Holiday Photos

The rest are on snapfish 1 and 2.

Hope everyone had a good vacation!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Holiday Party

So work threw a little fiesta yesterday afternoon. I have never gone to one of their holiday parties before because I always thought they would be lame. Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong. It was festive and delicious!

Check out our chocolate fountain and ice sculpture (that had shrimp in it - that was the only yuck factor for me).

Monday Night

Here is a picture of my parents right before they hopped on the light rail and headed off to the Metrodome to see the Vikings vs Bears. Ummm can you guess who they were rooting for???



I guess as soon as they got on the train, they immediately got razzed for being Bears fans. I told them it was a good thing the Bears lost, or else they might have gotten jumped on the train ride back. Wah wah. ;)

Sunday Brunch

On Sunday we had our Christmas brunch with the Eshbach's. It was yummy and fun. Bethany is a crazy creative sewer girl, and this year for Christmas, she made the kids outfits that correlated with the book that she bought them. Very cute. :)

Saturday Night

Saturday night we went to Brian's work Christmas party. It was a good time. First we went to Ichibans, and then we walked the 8 blocks over to the Hennipen Stages Theater and saw "Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol."

I felt so smart, because all of that is down where Erika used to work, so for once, I knew more about the city and skyway than Brian did. ;)

Junior Gym Games

Last night was the last night of Junior Gym Games. Brady is sad now. He loved going. Tuesday became his favorite night. Oh well. Both he and Jayda start T-ball in February, so at least they have something to look forward to. I love community ed. :)

Weekend Pics

Safety first

I was taking pictures of the outside of our house to show my Mom, and I was amazed to discover reflectors on Jayda's coat. I had no idea her coat was reflective! No cars will be hitting her. Brady, on the other hand, might not be so lucky. Terrible.

Tree Farm

Sweet

At least they were used once

The creative cutters in action.

Had to do something to keep them busy. ;)

It never looks like the picture

Pillsbury's Turkey Cookies

Our Turkey Cookies

Kraft's Snowmen

Our Snowmen

At least it all tastes good. :)

The Year of the Nutcracker

The kids and I watched the Barbie Nutcracker movie last night. It was cute!! I liked that version of the Nutcracker better than any other version out there. And then I heard on the radio today that Macy's annual holiday display is the Nutcracker this year. Yay!! I'm definitely signing us up for that one.

Whoops

Guess what happened to me last night...


Yep - big fat blowout. (Granted, that's not a pic of my van and tire, but it looked almost as bad.) I'm getting to be on first name basis with 1-800-RO@DSIDE (what with the flat tire last spring and locking my keys in the car over the summer).

Worst part about all of it, was that it happened at 5:35pm and daycare closes at 6:00. My kids were there until 6:30. Daycare's policy is a $1 extra per every minute that you're late. I'm hoping they'll take pity on me and let this one slide. We'll see...

It looks like for Christmas this year, I get 4 new tires for my van. Ho ho ho!

Typical

I got invited to a PChef party yesterday. I wasn't going to buy anything, as we really can't afford it right now, but we all know how that goes. Here is what I thought I just couldn't live without. (How much do you want to bet I never use my zester or my creative cutter set.)

For all of the Xs out there

X coworkers that is. Guess what time it is?! Yep! Layoff time. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a big fat pink slip. Ho ho ho!

Aren't you even more glad that you left?

The pinning

On Monday night the kids and I got to go to the first 10 minutes of drill with Brian, so we could pin his new captain's badge on him. It was so bad. Brian was standing up in front of everyone and we got called up to go and pin him. Think the kids would cooperate??? NO!! I had to carry Jayda, and Brady clung with both hands and buried his head in my leg. It was a sheer miracle I made it up to the front without tripping or my pants falling down. Silly kid. Of course, everyone thought it was cute. Gah. When we got back to our seats Brady turned to me and hissed "that was not fun!"

Here is our happy family picture. Notice Jayda isn't smiling and Brady is still burying his head.

Awww

Yesterday my neighbors brought home a dead deer and were cleaning it in their garage. Jayda and Brady went over to see it. I guess they don't understand the whole dead thing, because Jayda told the deer to wake up and didn't understand why it wouldn't. There is no way I'm going to try and attempt to explain deer hunting to them; especially since we've always taught them never to hurt animals. Guess the sleeping deer will remain a mystery until they get a little older.

Trick or Treat

My mom came into town last night for the sole purpose of handing out candy to trick or treaters while I was out with the kids. She had so much fun. I swear she talked to each and every trick or treater and she made each of them say the whole "trick or treat smell my feet... " rhyme. When we got back from trick or treating, the kids passed out candy with her. I think they enjoyed giving as much as they enjoyed getting. :)

Weekend Pics

We had a fun-filled weekend: Birthday party for our old next door neighbor (they rented a pony for an hour), halloween party at the FD, and pumpkin carving. Both kids love their costumes this year. Poor little Brady can hardly see out of his eye holes though. I tried on the mask and could barely see either. (Guess they really do make the costume so kids are blind as a bat.) Of course when I suggested cutting the eye holes to make them bigger he immediately screeched NOOOO and almost started crying. The kid's going to be stumbling around all over the place on Wednesday night.

The last of the Mohicans

More

We went to the zoo today and then to the rehersal dinner - Mexican food. Yummy!!

Vacation Photo Update

Almost non-vacation vacation time

So I'm wrapping things up. I'll only be at work for a half day tomorrow and then its home to pack and bring the dogs to the boarding kennel. I cry every time I have to leave the dogs there. I don't know why, and what makes it worse is that the kids cry too. :( Then we leave for AZ on Saturday. I'm still pretty crabby about the dumba$$ bachelor party that Brian is going to, but to keep the family peace, we just have to suck it up and shell out the dough. Nice start of the non-vacation vacation. Things should look up from there. We're going to site see (grand canyon, camelback moutatin, etc etc) and spend some good quality time in the pool. The resort we're staying at has a fitness center; and I'm all about that. That alone could make up for the whole @#%$!@$ bachelor party. So, no blog posts from me for a while. Be prepared for lots of pics when I get back. Yippy!

Thank God it's finally over

The last of Brady's birthday fiesta's happened on Saturday. The bowling birthday bash was utter chaos. The kids seemed to have fun though and I guess that's all that matters. ;)

Wish it was still the weekend

My trip back home and to Mackinac was over with before I knew it. We all had a good time. My little brother cracked everyone up and my older brother surprised us by having a girlfriend (who we got to meet). The kids did really well too despite not getting any good naps in. Fun times (really)!