11-26-2010 Black Friday Decorating Tradition Continues

I hate shopping. With a passion. So, a few years ago, I decided Black Friday would be the perfect day to decorate for Christmas. Works perfectly. Charlie is always off from work and can do the heavy lifting. I'm home to supervise. The kids have a great time. Baking cookies is a must. Some years we go to a tree farm, this year we spent the whole day at home.

Charlie and Luke totally outdid themselves on the lights. They had to add lights to the tree since some of the sections did not work. Then they did the kitchen. Above the cabinets. Around the windows. Around the fireplace. Around the door. I told them it looked like enough lights to confuse pilots into thinking our kitchen was a runway. Looks great though!

Next they went upstairs and created a square of lights above the beds in the master bedroom. Kinda reminds me of a canopy of lights. Kinda.

Lily got lights strung around her room as well. Luke still had his lights up in his room from last year. Not redneck at all.

This year we had gingersnap cookies and chocolate chip to keep us going. We ended the day by watching Polar Express. Perfect ending to a great day. The kids were really well behaved and helpful all day. Charlie and I actually enjoyed ourselves doing the decorating. Hope the whole season goes as well as today did!

11-25-2010 ThanksGibney

Most thankful this year for our health, each other, and having absolutely everything we need to live comfortably. Luke said he's most thankful to be alive. Lily said she's most thankful for family. Charlie listed  family at the top of his list as well.

Did our traditional ThanksGibney dinner today. It was actually a bit touch and go in the morning because we had a bit of sleet and snow. Nothing stuck though and there were no problems with the roads. Not sure how to feel about that as the food is always lacking both in quantity and quality. Would have been fine hanging out at home all day. Especially since it seems Ron Richie has FINALLY fixed our outdoor furnace system! All 3 thermostats are set to 73 and are actually reading 73! A Thanksgiving miracle for sure!

Back to the details of ThanksGibney......The informal information on Facebook was that we were eating at 2:00pm. We set off around 12:30pm, but I had forgotten to tell Charlie the minivan tires needed air, so we had to take a quick trip to Sheetz to fill them. I should have documented that little side trip in pictures. A very cold rain was coming down pretty hard. charlie was wearing only a fleece jacket. And so our precious little Lily got out the the minivan and held her princess umbrella over Charlie's head so he could fill the tires and not get wet. It was absolutely a kodak moment.

 By the time we got to the church it was about 1:15pm and they had already done the family circle and prayer. We arrived just in time to eat! I didn't even bother getting out the appetizer dips and crackers I'd brought along to hold the crowd over until the feast, and I use that term very lightly indeed.

The food was as it is every year By that I mean quite bland and in short supply Charlie took only meatballs and dinner rolls on his plate. I took the crockpot of meatballs. Unfortunately, they were only lukewarm. The kids ate a little, but spent the vast majority of their time playing with Sarah Rose and Adan. They absolutely love the wide open space and preschool toys available at the church.

At the end of the evening, poor Lily got wacked in the forehead with a hockey stick. She has a big goose egg on her forehead. Sarah Rose felt terrible about the incident. We put a push pop from the church freezer on Lily to try to keep down the swelling. She ate it on the drive home.

We were home by 5:30 pm, much earlier than other years. I'm attributing the early arrival home due to a combination of the weather and Lily's head injury. The house was still warm and toasty when we got home. One more reason to be very thankful this Thanksgiving.

11-18-2010 Teacher Conferences

Met with the kids' teachers this morning before school started.

Mrs. G. says Luke is very well behaved and follows the rules.

Mr. W. says Lily tries very hard and is a good listener.

I'm so proud of both of them. Performance wise, they're both in a bout the middle of the class and I'm happy with that.

 I'm thrilled that they are respectful and don't need to be told what to do more than once! What great kids we're raising!

11-14-2010

P&J were here yesterday and we had a great visit. They came around lunch time. P helped Charlie try to solve the mysteries (and there are many) of our outdoor furnace. J and the kids helped me in the kitchen. For lunch we had great northern beans in garlic sauce and salad and oven roasted potatoes. Everything was excellent.

After lunch we just hung out and the kids played games and we all took a walk around the property and down to the dock. It was really nice.

Charlie started washing the outside lowere level windows of the house. Hoping we get them done today. They are so dirty the glass almost looks opaque.

The kids watched a few episodes of the Addams Family last night on youtube. First time they ever saw that show and they seemed to enjoy it.

11-5-2010 And So It Begins.......

Since we've had the outdoor wood burning furnace, we've had problems with it. Every fall with out fail it fails to keep the house warm and cozy. Today the kids and I felt it was quite chilly and drafty. Charlie hasn't been in the house for more than 5 minutes and so hasn't really noticed it. But trust me, it's cold. I have the thermastats set at 75, but they haven't gone beyond 68. Time to bundle up. Currently I'm wearing heavy thermal socks, fleece pants, a long sleeve tee shirt, and my heaviest Champion sweatshirt. Lily is actually comfortable in a long sleeve shirt, but that's because she has the hot blood of the Wehry's and does even need a coat unless it's below freezing.

11-03-2010 Today is Your Birthday

Happy 39th birthday to me!

When I picked the kids up from school they sang happy birthday to me.

Mom and Dad called and sang to me.

Nothing better than that!

11-01-2010 Another Halloween Has Gone

We had a good time trick or treating last night. Lily went as a bat princess. Luke went as a ghost. We did the traditional McDonald's for dinner before setting off.

I dressed for success in winter hat, gloves, winter coat. We were only outside about a half hour or so. We were home by 7:30 pm.

When Charlie and I were kids we only went to houses we knew and didn't get a treat until the hosts guessed who we were. Those days are long gone I suppose.