SNOW DAY

When I first heard that the preschool was going to spend some money on Snow Day, I thought it was a little indulgent.  Totally worth it.  These kids were excited with anticipation for an entire week beforehand.  On the day of, Walt woke screaming, "Snow Day!"  This is the truth. 

They had so much fun, and I had fun watching them.  Walter is a nasty little snowball-thrower though.  Merciless.  That mischievous mean streak he's inherited from someone I won't name here. 

A Kindle and a Kermit.

Eleven. Wow.

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

So... with a whopping 19 votes total (8 of which are pretty suspect votes, actually) we had some interesting results.  I am choosing to disqualify FIVE of the six Our Party of 6 votes as I think they were falsely attested.  I'm also not sure that Blueberry and Aaron were ever actually shown the houses, so perhaps their votes also shouldn't count.

The house that received the most LEGITIMATE votes was Number 3! Yes, the cookie pathway stole the most hearts!

NORA wins the 2011 Family "Gingerbread" House Contest!!!!

Reading 2011 - For the Print out

55. The Fall - Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan


54. The Strain - Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

53. 1 Samuel

52. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

51. Faithful Place - Tana French

50. Stephen King - The Stand

49. Catherine Fisher - Sapphique

48. Jhumpa Lahiri - Uaccustomed Earth

47. Max Brooks - Word War Z

46. Carrie Ryan - The Dark and Hollow Places (Sigh. Not really what I wanted out of the end of the trilogy. Come on. They all lived? And Ox died just in the nick of time? Come on! She should have been forced to help him to the boat at the end, Ms. Ryan - you're either living or dead - make Annah prove it!)

45. Whitman, Dickinson, Whittier, Longfellow, and Bryant

44. James Fenimore Cooper - The Last of the Mohicans

43. Washington Irving - Rip Van Winkle

42. Edgar Allan Poe - assorted bits

41. Abraham Lincoln: A House Divided

40. Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin

39. Harriet Jacobs - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

38. Hannah Dustan's Captivity and Revenge as told by Samuel Sewall, Cotton Mather ("She was Godly!"), Jonathan Carver (She was an Amazon!), John Greenleaf Whittier ("Oh my, She was a woman!"), and Henry David Thoreau (She travelled through lovely forests and scenic streams after scalping the Indians who took her - oh, look at the pretty little birdie!")

37. Cotton Mather - The Wonders of the Invisible World (aka Let's Get Some Witches, People!)

36. The Poems of Anne Bradstreet

35. John Winthrop - A Model of Christian Charity

34. William Bradford - Of Plymouth Plantation

33. Ikto Conquers Iya, the Eater (a Sioux Trickster Tale)

32. John Smith - The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles

31. The Letters of Christopher Columbus

30. Pima Stories of the Beginning of the World

29. The Fiery Cross - Diana Gabaldon

28. The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

27. "The Metamorphosis" - Franz Kafka (one of my very favorites. Treat yourself!)

26. "Diary of a Madman" - Lu Xun

25. Poetry of Pablo Neruda

24. "Zaabalawi" - Naguib Mafouz

23. Dada-Surrealist poets (Tzara and Monsour)

22. Drums of Autumn - Diana Gabaldon (Best of the series so far. Pirates, Mohawks, Scots, Jamie, Roger, Lord John, Stephen Bonnet, Brianna, Claire.... COME ON!)

21. The Gravedigger's Daughter - Joyce Carol Oates

20. Rabindranath Tagore - "Punishment" (Bengali poet and author)

19. Ghalib - (Urdu poet)

18. "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" - Leo Tolstoy

17. "The Lady with the Dog" - Anton Chekhov

16. The Continental Romantic poets - Leopardi, Castro, Novalis, de Lamartine

15. Wench - Dolen Perkins-Valdez

14. Dead Romantics - Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats.... Oh, John Keats.

13.Faust - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

12. Bewitched - Ueda Akinari

11. The Narrow Road of the Interior - Matsuo Basho

10. I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak (rereading to teach for Sunday School)

9. "The Rape of the Lock" - Alexander Pope

8. Candide - Voltaire

7. "A Modest Proposal" - Jonathan Swift (I love this one. I always will. It's brilliant.)

6. Phaedra - Jean Racine (This was a fun one. OH, THE DRAMA!)

5. Tartuffe - Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliere

4. Book of Travels - Evliya Celebi

3. The Story of the Stone - Cao Xueqin

2. Monkey - Wu Ch'eng-en

1. Voyager - Diana Gabaldon

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Third Annual "Gingerbread House" Contest!

Please vote for your favorite.  Lots of bragging rights and smug comments are at stake.

#1

This lovely abode sports a jaunty hedge and the Family Name over the door! It's move-in-ready and the stunning landscaping makes it the perfect home for outdoor entertaining!

#2

This homey little establishment boasts a green lawn border, a tree in the attic, and a plethora of garden decorations.  If you're into glitz and glamour, this house has it all.

#3

This darling cottage hosts a lovely white dove in the treetop and an elegant cookie walk-way.  Who wouldn't be happy in this cozy charmer?

#4

This happy little cabin takes the minimalist approach.  We love the sporty little chimney.  A great weekend retreat!

#5

This castle of canine delight boasts a wooded lot and a steep mansard rooftop.  What a treasure!

Worn Out

Look how she's panting! 20 minutes solid of chasing the reflection of her collar tags. She does this every afternoon.

Smile......y

So... our Shelf Elf is Smiley. Walt named him last year. We love him. He shows up at the beginning of the month and watches over the kids. He magically shuttles off to report back to Santa while we sleep. In the morning, he's always found a new perch. This year Smiley has developed a bit of a naughty streak. It's been fun!

This is what we found when we came home from a Weekend Trip on the 4th!

A flour angel!

Sometimes he moves things around.

And he "wrapped" the tree.  The toilet paper was actually still attached to the roll and was all through the entry way and formal living room!

 He hid in the tree the morning after we got it!

One night he clearly needed a midnight snack. 

And he likes to watch from above.

And he must have needed some advice on this night. 

I should be grading... but

I copied this from my friend who copied this from her sister who copied it from someone else.   I could be grading or cleaning or walking the dog or wrapping presents.... but this is such a good use of my time.

A. Age: Whatever
B. Bed size: King - Though we used to have a FULL.  For 14 years!!!!
C. Chore that you hate: Putting away laundry

D. Dogs: 1 - "Blueberry the Chewer"
E. Essential start to your day: Headlines and email on my phone
F. Favorite color: Midnight blue
G. Gold or Silver: Silver
H. Height: 5' 9.5"
I. Instruments you play: Piano (a little), Violin (a little)
J. Job title: Mom... Instructor.... Personal Shopper... Maid...Chauffer
K. Kids: Alek, Nora, Walt
L. Live: Texas

M. Mother’s name: Eileen Over
N. Nick names: Jenny, Chicken
O. Overnight hospital stays: 4 - tonsils, babies, gall bladder
P. Pet peeves: Being interrupted by a child of mine; men with carts in grocery stores (without carts they seem to do just fine); much of what Rick Perry says out loud
Q. Quote from a movie: Charlotte Bartlett: "I shall never forgive myself."

Lucy Honeychurch: "You always say that, Charlotte. And then you always do forgive yourself. "

R. Right or left handed: Right

S. Siblings: Tengo un hermano.

T. Truth or Dare: DARE
U. Ultimate Vacation: Italy or a Euopean ski trip
V. Vegetable you hate: Canned asparagus
W. What makes you run late: My brain
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, Spine, Chest...
Y. Yummy food that you make: Everything I make is yummy.  Isn't it????
Z. Zoo animal: Grizzly Bear

Dave did the deed

Fall Catch-All 2011

"Fall" began with RAMS FOOTBALL!!!

It was also a time of record-breaking drought and heat-wave... No biggie.

 This is a scrimmage.  Alek has the green shirt hanging out.

 We are tough.  We sweat through it all!

 Tiny bit of complaining.

 And heat-related behavior.

 Then came September.  Same weather situation.  Thus children are forced to have birthday parties after dark.

 Remember Walt's blueberry pie from last year?  Nora's friends were a little weirded out by her choice of pineapple upside down cake.

 But it was still a party!

 Not much complaining!

 Then we got to add a couple of kids to the mix for a couple of days while their mom and dad spent some time at the hospital and presented them with a baby brother!

 It was a crazy couple of days, but fun and well worth it!  Baby Wade is darling.  Even big sis Violet and big bro Colin agree!

 Same heat.  Same drought.  Another sport!  The Lions had a great season this fall! 

 And then the real uniforms were donned and the real games started!

 Tight end.  Special teams. Too cool.

 A good friend moved away.  Miss you, Lainey!

We celebrated a last preschool Halloween party and parade.

Did some general goofing off.

Bought some cool new shoes.

And performed in a cool new choir!

(Second from the left, second row)

(just off center-right)

We celebrated a last Thanksgiving at preschool...

And discovered that Blueberry LOVES playing in the hose.

A hose that Walter doesn't like to share.

 Woe! Woe!

 Got it back!

Dinner time!  I'm sure Blueberry loves this.  She's kind of a saint.