Christmas

Santa has come and gone and we all had a Merry Christmas!
Here are a few pictures from the day...

Christmas Eve and all through the house

Mariah's new IPod

Gib's new Backpack

Taryn's new Camera

Indy's new Electric Guitar
(and BFF Joe with his new Camera)

The Reindeer came back for an afternoon visit

Chrissie and my Christmas/Anniversary gift

(before)


(after)




The Family Christmas Puzzle...Complete

Let the Holidays Begin

It is official...the Holidays have begun. The kids are out of school and I am home from work. The kids feel like they did just fine on their finals and work should do ok without me for 10 days, but I remain on call if they can't.

Chris and I are completely done with Christmas shopping. Most was done in early December, but there are always those last few things that need to be completed. I think we purchased our final gift on Wednesday night. We don't have any specific plans for the week, but I am certain there is plenty to knock off of my honey-do list. We will experience a first this year with Christmas: We will have to share Indy with her BFF, Joe, and his family for a few hours on Christmas Day. She is participating in their family gift exchange; she drew Joe's dad.

We're all looking forward to a delayed Surf & Turf Christmas dinner. Usually we have that instead of turkey on Thanksgiving, but this year we had company so we did a deep fried turkey. The Alaskan King Crab legs we bought could barely fit sideways on the freezer shelf they are so big! Chris even bought new clawcrackers thinking our old ones wouldn't be heavy duty enough.

Science Project

Chrissie got an "A" on her 7th grade science project!! Gib got a 102 out of 100 on his!

Backyard Progress

2007’s Funniest Moment

Let’s set this up: Indy, Mariah & Chrissie went to church with Grammy. Chrissie thought Mariah would rejoin them after Sunday School before Communion. Wrong. Indy & Chrissie watch in fascinated horror as the scene unfolds. Here’s a play by play of how it went down for your enjoyment:

Chrissie: Oh No, Mariah’s whole class is going up by themselves for communion! She doesn’t know it’s wine!
Indy: Gasps in horrified delight and starts giggling already
Chrissie: Surely they are too young to take communion. They will all fold their arms for a blessing. Oh man, I should have warned Mariah to fold her arms!
Indy: Giggling louder and pointing out all the kids with their hands ready to receive the wafer.
Chrissie: Eyes focused on her youngest’s every movement, willing her to look at her mother so she could motion to her to fold her arms over her chest for a blessing: Oh Good - Look! Her friend is telling her to fold her arms…whew!!!
Indy: No, they’re just holding their Webkinz at the alter for communion too!!!!! Really laughing now.
Chrissie: She snuck her Webkinz in?! I didn’t even see the thing! Oh No! She took a wafer!
Indy: Oh Geez….this is going to be good! Both not able to even contain the laughing now, even though we were bent double and trying to hide it!
Indy: Gasps out: Wait until she tastes it!
Chrissie: Maybe everyone will dip. Surely they have 9 yr olds dip their wafer, right?! Mariah’s still holding her wafer. Yep, she’s definitely gonna dip.
Indy: Yeah, they probably will. Secret smile of glee on her face waiting for the moment Mariah tastes wine and realizes what she’s done

The Chalice Bearer approaches Mariah, who upon seeing such a lovely silver goblet before her very eyes, stashes the wafer, reaches up and pulls that sucker in for a big ol’ swig!!!!!! You should have seen the shock on the lady’s face and how she valiantly tried to pull it back and save enough wine for the next 9 yr old to have some too!!!!! It was FUNNY!

Indy & Chrissie: Dying of laughter now….pretty sure the whole church is looking at the crazy Mormons laughing their heads off that their youngest has her mouth full of nasty wine and doesn’t know what to do about it.
Indy: Can barely speak: Do you see her face? Do you see her face?!
Chrissie: Gasping for air: I hope she doesn’t spit it out!!!
Mariah: Cheeks completely puffed out, looks around and with a look of disgust and near tears swallows with an almost audible gulp!
Chrissie: Gales of laughter now: Look at how she’s nibbling the wafer trying to get rid of the taste! Mariah is breaking off tiny pieces of the wafer and chewing madly
Indy & Chrissie: Laughing completely uncontrollably now.

Mariah and her class return to their Sunday School room.
A few minutes later, church is out, and Chrissie grabbed a cup of lemonade and went to pick up Mariah. (See? I’m not so bad!) Mariah thankfully grabs the lemonade and chugs it down. Chrissie waits for it, she waits for it….and…..

Chrissie: So what did you think of the wine?!
Mariah: Big fat tears in her eyes, wails: I THOUGHT IT WAS GRAPE JUICE!!! IT WAS DISGUSTING!!!!!!
Chrissie: Why did you take so much?!
Mariah: I WAS THIRSTY!!!!
Indy: Trying not to laugh: Poor Mariah!!!
Mariah: I’m not crying, I’m not crying. It’s just my allergies!!!

As we were walking to the car:

Chrissie: So, did you like the wafer?
Mariah: Chin trembling and wobbly voice - It was BAD too but at least it got the horrible taste out!
Indy & Chrissie: Burst into laughter, could barely walk to the car, tears streaming down our face…
Mariah: Cried all the way home.
Chrissie: Are you mad at me for laughing at you?
Mariah: YES!!!!!
Chrissie: Still laughing – I know I am a terrible mother! Can I tell Daddy about it?!
Mariah: NO!!
Chrissie: Walks in the door…..Hey Mike! Guess what happened at church today?!!!!!!

Mariah...Year End

Likes: Webkinz, Girl Scouts, Shopping for Clothes, Singing & Dancing, Fruit Salad

Dislikes: Vegetables, Cleaning up her room, Practicing on electric guitar

Best of the Year: Playing ISketch online with Mom and Gib this summer, Going tubing at Center Hill Lake

2007’s Funniest: I don’t have one. (Typed by Mariah herself - Chrissie remembered a GREAT one but Mariah just erased it - see post "2007’s Funniest Moment").

2008 Forecast: Having a Webkinz Party with my friends for my birthday

Personal Comment: I don’t have one - I want to call my friends about trying out for our school talent show now.

Gib...Year End

Likes: Food, Jokes, NFL, PS2, Drums, Computer Games, Scouting

Dislikes: Reading “The Richest Man in Babylon”. He has given up his allowance and a monetary gift to avoid finishing it.

2007’s Funniest: Laughing and reenacting secret jokes with mom – Big Brother, Lion King 1.5, Small Boy, and many Nemo moments (Nice).

Best of the Year: Going to Center Hill Lake with my troop and my family (and getting two more sisters for the weekend….NOT).

2008 Forecast: Learning to ski in February on a Scout Trip to North Carolina, Patrol Leader in Scouts

Personal Comment: I don’t have a personal comment….or do I? Dun-dun-duh…..

Taryn...Year End

Likes: Sleeping after school, Drawing stuff, Playing on the Computer, Anime

Dislikes: Waking up, beige walls, getting kicked off Gib’s PS2 in the middle of Need For Speed

2007’s Funniest: Watching Alyssa walk into a pole and laughing so hard she didn’t watch where she was going and walked into a pole herself!

Best of the Year: Soccer Team Championship

2008 Forecast: Chorus in Bye-Bye-Birdie, Getting a Driver’s License

Personal Comment: I’m tired so I’m gonna sleep. Hope you all had a wonderful year.

Indy...Year End

Likes: Music and playing the guitar, participating in the school musicals, making fun of people with mom, taking breaks off of school, being the self-promoted store manager at work, taking pictures, soccer, bowling, and hanging out with friends and coming in one minute before curfew…..

Dislikes: Being sick and having two surgeries this year for my wisdom teeth and a tonsillectomy, going to work with people I don’t care for, traffic, rain, foods like tomatoes and watermelon, physics, not being able to pick out an outfit, and allergies.

Best of the Year: Tubing at Center Hill Lake and watching everyone wipe out over and over again. EFY. BIRTHDAY WEEKEND: going to the Korn concert, Predators hockey game, and Titans football game, having Leanne spend the weekend with me.

2007’s Funniest:
1) Almost set the music store on fire with the one appliance that is sure to do her in….the microwave! (Anyone remember the unfortunate microwave/sock incident of the 4th grade).
2) Trying to jump out of the car after her wisdom teeth surgery – Indy was still way out of it, and convinced we were taking her somewhere other than home.
3) Dreaming for three nights in a row she was a man. (A nerdy geeky guy giving a presentation complete with a pointer stick laser thingy, a gross slobby man with cheetoh-covered fingers; and a black drug dealer man with huge afro running away really fast, which made her conclude to herself in the dream that black people really do run faster than white people!)

2008 Forecast: Playing the part of Margie in Bye-Bye-Birdie, choosing a college, going to prom for the first time, 18th birthday, a senior and leaving school early for co-op.

Personal Comment: Pain Meds are worth their weight in gold and they give you really interesting dreams!

Stuff

Scout Tree Lot

Gib’s photo has been in the newspaper from the first day the troop opened its 3 Christmas Tree Lots. Gib, Mike and I all worked a double shift (8 hrs) the Friday after Thanksgiving and The Tennessean sent out a photographer to our location. Gib, Mike and another scout ended up in the papers – a few times! A neighbor finally called and jokingly exclaimed that she couldn’t open the paper without seeing one of us! This is the 28th year the Troop has sold the Christmas Trees and it’s a huge fundraising effort. Each scout must work four 4 hr shifts, along with a parent doing the same, to make it work. In return, the scout gets opportunities to do a lot of fun things at a much reduced price. The scouts who work all their shifts will get to go to Climb Nashville (rock climbing place) and the boys will have a lock-in overnight party. They’ll climb the walls, literally, eat pizza and junk and have a great time. Also, a trip available first to scouts who worked the tree lots is a North Carolina ski trip in February. Gib has never been skiing and I’m really excited he’ll have this opportunity. The cost to us will be a couple hundred, but wow, to be able to go skiing for a 3 day weekend, equipment, food, hotel, lessons, all included?! It amazes me that this Troop has the ability to do these kinds of things for the boys, and provide a wonderful Scouting experience that they will always remember.

Big Plans for Santa

The kids have big plans for Santa. It will be a nice Christmas, the first in our new home together. Getting out the decorations and finding all our Christmas boxes wasn’t easy. Moving is such a pain. But we finally finished decorating (we are pretty sure it’s everything). I’m happy with the way the Christmas lights turned out in the front yard – it’s simple, but I worked with what we had, and only had to buy a couple things to make what we used to have for our other house work here. We put the Christmas tree in-between the dining room and living room and are really enjoying the atmosphere, the twinkling lights, and the excitement when new presents find their way under the tree. The cats like the tree too!

Playoffs Looming

We’re in the final weeks of regular season NFL. It’s been fun this year to dominate in our football pool! I’m currently in 3rd, after a brief stint in the number two spot. Mike had a hurtful week where he went from 1st to 3rd and he is now back in 2nd, one point ahead of me. I was sad that Green Bay didn’t have a Thanksgiving win against the Cowboys – I went against the favored winner and lost some big points. I do really like Dallas though; I just wanted to see the Packers come out with a W on that match up. What a great season Farve is having; and how great is it for Dallas to have a QB and a team that can, potentially, win a Super Bowl. I LOVE Super Bowl days. Last year it was kind of ruined for me, so I am NOT letting that happen again!!!

Here's a couple of good pictures

I think I was 6 years old in this picture...

Back Row: Neighborhood Boys
Front Row: Carl, Ron, Mike

I am 24 years old in this picture...

Ron, Carl, Mike

Mid State Band Audition

Gib and Chrissie got up at 5:45 a.m. so Gib could audition to be in the Mid-State band. We were told that this process could potentially take ALL day, and registration officially started at 8:50 a.m., but we were advised to arrive around 7 am. Since Gib and I were selling trees at the boy scout lot again today at noon, they wanted to get in near the front of the line. So off they went, loaded with food, drinks, a snare drum, sticks, books to read, and Gib's piece of music. They got there at 6:50 am, found the piece of paper on the wall that said Percussion Registration and there was NOBODY there! YAHOO! They're #1!!!!!! That meant no waiting to audition - which was estimated to take 10-15 minutes per person. So if you were #12, best case, you were waiting 2 hrs. 120 percussionists were expected to register. It was 15 minutes before anyone joined them. H was in 9th grade and turns out he went to Gib's middle school last year and made it in the Mid-State band which is quite an honor. So he asked Gib what his secondary focus is gonna be. Gib was SUPPOSED to bring his mallets and timpani music too. You have to audition on TWO instruments. A little panic and nerves, but Gib thought one of his buddies would be doing the timpani piece and he could borrow their sheet music and mallets. It was about an hour before they found any friends, turns out it is one of Gib's buddies from school who has an extra sheet of the timpani music. Along comes a 3rd band buddy, who is happy to lend his mallets.

They got registered, Gib got Ticket #1, and then they headed to the 3 auditioning rooms (you have to go from one to the other for fundamentals &sight reading, your first focus instrument and your secondary). Once there our friend came in handy again because he spotted the music on the wall by the door and noticed they had changed some things. Auditioning was CHAOTIC, getting to the room, breaking thru the line of 200 woodwind people waiting to get registered and then trying to hear your number called, battle you way thru with your snare drum, sticks, music, and stuff 3 TIMES thru three different doorways.

We won't know until they post results on the internet around 11 pm tonight. There were an awful lot of people auditioning for a handful of spots, but Gib had a good audition and he didn't make any major mistakes, so he felt great about that. Chrissie figured just the opportunity to audition has benefits all of its own and the experience is valuable. One thing he learned right off was to make sure you have EVERYTHING you need! And they learned the early bird is definitely rewarded. Last year, some people didn't audition until after 8 pm. Wow. Our neighbors who didn't want to get up early and carpool with them were #80 in line for clarinets. Ouch. Wonder if they're home yet? Gib and Chrissie got home at 10:00 a.m.

Hayward, California

More early history... After flying to California with Marie... Hayward, California is the next place I remember, although I know we lived in Oakland briefly before it. We lived in a white house with a detached garage. My mother Marie had remarried, Craig. I dont remember the wedding, but I remember being in the sealing room of the Oakland Temple when we were sealed. We lived on a dead end street that had what we called a creek. It was really a man made waterway to handle storm water. There was not often more than a small stream of water running through it and we kids would climb the fence and climb down the ladder into the creek and play down there, probably not the safest thing to do, but we are all still here. Craig had also built us a fort in the backyard. Nothing exciting really, a square box on "stilts" not in a tree. It had a small ladder underneath that went up to a trap door for entry. I learned to ride my first bike here. Craig was all about building things, a machine mechanic/electrician by trade. He would go to junkyards and get old bike parts and make bikes for us kids. They were sometimes cool and sometimes weird, but no one else ever had a bike like ours.

Wedding Day, Craig & Marie

Craig at the time had just gotten out of the Navy and was working for Continental Can Company, I remember the CCC logo. Fred, my natural father, visited us on occasion. I only remember being with him once, he had given Ron, Carl, and I some new pajamas. I dont recall seeing or hearing from Fred again until after I was 18. He was still in the Navy and had received orders to Vietnam. His thoughts at the time were that Marie was making it difficult for him to see us and that it would be in our best interest to think of Craig as our dad, so he gave up his custody and visitation rights.

We lived in Hayward until I was five. I remember my fifth birthday becuase I was sick with a fever and my birthday party got canceled. I do remember eating a piece of cake though. Even though I turned five in Hayward, I was not old enough to enter Kindergarten that year. I remember wanting to be in school like my brothers and "borrowed" one of their math books and started answering all the addition problems I could find. Maybe that is where the math skills began.

Band Concert

Backyard.....

We are past the age of kids really playing in the backyard, and Lynda likes to garden, so we decided to redo the hill of a backyard we have. Because Lynda has difficult time walking on uneven ground we are putting in stack stone walls to terrace the terrain and create some planting areas. Also there will be another patio in the back corner behind the terraces and stairs will be put in between the levels. Work in progress...