Party!

Last week we celebrated Aaron's birthday.
Looks good for 70, eh?
Okay he's only 53,
but those are the only candles in the house.

Cassia & Crystal also flew in from Washington,
so there was all kinds of partying going on.Me, Lily, Cassia, & Mary.
(Mary is the one hanging upside down by one leg.)
Cassia is almost 2, and Lily just turned 3.
Cassia is pausing to reflect on this rare
opportunity for a tea party with her cousin.

I apparently have a very comfortable lap,
because Cassia seemed quite happy in it.Jeremy was trying out a new empire-waist apron.

Here's Jeremy singing part of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
while making bread.
Guess it helped to get the kneading rhythm just right.

2010!

(A new year's tradition sure to endear you to the neighbors.)
Here's to the first post of the year, and a new decade of blogging!

Five!

Tomorrow is our 5th anniversary at Gatesgreen Drive.
The home improvement list seems to get longer every year,
but looking back over the last 5 years, we've actually accomplished a couple of them:

Things we've torn up/thrown out/or
otherwise destroyed and dragged to the dump:

A tree in the front yard shaped like a rainbow
Two hideous scraggly bushes blocking the front window
A wooden clothesline in the backyard ( CEMENTED into the ground)
A chain-link fence with a stump growing into it
Two bathroom floors
A linoleum kitchen floor with lots of knife marks in it
2 nasty ceiling fans in the family room that screamed 1981
7 single-pane windows
A crooked exterior door requiring a running start and a slam to get it shut


Things we've added/replaced:

A wood privacy fence between our house and the neighbors
4 mulch flowerbeds with rock dividers
Tons of grass seed, flowers, 4 rosebushes and 4 boxwoods
Kitchen pantry, cabinets, and counter top
2 light fixtures in the family room
1 bathroom light fixture
1 hallway light fixture
1 exterior door that closes properly
7 energy-efficient windows that don't leak
New furnace
New air conditioner
Painted every inch of every wall, door, trim, and ceiling at least twice
New closet door in family room
Installed hardware on the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers
New porch light
New lamppost fixture
A new mailbox and post that doesn't lean at a 45 angle
2 Built-in bookcases in the family room
Faux wood blinds in all the windows
Installed the house numbers so at least one house on this street is identifiable
(Virginians are weird)
A sandbox in the backyard (which should also go on the ripped out list, as it didn't make it the entire 5 years before we took it apart after it was overrun by weeds and stray cats)
Baseboards in 2 bathrooms
There are probably more, but this is getting exhausting.

So this may explain where all of our money has been going.
Here's to spending all our money at Lowe's and Home Depot in 2010!

The big present

Parker's big present this year was a
Nintendo DS Lite. He has been pining for it
ALL year. At the end of the video, you can see
he starts to tear up. He gave me the BIGGEST
hug and could barely whisper "thank you"
because he was so overcome!

Sweet/Awesome: The Sequel

Thank you, Adam, Crystal, Isaac, Amber, & Angela!


Thank you, Grandma Williams!

At long last...Christmas Morning!

Parker wasn't sure he'd make it,
but the moment finally arrived.
It was really close, though.

Thanks, Grandma Williams!The second best part of Christmas-

inordinate amounts of food. A small sampling of the goodies offered...
we had ham, sour cream & chive potatoes,
stuffed mushroom caps, rolls,
a veggie platter, cheese/crackers,
fruit salad, raspberry thumbprint cookies,
banana bread, pumpkin bars, wassail,
fudge, oh Henry!bars, lemon squares,
apple pie, rice krispy treats.....Here's to the feast!Dad feigning excitement over a tie!
(I think he got a few of those this year.)A glorious moment- all 7 of us fit on one couch!My surrogate niece, Charlotte,
in her Christmas garb.
She came over to check in
on the festivities.

(VIDEOS TO FOLLOW...)

Christmas Eve

Isaac, Katie & Lily came to visit us
on Christmas Eve for a few hours. We spent some quality time
playing Guitar Hero, swapping gifts,
and there were some piano lessons
thrown in there, too.