Nearly there ...

Busily working to catch up we're nearly there - I know this will come as a huge surprise. 

And because we're (ok that would be me) a bit compulsive about dates I'm including the links here just in case you haven't scrolled down to check out the new and improved posts for Thanksgiving, Our Visit with Tami & Jay, Fun with Winter Birds, Musical Tubes, and Christmas Celebrations. 

Before you know it we'll have the New Year's party posted and we'll be caught up and ready to get back to a little quieter life -- yeah SURE!

Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours

I grew up on Peanuts and so I may be a little biased, but no one says Merry Christmas better.

Christmas in Going, Going, Gone!

It's been a whirlwind of a holiday season and I can't believe it's nearly over. We had a great time and we're blessed to spend it with so much family and friends. 

Picked and set up the trees and all of the decorations in record time (yes we are one of the few people left on the planet who still puts up real Christmas trees), tried some new recipies for the traditional progressive Christmas dinner (which I have no pictures of ... more slacking), made it to see Santa in the mall (look for those pictures coming soon), spent a Sunday playing musical tubes, made it over to Kiddie Kandids for Christmas pictures (at practically the last minute), delivered peach jam ALL over the neighborhood, celebrated Christmas with Shawn's family and then headed over to Aunt Jeni and Uncle Brendan's house and spent new year's eve with our good friends. 

-{Cole's new favorite game is to toss himself backward now that he's getting better and stronger and sitting up more}-

We missed Shawn's sister and her family this year and of course Grandpa Steve and Grandma Rosy. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see them this up coming year. 

As promised ... The Cousins Go Country

Well we knew it was only a matter of time ... 

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Not that it is any less enjoyable!

Catching Up ... Please stand by

Work has been absolutely insane this year. Oct - Dec is typically my busiest time (we have our federal regulators in for their annual exam) but this year was even more intense. And I'm catching up ... Thank goodness between my pictures, pictures from friends and family we'll have lots to fill this blog back up. Especially since I'm home for a few weeks recovering. 

In the mean time, not to be outdone - look for the rest of the cousins in their Country Jamboree... 

76 Trombones ... or Big Musical Tubes

Nearly every month Grandma Jacquie's family gets together for as a big extended family for some good old fashioned fun and this month was no exception except for we had even more folks in town for the holidays. 

Amee taught us a new game using (hitting) simple yet colorful plastic tubes cut at different lengths and widths to produce the musical scale. Holding up the poster with only the notes and colors depicted we had to 'play' the notes and guess the tune. Luckily Mel kept us on track (pointing and then calling out the letters by the end of the night!)

Some were much better at it - both the playing and the guessing, but Jeff led the group in correctly guessing the tune.

It was a lot of fun and amazingly we could even hear the tune, especially the second time through. 

Great game Amee & thanks for hosting us Peggy. Way to put the pressure on us for next month! See how Cole's trying to think about how we'll ever top this one. 

More Birds Needed

It's been snowing like crazy here - even more so around our neighborhood. It's really taken us all by surprise, even the birds. So they've been scavengering the decorative pear trees out front for the little berry-looking buds. 

That works out well since it significantly reduces the clean up in the spring. (notice the significantly reduced amount of berries all within a matter of minutes!!)

However, this season as the trees have gotten bigger with more 'fruit' we have more birds - LOTS more birds. 

 [the cats are about 18 years old and pretty lazy these days but apparently a thousand or so birds gets them up and moving again ... good to know]

We were kicking around the house when we heard all of the clammer of the birds and decided to give the cats a thrill and bring them into the kitchen for a 'birds eye view' - you knew I had to say it. As you can see it was a big hit. The cats sat at the table for nearly an hour watching, leaning, and reaching as the birds swooped in and past them at the table.

Even Tucker got into the act.  

Disco Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We caught this secret video of Grandpa Steve rehersing the big Christmas Special with all of his grandchildren ... we think it's good enough for Radio City Music Hall ... but we might be a little biased. Enjoy!!

[Thanks to Erin for introducing us to this fun link!!]

A Saturday Romp Around Town

With the holiday just kicking off we got to spend the first the first Saturday in December with Tami, Jay, Shaylee, and Grandpa Dan. Nick was recovering from a cold and spent the day at home this time. 

As in the past, Paradise Bakery hosted the event (although I don't think they knew that). And we scored a few cookies afterwards so everyone is a winner. pictures from the visit. and nearly forgot to take pictures ... Thanks Tami!!

Unfortunately Cole has decided recently to adjust his nap schedule and slept through nearly the whole meeting. As always, it was a nice time to catch up with everyone especially Dan since he wasn't able to make the party in the park last summer. 

     

I should point out that the pictures are a bit deceiving as far as Cole being awake as he really was awake at the END of visit. Tami and Jay & clan were in good spirits about it - that little guy can typically sleep just about any place - lucky him!!

Thankfully Tami was on the ball and took and forwarded most of the pictures from the visit. Shawn and I spent visit chatting and nearly forgot to take any pictures -- Thanks Tami (too bad she didn't come later that night with our couples party ... absolutely no pictures of that event ... trust us, fun was had by all until we were kicked out of the joint by the old miner at the Prairie Schooner)

See you all soon. 

More Turkey Please!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with nearly the whole family and a few spares just for good measure. Kris and Jim played host and the balance of the meal was nicely divided out so no one person was too overwhelmed, except by their own doing. 

Shawn's dad has moved back to Utah and so he was able to join us as was Jacquie's sister. As usual there was more food than any one group really needed but that didn't stop the feast - it just slowed

Cole enjoyed some mashed potatoes and gravy and when I say enjoyed - he lapped it up (as much as Cole laps up anything these days). He had some sweet potatoes and gummed a piece of turkey for a bit. And then like most of us he was ready for a nap but not before a little Rock Band where nearly everyone can play an instrument or sing at extreme levels. 

Everything was yummy. We were just disappointed Aunt Jeni and her family couldn't make it. Although we when saw them later that night it looks like they had a nice quiet evening and even more leftovers. 

Why Yes They'd Love to Break Another Board - Just Ask Them

Jordan and Matthew were nice enough to invite us to the tae kawn do final test, graduation, and belt ceremony (2 separate weekends, but through the magic of the blog - brought to you in one post). 

Unfortunately the senior instructor and owners wanted the students to face them to ensure they understood the principles and could apply the teachings. So that meant we have very few close up of the two of them. But suffice it to say they did GREAT!

They had to demonstrate moves involving kicks, arms, jumps - and some combinations of all three. They had to do all of this while being respectful of their instructors and the Master of the Academy. Each of the boys really has taken to Tae Kwan Do and found something special they can excel at. Jordan is very attentive and executes his moves with precision. Matthew is quick to jump to his feet and follow instruction and has learned on his own how to count to ten in Korean. And their instructor was great to recognize both kids in front of the packed room. 

Besides successfully completing all of their moves the big event was rounded off by breaking a few boards ... well about 40-50 boards in total. I thought it was great the two of them got to keep their boards as evidence of all of their hard work, not to mention hard hands!

We had a pot luck after the belt ceremony which was fun for everyone - even Jordan. Although it may appear somewhat questionable based on Jordan's expression. 

 

Thanks for inviting us - we had a great time and look forward to attending the next belt ceremony

Tongue Inspection Night (aka Autumn's Birthday)

We all were lucky enough to spend dinner with Jeni, Brendon, Jordan, Autumn, and Matthew for Autumn's birthday. 

We went to a BBQ place up north (Goodwood) which was pretty good, or we were hungry... no I think it was still pretty good.  

Cole was getting over hit first cold. I would love it if it were his last. There is nothing so sad as listening to this little guy all congested or cough. So he was more cuddly than normal.

The kids were really pretty good. Autumn was in good spirits having had her (first) manicure (what a good mom to take her) as you can see from the spread out fingers gingerly touching everything. HUGE hit. Matthew was enjoying seeing how he could compress his little bag of cotton candy (yes, we had a few small bags left over, after using up all of our supply) without directly touching it. 

Then of course, you can count on Uncle Shawn to start the faces and foolery! And once started there was no going back. I've never seen so many tongues in one night. It's like they were drawn out by the flash on the camera. Luckily, Jordan was able to avert his eyes by ignoring all of us and listening to his MP3 player. 

Cole was just content in Aunt Jeni's arms. 

Happy Birthday Autumn!!

Nothing says Happy Halloween Like Penguins & Cotton Candy

Well it's another Halloween, so there must be cotton candy in the air. 

It was our tenth year for spinning and giving away cotton candy. We started it as a lark when we moved in and now we're afraid to quit for fear the neighbors will egg the house! People who have left the neighborhood come back just to our house on halloween for some cotton candy. Kids who are no longer kids interrupt their very teenager party to come by the house for cotton candy. 

Look at the master, one hand on the cotton candy, one hand on the drink

This year was really nice for halloween. It was dry and warm - a good combination for spinning cotton candy. If it's too wet, we've spun it inside ... yes, that's as messy as it sounds. Those years we spend the 1st of November cleaning cotton candy from the walls and ceilings. When the weather's dry, we're in the garage -- much nicer, but still messy. So we've come up with a somewhat elaborate but festive set up to shield the neighbors for looking at our disorganized garage, minimize sugar floss (yes, the technical name...) from getting on ladders and bicycle spokes, and contain the flying sugar mess. And the beauty of the garage is that the smell, the lovely smell, wafts through the neighborhood drawing the kids to our house like the pied piper. 

 

This year we came up with this set up to suspend the cotton candy so it wouldn't get smashed. It worked like a charm - the only problem was keeping it full!!!

This year we were fortunate to have some friends come up and help. They've typically been stiffed on the trick-or-treaters (we can't even imagine what that's like anymore). We spin and give out about 225 - 250 bags (normal circus sized-bags) a night. This year we spun and gave out over 300 bags. Yikes!! For those of you playing along at home, that's just shy of 9 pounds of sugar. And we're cotton candy snobs - we add the flavoring to the sugar vs buying a premixed variety. We prefer the flavor and consistency. 

We thought about buying a commercial machine, but after looking in to it, those run about 800- 1000 (for the good ones ... and of course we would have to have the good ones ... see the cotton candy snob reference above) and then there is the maintenance and repairs, not to mention having a cotton candy machine at our disposal would mean every day is cotton candy day! (the concept works for roasting marshmallows on the stove, but not so much for cotton candy!)

These days, Cole just cracks himself up!!

And Cole was in rare form all decked out in his formal albeit feathered attire. His costume was really warm and with the temperature generally hovering around 60+, he hung out and greeted everyone with squeaks, and squeals, and laughs. When we finally shut the garage door at 9:30, we were all done in.