Happy New Year

Hooray! It is a new year! We had a few friends over and had a good time playing and singing and visiting. It even snowed a little, an added bonus. We are exhausted now so I will write more later-

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Merry Christmas to All

Wow, have we been busy. Rich is home and we have been playing and busy every second since he arrived (on a delayed plane of course, which meant he got here at 2:00am).

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent the day as most of you did, unwrapping and testing our every new thing. I have to admit we have reached a spectacular milestone this year. The girls unpackaged most of their new toys!!! That means this is the first year I have not had nubs for fingers after untwisting those awful twisty things that they have holding every single item in a package. Just where do the manufactures think these toys are going(Timbuktu) and how do they think they are getting there(dragged behind a freight train)? What can happen to them from point A, to point B, to point C? Anyway, we made it and with all our digits intact.

We spent a lot of the day singing on our new singing machine. We got to watch Rylie rock out in her own concert with mix of Hannah Montanna and High School Musical. It was a delight!

Then we had dinner with some friends and the Elders. It was a nice spread and great company. Could not have been a more perfect ending to a perfect day.

The best part of all, for me at least, is that we had a showing of our house yesterday. We had to hussle to get things put away and back in order(after all we have been Christmasing for a few days now...) but we did it and it looked very nice I have to admit. So, time will tell.

I hope you all had a wonderful day.

Today's Solution to the Boredom Issue

This is Rylie's Pokemon Fishing Pond-We have been trying so hard to not make a mess on the off chance that someone would want to come and see our house on a moments notice just a few days before Christmas ( I know I know...) Today I am lightening up a little and this is what resulted...

It is a wonderful fishing pond. You can catch a Pokemon stuffy or some other "mysterious" item. I was lucky enough to catch a pink satin Barbie purse!!!




Luckily someone was willing to give me a quick demonstration on fishing or who knows what may have happened.


Notice all my fish, I think I missed my calling in life to brave the seas and be a fisherman!


Paigie got the pillowcase on her first try--LUCKY!!! Some may argue that the real score was her second try where she reeled in a darling cat that purrs when you wiggle her.

Never a dull moment here.

Last Christmas

This song has been one of my all time favorite non traditional Christmas songs since about 7th grade, back when WHAM! was the greatest thing to hit the airwaves.

We have gone full cirlce here in our house because this is now one of Tori's favorite Christmas songs. She has been humming it all morning long. It made me laugh thinking I did exactly the same thing, except when I did it it was WHAM!....I feel old today.

So here it is the new and improved Last Christmas by Ashley Tisdale...

Boredom is the Mother of Invention

A New Kind of Super Suit


A New Dress


The New And Improved Way To Eat a Yogart


With all the snow outside we have had to get really creative with things to do inside that dont make a mess. Its been interesting let me tell you!

Finally a solution that will occupy an entire afternoon....

We Were Enchanted

We went to see this movie yesterday and we LOVED it. The songs were so darling that we wanted to dance. It was great beacuse we had the entire theater to ourselves. The kids were moving all around choosing different seats and we talked as loud as we wanted and laughed as loud as we wanted. It was totally great.

Anyway, all my girls are at this incredibly romantic age where everything is about true love and happy ever after (okay maybe they have always been this way?!?)thanks to High School Musical. This movie is totally about those two things so it was the perfect choice for us. I recommend it, it does have a mean scary witch and all that goes with her(think Snow White)but it was not terribly intense.

Tori is Twelve

Yesterday was Tori's birthday. We had a super fun day that was topped with her first ever MUTUAL!!! That was for sure the highlight of the day.

Tori is a wonderful little girl, I mean, young lady. She has always been a wise and insightful little person but it has multiplied as of late. She always tries to make good decisions and surprises me everyday with her wisdom.

I love you Tori! I am grateful for the last 12 years and I am so glad you are mine.