Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas 2008!

No Christmas celebration is completed without building a gingerbread house, baking many many desserts and eating too much! We have all of that successfully accomplished this jolly season.

We have a full house this year, ten people in total, so I have lots of cooking and cleaning to do all day long, but I don't mind. It's more fun with a house filled with noises.
Kids stayed up a little too late on Christmas Eve (past midnight). Dad told them in the morning that he had chased Santa away with a snow shovel the night before because of that, and they also found a little note next to the cookie plate...



Note reads:
"Thanks for the cookie & milk kids! Santa.
PS: Next year, please hide the shovels. I had to sneak back in after your Dad fell asleep".

We had a wonderful time, played many fun games and laughed a lot on a Christmas Eve. But, best of all, I got to try many new recipes (I finally had someone who would eat my new creations). I would have to say that of all the new things I made, shortbread cookies and jello filled orange slices were my favorite. Plus, it was a sugar-free jello, so no guilt there :-)

We took many walks in the snow, got our feet cold and wet, but that just made it all feel that much better, coming back to a warm house and a hot cup of chocolate.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Ice, ice and then some more ice.

What a "wonderful" weather we got in OR this week. I blame it all on my family! LOL

They kept saying "I wish we had a white Christmas" over and over, and they got it! A little early though. Now, of course, they don't drive either, so getting snow is all that matters to them. Plus, schools are cancelled, so double the bonus.
With a bird feeder hanging outside, we now see many more birds visiting us. Even a Blue Heron stooped by, from a distance though. Poor thing probably didn't know what to do with all the snow and cold. I had to check a few times to make sure id wasn't frozen to the ground. Then it was gone... I hope it finds a warm place to hide.
Larissa got a chance to work on her crafts:Here is the (almost) finished product:

Saturday, December 13, 2008

December 13th weekend

In spirit of the upcoming Christmas, kids talked me into joining our neighbors in going around the neighborhoods, singing Christmas carols...
Ok, so I am not under any impressions of having any ability of caring a musical note, so I figured, I will just go meet the neighbors, and some lip-singing (or humming), make the kids happy.

We went to the meeting house, got to know the neighbors, then went out through the neighborhood. It was quite beautiful, full moon, cold night. I pulled out my camera to take a picture, and guess what? I took the memory card out earlier to transfer some pictures, so I got no pictures of that night :-( Grrrr!!!
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On Saturday kids got haircuts and Larissa, Jon and I went to meet Santa at the local retirement center.
Kids looked so festive, but Jon absolutely hates any formal clothing. When we go in line to see Santa he looked very nice, by the time we got to the front of the line, his jacket was on the floor and he was working on tearing his tie off... Then he refused to sit on Santa's lap, etc.
I gave him some time to adjust and with in 30 minutes he was back in line, eager to tell Santa what he wants. It's all about patience with Jon!

Sunday we woke up to a much cooler temperature and a light snow. It started out slow and not too cold, then stopped for a little bit, but then restarted with big snow flakes and a temperature drop. We enjoyed playing in the snow. A couple of neighbor boys came over and we had a snowball fight. Then for the rest of the night we stayed indoors and watched Weather Alerts on TV, waiting for the school closure announcement (fingers crossed), and drinking hot chocolate.

Jon was surprised by a snowball when he stepped out to play:

And we started working on our Christmas Pinata (Tim said we are silly, and it's a kids' game...):

Friday, December 12, 2008

December 11th

Today was Jonathan's school Christmas performance.

Knowing how shy Jon gets around stranger and how he tends to shut down under pressure, I didn't expect much at all. As a matter of fact, I told myself "be prepared to see and hear nothing from him on stage" and be happy if he even goes on stage...

Little that I knew, he is quite a performer, when in a group of friends! Not only he didn't have any trouble getting on stage, he started waiving to us (once he figured out where we were in the audience), then he approached one of the two mics and tried singing a "la-la-la!" solo into it!!
We all had a really good time watching little kids trying to sing. There is always one stand out kid that steals the show in each group. Jon was almost there.
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Oh, on Monday Jon got into an argument with his classmate (a girl!) and she "showed him", as you can clearly see from his forehead. All of this over his favorite hat, that he insists on wearing indoors. Apparently, she threw it behind a bookshelf and when he informed her "I will tell my Mom!", she pushed his head against a table...

Monday, December 8, 2008

December 6th weekend

Jon made a "Christmas tree" at school and could hardly wait to get home and eat it. First, he insisted I take a picture of it though! My kids know me too well!!!**********
We didn't do much this weekend. Weather was mostly gray and rainy. Which means that I didn't get a chance to mow the lawn. No biggie...

This Saturday we put up the Christmas tree and decorated it. We then decided to put up some lights outside, despite an earlier decision not to. Our house just looked to lonely surrounded by all the pretty neighbors' lights. Of course that meant that I had to run to the store because, magically, I was missing an outdoor extension cord.
Our house now looks like we are actually ready for Christmas. There might even be some snow this weekend. I like the snow, I just don't like driving on it...
Suddenly it dawned on me "we don't have our Christmas card picture", so I tried my hardest to corral the kids and have something decent, without much success though. So, I went "creative"! Now, you will all have to wait and see what I came up with (on your 2008 Christmas card)!
Ok, Ok, here is a hint:
On Sunday we all went to the swimming pool and had a blast. I only wish I didn't get a migraine toward the end, which totally spoiled any fond memory I have of the swim. I think we might do this as our new weekly family activity (minus the headache).