Merry Christmas

We. Have. A. Tree.

And that makes it a Merry Christmas because in the end it all worked out just fine and we are eternally grateful for Fr. Rick's gift of gab, it made us right on time for Mass.

Bah Christmas!

This is not turning out to be the Christmas of my dreams, again. I'm trying to keep with the message of the season that was imparted on us at Mass on the first Sunday of Advent that was basically to "slow down" this time of the year. Do not turn it into a rush of gathering, doing and wanting. So I'm really trying. But once again our living room is trashed. What turned into a goal to finish the project by 7pm on Saturday has evolved into not even a speck of primer on the wall by Monday afternoon. But I'm trying. Really. I haven't even questioned why it took ACE 1 1/2 hours to mix the paint on Saturday afternoon. Or how a simple trip to Frank's for sliced jalapenos during the paint purchasing trip required me to go back to Frank's to replace the mild whole peppers that were purchased. If I were Charlie Brown I would let out a wide-mouthed scream. But I'm not. So now, like a good little non-judgmental wife, I'll go clean the dry-wall dust in the living room and leave you with last year's Christmas photo that I am tempted to use again this year because that project has been neglected.

Yes, we did opt for Buchta instead of Ollie in the photo because she was able to cooperate.

For Gibby

Gibby has always been the "lost" kid at our house. He wasn't the first born and didn't cause as much angst as infant number two Diezel did. He has just been the kid that blends in, the one that smiled at his dad just after he was born (And no it wasn't gas, the vernix wasn't even wiped off him yet!), the one that likes to do just about anything. Basically he has been fairly easy compared to other children I have been fortunate enough to parent. Well today, for the nth millionth time he made it clear that he needs a guitar and must acquire one soon. So I have entered him in the Kids Know Stuff guitar giveaway and I think you should enter too! By entering you could win a guitar and lower my chances of further upsetting my auditory sensory issues at the same time. Bless You!

Turkey Update

The turkeys managed to escape over the semi-frozen river so we had ham for dinner:

These "turkeys" managed to stick around:

This was our lame attempt to get all 6 dogs at our Thanksgiving feast to sit together. I think it was a wine induced fantasy or maybe we wanted to prove that at least our dogs can behave even if our children don't.