours late so that the roads can be cleared and melted for drivers.

I hope you can sense the irony in this entire scenario by these pictures! It never got below 25 degrees! It could be a really long winter if this is all it takes for them to have "delay time"

T

TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME before you watch this video!

Tonights storm is supposed to be bad enough to cancel school tomorrow. That has everyone in a snit because it is finals week and they may have to go on Monday (the 1st day of the break) to make up their exams!

Happy Thanksgiving

I have been having such a nice time playing out here that the distance hasn't been too painful. Until today. We have spent the last 7 years close to family and friends. Thanksgiving has been a trip to Salt Lake and playing games at Ryan and Jennifer's or to Wyoming to see Mom and Rod. If we spent the holiday in Roosevelt we could plan on more chairs around the table or a visitor or two before the end of the day.

Today has been quiet. We all worked together to put on a really nice meal. We watched the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, went for a couple of walks, trimmed the hedges, changed the lightbulbs, did a load of laundry, made and ate too many pies and thought about the family and friends back home that we love dearly and miss awfully.

We love each of you and hope you have a wonderful, relaxing day.

Winter Parade

The Winter Parade was yesterday. Aside from the fact that Lexie got all the way there and had no coat, the parade was wonderful. She wore my coat and after about an hour Alyssa took her to the car to get warm. The parade lasted 2 hours and boasted 7 awesome marching bands, horses, floats, belly dancers, really cool comunity art and a lot of candy.

Aren't they about the cutes kids ever?




This is one of the rival bands to our high school, Anthony Wayne. They are really good but not quite as big as our band.

This float was made entirely from recycled materials. The chimney is bales of cardboard, the tree was donated last year, the ornaments are pop cans and other recyclables, the candy canes from coke and diet coke cans that were wired together with recycled wire!

Lexie loved the Clydesdales.

Brady loved the candy and the drummers!

This is the local unicycle club. It made me think of our friend Dale Yorgason, he is an accomplished unicyclist and would have a blast with this group. They looked really fun and we got a coupon for a free lesson. Brandon is eager to try it out!

The cast from A Christmas Carol.

I just loved this dancing woman. She is the community art creation for this private school. They take her to all the local events. The belly dancers behind her were also very cool. In another life I think I will be a belly dancer :-).

Even the Grinch made an appearance.

More band pictures that I can't find my son in! How frustrating!

Nutcrackers playing The Nutcracker!

If you watch all the way to the end of this clip, you will see Brandon. He is on the very back row. He is the second from the right as they are walking away from you. I tried so hard to get a shot of him and after we got home Alyssa said she thought she might have seen him when she was taking the video. Sure enough; barely but at least we got it!

Doesn't he look so handsome?

This is my really creative way to get almost all of the kids (and the dog) in a picture together. Can you see 3 of the 4?

The Franklin Institute!

Sorry for cutting you off Brady!
I must have done a funky download because I found the pictures of the Franklin Institute safe and sound on my camera! Crazy.

This picture has total random strangers in it but was such a cool shot of the statue that I went for it anyway.
From the picture of the iconic statue of Benjamin Franklin to the huge human heart and the man riding the bike 4 stories in the air, the Institute was worth the really quick trip. I am so happy that the photos were just hiding on my memory card.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to comment.

Philly cheese steaks---Yummmm!!!!

The Liberty Bell

I have waited my whole life to see the Liberty Bell. Friday we left Bowling Green at about 6pm. We drove until midnight and got a motel. Sat. morning we went into Philly and had a ball seeing all the stuff! We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the iconic Benjamin Franklin in the rotunda of the Franklin Institute.

We didn't realize that we would be right in Philly's china town (That wasn't the only part that they forgot to mention in "National Treasure")! The sights and smells were amazing. Lexie was mesmerized by the baby who wasn't "crying in English". Brady was so excited to give some money to the street musicians. Man could they play!

I just thought this was a cool building.

Just across the street from Christ Church Burial Ground is the United States Mint at Philadelphia. Gary was very sad that it was closed for the weekend. Next time we will have to go on a weekday.

I swear I did not pose this picture. I was on the steps to leave and turned around to say something to Gary and this is what I caught. Anyone who knows Gar won't be a bit surprised that this was the thing he was most interested in from our trip! :-)
Somehow my pictures of Benjamin Franklin in the rotunda didn't turn out. I was really sad about that but oh well. The landscape was so beautiful, I loved taking shots of all the dairys.

We came home through Pittsburg and got some shots of the Alengheny River and Heinz stadium. The Steelers were playing on Saturday evening so all the fans were out tailgating. We could smell their barbeques from the highway! Yum.

The route we took was right through the Appalachians and the Alengheny mountains. There were tunnels more than 1 mile long and you can see that the trucks barely fit.

Double click on this picture of the semi and you can really see how close the trailer is to the top of the tunnel!