The After Christmas Gift

Marianna received a dolly and matching baby furniture from her godfather.  Turns out she DOES like dolls, contrary to what Dan kept saying.

We put Timothy to work since this gift required some assembly.

Marianna posing for Maria's camera so she can show her dad
 how much  his gift was appreciated.

Make way for the little mommy!
(Can you tell we had a lot of partying going on....
sleeping bags, luggage, ugh!)

After Christmas Update or It's All About the Fishing

Perpetual fishing party this week.  And I mean, perpetual!

Marianna recovered from her Christmas fever.  She was already better the next day and no coughing.  So I guess we dodged the flu for another day.

Boggle My Mind

Grandma, your electronic Boggle game has really brought out the best in some of us.  Therese was playing it yesterday and asked, "What does S-H-I-T spell?"

Brings a whole new meaning to the concept of vocabulary words!

Red-Neck Entertainment Center

Just glad it's not in the house!

Less than 24 hours after returning home, our fisherman is back on the ice...

It's a family tradition...

There are really only two Christmas traditions that our family are sticklers about: one is frosting and decorating cookies (which we'll be doing tomorrow) and the other is chopping down our own Christmas tree.  Today we managed to get everyone together for the trip over the hills and through the woods and this is what we found:

Well, first off, we have the original grinch, Marianna.

She absolutely hates. her. snowsuit.  HATES IT!

 Now for the fun stuff...

Gabers wanted an itty-bitty Charlie Brown tree.

Andrew and Johnny were busy dusting snow off the trees.

Marianna was a happy camper on Timothy's shoulders

and Stephen was all psyched to start cutting.

Then we saw "The One".

Or maybe this was "The One". (After a while the trees all look alike to me.)

Now, what do we do with this thing?

Everyone gets involved with decorating...

and even Marianna is happy in the end.

Just to prove I do know how to bake cookies!

Yep, I actually baked cookies.  Not the throw it all in a pan, bar cookie that my kids are used to.  The real deal here...they were amazed!  So amazed that we had to take a picture.  See?

Monday's sledding

Sorry it took so long to get these pictures posted.  The Jump has been added to their sledding fun this year.   Thank you to Joe K. for the photography (since I will not be taking a trip down that hill this winter).

Matthew hitting The Jump just right.

Johnny bypassing The Jump.

That's my girl... face first!

Gabers will only pull his sled around since The Jump was added to the hill.  He is NOT going down  it.

Air born!

More Snow = A Bigger Snowman...

...and a little rain = a crazy Therese standing under the leaking gutters getting her hair all wet.

Stephen assures us that The Hobbit is worth seeing.  He was there for the opening on Thursday night and back for another viewing last night.

He has the goofy 3D glasses to prove it.  Although, I think Clare shows them with more flair.

They even match her sweater!

I would just like to know...

who topped our Jesse Tree with the slinky?

Brown Sugar Baby

We discovered that the brown sugar bag from Sam's Club weighs 7lbs.  

When I mentioned newborn babies weigh around that, 

some of the kids decided to "baby" the brown sugar.

Just practicing, you know.

Serious Cross Stitching Faze

Since I am madly trying to finish Marianna's stocking before Christmas, everyone else has decided to be crafty as well. Therese and Andrew received stitching projects from St. Nick this year.  Now they seem to think crafts are a great replacement for school work.  Um, no. (You still have to do math everyday around here. Although, I do let things slide a little during Advent.)

Andrew already finished the project he was working on here.

Therese has kind of stalled out on hers, though.

Matthew's project was from odds and ends I had in my stash.

Coming to the end of the stocking...and my patience too!

I am Free!

Clare has been working on a genetics project for biology.  She's been wandering the house checking out everyone's ear lobes.  Are your's attached or unattached?
We were just discussing the fact that Gabriel has unusual ear lobes when Therese piped up, "Well, I'm free!  My ears are not enslaved!"
Whew!  What a relief!

Early Christmas Present

Dan and I agreed not to spend money on each other for Christmas this year.  Then I asked for a sewing desk....Dumpster Diving Dan to the rescue.  He reused a shelf that was already in the basement and when I came home from cookie baking last weekend.  Here's what I found...

Even after a whole week, it's still a mess.  I am slowly reorganizing my craft/sewing/junk accumulation, but at least now I have some place to put it!!!  I especially love the light.  It came from the shed and for all you city folk, it was originally used for our chickens and ducks.  I swear creativity just oozes from that man!

Sorry Grandma,  haven't been able to get a picture of the hat on Dan.  Found a few other takers, though...

When Gabriel put the hat on, I said, "Howdy Stranger!"  

He replied, "I'm not a stranger, I'm Mr. Cowboy."