Peek-In-Monday

My Biggest Fan...

Merry Christmas from the Family

Here's the annual family Christmas photo shoot. My family and friends just ask for this instead of the cards which really cracks me up. So here it is.
Adding an uncooperative 10 month old St. Bernard to the photo shoot may have been ill advised...

and sadly this is the best we could do for a retake...ah well. Some years are better than others.


May your Christmas be filled with laughter, singing, dancing, happy chaos, and lots and lots of thanksgivings...

about the dog and the cat...

People have asked about how Humphrey gets along with the cats. I think this sums it up pretty well...

My favorite photos this week...

Oliver's birthday was this weekend. He shares his birthday with my Granny who we are lucky enough to have in town with us for a few weeks. Oliver loves that he shares his birthday with Granny. And he loved getting to share his party with her.



We were also lucky to have my Great Aunt Pat down to visit. She hasn't seen my Granny in two years. They used to live in the same two-family in Chicago when they were first having kids. Aunt Pat and Granny were two of eight kids. My Aunt Pat went on to have eleven. Three sets of twins in seven years! I can't imagine! But the blessing is that nine of her eleven children still live in Chicago and she has 36 grandchildren! Two of her sons came down with her and they were talking about how fun Christmas Eve is with everyone around. What a lucky family.

Even though my Granny did not have eleven children. She still has Aunt Pat beat on great grandchildren, thanks to your truly! HA! I'm still laughing remembering when I tried to high-five Granny and she just looked at me blankly! Here's Granny with her newest Great Grandchild. I wish the lighting was better on this picture.

Peek-In-Monday

This speaks for itself...
(the beautiful quilt was a gift to Eleanor from the Nicest Lady on the Internet.)

Up on the housetop...

hmmmmm...


Wait a minute...
it would appear that our gifts are delivered to our house by that Jolly Old Abolitionist, Abraham Lincoln.

GAAAAHHH! I bought an American Girl Doll!

*pant pant*
I can't believe I just spent that kind of money on a doll! But, I know the quality is worth it. Jellybean wanted one of those My Twinn dolls that are like $175! All she asked Santa for was a doll, but there was no way I was doing that. I checked out the Target versions, but all the reviews I read said the hair was awful and the arms snap off. I'm so tired of everything being made to be disposable!

So, I bit the bullet and bought the American Girl Just Like You doll. It was $90 but I figure she has two little sisters that also have straight blonde hair and blue eyes so they can always play with it if she loses interest. The worst part was I had to pay for rush delivery. They can't guarantee delivery on standard shipping anymore. That was $32! But, I had a code for $10 off.

I figured it was worth paying the money for the quality doll and I can always get the accessories at Target. So, Santa is done with her! My kids get one big gift from Santa, one from us, and one from their Secret Santa Sibling. Then we have a Santa bag that we fill with gifts for the whole family. Board games and whatnot. We don't keep track of money at this point. Some years we spend more on one than another and it all works out in the end.

Once a year I get my revenge...

Bob is a lovely dear man that I adore, as you have been able to tell if you read my blog. There is one thing about him, though. He is ridiculously annoying. He TALKS... a lot. about nothing. I am a woman of few words with a love for efficiency. Especially, in words. I tell my husband frequently that he is wasting words. And when he insists that I respond to his nonsense, it pains me because it causes me to also waste words. It's annoying.

He will turn anything I say into a dirty euphemism. For example...

Me: Honey will you wash the dishes?
Him: Oh. I'll wash your dishes.

I don't even know what that means? But, I know what he means. And it's annoying.

He also likes really bad music. And he likes to sing and dance to really bad music. The worst is The Safety Dance. I don't just dislike this song. I can't explain it, but when I hear this song it invokes a white hot rage in the center of my very being. But, he loves to sing it. And it's annoying.

He's constantly doing stupid things and asking me to "Check this out." And then he'll do "the wave" and ask me if he's "blowing my mind." He doesn't just do this once, he does it all. the. time. Over and over. And it's annoying.

He never quite matured past 6th grade, so there are a series of words that I cannot use without him collapsing into a fit of giggles. They include but are not limited to, "package" and "unit." He has to make a huge effort to remain composed during the reading of the Gospel on Christmas Eve because he has to read the word, "ass." And some years he doesn't make it. And it's annoying.

So, every Christmas I get my turn. I get these every year and we now have 5 of them. They are superbly annoying on their own, but oh no, the children must ratchet it up and play them all at once. Here is this year's edition.

Peek-In-Monday

Ladybug helps...
You don't have to watch the whole thing, I just didn't feel like going through the bother of clipping it. Although towards the end you get see Humphrey and Boy Cat and their relationship wrought with peril.

Living Life Ridiculously Large...

As Bob and I were snuggling under the Christmas tree we started laughing at the sheer size of it. He said he told his friend, "We have a ridiculously large Christmas Tree, a ridiculously large dog, a ridiculously large van and a ridiculously large family."

goes along with our ridiculously large love.
(and my ridiculously sappy mood)


this picture doesn't do it justice. Remember we have 10 foot ceilings.

Peek-In-Monday

I was in the kitchen and thought someone was breaking into the house. Instead it was this. It comes around 30 seconds.