new hair do

I was looking for new ways to fix Carmen's hair. It's in that eh stage where I don't have too many options. It is getting quite long, but it's also very wispy. And she has a whole under layer that is much shorter than the rest. Anway....I tired this the other day and thought it looked so cute!

Happy Birthday Carmen

I know....I know....I'm totally slacking on the birthday post for Carmen. Sorry no slideshow of the 100 million pics I took of my baby within her first year. I did get some on her big day though. We had planned on having a party with a few family friends who also have children Carmen's age. It was set for the evening. However the weather forecast was giving a grim outlook and a good dumping of snow was heading our way. I called Jim about moving the party up to the lunch hour. The downside to that would mean that it cut Jim & the 4 big kids out of the festivities. Although Jim didn't care that I moved the party, he suggested that I just cancel all together. Why bother with it? I insisted. It's enough that she's A) the last child and B) born the week before Christmas. I don't want her to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to her special day. So I held it over lunch, everyone was able to still come. It was already snowing like crazy outside. We had a delightful time and definately some birthday fun.

Later that night we had another small hoorah with just the family. The big kids wanted to be part of the celebration as well.

YMCA holiday party

Every year the Y hosts a holiday party of some sorts. We've had everything from pizza & bowling to a family evening in our Y building. In many years past I've been in charge of organizing this event. I got the year off though as some others jumped in to take the lead. They held the event at Knox College and had the party a bit more dressed up & formalish. No kids this time, just adults. We enjoyed a very nice dinner, a slideshow and, of course, some gifts.

It was a nice change of pace. I got a lot of oooohs and aaaahs when I walked in all dressed up. (Of course most people are used to seeing me in my Y attire which would be a t-shirt and shorts, hair pulled back in a ponytail and quite often covered in sweat too). I wore an old bride's maid dress that is all black and flows all the way down to the floor. I knew when I bought it years ago that I would get a lot of use out of it. When I walked up to my table a co worker said to me "do not tell me you have that just sitting in your closet" I chuckled and said...."yep, it just sits there waiting to be worn." (which for the record I have now worn it 3 times). I didn't get any full length shots of me, but here is a nice one of Jim & I.

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

I usually get the Christmas tree up right after Thanksgiving, but that didn't happen this year. When I finally get around to the garage where I store the tree I came across a problem. I couldn't find the tree. I looked high and low, all over that garage, for at least 1/2 hour. I finally gave up on the tree at the time, but did get some Christmas light drapped around the front porch. I wanted some points for being productive.

I said something to the kids later, Angel pips up that she thought I threw the tree away last year. I blew off the thought, that would be impossible. Later I said something specifically to Jim and he confirmed what was already said....I threw the tree out last year. I was completely stunned and baffled. I mean....really, I did? First of all, why? And secondly, why for the life of me can I not even remember doing that? Seriously I have no clue.

Upon further pondering I came to vaguely remember my doing this act last year. The tree was "old" and quite worn. We bought it 10 years ago when Mandy was a baby. It's had it's use. And one way to guarantee that we get a new tree was to just pitch it. But we never replaced the tree and with the ever so tough economy this year we didn't have any extra money sitting around for another one right now.

So I dragged out an even older tree that I had hung onto for many years. It was the first Christmas tree that Jim & I ever had, a little bitty 3 footer. My mom had used it for many years in her sunday school class and gave it to us for our first Christmas cause back then we didn't have any money for a tree either. (Huh, somethings never change.)

Even though I would have loved for Jim to go out and just buy me a new one, I really didn't care if we had a big fancy tree. Christmas is not all about a tree and how pretty it is. I also thought it would serve as a good "remember when" story for the future and a lesson to the kids. A perfect lesson in contentment, doing with what we had. We could have no tree, but we at least had this. When I explained things to the kids, they didn't really care either how big the tree was or wasn't. They just wanted something up to put presents under. So we made a family night of it, playing the Christmas music loud and clear, working together to get the job done. All of our ornaments didn't fit on there so we picked what we could to fit on. The star would reach all the way to the top either. So we just patched it together. I call it our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I like it.

oops

I started that last post by adding some pics. I meant to take the post in one direction, but headed in another and never got around to the pics. They were just silly ones of John taken recently. The simple things that entertain boys.

snow day

YES! They FINALLY cancelled school due to the weather. (Can you hear the choirs of Hallelujah singing in the background?) It's become a well known fact that our current superintendent is very hard on school cancellations. Which in some ways I can appreciate, especially when June rolls around. But some days, it's like "COME ON! SERIOUSLY?" Even if they would use the occasional late start or early dismissal it would make a huge difference. But in my 9 years as a parent in this school district that has never been used. Anyway...

That's not what I meant to start this post about. It's a snow day, it's friday, which was suppose to be their last day of school before a 2 week break. So instead of school sing alongs, holiday movies and class parties we're home. I'm staying put to be safe. My van is so big and heavy, we really need new tires and I've spent a good portion of the recent weeks spinning my way out of intersections. And getting up into my drive way is always entertaining. So we're gonna stay put for today, most of it anyway, we'll see how things look later on.

I'm ready for a day of baking, watching movies and getting last minute things ready for Christmas. I also have a lot and I mean A LOT of blogging to do. For the moment though, Carmen is in her highchair & wanting down. So until later, have a safe & warm day.

Living Windows / Christmas Walk

Angel & Mandy performed in a window for the public to view. It's an annual event held in Monmouth where their dance studio is. I took video of each of them, but Mandy is in the window with other girls. I try to not put other people's children on the blog unless it's family or close friends or I have specific permission to do so. So I decided to go with the picture of Mandy in action.

Angel danced in the window by herself. She made the paper again this year. It wasn't a head on shot and she was unidentified in the pic. Here is her video.