Who knew this could be such a versatile Christmas gift?



Frumpy

Sweetie pie

So I have to tell you this hat was actually Therese's gift from Dan and Linda and I am told she was less than thrilled when she opened it.  We've since had all kinds of fun with it and she seems to have decided it's pretty cool after all!


Cutie pie



Santa's head elf?

Dopey




Who is THIS masked man?



Cautious

Spanky

Grumpy

Bashful



Random pics from the weekend

Dan is showing Grandma how to take pictures with her phone. (Is this such a good idea?  I mean, next she's going to want to get them developed and we need a hans-on tutorial from Joseph just to get the pictures off of Dan's phone!)

At the Basilica for Mass on Sunday.  Thank you Dave, Kathy, Mike and Haley!  We had an awesome time and hope you're willing to put up with us again sometime this summer.  I was thinking maybe a trip to the locks.  Are you game?

Who would be caught wearing this out in public?

Oh yeah,  that's right one of my fashion-conscious children wore this get-up to the local gas station.  Can you guess who?  (No fair guessing, Grandma, after all you bought the pajama pants for him!)

Just a penny!

To celebrate a short-lived migraine, here's another anecdote brought to you courtesy of Therese:

For the last few days, Therese has been searching high and low for her purse.  Tonight she informs me that she knows she had at least 2 George Washingtons.  I mean, before she had 4 George Washingtons, but then someone STOLE 2 of them.  Of course, she admits stealing all 4 of them in the first place, but then SOMEONE stole 2 of them back and NOW all she has is just a penny!  Go figure.....

I"m Throwing in the Towel

With the arrival of the new dryer, I have decided to try a new method in the never-ending battle to stay ahead of  the dirty laundry.  Yes, we've tried numerous solutions over the years ranging from big boys doing their laundry on certain days to the "Mom-in-charge-of-all"  routine. Always, to no avail.  Lots of complaints, lots of dirty laundry.  So I say, no more .... henceforth each of the "big boys" will be assigned a basket in which they may pile as much laundry as they choose until said boy wishes to wash aforementioned clothing and various shin-guards, etc.  This declaration was met with rejoicing by two of the big boy club, while 3rd member of club(who shall remain nameless) has vowed to wipe his previously used attire with hand sanitizer in the hopes that if he holds out long enough the "Mom-in-charge-of-all" routine will be reinstated. I'm pretty sure I smell victory......or maybe that's Purell. 


UPDATE FORTHCOMING IN THE NEW YEAR!!!!

Yes, we truly are hicks!

And, yes, that IS my laundry hanging in the garage.  Um, remember when we got the new washer and Dan said this fall we'd look at replacing the dryer.  Well, guess what I'm getting for Christmas........

A Therese-ism....or three

So I'm making dinner the other night and Therese is getting in the way helping.  When suddenly she asks,  "Is this supposed to taste good?"  Umm, yeah, I hope so......

Then,

Therese:  Johnny, maybe you shouldn't play the part of Joseph this year.  You have to be really strong because I'm getting pretty heavy.

Finally,

Last week I was reading some poems to her at bedtime.  One was called The Wish.  Out of the blue she said,  "I know what my wish is.  I don't want our family to get broked."

I asked what she meant by "broked" and she said, "Well, soon Joseph will go away to school and then Timothy will move away, then Stephen and Clare and pretty soon we'll all  be out in the world all by ourselves and you and Dad will be alone."

I assured her that we will always have each other no matter where everybody is.....and then we had a big hugging-smooching fest.   But boohoo, I know how she feels!

Joseph is officially a seminarian for the diocese, but sadly, without a seminary.  The bishop has asked him to wait for an opening at SJV.  So it looks like he will be home until next fall.  He is busy today filling out applications for St. Thomas, SJV and Knights of Columbus.

Full sandblasting gear!

Making a bed for Baby Jesus, sort of.

The rest of our family is really looking forward to Christmas. We will be making fudge tomorrow and have started making our cookie baking list.  The little people are practicing for their own version of the Christmas story (remember last year's rendition?  What a hoot!).  This year Therese is Mary,  Johnny is Joseph and Gabriel insists that he's a "sheffer boy". Andrew is our one and only Wise Guy and Matthew says he is too old to be in it this year. He's the director instead.

We had our last piano lesson for December on Monday.  Linda had the kids practice for weeks on musical scales and then they competed in a "Scale Olympics".  They had to beat their original times.  Here they are with their medals (edible, no less). 

John Paul insisted on getting in the picture.