Merry Christmas!

We had such an awesome Christmas, here are some highlights:

Here's how our holiday started....Grammy's car got stuck in our driveway because, oh, it was snowing again! It took a team effort to get it un-stuck!

Christmas Eve

Getting ready to eat Christmas Day

Ted and Baby Isabella

Opening more presents....

Will got a nerf gun, but Ted had to make sure it was "operating correctly"

Baxter and his festive jingle-bell collar.

Now ladies, for this next one, try not to be too jealous....

That's right, my very own extra-extending-snow-brush-ice-scraper-squee-gee. It's one of the most romantic gifts I've ever received from my husband. What a guy.

Hope your Christmas was great!

What's the matter with this picture?

So I've been waiting to do some baking until the last minute, because this family (mostly me) has already plowed through the million dozen cookies we had from the 'hood cookie exchange. I did bake FOURTEEN dozen sugar cookies. That's right, nothing fancy, simple yet scrumptous. I receive many compliments on them each year. I still wanted to do three more treats: 1. Pretzel ring kisses smooshed with m&m's. 2. Christmas bark. 3. Oreo truffles. Oreo truffles were introduced to me a few years ago by my dear friend Dawn. I could not believe that they weren't professionally made. I've tried making them for two years. I seem to forget each year how they turn out when I do them. Now don't get me wrong, they taste great, but you have to close your eyes while you're eating them. Because this is how they look:
When Dawn does them, and another neighbor in the exchange this year too, theirs are perfectly round, the chocolate coating is absolutely smooth, and they even drizzle white chocolate over the top. Mine on the other hand, look like diarrhea clumps. I was getting rather frustrated tonight while creating them, and the kids were very encouraging. "It's ok Mommy. I'm sure they'll TASTE ok!" "I LIKE how they look!" (That coming from the manure king). So, bakers extraordinaire, WHAT'S THE TRICK?

Because I was so consumed with this little treat, I let the pretzel rings sit on the cookie sheet too long. I can hold the sheet upside down, and they still stick to it. A little Christmas magic I guess.

Christmas bark is in the fridge cooling. Perhaps I'll have one success story tonight?

Snow, snow, snow

We had our second snow day of the school year yesterday, after a foot of snow. So there are the two alloted days...we may be in school until July doing make up days!! It's snowing again, but they are forecasting bitter wind chills for tomorrow, so today was the day to get outside.

Here we are, working on the McMillan family fort. Baxter liked to knock down the walls by bounding over them.Me and the workers. Actually, Anna and I went in earlier than the rest for hot chocolate!

Christmas Joy

This is our AWESOME Life Group from church
Last night, we went caroling at a assisted living facility in the Mt. None of us are very musically inclined, so we laughed our way through it and had a great time. Especially Ted.

Ted doesn't enjoy doing a few things. One is caroling. Or singing in general. Another is wearing a suit. And he also doesn't like having his picture taken. Here we are this weekend, before going out to a couple of holiday parties.

Doesn't he looked pleased? Zoom in if you can...

Oh, that's better.

Ring those bells!

This was the second year that as a family, we rang the Salvation Army bell. This year, I added the props, and several people said, "I've already given, but I can't resist your cute family." So get out there, groups, and ring those bells. www.ringbells.org

P.S. Oh no, there must be something wrong with Anna. As her Dad says, that poor girl!

Sledding in the Great White North

We already had our first snow day this week, which is not a good sign, (that's mighty early in the season!) but the day before was early release, and I had promised the kids that we could go sledding. Did it matter that is was freezing rain on us? NO!! Here was a group shot before the last run...

and the outcome of the "race"! On the snow day, the boys were outside for SEVEN hours working on forts, which were crushed by the snow plows a few days later.

Just Imagine....

I've had an awesome, very busy week. Many things I can blog about, but whoops, I didn't have my camera at any of them, so it will take my genius writing skills to re-create. Go ahead, sit back, and maybe even close your eyes. Oh wait, that won't work because then you can't read. Anyhow....
1. Cookies with a cause cookie exchange at church. This was an exchange with a twist. Instead of exchanging them amongst each other, we created plates for people we'd like to bless this season. It was a great idea! My plates went to our mail lady, who from the looks of it, will probably top the number of times she gets stuck at our mailbox this year. And, a friend who's husband lost his job was the other receiptient. The idea came out of what our church is doing this year, "The Advent Conspiracy." Check it out at www.advent.blackhawkchurch.org

2. Will's music program. Very sweet, but doesn't come close to West Side's extravaganza. But sometimes that was a little much!!

3. Dinner with four families from high school friday night. We had a blast. The moms were a-dancin', and the kids were a bit frightened! Husbands too. We ROCKED the house.

4. Our neighborhood cookie exchange. This, again to me, is a bit much. I had to make a dozen cookies per particpant. THAT'S 12 DOZEN COOKIES PEOPLE. And now I have that many sitting in my cupboard and cookie jar. Very dangerous for a stay-at-home mom, as I found out last year.

5. One-on-one time. A new tradition we've started, once a month, I take a kid, Ted takes a kid, and Grammy takes a kid. This month, it was Will and I. We went out to lunch, made homemade christmas decs, and HE taught ME chess. He won. He was also going to teach me PS2 "Need for Speed" but we ran out of time.

6. Today my Mom treated me to a Christmas concert by the Madison Festival Choir at the Overture Center. It was fabulous. The only bummer...on the way home I GOT A TICKET FOR RUNNING A RED LIGHT. It was NOT red as I slowly proceeded through the intersection BECAUSE THE ROADS WERE SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY. I'll be fighting this one in court on Jan. 8th.

So, there you have it. Just imagine! Thanks for reading!

It's the Holidays!

We spent Thanksgiving at Heather and Peter's new house.

Baby Isabella liked Cousin Will

Ted really enjoyed dinner

Getting ready to decorate our tree

Not bad for $25 tree outside our local grocery store!!

We got measureable snow today, to the kids delight. They offered to shovel. I wonder how long that enthusiasm will last?

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas....

Since the Packers didn't play today, and it was above freezing, it was GREAT day to get the outside Christmas lights up. This has been my duty our entire married life, besides for the three years I was pregnant and Ted took over. This year, I finally had some other help. It was great! We also got our 10+ foot tree outside the local "World of Variety" (I know, lame), but it was even CHEAPER than the score of a tree place I found in Elkhorn a few years back. It's in the garage for now.....

Anna lost her first tooth!

Can you believe it? My baby's growing up!

Baxter's new game

Ted discovered Baxter likes to play "hide and seek." He's really good at it, and sometimes it's super hard to find him!

No Reason

Hello my Faithful Readers--

So, wasup? OBVIOUSLY, not much here at our household. Actually, there have been some blog-worthy moments, but I have forgotten my camera EVERY time. Hmmm, here's an exciting literary version:

Last Friday, TOTAL blog-worthy moment....my BUNKO group in Elkhorn had a reunion! We had a group that played quite faithfully every month for about 5 years, but has fizzled. We got together again, and chatted too much to even play a single round. It was great to see everyone!

The kids had state teacher's convention the last Thurs and Fri of Oct, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL. We were outside a lot but also enjoyed a viewing of HSM3. If you don't know what that is, you don't have younger kids. We actually have had an awesome fall. But flurries have appeared this week!

My mom has moved into her new condo and is getting settled . She's only 25 minutes away, but we REALLY miss her around here!

Ted had some major job decisions to make, but is staying put at his WONDERFUL company that we moved for. I've started THINKING about going back to work, PERHAPS part-time. Stay tuned on that one.

There, now you're all caught up.

Busy, busy, busy....

It's been a busy week for us...

One of my favorite things to do is watch my soccer guys. Here's Kaleb at his last game for the fall.

And Will, #14, in action. He scored a goal soon after this shot!

I went on Anna's kindy field trip to a farm where we got pumpkins, a hayride, and toured some of the farm fields.

Our church had a Mother/Son night where the theme was GLOW--lots of experiments and running around in the dark.

HAPPY 40TH B-DAY MELISSA! Her siblings rented this wagon for her, and toured her around the MT. It was HILARIOUS

Before the festivities started, Anna got to try the horse out!

Melissa and Kassy's Great Mayo Adventure

For my regular blog readers, I apologize that you will have no idea what this entry means.....
For those who have been following Melissa's Mayo progress via my emails, welcome to our blog! Here is what parts of the day looked like:

Melissa in the car, perhaps at 5:30 am. Doesn't she look happy?

This is how her feet traveled for the majority of the trip (remember mole removals, just TWO days ago!)

Her faithful driver. I didn't even take my eyes off of the road to pose for the pic!

Driving over the Mississippi this morning, before it was even light out (photo by M)

This is how she was transported by her driver most of the day, just in a different vehicle. I only smashed her into a few things....

We found the "Patient Library and Computer Lab" and spent some time there.

I was VERY SORRY I didn't have my camera for her last appt.....in the lobby of the bldg we were in, there was an art piece of a man, TWO STORIES tall. All he had covering him was a leaf.....perhaps a maple? Melissa's face was PRICELESS.

Because today was so successful, I am thinking of becoming a professional-medical-assistant-who-can-also-drive-you-to-appointments. If you'd like references, please check with Melissa. Just don't ask about getting lost in Minnesota trying to find gas because it was cheaper across the border and almost making us late for her first appt! I also promise to improve my wheelchair driving skills.

Pretty, pretty Princess

Anna and I were playing a game of Pretty, pretty Princess. Will asked if he could play, and won (notice Anna's face. Not pretend!) Will said he wanted to tell his friends about "this wicked-awesome game" !

Fall in full bloom

We've had a fabulous fall. Today was early release, so we went to a county park that is practically in our backyard, collected some seeds for a school project, and snapped some photos...

I love days like these--this pose was their idea!!!

Fall Festivities

Ok, so I should have more time with all of my kids in school now, to do stuff like blogging, right? Yeah, still feel almost as busy as when they are all home (well, not really). So here's what we've been up to...

Bob came home for his high school reunion, and brought son #3, Tom, with.

The cousins had a great time together. Thanks, Mom, for holding baby Isabella so she could be in the shot!

Anna has followed in her brother's footsteps, and is playing soccer. Please note the pink shin guards. It made the difference of whether or not she'd play.

A night of Grammy's babysitting, a 'hood game of Monopoly!

The party we hosted for Ted's work. Great Group!

Fun visit to Elkhorn

I had the best weekend! It started Friday night at our church in Elkhorn. They had their Women's ministry kick-off, so I got to see most of my sistas!!
Love these ladies!!!!

Then, we had a shower for Ted's sister, Heather and her new baby Isabella.

She's sooo sweet, and really loves her favorite Aunt Kass

Here's Heather and cousins, Jodi and Aleca. Hmm, is the background looking familiar?

Fun at the shower. Hmmm, what about this picture? Anything ringing a bell? Remember Ted's cousin, Jodi, bought our house? We had the shower there! I've told so many of you how beautiful the house looks with Jodi's changes, so here you go! Your own private tour! This is the great room.....

And the kitchen, with the beautiful and gracious hostess, Jodi, agreeing to model for me.

Remember the purple powder room? Now I know many of you are thinking, "the whole house was purple." GRAY, PEOPLE, GRAY!! Cool tones!

The dining room, which they use as their piano room.

THANK YOU Jodi, for hosting at YOUR house, and letting me take all of the pictures. YOUR house is marlevous and beautiful. Well-constructed, too :)