Gingerbread Houses

I finally got around to making gingerbread houses. I made them smaller and simpler than I usually do but the kids had fun decorating. My favorite part this year was this extra large spatula that I happened upon while grocery shopping last week (& it was only $3!). It made it much easier to transport the dough from the counter to the pan and back!

Cousin Christmas Party

Every year we get together with the cousins that live here in town and have dinner and let the kids exchange gifts. Here are all the pics.

Lettuce Anyone?

I peeked out to see what the kids were eating for breakfast this morning while I was getting ready for school . . .

They had each made themselves a salad. Yes, a breakfast salad. We didn't even have bagged salad either. They broke lettuce off from the head of lettuce that was in the fridge added some dressing, cheese and bacon bits and all had a breakfast salad.

Update

Well, it's been a few weeks. We're always up to the same old things but here's an update anyway. Megan recieved a paw power the week after Jordan did. She was holding the door open for people at the end of the school day. I guess they are looking to recognize kids who are looking out or doing good for others. You get your picture and a description of your kindness hung in the hall by the office. Megan is also progressing in school. She was having trouble staying focused and working for the whole day but that seems to be resolving and she is doing great. She gets 12 out of 10 every week on her spelling tests (2 extra credit words)! Jordan is passing off his times tables and is doing great. I don't know if it is just his teacher or if things have just clicked this year. His grades are great and he has a really good attitude towards school. Now if only we could get him to stop antagonizing Megan. Abby is working on Algebra. Her teacher doesn't quite know what to do with her. It's good to not have her struggling but I wish there was something we could do to challenge her without making her feel like she is just getting extra work to do. I don't want her to get bored. I am so grateful to have kids who are learning and progressing in school and can take on that responsibility on their own!

I can't believe Brian and Audrey are already gone. I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I had hoped but with working and going to school full time I never have any "time!" I also didn't take a whole lot of pictures. Here are some pics of the cousins on Thanksgiving day. I had to include all three because not all of the kids look good in just one. I love that Haley is trying to make Greta smile in the second one. It was the end of the day and she was pretty done with all the commotion. She was "loved" (by loved I do mean mauled) by ben's "puppy" (4 month old black lab), she liked Yogi from a distance though.






We are getting ready for Christmas slowly. Hopefully we can get mostly decorated today. I still have 2 finals to take over the next week before I am done for the semester. Hope all is well with everyone!

Jordan got caught in the act

Today after school as kids were rushing out of the building a garbage can in the hall got knocked over. Jordan stopped, picked it up and cleaned up the mess and one of the teachers caught him. The teacher took Jordan aside and filled out a "power paw" for him. I don't know exactly what that is but Jordan was so excited because they don't pass those out every day. Good job Jordan!

Happy Birthday to Me

This is what Ben got me for my birthday. Now all I need is time to use it! With this and the atomic cupcake stuff my sis gave me I will shortly be in digi scrap heaven. (Well after I finish with work and school for the week anyway.)

Look Who Came To Visit

BABY GRETA

It was naptime so she wasn't at her happiest but she is still one of the cutest people in the world! (I love the face she is making in the last pic :) )

Trick or Treat

The kids had fun trick or treating last night. This is the first year they haven't had to wear a coat over their costume! It was almost 70 degrees! It did get windy and sprinkled a bit right at first but then it cleared up for an enjoyable night. Here are the kids:

Yogi getting his glowsticks on
My Ninja Geisha

My Pirate

My Giselle

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

6 of 6

This was a tag from my sister. You pick the 6th pic out of your 6th file and post it. Then tag 6 of your friends to do the same. This is a pretty recent pic. It was Jordan's birthday and we went to hit a couple buckets of balls at the local golf course. Cute little golfers!

We had a pretty yucky day today. Ben has had a toothache for the past 2 days so he went to the dentist this morning. They gave him some antibiotics and pain killer and told him to wait a week or two before going to see an endodontist. The pain killers weren't working so he called the endo and went in today. He had an apioectomy where they cut his gum open, "drained" the abscess and cut off the end of his tooth to help ensure it doesn't happen again. The problem is the endodontist didn't find nearly as much pus as he anticipated and Ben really hasn't had much pain relief so I'm afraid we are still going to have to do something else. I suggested that we to both teeth while we were in there (he has 2 root canals right together) but the doctor was confident that he knew which tooth was causing the problem. After not finding very much infection and not producing much pain relief (and after stitching it all closed) he said, "hmm maybe we should've done em both." Grrrr. Oh well, we'll just hope for the best. He did let me sit in the room for the whole procedure but between him, the assistant and all their equipment I really didn't get to see a whole lot.

Anyway, I am tagging Erica, Katy, Meloni, Mindi, Audrey and Melanie.

(and anyone else who wants to!)

It's pinewood derby time

Jordan got to do his first pinewood derby! (with Ben's help of course) After much procrastination it actually went together pretty quickly.

Here's how it turned out:
I had class so I didn't get to go to the race :(

They raced each car against each other a couple of times. . .
Jordan's car won second place for the whole pack!