...And a Happy New Year

This year I didn't send out any Christmas cards, so hopefully friends and family have wandered over to this website as this entry will be my Christmas card to you.

Annalise says she doesn't believe in Santa Claus, which makes us sad, but at least she's willing to play along with Robyn. Robyn believes with all her heart and it is fun to see the excitement in her eyes. Annalise has been practicing drawing this winter break and above is her note to Santa Claus.

I got them to pause before the unwrapping frenzy began.

This is Robyn after unwrapping her gifts. It was cute to see her surrounded in wrapping and tissue paper as she dove through her gifts.

Christmas aftermath.


I would like to say it is all cleaned up but those who know me tidiness is not my forte. It will take me several days before the living room looks clean again.

We hope everyone has had a great holiday and enjoying your time off work. We'll see how Jeff does beeing at home, as he's a certified workaholic. He really shouldn't worry as there's ALWAYS something to do around the house...

We are doing fine and I think after several weeks we've finally kicked the sickness bug. Oops, I think I might have jinxed ourselves. :)

Happy 40th Jeff

We actually went out to dinner (without kids!) on his birthday. These are a couple pictures from our family party a couple days later. The first picture isn't quite in focus but I love how the candles look like a torch...

Robyn helped with the cake. Besides stirring the batter, she put the candles on the cake. We didn't have 40 on top but I think she put on all the candles we had in the house!

This is what's been happening in our neighborhood...

Annalise got her ears pierced! I've been telling her the last couple of years she could get it done -- all she had to do was tell me when. Well, in September she decided to go ahead , BUT she had to wait until the end of soccer season. She really pysched herself out before the piercing, but once it was done she decided it wasn't too bad. It helped that they did both ears at the same time! I don't think she could have stand having it done one at a time.

Annalise's old Belle dress. I was going to give it away but Annalise wouldn't let me. She's going to save it for her children. Hopefully we will be able to find it then as I know it's stuffed somewhere in her closet!

My newest nativity scene. I went to the store to buy the Little People Nativity set. I had been wanting that for years but once I saw this, I fell in love. Isn't it cute!

Teacher presents. In case you aren't sure, they are key chains. The bigger ones have a pocket where I'm going to put in a small gift card. The other is for Annalise's girl scout leader. Only a couple more to do. I hope they like them.