Max in the Snow

Mom thought some of the little ones might enjoy this.
(maybe some of the big ones too :)

Scenes From Papa's Birthday Celebration

getting an early start on dinner

getting an early start on dessert

enjoying technology

playing with the noise-making Christmas decorations

Callisters

Does anyone know when the Callisters are moving? Didn't want to pester them with an address request, because I know they are busy!

It doesn't capture the charm, but this picture shows something that makes me smile every day. All five of my kitchen window sill African violets are in bloom. It has been a LONG time since that happened.

Just a couple of fyi items . . .

We planted some crookneck squash in this summer's garden, like the above. It's a hard winter squash. I don't have a picture of zucchini, but we had some zucchini plants, also, in the same box and got a fairly decent crop (we never get the zucchini bonanzas you hear about). But the last zucchini has been on our counter for about 6 weeks now and I was surprised it wasn't going soft and rotten. I decided to shred it (in our new cusinart that saved the day for Thanksgiving), freeze it, and use it for zucchini bread, later. This is what I found when I opened it (the top two pics)--and it much harder to cut than zucchini usually is. I think our last zucchini cross-pollinated with the harder winter crookneck squash. It smelled a lot like pumpkin when I shredded it, but that will work, too.

Just thought that was kind of interesting :).

"How come Bubbe smokes?"

Overheard:

Chris: "How come Bubbe smokes?"
T and N: "Bubbe doesn't smoke!"
Chris: "You said, 'Eden's mom smokes,' and Bubbe is Eden's mom."
Tanner: "I said, 'Ian.'"

Poor Ian. Ian is sad his mom smokes and is trying to hide it from his whole family.

Bubbe, we're glad you don't smoke.

Halloween 2010

I find it ironic that of the three costumes for the kids this year, the one I didn't make won a prize at Spencer's school's Halloween party. That makes three years in a row for Benny. The Max wolf suit I made two years ago won two years in a row. This year he won "Scariest" costume. I tried explaining that to him and he kept telling me he wasn't scary. He's a good Darth Vader.

I wish you could hear Benny saying "cheeeeeeeese!"


Lilia loved her costume and wore it around a couple of afternoons.
She looked adorable walking around the party.



And...
my award winning costume.

Apparently they didn't take points off for being a pregnant Pippi.
I'm just amazed that my hair is long enough to reach the end of the hanger!

Winterizing the Patio Furniture...

...now looks something like this:

update

Our CA home is in escrow. After only about 14 days on the market we had a number of offers, and one really stood out. If all goes as plans we'll close on December 19th and will need to be out by the 22nd, although we'll most likely be gone before we close anyway, since Nate will need to start in CO around the 15th. Our realtor has been great to work with, definitely knows what she's doing and has been a good match for us.

In the meantime, after countless hours of research on CO possibilities (seriously, Nate probably knows CO cities, neighborhoods and school districts better than most locals), we found a home we really like in a neighborhood we love there. The realtor we found via friends of Caitlin (thanks again, Caitlin) is a nice guy that we really like. He was able to get us in for a viewing on the 1st, and by the 4th we'd put down an offer. It's a short sale, but our realtor is hopeful we'll hear back from the bank shortly since they've already approved the price. Of course, he was hopeful we'd hear back last week, but we didn't. SO, best case scenario we're in by Christmas. Worst case scenario, we'll be homeless for Christmas and end up in a hotel in CO. OR, maybe we'd beg Mom and Dad to take us in and spend Christmas with them.

Just thought I'd share.

nice story

http://www.mormontimes.com/article/18200/Mormon-church-helps-former-NFL-player-sort-out-spiritual-puzzle?s_cid=newsline