Buzzzzzz Cut!

Ethan has been asking for a hair cut and he likes it cut short. As we are not in recital mode or anywhere near a recital, we decided to cut his hair at home in his favorite fashion ... SHORT!
This is how much hair he had before we started.

Number 4 in front. Business up front ... party in the back? Nope! He wants it all off!

Using a number 4 on the sides first. Need to get the mob off before fine-tuning.

Ready for the number 2.

Daryn wanted in on the action and took over with the number 2 and shaved him down. That boy has a duck tail that would put Fonzi's to shame!

Done!

Clean up time. First the boy gets vacuumed ...

then the floor!

40 pounds for $60

We were contacted by our friend Liz Fredrickson (scouts) about whether we'd like to order some chicken. Costco quality, 40 pounds and $60. It was a good bargain for us, saving about $100 from future commissary grocery bills. Daryn cut the chicken breasts apart, made them into appropriate sized pieces, cut off the fat, and I bagged and sealed them. Our sealer has paid for itself for sure! We ended up with 13 packages of 6 serving sized breasts per package, 2 packages with 4 in it, a package of 12 tenderloins, and 2 packages of tidbits or nuggets for soup or pot pie or whatever.

Snow People 2012 ... and Gronkle

Ethan and Ely Dawson making their Snow Gronkle.

The beginnings of Ian and Evyn's Calvin and Hobbes creation.

Gronkle completed.

Evyn's armed with the ice cream scoop.

Ethan and his gronkle close up.

Ellie and Amber and their Snow Lady.

Ian and Evyn's creation. The one has an ice cream scoop sticking out of his chest and the other holds a bowl of ... well ... ice cream? Nope, it's part of his pal who has many scoops taken out of it! Their friend, Aaron Mahiou, helped them complete it.

This is what the house looks like AFTER they come in.

Where are the boys? Playing the Wii, of course. The girls? They had their cocoa and went back outside to make a husband for their Snow Lady, but couldn't lift the snow. They are currently making snowballs with the ice cream scoop! I think a snow war will ensue before long.

Big Blizzard of 2012

This was yesterday afternoon.

This was this morning.

Same shot as yesterday afternoon.

King of the snow piles.

The entire drive ... from road up to past our driveway and heading to neighbor's house.

Queen of the snowflakes. Never thought I'd wear my tap class costume again ... leg warmers and jazz pants really helped in keeping me warm. I had on all three pairs of my pants today while shoveling.

Nanook of the North! Ethan in my old Icelandic jacket.

Nanookette! Everyone lent a hand.

(More photos to follow later.)

Happy 11th Birthday to my littlest munchkin!

Grandma Val found a very nice pillow at the annual Tea and Sale. Little children dancing ... how appropriate for our little dancer! It graces the sofa in the living room now for the next time she's ready to cozy down with a movie.

Grandma also sent another treasure. A ring that once belonged to her mother. Amber was very touched that she was given this pretty ring. It's an heirloom passed to the fourth generation. What a special gift!

Amber invited her closest friends to spend the afternoon with her. Sarah (left) just had surgery prior to Christmas, so wasn't in school yet. Ellie (top left) and Carsyn (bottom right) are both homeschooled. They brought their American Girl dolls and had a picnic. Later, after all the festivities the girls got out the Barbies and had a fashion show. I didn't get any photos of that event.

Amber decided she wanted her friends to help her decorate her cake. Initially her cake was going to be two layers, but we ran out of ingredients ... like powdered sugar ... so no two-layer cake. However, she did fulfill one of her merit badge elements for AHG and that was cutting cake and piecing it to make another design. She designed a butterfly. The original recipe design called for a Twinkie in the center for the body, but it was loaded with color dye, so she fashioned one out of the other circular layer. This frosted butterfly was too decorated for Evyn, but we had just enough frosting to dab on a portion of the remaining layer so he could enjoy some cake, too. Amber made the cake and frosting: white cake and lemon frosting. Very refreshing.

The body of the butterfly is graced with almond chocolate orange section. She got this from Santa and I thought it was pretty special she shared her chocolate orange this way. She only gets them once a year from Santa. Sadly, two of the girls didn't like the piece of chocolate and it was tossed. Oh well. There was also a decorating accident, but they made up for it by throwing on everything else from the decorating box!

Later in the evening she opened her gifts after a special request dinner. We had stuffed shells with fresh homemade ricotta (thanks to Daryn) and homemade sauce (from the freezer). It was REALLY yummy. I found this pretty gift in Poulsbo before Christmas. It says, "The angels danced the day you were born." I thought it quite appropriate.

I also made a sweater for her doll. Her comment when she first opened it, "Oh, a Hobbit jacket!" Nope, I said, it's for your doll. I'd worked on it just about all day Dec. 24 in hopes she could have it for Christmas, but I just couldn't get it completed. It still needs a closure, but she may decide she likes it without. We shall see.

While Daryn was making the ricotta, Ian and I went to Silverdale to pick up this game we had heard about earlier in the afternoon from one of the girls' moms. It's really fun. We started a game about 8:45 or so and had to continue on this morning. However, some were not happy they weren't doing well and put a real damper on things and I called an end to the game altogether. Oh well, another day.

Lastly I got Amber a little case of jewelry making supplies as she really enjoys designing and making earrings. I thought I would foster her creativity. We'll see where it leads.

Then later this morning Amber got a call from Grandma Judy. They had a wonderful chat. She loves to get phone calls.

Happy Birthday, baby girl. I love you!

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning greeted us with twinkly lights and mounds of gifts. Funny, we always say we don't have anything, yet it all comes from the deepest depths of the closet somehow!

Amber searches for our traditional German pickle. Daryn hid it this year ... and it wasn't in the tree! Nice try, Amber!

Ethan found the pickle hidden inside the toe of the dogs' stocking, which had been emptied earlier in the morning, prior to breakfast and present opening.

Jo sent a great crafting kit ... a Tandy leather kit! The kids were full of oohs and ahhs. We haven't taken everything out yet. Perhaps we can incorporate it into school or a Boy Scout merit badge! Hmmm ...

Sporting his new house pants, Daryn ogles his new knife set from Mom and Dad. Nice and sharp! Thinking there might be some type of meat in our future ... steak for your birthday, Daryn?

When asked what they want for Christmas, the general response from the kids was, "Nothing, I have everything I need/want." That made it very difficult for shopping. However, they all did say they'd like clothes. I guess Goodwill is only fun to a point. New shirts were a hit this year! Evyn really likes the one he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

Ethan also likes his new shirts ... we have flannel loving kids!

Ethan wasn't sure what the etching was about, but he loved the griffin. I explained how, where, and when it was made and he thought that was pretty cool.

Gifts from New York! The boys (including Daryn) loved their new ties. I think the story about them should be shared by Grandma and Grandpa. Ethan and Evyn loved their new calculators, too. Of course, Amber is giggly over her socks ... never can have too many!

Daryn attempting to tie his new tie ... one-handed.

The bubble shirt ...

... is it for my dolls? Nope ... it's for ...

YOU! Yes! It fits! Amazing!

Hand warmers? Really! Hand warmers! YES! He was so excited about these!

Another great shirt for Evyn.

Prepping dinner. The bag has been greased by our sous chef, the veggies cut up for the cavity of the turkey.

Ethan learns how to prep a turkey ... including the removal of neck and giblets. EWWWW ... (his words!)

I get to dice up the celery for the stuffing. We also added apple this year. It was delicious.

Not for me? No, Joule, the Legos are not for you!

The little oil lamp was a gift from Daryn. It's a very nice ceramic lamp.

A shirt for Ian. He's very happy to have something long-sleeved and warm!

There's more than one way to get the wrapping off a package!

Couldn't resist getting this sign. Found it at the Festival Trees during the kids' first performance this year. It was a unanimous decision to get this for Daryn.

CALCULATOR!

Ethan enjoying his hacky sack ball.

Another shirt. Ethan really likes this one. It may be a bit big now, but he's happy he'll have it for more than a year.

She looks like Raggedy Ann, but is this perhaps Madelaine?

Wish you could have seen how giddy Ian was about getting this pocket knife and sharpening stone. He was quite the excited boy scout!

Are you kidding me?! WOW! Haven't plugged it in yet. But I know how I'll get those Christmas cards made now!

Last minute on the list ... he wants a ski mask. So, off I go searching through Ravelry until I found a free pattern. It went together quite quickly, actually. And he loves it ... and that's the important thing.

Daryn's brain hat. Long story with this one ... but let's say ... Daryn was surprized this year!

Gifts from Auntie Jo ... kerchiefs, recipe cards, (t-shirt for Ethan with geckos), and a great purple scarf for me (not pictured) which she designed herself and made.

As you can tell, Frog Boy didn't take long in getting his onto his head!

Ian's big gift ... a pBone. What's that? It's a plastic trombone made from PVC pipe and has a graphite slide. And, in case anyone is interested further, he has already mastered his first scale with it! I'm impressed!

Ooh, goody! The turkey is done! It fell off the bones and was SO juicy. Always have a dry bird? Try the greased paper bag method. You'll never go back to cooking it any other way!

Because Daryn was incapacitated, Ian became carver this year. Had to give him helpful tips, but he didn't do a bad job. He may be hired for next Thanksgiving. We shall see!

Evyn smashed up the taters and made some amazing mashed potatoes.

Kitchen crew hard at work getting the fixings ready for the table.

Let's eat!

Merry Christmas!!!