A great holiday

I hope everyone had a great holiday. We had a house filled with family and it was wonderful. There were lots of laughs, food, and gifts. We are definitely blessed.

Earlier in the week we went to the Trail of Lights which is a fun part of our Christmas traditions. Local groups and small businesses put together their own little booths of decorations which include lots of lights and cute photo props.

Then on Tuesday we spent a couple of hours at the DMV. I swear it takes more paperwork to apply for a driving permit than it takes to buy a house! It was crazy. But, Addison and Wyatt felt like they were ready, so they went and took their tests and now we have two drivers with learning permits. Kirsten and Abigail are going to go on Monday. Dax and I are still a little in shock with how quickly it seems like this has all happened. It's looking like our new year will be bringing even more changes as our babies continue to grow up. How do we keep that from happening? lol

Another Happy 4th of July

This year we were busier than usual for the 4th of July. With Addison and Abigail being cheerleaders now, they were participating in the parade in town.

Here are some shots of the float decorating that went on Sunday evening....

Oh! Wait. Those are all adults doing the work.

Where are my kids?

I found them.

They actually helped far more than the older girls. The 8th grade cheerleaders were inside eating the candy that was supposed to be thrown at the parade.

On Monday, we had to be at the parade early, early for the girls to be at their float. So we dropped them off and the rest of us went to the cafe to have breakfast and then wait for the parade. And, honey was it hot!

But we enjoyed the parade anyway.

See the joy?

 Okay, at least my Mom looks happy.

It appears that Habitat for Humanity didn't have time to finish their float.

 I'm kidding!

I always like these guys.

Here come the cheerleaders!

 Addison is on the far left at the end of the float. She's busy yelling something....apparently. Abigail was on the other side and you can't see her in this picture.

All in all, it was a good time. We had an enjoyable evening at home. We didn't have any fireworks this year because of the drought. They've all been banned. The stands weren't even allowed to open because it's too dry for any kind fireworks. That was a bummer!

Father's Day

We met my parents half way yesterday to get the kids back. It was good that I got to actually see my Dad on Father's Day too. The kids had a good time with the grandparents.

On the way home we stopped and played putt-putt golf. It's an indoor course and it's a black-light course. It was really neat and the kids had a lot of fun.

It's kinda' hard to get good pictures under those circumstances though.

Dax and Abigail helping the gorilla fight the snake.

Addison trying to get the snake away from the gorilla.

Addison riding a whale.

Abigail being attached by a shark.

After that we headed on home.

While dinner was cooking, the kids gave Dax presents they had gotten for him.

Golf balls from Wyatt.....

A tape measure from Addison....

A key chain from Kirsten.......

And a level from Abigail.........

(Did you notice how Addison managed to squeeze into the pictures with Kirsten and Abigail?)

Anyway, I don't know what I got him for Father's Day because he hasn't ordered it yet. I guess it'll be a surprise.

Hope everyone else had a good day, too.

Too tired to care

I spent the day on Sunday running around like a crazy person trying to get the last of the Christmas shopping done.


As I walked out of the last store I caught my reflection in the car window.



*Gasp!*



No wonder the cashier kept looking at me all weird like.





In some stores the lights cause a terrible glare on my glasses. I had pushed them up onto my head and then just used them when I needed to see the price. Obviously my hair got stuck in them at some point and I didn't even notice.


By this time I was so tired that I didn't even care that I had been walking around the store for who knows how long with my hair looking ever so awesome.

Trail of Lights

We have an outdoor theatre (the kind for plays, not movies) in town (come to think of it, we have a lot of outdoor things in town) and every year different organizations in town decorate little areas (it's a contest) and make the Trail of Lights. We go every year--often several times--and see the pretty displays, cook hot dogs, roast marshmallows, and drink hot cocoa. It's a delightful small town thing to do. I took my camera with me this year but only got two pictures before my battery died. (note to self--check battery before heading out to take pictures--duh!)

Anyway, here they are, Wyatt and Abigail:

Halloween Costumes

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. We went trick-or-treating on the Square in town. Most of the shops on the square stay open to give candy to the kids. It's a great 'small town' activity and it's one of our favorites. After we left the square we ran home for hot dogs and potato salad and then off for traditional house to house trick-or-treating. They only did that for about 45 minutes (maybe an hour) before they decided they were tired and just wanted to go home. I guess they figured they'd gotten enough candy. lol When they asked if they could eat some of their candy early on I told them that this was the only night of the year that they got to eat candy until they thought they were gonna be sick (if they wanted that much).

Well, here are the costumes:

Addison was a hippie. I couldn't get her to let me take a picture without her making some sort of dorky face. *shaking head*



Wyatt was an alien. His costume looked really good (I just couldn't get a good picture of it) but it was really hard to see out of the mask. There was this pattern over the eye part and it made it tough to see.



Kirsten was Princess Liea. We made her costume because I had trouble finding one. She was pleased with it so that's all that really matters, right?



And Abigail was Cleopatra. I made her costume from an old party dress I bought at Goodwill. She was happy with how hers turned out too. Seeing one of my babies with makeup on is more than I'm ready for (although hopefull she won't want to wear it quite this heavy when she does.)

Friday Flash Back

These pictures are from a couple of years ago. I bought a gingerbread house kit and let the kids decorate it.


I've learned over the years that they don't seem to have a sense of when to be finished. They just keep going until all the decorations are gone. lol




They ate so much of the frosting and candy as they were doing this that it's a wonder they weren't all sick!




Look at the mess of sprinkles that are all over the table. The floor was covered too. Hmmmm......wonder why we didn't do that again last year and why I haven't bought the stuff to do it this year? Look closely at that and you can just imagine what their little painting project looked like the other day. Gaah!! (I was a little more that upset when I found what all the paint had made it's way to.....but that's another story. ;0) )