SCHOOL, SCHOOL, SCHOOL, WE ALL LOVE SCHOOL

The day finally came...Monday, January 7th...12.30pm...and Maggie joined the millions and billions of kids around the world on their pathway to educational heights! Yes, Maggie started preschool.

THE LITTLEST FAIRY

I just wanted to show everyone how talented my mom is. This is her amazing color pencil of Olivia as a purple fairy. I asked her to do this for Liv for Christmas. When I presented it to Liv, she just stared at it with her mouth open. She couldn't believe it was her! And it's a dream come true to be a fairy. Right now it is getting framed and we'll soon have it on Livvy's wall. Thanks so much mom!

And if you would like to see more of her stuff (like her new version of "Jacob Black") you can go to her website: http://www.artbykimkincaid.com/ or directly to her blog: http://www.thetwirlingdragon.blogspot.com/

INTRODUCING...MR. SNOW ANGEL!

So by now, most of you will have received our January Family/Friends card and newsletter in the mail and know about Ian, our own personal snow angel. Here are a few pics of him in all his glory!

2008 - Back to the Grind

I decided to update the blog theme for 2008. I am in the car for over an hour a day commuting to work and back. Sometimes there is some rage....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

WISHING YOU AND YOURS...

...a very HAPPY HOLIDAY!!!

It has come and gone again so quickly. But it always time well spent and lots of memories to store away for future rememberance. Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful gifts, goodies, cards, letters and photos.

As is our family's tradition, we spend Christmas Eve with Brian's family and then Christmas with mine.

Christmas Eve started at 5.00pm. We had our Mexican Fiesta-handmade tamales, steak soft tacos, salsa, chips, 7-layer bean dip, guacamole, and sodie pop! Grandpa Mike tried a new approach to telling the Nativity Story by playing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Joy to the World" DVD, but we barely made it thru Christ's birth in Bethlehem and then Grandma Mad put the kabosh on the story----stating the kids had lost interest! We then had present exchanges and then the annual adult exchange. This year, not much was made about this exchange as is done in the past. Usually, we have months of debate on the "theme" of the exchange. This year, it was unusually quiet. We each brought a $20 gift. Brian brought a silicone muffin tin and cookie sheet; I brought a $15 ITune gift certificate and Planters peanuts. The hot item in the group was the "Planet Earth" DVD box set. Neil ended up walking away with it. By 9.00pm we had all worn out our welcome and headed home.

Christmas morning didn't come too early at our home. The kids slept in until 8.30am, giving Brian and I a good 5 hours sleep. Jake was thrilled about getting the Calvin and Hobbes complete set. It contains every C and H comic strip in 3-volumes that probably weighs about 100 pounds. Liv loved the pink digital camera she got. Santa took notice with her interest in snapping pics this past year. Hopefully, like cooking, she'll really get into it and take over for me. Ian got a plethera of Transformers. Though there was some temptation for Santa to continue with Ian's Thomas the train obsession; he thought better of it and thought to introduce Ian to something new to obsess on. And Maggie, because the vaccum and I are tired of Polly Pockets, Santa brought her Fisher-Price's snap n' style dolls. Overall, I think the day was a success.

Later Christmas day, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Garfield's home for festivities with everyone. We had dinner at 4.00pm (well, most of us had dinner at the scheduled time!) and then had a surprise visit from aunt Ada Lynne and the Dalley family. Then the rest of the night was spent with gift exchanges. First, the cousins each gave a present to one another and then we had the adult gift exchange. This year, Bev proposed a new way to do it. It was very successful and fun, trying to guess who wanted: "Giada de Laurentis' Italian Cookbook" (Brian), "Groundation" CD (Seth), "Sweetland: A Love Story" DVD (JoJo), "Transformers" DVD (Jeff), "Wicked" soundtrack (me), "Yo Yo Ma's Appasionato" (Kim), "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Bevany), "Mountaineering: Life on the Hills" (Mike), "Amazing Grace" DVD (Vance), a Heather Nova CD (Sarah), "Fountainhead" book on tape (Kirk), a $20 gift certificate (Audrey), or "Simpsons: The Movie" DVD (Erik). And most of all, who has a secret liking for "Saturday's Warrior" DVD with karaoke??? It is a mystery.

So, all in all, it was a great holiday season.

Until next year...

Best Movies of 2007

Since the end of the year is approaching I thought I would start a 'Best Of' series to add to the blog. For some reason it seems like we went to the movies more this year than normal. Now if you know me you know that it takes a lot for the 'Wood to get into my wallet so without any further introduction I present the 5 best movie going experiences of 2007.




5 - The Golden Compass

We saw this with Erinne's parents and Jake and Olivia. Definitely one to get you thinking and also a great fantasy film that is not just a Lord of the Rings clone.

4 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (IMAX 3-D)

I took Jake and Liv to see this at the 3-D IMAX theater and we all loved it. Erinne is the real HP freak of the family and ended up seeing it 3-4 times. I think this one is my favorite so far.






3 - Nancy Drew




I took Olivia to see this as a Daddy/Daughter movie time and although I was expecting it to be painful we both had a great time. Nothing wrong with a little Girl power....






2 - The Bourne Ultimatum




We tried to revive the Garfield Dinner and a Movie tradition with this film and we more or less pulled it off. While the dinner was not that great the movie was one of the best of the year.





1 - The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters

Hands down the best movie of 2007. It had it all...drama...comedy and some serious flashback enducing video game footage. Me and Erinne saw this at the Broadway as part of our first annual double feature date night. If you haven't caught this one I highly recommend you check it out on DVD.

I'LL SHOW YOU MINE, IF YOU SHOW ME YOURS

(Explanation of title forthcoming. It's 4.30am and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. Nighty-night.)

Okay, I'm back! Now let me do some explaining before you all start thinking bad thoughts about me!

One thing I enjoy about Christmas is the excuse to decorate my house without constraint (Though I only keep it confined to the great room. Eventually, I would like to expand to other parts of the home).

I love the cozy feeling you get when spaces are filled with holiday paraphernalia-Santas, snowmen, holly, garland, snowflakes, ornaments, Christmas trains, candles, fake trees, stars, books, tinsel, the Nativity, twinkly lights, etc. And of course, constant Christmas music playing in the background.

I'm hoping by showing you what I've done, my "blog" friends (and even those who don't have a blog YET-send pics via email, won't you?!?) will post pics of what they have done to decorate their homes. This isn't a competition or anything like that. It's a time of sharing and seeing all the wonderful interpretations of holiday decorating. I look forward to seeing what you've got! Enjoy!

A TALE OF TWO TREES

As most of you are aware, a couple of years ago, Brian had some Christmas tree rage. Let me explain: Every year, for the past 9 years, we had our annual argument-fake tree vs. real tree. And every year I won the argument-REAL TREES RULE!!! Well, up until two years ago, when the 10-foot real tree I was wrapping with lights came crashing down on the kids, all h-e-double-tooth-picks broke loose! That was the final straw or pine needle that broke Brian's back!!!! It was all the excuse Brian needed to take that real tree and shove it out the back door, lights and all. The following day, he had brought home a fake tree from Lowes.

So, I got to admit, the fake tree wasn't all that bad and last year, when we had a tree-argument-free year, I kind of like it. But this year, as we discussed with the kids what they wanted to do during this holiday season, they all put on their puppy dogs eyes and whimpered to their dad that they missed going up into the mountains to cut down a real tree. I know Brian has already posted about the tree cutting this year, so I won't continue with that part of the story.

Now we have the real tree, which is outside on our porch and the fake tree fully decorated in our living room. Because I'm a Christmas tree decoration Nazi, I bought some bright-colored ornaments from Target for the kids to decorate the outside tree. Yeah, I know a bit weird to have a cut real tree sitting outside, but heck, what else can you do?!?

LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW!

Continuing on with Saturday...after the girls and I got home from "The Nutcracker", most of the neighborhood was already out playing in the most significant snowfall we've received this season.

If your kids are anything like mine, they sure love the idea of getting all bundled up and rolling around in the white stuff, but it never lasts long. That is why I have a 30-minute minimum. (Again, I have to get my "money's worth".) It takes me 10 times as long to get them dressed as it takes them to realize "IT'S COLD!!!"