Finishing touches

alas! grandma and grandpa's tree is complete and screaming out loud.

little by little, clusters of gift packages will flood underneath and pour off of the skirt.

by christmastime, mounds of gift wrapped packages, with ribbons and bows accumulate in mass numbers, no matter how much grandma gripes about lack of money that year.

denver is into juggling right now, and even though it drives grandpa bonkers, bum could not resist that 

ever-so-tempting bowl of forbidden oranges in the kitchen.  but while we were all occupied doing other things, he would sneak into the kitchen and feed on his burning desire to juggle them anyways.

 now i realize what that random thump was that i kept hearing coming from that area of the house while everyone else was trimming the tree.

i should have put two and two together when i walked into the kitchen and was surprised bum was standing there with two arms full of oranges nonchalantly putting them back in the bowl.

and if grandpa ever asks why his bowl of oranges are now tattered and bruised,

i know nothing of the sort!

these are definitely the days! 

xoxo

It's Christmas in the air!
Snowflakes in December
Children site with Santa's toys
Their gloves wiping crystalline ice,
Off shiny plastic
Our breath thick like fog
Mingles in oneness
As we stand back to
Look upon the completion
Of our Christmas trees
Giggling from heady wine
And feelings shared
It's Christmas in the air!


~unknown

to grandmothers house we go

its sort of a tradition that we all help grandma and grandpa put up their tree each year.

all the grandkids usually get together and help decorate.

i mostly just chased london around pulling her away from cords and breakables,

 and tagged along behind denver picking up trails of macaroni. eep!

the tree made it up, but a lot of the lights weren't working so we postponed the decorating. 

 tomorrow we'll go back to help with the finishing touches.. stringing lights, and hanging ornaments and scattering tons of tinsel. 

oh what fun it is!

maybe grandma will even let us unearth the christmas village!

the christmas season is now in full effect. 

i'm making my lists and checking them twice and i've pretty much got everything finalized with santa clause.

i can't wait to see their faces on christmas morning!

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.  ~Burton Hillis

A Lovely Lunch

 we're still cleaning up on free kid meals at frisch's with our coupons from halloween.

i know halloween is long gone, but i'm milking it as long as i can!

Whats your favorite thing?

Rock Those Socks!

Denver has been boat loads of funny lately.  he's getting into music more than ever right now and has taken over our laptops to feed his obsession for "talking houses", building pumpkins, and train games.

i walked in on him the other day and he was jammin to the time warp. yep, thats my boy.

he's getting pretty good at the computer these days, and can maneuver his way around on it surprisingly well for a three year old. 

today was bums day at the library, but i forgot my camera.(sad face). hopefully i'll remember next tuesday!

i got some shots of nev's groovy socks and of her chillaxin in my wine glass. she's such a trickster!

Nev is head over heels (excuse the pun) for crazy, psychedelic, socks these days and i have to admit...

she rocks those socks!

Children's fantasy is useful and important to them for many reasons, but above all because it is theirs, the one part of their lives which is wholly under their control. We must resist the temptation to make it ours. We must also resist the equally great temptation to think that this part of children's lives is less important than the parts where they are doing something "serious"- reading, or writing, or doing schoolwork, or something that we want them to do."

~John Holt

All I Want for Christmas

....is just 6 more weeks of fall.  hmph.

looks like christmas is barging in on us no matter how much i fuss about it.

never-the-less, there's been a lot of decorating goings on around here, and wish lists, and talks about toys.

all just in time for the first snowfall which resulted in Denver buzzing around the house determined santa was on his way that very night. 

while me and Denver we're cleaning his train table yesterday, i noticed he took off the bridge. when i asked him why, he told me santa was bringing him a new covered bridge for christmas. 

at least someone besides me still believes in santa around here;)

its those stars in his eyes that make it all worth while.

we're jamming to christmas music over here and Denver's eye's are wide open to the christmas specials on tv.

ready or not, the countdown begins.. 

and oh! today brought news of a very special cousin who is expecting her first baby!!

AND my little teeny tiny niece, (who is not so little and teeny tiny anymore), got her drivers license!

advice for everyone..stay off the sidewalks!!

those are things that are better than any christmas presents...by far.

xoxo 

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.  ~Burton Hillis