Final week of school for 2009

As this year is coming to an end we have many school performances to attend, gifts to give and cards to send off.

I feel like this year I am on track! There is a whole week left before Christmas and I AM DONE! Granted, many gifts were handmade through the year, but I think it makes Christmas gift-giving ritual that much more special. I just have to hope that gift recipients are as happy to get them as I am to give.


On Monday Larissa had her theater performance. A funny Couch Potato Santa story. The play was pretty entertaining, but she only had a couple of speaking lines. I know she can do so much more. On the brighter side, she really wants to do this again!
On Wednesday Gabe had a Christmas Band performance at school. Unfortunately due to a minor miscommunication, I made it to school too late to see the whole show. I only caught the last couple of songs. Never the less, it was really nice to see kids perform!
We also decided to restore our used piano. Tim called a piano technician, and in the same fashion as a car repair shop, we were informed of all the extra things we should do to improve it's performance. All of them have an additional cost involved, of course.
Tim is excited to do some maintenance himself, and now out piano is torn in pieces, all over the living room...

While vacuuming inside we found many interesting coins. Some real, and some old play money...

We have also been watching a show called "Meerkat Manor" on Animal Planet channel. It is very interesting, and we already finished first three seasons.
Here is Larissa's and Tim's interpretation of their stance (while cleaning a piano):

I also found out that is is virtually impossible to take a close up picture of my cat with a digital camera, because it sends out a red (focus) light beforehand, which makes the cat look away. I must have tried ten times, and this is the best picture I could get:

A funny note. Last night we were driving home, listening to some Christmas music on the radio, when I caught Jonathan singing, but something didn't add up. I asked him to repeat the song, and this is what he sang:

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good "or get a snake..."