Down with the crankies! Up with the tree!

OK, got some Christmas shopping done...hope to finish most of it this week so as to actually enjoy the rest of the holiday. My friend Andrea joked with me about forming a "Less is More" support group, but I am all for it!! I feel like one of the few people on the planet not getting all electronics for their kids. I know there are others of us out there...we must band together.

M3 had her first swim meet last Saturday and did a great job! It's always fun to watch her swim. The next meet is at home in Grinnell College's gorgeous new pool. I will definitely try to get some pictures. After the meet, we went and got our tree at our new favorite Christmas tree farm:
Deer: "Whaddya you lookin' at?!"
Reindeer like apples!

Not enough snow for the toboggan, but they tried!

Thanksgiving edition?

What I want to know is how in the GD hell (to quote Carol Burnett on Glee) do people have time to blog so much? I guess for some it really is their job, so they must schedule it into their day. I don't even have a full-time job, and I can't keep a simple family news blog afloat. Also, I think I will stop using the word "blog." It's getting on my nerves.

Anyway, I forgot to take the camera for Thanksgiving, so no pictures. It was a pleasant enough time, with the highlights being a visit to Tim and Mindy's and spending the night with Kristi, Craig and company on the way home. Why can't we live closer? I try not to dwell on the past, but I do miss our old friends. Waaaahhhh...

So now it's December, which means M4's birthday, swim meets, M3's band and choir concert, and oh yeah, Christmas and stuff. I won't forget the camera.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Because we are going to Indiana for Thanksgiving, we hosted three of our four international "kids" last Sunday for a Thanksgiving meal. I was pretty excited about cooking, despite the fact that I spent ALL WEEKEND IN THE KITCHEN!!!! It was worth it, though. Chinami (Japan) is only here for one year, and she had never had a Thanksgiving meal. Shirlie (China) hadn't had a Thanksgiving meal before either. (We didn't get to it before we went to KC last year, what with Chris's funeral. Last fall wasn't a good one.) And it was Inwook's (Korea) last Thanksgiving in the U.S. Next year he will return to South Korea to fulfill his two year military requirement. So as we went around the table to say what we were thankful for, they were all very happy to be experiencing this bit of American culture. It was nice to share what we were all thankful for...family, friends, the extreme good fortune of a stable job, the luxury of being able to put on a Thanksgiving feast, and of course, the cat. The turkey was a bit dry, in my opinion. But it's only my third-ish turkey.

No sweet potatoes, because I don't like the traditional Thanksgiving prep (marshmallows??!! more sugar? gross!!). One of these years, I will work up some good, spicy sweet potato dish. Mark's stuffing, of course...my personal favorite. The best part...we'll have leftovers!!!

The evidence...

Proud Mama

Got an email today that M3 is invited to an Honor Band for beginning band students in February! It's been so cool to hear her improve on the saxophone! And I still don't have a photo, because I only have a photo on my phone, and I really don't know how to get the pictures off my phone, which stinks because I also have a bunch of pictures from the Des Moines sculpture garden on there. Oh well...

This is Halloween...

We had our first freeze a few nights ago...it was in the 20s. But it was beautiful weekend for Halloween! M4's fever for all things ancient Egypt swept the house, so King Tut and Cleopatra it was! A friend just happened to have the pharaoh's topper for M4, and you can imagine how M3 was thrilled to wear a long, black wig. She wants to wear it to school. My sewing skills are exceedingly rusty, but I managed to craft some tunics and collars.

There was also much fun to be had playing with pumpkin guts.

The candy will last us 'til spring.

New endeavor...

M4 asked about violin lessons somewhat out of the blue. So of course I wanted to take advantage of his interest! He has only had two lessons so far, but he looks kinda cute with a quarter size violin:
The tae kwon do is not new, but I don't know if I've posted any pictures? And this was a good flying side kick I caught. Both Ms have been taking for a while. They have their yellow belts now. I'm tempted to join them!