The Big Huge Chrissy Tree

Alex loves the "big huge Chrissy tree" which is the cedar tree in our front yard. We have lights on it and every evening we have to go pay homage to it. It usually involves running laps between the Chrissy tree and the driveway. I think he's trying to keep me fit.
We (I use the term "we" loosely) got the fireplace in over the weekend! The boys managed to roast marshmallows. We have no sheetrock but have already had a few fires in the fireplace!

Cecilia and Karen graciously sent me a pair of Parkview legwarmers.

They're orange and blue and say "go panthers" all over

them. Here is Aaron modeling them for me. They fit him perfectly like tights and for the viewing audience I even made him put on a pair of underwear! Seriously, are legwarmers back in?

Christmas vacation is upon us

The kids had Christmas festivities this week. Julia's class had a "grown-up party" where they dressed up in their best, had to use their manners, and had to mingle to some extent. It was very cute. All the kids looked great all dressed up. This is Julia and her best friend Sarah. Julia picked out this dress especially for this occasion.
You can see Julia and Aaron posing beautifully for me after they got home from school.

The Christmas program was on Thursday. It was....well, long. It involved 8 grades (1-6 + Kand pre K), the school band and the school chorus. Each grade sings at somewhere between 1 to 4 songs, the chorus sang like a zillion, and the beginning band did several, too. They also read "The Cajun night before Christmas, and had several raffle/door prize breaks mixed in there. Normally I can sneak out but the 3rd grade was LAST so I was stuck trying to entertain a tasmanian devil for almost two hours. I kinda wanted to chew my leg off to get out of there. Oh yes, I forgot, the air conditioning was also broken in the gym and it was 85 out and raining. This created quite the steam-bath effect. I think they should split it up and perhaps have a separate event for the band and chorus. Most people seem thrilled with it but I think they're faking.

I need to add, once again, how much I love BOTH of Julia's teachers. They are so nice, enthusiastic, fun, and it seems they actually enjoy teaching and love the kids. Both of the hosted the whole program and they were just so lovely.

Oh, and Catfish discovered a new spot to sleep. Like it? In case you can't tell it's a piece of plywood propped on a chair on one side. Cozy, yes?

Snow!

Wednesday night we had a prediction of a "wintery mix" which no one actually believed, including the weathermen, until we woke up Thursday to see snow pouring down.

The kids were thrilled. Aaron asks every day when he will get to see snow and he finally got to see it. Of course he was done with it in about 10 minutes but he DID get to see it.

Julia built a snowman in the first few minutes, still in her nightgown (at least she went in for her jacket).

They measured 5.5 inches in Livingston so I guess we

had about that much. It was a lovely fluffy snow but sticky enough for snowballs and snowmen.

The live oaks and the orange tree didn't see the humor in the situation. We kept having to go knock the snow off of them so they wouldn't break. We lost a couple more wax myrtles and a pine tree that had managed to survive the hurricane but just weren't expecting a heavy sticky snow!
Alex had a great time loading his bulldozer with snow and dumping it with the dumptruck. I think he liked it better than the other two. I kept having to drag him in to warm up.
The kids missed two more days of school due to power outages. Our power was out for a day and a half but we are pretty well set up with the generator. I'm sure they will have to make up the days somewhere.

I was abducted by aliens so I was unable to update my blog for awhile there.

Here are a couple of Thanksgiving break pictures.
Here we have my sister and my mother on the annual Thanksgiving walk, the kids at Elachee nature center (near Gainesville), and Jenny and the boys on the moon.

The mysterious pile of leaves in the road is actually Alex being engulfed as Dave threw a big pile of leaves at him. I thought that was a pretty funny picture.
Then we have Dave performing the "changing of the lightbulbs" ceremony at my parent's house. This, obviously, involves a huge ladder and lots of swearing.

Finally, we have a picture of two very cooperative Children in front of the Christmas tree. You'll notice that the one uncooperative child does not appear in the photo. I think he was on his back on the floor in front of them having a fit in classic two-year-old style.

Today is a rain day so the project is to work on framing the walls on the back porch in preparation of our new 400 sq ft. living room! This will increase our living space by almost 1/3! A very exciting prospect.

First and foremost, it's that time of year again. Time for elf yourself to reappear! Aaron absolutely loves the elf dances and actually wonders how he remembers the dance from year to year.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ETRb0yYzpZZfEtfH3xQd

I hope the link works. This year they offer 4 different dances, all of which are hilarious.

The camping trip. Well, it was COLD and WINDY!! The first night I thought we were going to blow away in the 50 mph gusts.

The next morning was freezing and windy making it a tad miserable for awhile. Later the wind died down and it was tolerable. Saturday night wasn't windy but it was 33 degrees. Overall the weather was not great for camping but we survived and managed to have a great time!

Aaron and Justin (both 5) had a blast playing together. They both had matching "ninja" jackets with hoods ($1.50 Halloween clearance!).

The girls (both 8) didn't hold still long for pictures. Most of the pictures I have of them they are making faces or running away.

Alex thought camping was pretty cool. He enjoyed the cookies and marshmallows most of all.

(Alex's mad stance)

We ate like kings with huge breakfasts every morning including eggs, bacon, and homemade buttermilk biscuits (campfire cooked). We cooked two roasts in the fire the second night.

Even Catfish had a good time although it was a bit cold for her liking!

These are from a fishing excursion in the backyard earlier this week. I think the only thing anybody caught was a big turtle but everyone had fun. Julia was inside reading so she missed out on the family fun.

It seems the evil virus is on its way out. Both boys ended up with awful ear infections from it and are on a round of antibiotics. Then Aaron had a reaction to his flu shot and was sick for another two days. So, exactly 15 days after it all began I was finally able to sleep through the night again!! No cleaning up barf on the top bunk at 2 am, no administering late-night advil, actual sleep all night long!
We had a surprise anniversary dinner for the Aucoin's 35th, last night. I haven't downloaded the pictures, yet, to see if any are decent. It was a fun evening!

The big yearly camping event is next weekend so we must prepare! Time to dig out the tent and prepare the menu. We always show up looking like the Beverly Hillbillies with all the "necessary" stuff!

Julia was a gothic vampiress for Halloween. I hope this isn't a vision into our teenage years. She looked marvelous with her black lipstick (thanks, Granny-the applicator), her dress, and black fingernail polish. Aaron was a bat. He had black clothes, wings, and ears. I don't think he wore his ears most of the time.

Alex, well you can see from the picture, he cried the whole time and refused to wear a costume. I forgot to mention that Alex and Julia have aquired the dreaded virus and were both running a fever for Halloween.

Alex finally loosened up and was beginning to enjoy getting candy but then he tripped and fell and skinned
his knee which ruined the rest of his evening.

I was on a rant because only about every 7th house was participating in Halloween. I guess everyone else had something better to do. Why does no one want to do Halloween anymore? The people that do play are so cheap that they will only give one piece of candy (think one lone tootsie roll) to the kids. Next year I'm bringing eggs and going old school on them!!

Luckily we brough the golf cart so we could cover more area with two sick kids.

Aaron had "fall refreshments" at the school on Friday. I made a cupcake cake which came out good (although I'm no Jen Mueller!) and the kids devoured.

Here's the whole family on the golf cart makin' the rounds.

We're hoping the virus will leave us soon!!

I had about two hours between Aaron's miraculous recovery from a nasty virus and Alex coming down with it. Luckily it seems that Alex has a milder version and seems to be on the upswing already.

One of our little chickens got sick a couple of days ago and I figured she had no chance but with much nursing she seems to be much better this morning. I'm glad because she's Julia's current favorite. That's her posing with Julia on the right. She's docile and very tolerant like Dolly was....happy to lay on her back and go to sleep.

We have major Halloween preparations to finish, today. Pumpkins to carve, costumes to finish, the golf-cart to decorate. Looks like the weather will be perfect and a touch cooler than the usual 85 degree Halloweens!

We worked on major house projects this weekend. Most of the house has now turned yellow. We just have a couple of spots to finish, some trim to do, and the eaves and ceiling of the porch and carport to do. Eventually we do have to pick a color for the shutters (green?, dark red?). Perhaps I'll do that tomorrow. We also painted the newly finished porch ceiling. It was not finished before (just exposed 2X6'x) so now it has a lovely beadboard ceiling with a new fan and a fresh paint job.

After the painting is finished we will begin the process of closing in the back porch to make a big livingroom/sunroom.

Not many other exciting events going on on the ranch. Oh, except our massive canteloupe harvest. I meant to make Julia pose with them but we ran out of daylight.

And Happy Birthday Anne!! Hope you had a good day.

We went to a Halloween party, last night. We simply HAD to be the Incredibles and, luckily, everyone was willing to participate! The kids had a great time in the space walk at the party.

Our neighbors thought we were crazy and I'm sure the cars by us in traffic got a good laugh with everyone in costume.

I really like this outfit that Alex picked out. Red baseball cap, knight shield, pink leopard purse, and Lightning McQueen rain boots. Perhaps he can be a fashion designer someday.

The boys discovered the joy of kamakaze sliding a few days ago. Both run up the slide and whoever gets to the top first then plows over the other one and they crash to the ground giggling. It's been fun for days.

No jury duty! I got out of it. My meeting for today got moved to next week. Darn, I was looking forward to lunch out by myself!