Elf Dancing Fun

People at work were talking about the Office Max website today, and I knew we had to try it. We had some good laughs making these elf videos this evening...

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/o4VOsNk85hDnRL51tVHE

Go ahead - you know you want to try it with your own photos!

Stuck in the Snow 3 times and Cookie Fun

Even though the forecast was for the snowstorm of the decade, I ventured out because I was told "Bethel Hall never cancels events due to weather." Yeah - or they wait until I trek a few miles in dangerous snow and THEN cancel my concert. Of course, at this point I have already gotten stuck in the snow, TWICE! (Thank you nice plow driver who helped the first time, and fellow band mate who helped the second). I learned my lesson and hunkered down for the rest of Snowmaggedon 2010. We watched movies, played video games, did a little bit of playing in the snow, and shoveled (ok mainly M&M Dad shoveled) WAY TOO MUCH.

The snow was done by Sunday morning, so M&M Dad took the girls out for some Christmas shopping while I continued holing up in the house. The girls paraded back in the house a few hours later announcing "we were stuck in the ditch for a long time!" After I picked my heart back up, M&M Dad explained there was no ditch (a key detail to a worrying mom, especially considering they were driving in my car), more like the edge of a parking lot. While I let M&M Dad drive Jr. Princess over to her friends house, I was not heading out anywhere! I figure we may be running out of luck considering we have been 3 times stuck in the snow with no injuries or damage to our vehicle.

Luckily we were well stocked for all of our cookie baking.
Starshine did some great work on her snowmen.

I think we officially have a 100% chance of having a white Christmas this year!

Christmas Carols

Today was an awesome "do nothing" day. First, we never got out of our pajamas. Second, M&M Dad started work on luge 2.0. After lots of hard work by him, and major inflatable tube repair by me, we had an awesome time. Too bad we forgot to bring the camera, but it's going to be super cold all week, so I'm sure it's not going anywhere!

Then, as we were winding down, the girls announced it was time for Christmas Carols. "Do you know any?" I asked. "No" replied Starshine, "but I wrote my own."

Indeed she did...

Super cute! Though she does seem to be concerned about the "naughty list." :)

Star of the Week

It is a very exciting week in Kindergarten - Jr. Princess is Star of the Week! She spent Saturday working on her poster.

All about "Jr. Princess"

I am 5 years old

My favorite animal is a cat

My favorite color is pink

My favorite food is edamame

Florida is my favorite place (using a picture of her on Space Mountain)

When I grow up I want to be a teacher

My favorite thing to do is play soccer

If I had wish I would wish for sitting on a cloud

I'm sure she has a great week ahead of her being the line leader, giving the lunch count, and other VERY important Kindergarten responsibilities.

Breakfast with Santa

We braved the snowy, slippery roads to have Breakfast with Santa this morning. The only good part was it made the usually crowded event a lot easier to maneuver.

After a delicious breakfast (always a danger to start with breakfast do to the "Jr. Princess mess factor", but we were hungry!) we stood in a very short line to get balloon animals, treats from Mrs Claus...

and a few minutes with Santa to discuss our gift wishes...

Even with the harrowing journey across town, it is way more fun then heading for the mall. After this and decorating the tree, we are definitely in the Christmas spirit now

Deck the Halls

Friday night we had a fun evening eating pizza and decorating the house for Christmas. It was Jr. Princess's turn to top the tree...

The girls are at such a great age for helping now, that everything gets done super fast.

We're even getting a fresh of 6-8" of snow, so I'm sure we'll have some great sledding pictures soon. Hopefully Luge 2.0 will be starting soon!

Thanksgiving 2010

It was another fantastic Thanksgiving talent show (all be it smaller, with less people this year). Here's a montage to remember the fun...

Thanks to Auntie for starting this tradition a few years ago. Super Fun!

When will I remember to have someone else hold the video camera so my cackling laugh is not on tape??

Introducing the newest member of our family...

Pinchers!

Here's the proud mama...

Starshine's class studied crayfish this fall, and they could enter a drawing to bring one home, and she won. What do crayfish eat? What kind of home do they need? Beats me - we have a lot to learn. I made it clear that if they ever have a unit on mice, hamsters, rats or any rodent-like creature - FORGET IT!

Starshine has been hounding me for a pet lately, so this should be a good test run. She wasn't ready to pick it up, yet, but she was willing to pet it. Jr. Princess won't get within 4 feet of it.

Pinchers is the best pet I ever had even though I have never had one ;)!

Ahhh, so glad Starshine is learning sarcasm :)

Nature Walk

We definitely had to make the most of this gorgeous fall day, so we headed out for a fun nature walk and geocache find.

Man, I can't believe it is supposed to snow later this week. Ah well, then we can start working on Luge 2.0!

Happy Halloween!

On Sunday the girls were working on a secret project that required me to be banned from the kitchen. Sounds good to me - can someone please bring me a diet coke!

Well, several hours later I was invited back to see a super Halloween-decorated dining room complete with ghost and bat chandelier... black cats on the chairs, and surprise spiders on my seat - eeek!

What fun!

After a spooky dinner it was time for some trick-or-treating! It's a bit of a bummer to have to wear winter coats over the costumes, but I guess it doesn't matter because people trick-or-treat in the dark here anyway.

It was quite the haul!

Happy Halloween!