A walk along the frozen river.

 It was a brisk 7*, but the views

were breathtaking.

 Ty brought his favorite Christmas present

and he had fun scaring the geese

(notice them in the background on the

only spot of water that wasn't frozen over).

My parents were such fashionistas.

I sure do love those two!

We are all so blessed.  Being together

was the best gift I could have asked for!

The Nativity

 Summer played a beautiful Mary

in our Nativity Play this year.

 Buddy the Elf came in handy as Baby Jesus

and Ty was a very handsome Joseph.

 The crowning jewel (and funniest part)

was when the angel made her appearance.

Grammy was cast perfectly for the role.

 The wise men (Sydney, Pops, and Jason) 

brought gifts from under the tree.

Mom played the narrator.

It was finished off perfectly as

Grammy read 'Twas the Night

Before Christmas' to all of us.

What a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Murder...Again!

We let the girls do their own Murder Mystery Dinner the night the world was supposed to end. It was a blast! All the kids wore Christmas PJ pants and goofed off till all hours of the night. When 11:30 rolled around, we wondered if they were ever going to leave. :) A fun time was had by all.

More Buddy trouble.

He's a busy little guy! I forgot to take a picture of him yesterday. He was on my bathroom counter 'brushing his teeth'. Blue toothpaste was everywhere. It's a good thing he cleans up after himself!!!

*nobody wanted to drink the green milk
*he took my car on a joy ride
*he went fishing and caught a goldfish cracker

A glimpse at greatness. :)

 I think there is something

very exciting about taking on

a brand new sport...and taking it

on well.  Summer is so much

fun to watch!

 Breaststroke and Freestyle are her racing

of choice, although her Backstroke is 

pretty amazing, too.

 West High is lucky to have

this Golden Bear on their team.

She is even racing in the varsity

relays and holding her own!

We are pretty darn proud,

as if you couldn't tell.  :)

Our birthday girl

13! The teen years have, once again, hit. Syd is 13. We had a great day (even though Summer was 5 hours away at a swim meet). Sydney is as beautiful as ever. Happy birthday, Syd!

Oh, Buddy! What now!?!

He keeps us on our toes. Darn Elf on the Shelf! :)

Murder & Ugly Sweaters

Our typical Murder Mystery Dinner group got together last night. This time it was at our house and it was, once again, a huge hit. Check out those sweaters. :) We added an ugly sweater competition to the mix and it brought many-a-laughs. Jason's fake mustache was the icing on the cake. Too bad I had to force him to wear it. We can't wait until the next one.

Buddy Part II

He's a busy little guy. We love our Elf on the Shelf!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

It's a bit earlier than we normally get our tree, but we went ahead and did it. We went straight from swim practice and arrived 2 minutes before closing. It was a quick pick, and even a faster decorating. We weren't done until 9:30...on a school night. Nazi-bed-time-mom wasn't too thrilled. As predicted, it made for a rough morning. Oh well, fun memories anyway. :)

Meet Buddy

We scored! Ty asked the question, 'How does Santa know if we're naughty or nice?' Well, when he got home from school, sitting on the stairs was an Elf on the Shelf. We assume Santa dropped it off. So far, he has been a bit too mischievous for me. One picture we forgot to take was when we found him sipping syrup through a straw. Ty mentioned he needed to take a bath and, the next morning we found him in his version of a bubble bath (with marshmallows)! Crazy Buddy. We'll do a weekly update to show you what he's up to. :)