Christmas Cantata

We made it through the Cantata.  This is a longer video, but, trust me, it's worth the 20 seconds from the four, cute soloists at the end.

New VBS Theme?

There is a liquor store by Purdue called the Village Bottle Shop, but when they advertise "Never an extra charge for cold beer at VBS", I don't think Village Bottle Shop.  : )

Great 8!

Yeah, we are officially done with car seats!   I'm just as excited as the two youngest peas.  Eight has brought on much fun.  Second grade is awesome and more friends get to come over and play.

Eight also brings on your first official Red Rider BB gun.  It does not has a compass in the stock, but notice the safety goggles, so he doesn't shoot his eye out.

Eight also brings an sweet reading nook in your room, complete with a super comfy rocker and a boa lamp.

The Gingerbread House that Was

To help kick off the season, the kids worked on a gingerbread house over Thanksgiving break. It took some time and great patience to pull this off together. After an hour or so of methodically coating the house with some new gumdrops and a lot of Halloween leftovers, ta-da, a beautiful, little house was born. We put it up on a high shelf and admired.

Do you know how crafty (and hungry) my dog is? He scooted a chair over, climed up the hutch, and ate the house. The ENTIRE house. The only evidence left behind was the foil square of cardboard it rested on and some crumbs.

Brom layed around all afternoon with bloated guts and miserable look. Paige kept petting him and saying, "Oh, poor Brom." Hmmm. Poor Brom my butt.

Old Gal's New Dress

This is what we did to our old gal. I think she looks great. It used to be white (pic back in Dec 2009 blog), but we just didn't feel that the white house fit with the woods. It took over 13 gallons of paint to get it all done. Every piece of the outside got a freshen up: back deck, rails, front porch, siding, doors, shutters, blah, blah. I picked up the paint on the Home Depot Memorial Day Sale, and we pecked away at it all summer. I do mean ALL summer. Our neighbors we're a little scared when we first started brushing on the olivey green, but once we got it all pulled together, we've heard a lot of praise.

11!

Paige and Claire turned 11. Exciting stuff! This year brought on a care about appearance that previously had never existed. They are just on the fringe of truly caring -- yummy smelling lotions and a few extra minutes in front of the mirror. Yet, they still love jumping in the leaves and playing catch. I'm sure with middle school right around the corner, we only have a few months left until we'll need four extra bathroom!

Hobbit Halloween

Swear, I did not pick their costumes. All four of them came up with this on their own. BUT, the geek in me gushed at the choice. I did warn them that quite a few people would not know who they were. Still, living it up since Mom-geek won the costume war this year (unlike last year's Dad fiasco).