homeofthebudds

Snow day

We took the kids to the snow today.

They were pretty thrilled.

We made a tiny sled run off the snow bank on the side of the unused road. It was a perfect introductory run.

Then Dave made a slightly longer & steeper run...

Christmas part two

We gave the kids Monopoly. I started the game with the kids,

after a quickish bit, the boys were done and Dave replaced me so I could start some dinner.

Dave explained the rules and then she proceeded to trounce him.

Joel slept during our dinner goodness.

Brennan continued to crack me up with his glasses.

Joel eventually woke up and picked out his favorite parts to eat.

And then we skyped almost everyone & put the kids to bed. Lovely day. :)

Christmas so far...

Holiday concert

Ellen's holiday concert was last night. The boys didn't have one cause they switch off the older kids and younger kids every year. Their turn will be next year.

So we watched.

And maybe flirted. A little.

Ellen said she volunteered to be an announcer and then immediately realized she was crazy. But she did it and she did a good job. :)

(some of) the day in (a lot of) pictures

(Shadow puppets...making Gru from Despicable Me)

Election night

Last night we watched the election. Of course.

I printed out some election wordsearches and electoral collage maps for the kids to follow along and color in. They got super into it.

Joel got one, too.

Apparently, he is a Democrat.

They ended up going to bed about five minutes before they announced the western states. So their maps didn't get completely colored in. But I updated them. "Obama won!" "Oops. Maybe not."

This morning over breakfast they got the final results and finished coloring in their maps.

We're a house divided. The kids have had strong opinions on who should be elected for a while. And they're not getting their opinions from Dave or me. We've watched all the debates and they've been paying attention to important aspects of the election for a while. They've had lots of discussions about hair color, which color represents each party...important things. So, this morning, some kids were excited and some kids were disappointed. Just like the country, I guess.

Bren's soccer games

Now that the season is practically over, I'm finally posting pics from the big camera from one of Bren's early soccer games. Back when it was still sunny.

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The kids are always telling me they need more money. So, the first game I got to go to (I missed the first one) the kids and I made muffins and they sold them to the parents watching. They liked it okay, but apparently them money wasn't good enough to do it again. Neither one of them wanted to 'advertise' at all. Everyone made a poster to put on the table, but no one wanted to say anything or shoot clever things like "Muffins for sale!"

Oh well. I tried.

"

Back to the action.

He was using two of the extra balls pushed together for a seat. He fell through about 1/2 a second before this picture.

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Dave's assistant coaching. It's his favorite volunteer role.

Outside one afternoon

Ellen had been out riding with friends. I only have blurry shots of her. Boo.

Halloween

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Ellen was dressed as princess.

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Here's what I did with her hair. This was at the end of the night - so it started off a little neater.

Isaiah was a Toy Story Alien.

Bren's Spider Man, of course.

And Joelby the raccoon.

The boys carved pumpkins with Dave while Ellen and I were shopping.

He was a manly man, and used a saw.

Screw those silly pumpkin carving knives.

I didn't take the camera out since it was supposed to be rainy and windy. But once I finally stepped out the door, lo and behold it was dry and actually warmish.

We got back and dumped all the candy out on the floor. The kids each chose a few to keep. Joel chose *quite* a few.

Dave asked "Who had fun??"

Everyone raised their hand and said "Me!"

Joel participated, too.

Such an adorable little scavenger.

His tail wagged when he walked around.

Somebody's feeling proud!!

 

"This is my best day EVER!! My own library card, my first loose tooth, and I had pumpkin pie. This is my best day ever.