Merry Christmas 2011

I would like to go on record and say this was one of the best Christmas's yet. So relaxing, so simple, so low key, no muss and fuss.

We'll maybe just a little....
After rescheduling three dates, we finally made it as a family to "A Christmas Carol."

The Ghost of Christmas Future is so much more intimidating on stage. He's just a softy in real life!
The first two dates didn't work because Marshall was travelling for his new job, a two week training!

It turned out great cause our first reschedule allowed us to attend Santa on the Square in E.T. and get together with our friends afterward.

At the school Christmas Play Trent had a starring role. "Claw" Bear. In Bailey and the Bees. A heart warming story about giving and taking care of each-other.

There never was a cuter bee, buzzing on her kazoo.

They did a great final number with the whole school. Catchy tune...."Glor-i-ous! Absolutely Marvel-ous! Fabulous! Won, won, wonderful. Beau, beau, beautiful. Love, love, lovely lets celebrate!"

Decorating Cookies at Grandma's.

Minus the snow! We'll have to get some sledding pictures another day, if it ever does snow this winter!!

It's a toss up whether there was more sprinkles on Callie's cookies or in her mouth!

Being veteran Caroling Party Hosts, we had that one in the bag. Marshall even made figgy pudding. You know its a party when someone lights a dessert on fire! Sing it...."Now bring us some Figgy Pudding, now bring us some Figgy Pudding....!" Marshall fulfilled his dream of green pants with Red Plaid Ribbon Trim. Callie and I splurged at the dollar store and bought the musical tie. What will he come up with to add to the outfit next year???

Awwww! Picture doesn't do it justice. (Don't ever let anyone tell you the new I-Phone camera takes great pictures!)

Christmas Eve at my Mom's, complete with a fabulous Pork Tenderloin and Domino Potatoes compliments of my Uncle Butch who is a fabulous chef. Great to have him back in the kitchen.
After the majority of the clan left we had our family gifts and snuggle/smokes time with Auntie Kate's belly and the boys stinking up the place with their Christmas Cigars!

Though I don't love the lung pollution, isn't my Dad Bad A**!

Santa was remarkably good to Callie this year. All along, the thing she wanted most was a Nintendo DS. I kept telling her NO. That's all we need is more electronic distractions! "Well I'll just ask Santa for it then," was her response with hands-on-hips in the sassy-est, most defiant voice her 6 yr old self could muster. And me with hands-on-hips saying, "Well I'LL just call SANTA and tell him, I say NO!" Guess what Callie found under the tree.

That Santa and me are gonna have some words. It's becoming clear to me, the control I thought I had over this household is a bit fuzzy.

We minimized a bit this year. I missed our traditional Christmas morning breakfast with the rest of the family, but, I didn't miss the rush of it.

Marshall the kids and I had a nice morning with perfect sticky buns and p.j.'s til we dressed to go to Marshall's Parents.

And speaking of minimizing, I love the fact that the kids gifts are getting smaller. This year, all traces of Christmas gifts have already found a place, where as years past, they sat out for waaaay to long cause there was just soooo much bulk to them I didn't know where they should go.

This Christmas came and went really fast. I am already missing it and relishing in the memories. I think what makes this Christmas so great was the fact that we kept with the tradition without the stress of going over the top. Sometimes its the simplest things that make the most difference.

Merry Christmas 2011. Sending Love.

First Day of School 2011

As much as I tried to keep it away, the first day of school came anyway! Callie was up before her alarm and raring to go. She had her outfit picked out the night before. We dropped her school supplies off a couple days ago, but her empty backpacked was lined up by the door ready. We had time to take pictures, make a last minute cold lunch for Callie and somehow we were even early enough the kids were sitting in the car waiting for me to finish getting ready.

The second day of school we were late. Go figure!!!

BaseBall Summer 2 Continued....

It wouldn't be baseball summer without mentioning ALL the baseball-y things we did.
Callie played on her first T-Ball team. And I helped coach! Quite entertaining those little 5 and 6 yr olds!

4th of July

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!
We had to pick-up some last minute items at the store and the reciept total came to $17.76. The cashier didn't get it. Kids these days!
The weather couldn't have been better. Each night the sunsets were amazing.Two dilema's with our family fireworks. I missed the memo on what day they were happening and was not prepared with the camera. Of course I HAD my camera, but the battery was running REALLY low and my card was full after Marshall's Africa trip. I had resigned myself to not taking any fireworks pics this year. It might be fun to just watch them anyway. Luckily Kim's Cousin Mark saved the day. He is a professional and also shoots with Canon. I couldn't believe it, but his battery fit my camera!We heard rumors that there wasn't going to be a parade this year, but it was back in full force! Owen one-up'd the extend-o-net from last year.Love that. Can't wait to see what we come up with next year. I keep expecting all the kids across the street to show up with nets or something, but they never do, and all the candy just keeps flying our way! The people love us!What do you get when you add Red, White, Blue and Orange?Walking Taco's on the 4th of July that's what! What's more American than that? Well, maybe Baseball! Great time playing in the field, complete with picnic table backstopCallie has gotten most adventure-some!The Supra just doesn't go fast enough for this girl. Too fast for Jack though!With a lot of encouragement and a final go-or-get-off ultimatium, she jumped off the high-dive all by herself.Trent had some high-flying fun!I know Trent was there for the week long celebration, but I didn't see him much. He was very busy in the paddleboat with his turtle net. I think the grand total was 9 turtles. Plus several dragonflies and a couple frogs and toads. We all had an amazing week. It's hard to fathom how unbelieveably lucky we are to make these memories together.

No More Teachers, No More Books!

Schools out, Summer's Here! Yippee! We love, LOVE Summer!
It's amazing how fast you fall into that summer routine. Sleeping in, staying up late. Eating when ever. It's a good life! The kids earned a little down time. Just before school ended, they both walked into the kitchen, and in unison announced, "Look what we got!" So proud of themselves! What a pleasant surprise public school turned out to be!
The end of the school year seemed to come at just the right time for the kids. The last few weeks were dotted with fun. Fieldtrips to the Zoo, A bike rodeo, Fishing Jamborree, all school show with Art Gallery and Olympics day. Gran picked up a fine piece of Art from a budding artist named Trent.The Kindergarten had a special end of the school year show. Callie was so excited to be the cow. What a ham! Or should I say Ham-Burger!Callie's teacher put together an amazing photoshow. It was set up month to month and showcased all the special things they learned, celebrated, or did. I even made the show from the Apple Barn field trip and the Zoo. Yup, the girl who is never in any pictures, made the kindergarten slide show! I went on most of the fieldtrips Callie's class went on this year. At the Zoo, we especially liked the new Butterfly Exhibit. It was fun to see the kids reactions when a Butterfly would land on them. They really liked Callie's hat.

A Perfect 10!

The flags were waving as she slowly stepped up, not once, but twice, to the top of the podium. The gold medal winners spot. The crowd cheered as she held her hands high! It was a perfect 10!Such form!Such grace!So they all got to go on the platform and collet gold medals, so what! It was real for them! And the Parents and Grandparents in the bleachers couldn't have been more proud!Go Callie!

Fisher-Girl

"Mom can we go fishing?" How can I say no to a request like that!
Twinkle Toes - we already know they are the shoe of choice for Cheerleading, apparently they are lucky fishing shoes too.No fish off the seawall, so we hiked it up the lake trail a bit. Little mud sliding gets ya right down to the action.The girl doesn't mind "getting her feet wet, and then of course,eventually her whole body!"I wish I can go fishing all the time."