Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I don't go shopping on Black Friday.
I get my Christmas on.

Parker and Jeremy are usually in charge
of assembling the big tree in the living
room, and I put up the sad, scrawny,
Charlie Brown tree in the family room. We try to cover it with as many
lights and loud ornaments as
possible to distract from the fact
that it's kind of a heinous tree.

I found a great gingerbread house
kit this year-the house was
already glued together with that
crazy strong cement-like icing, so we
didn't have to try to keep the walls
from collapsing in on each other
during the construction phase.

Not pictured: Parker eating the high-quality
gum drops off the roof line, 20 seconds later.

Jeremy recorded this year's Christmas
CD over the weekend.
Parker was gracious enough
to stop by the studio.

Parker had a particularly troublesome time
with the line from "Grandma Got Ran
Over by a Reindeer."

Publish Post

Giving the thanks!

Waiting excitedly for the Feast of Gratitude!

Amber & Mom working their hands to the bone to give us a lovely feast. Thanks Ladies!

I posed long enough to make it look like maybe I helped make something . . . I'm just posing.

And we feast! (Adam, Dad, Angela, Isaac, Katie, Lily, Mom)
Camera Shy/The other end of the table: Jeremy, Amber, Parker, Janell

Cousins united in reverent bliss!

Adam caught in the act. AND sporting his awesome new "old man" expression.

Adam furthers his "old man" persona by taking a post-feast nap on the floor.

It's finally possible

...to seat more than 3 people in our family room now.

To those of you that had to endure
the saggy, back-torturing, miniscule blue
couch we once had, you have my apologies.

Extreme Home Makeover (The Kitchen Edition)

This is the story of a sad, half-finished kitchen.

It contained an empty, blank wall,
clamoring for possibilities.

We stared at this wall for five years.

One day I got tired of staring and visited
cabinetry shops, Lowes, Home Depot,
and many cabinetry websites.

After 4 design sessions at 3 different
stores, several hours, three weeks,
and about $1700 later, some boxes arrived.
The boxes contained the kitchen's destiny.

Jeremy figured out how to re-wire the
outlet and moved it up above where the
base cabinet would go. How did he
know how to do this?
It's part of the kitchen mystery.

How do a few screws hold up
all that wood? It seems to defy physics.

Using the infamous kitchen chair as a step stool.

Did I mention that this man donated
blood today? That's right,
he's saving kitchens
AND saving lives!

And then, one day, the kitchen was finished.

It was the craziest thing.
There was SPACE in the kitchen.

There was a pantry, for FOOD!

There were slide out trash and
recycling bins! The giant blue
eyesore of a trash can
was nowhere to be seen!

We gained 4 cabinets, 4 drawers,
a pantry, and about 5 feet of counter space.
And Jeremy did all the
installation, saving us $400.
How I love that man!

Stuff we did

Gettin' the guts out

Spent Halloween Day looking at flowers at
Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.
Some would find this very scary.

Parker's finally found a replacement
for his feather pen

Checking for a fever?

Still taller than her great-grandson...for now

Guitar Hero virgins

How cool is my grandma??

Best cookies ever!

4 generations of crazy awesome

WAIT! I need more CARDS!