Winter festivities. So far. . .

I decided I'd better catch up before I can post Christmas pictures, so here's a quick re-cap of what December has brought so far:

Black Friday purchases 

(I guess that was technically November.  They didn't come until Dec. so that counts, right?)

Christmas tree decorating 

White Elephant party

This is what Chris brought

(Hopefully you can read  everything on the can.)

This is what Christ got

Elle's white elephant party

(The rule of thumb for parties is invite way more people than you think will come and you'll end up with just the right amount.  Not so with 12 year olds.  20 showed up!)

Even Elle's Cello (Buddy) got into the Christmas spirit

Elle's school got to perform at Winterfest! 

Then they went to a museum

(Elle and her friend Gwen are using the green screen exhibit to play superhero and Kirk)

And ice skating

Someone had a birthday

We broke the last of our groovy, yet ancient red glasses given to us by one of our Wymount BFF's

(I think they were in his grandma's house for many years before they gave them to us)

Elle got a fancy new Christmas dress

Elle played her cello in church!

(Chris couldn't help photo bombing every time I took her picture)

She played the cello part of Gesu Bambino with a vocalist and pianist.

It sounded great!

Every time I tried to record the practice session kids were crying or shouting or laughing in the background.

I recorded her doing a solo version:

 http://youtu.be/_VDINjL1bQI

We tried out our new Aebleskiver pan

Our Christmas cactus finally decided to bloom!

We ate gingerbread pancakes

(and cooked some batter in our Aebleskiver pan too!)

Chris made an annual "Trix Treat"

(This year's is a cornucopia) 

Stay tuned for more exciting winter happenings.

Stuff

I don't really see any sort of theme with these pictures, so you'll just have to enjoy them

End of season footwear

Last game attire

It was SO COLD! 

(obviously)

"The Box of Awesomeness"

as Elle dubbed it.

Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot chocolate

OH YA!

It wasn't actually very good.

I don't recommend it.  

A friend assured me that it wasn't nearly as gross as the usual Starbuck's hot chocolate and claimed it was quite good, but 

WRONG!

 And now me:

Chris bought this cowl neck shirt for me last year and since it is chilly, I pulled it out to wear again this year.  

It looked stranger than I remembered, but I know Chris likes to buy me trendy and sometimes kind-of-funky things.

It felt kind of strange wearing it too, but I couldn't figure out why. 

I checked to make sure the tag was in back, but it kept coming around to the side of the neck. (Very strange)

I wore it all day anyway.

THEN

The other day, I was going to wear again.

Luckily, Elle was home that day.  I had it on the bed, ready to wear after the shower when Elle came over and enlightened me:

"Mom, it's upside down."

Oh.

That would explain it.

"When you pick it up, the arms aren't supposed to hang unnaturally like that"

Ooooh!

Yes.

*Ahem*

This is how it's supposed to look!

(duh)

Elleisms

Sometimes school backfires. 

In health, they did a unit on minimum wage and Elle and her “husband” and “child” had to figure out how to live while only making minimum wage.  They didn’t have a car either.  It was great for putting things in perspective.  Note the thankful feather:

(I am very grateful for that too!)

 They are also being subjected to the sensationalized  documentary “Super Size Me.”  She’s taken this information to heart as well.

She and I were out shopping the other day and I picked up some toffee chips to make some yummy cookies.  Elle perked up with “I’m so glad we don’t make minimum wage so we can buy frivolous things like toffee chips!” 

Um.  Ya.  Me too. *slightly guilty*

Then we got a bag of those dried mangos at Costco--ya know, the ones that we pretend are all healthy, but we know they’re actually just candy.  I was snacking on a big handful when Elle informed me “It says a serving size is 6 pieces.”  

Oh.Ya. I am so glad you told me that. 

*more guilt*

But I heartily agree with this particular thankful feather:

I must say that this year's humanities teacher is a million times better than last year's. Her homework load is practically non-existent! LOVE her!

Elle thought MY thankful feather was totally random until I explained what happened at the orthodontist while she was getting her braces tightened. 

The orthodontist office is a big room with a row of dentist chairs. The kids sit in the chairs and the adults sit on chairs near their feet.  A couple chairs down we (the entire room of patients, parents, and assistance ) hear:

MOM:Is that a NOSE ring?!!

GIRL: No-oh

MOM: Yes it is!!

GIRL: Mom, no! It's not!

MOM: I can SEE up your nose from here!  It IS a nose ring!!!! Oh, you are in SO much trouble *exasperated growl*

GIRL: Mah-ahm! No!

MOM(to the assistant): I thought I was a good mom, but I just can't get it right. 

DOCTOR(comes over): Well, how are things looking today?

MOM: I'm still in shock over what I just saw!

DOCTOR(totally confused): um, is there something wrong with her mouth?

MOM: *unintelligible mumble*

They leave and the rest of us are giving each other "oh-my!" Looks. 

I look at my sweet Elle and think, I'm so thankful-

'Cause I forgot to mention that the girl's hair was green. And I don't think it was a case of "the peddler positively assured me it would be a beautiful raven black"

*sigh* I am SO glad I have parenting 101. At least for now!

Except for Elle's drinking problem-

Whenever Elle has the hiccups I tease her by saying she needs to stop drinking liquor.  She then giggles and writhes which I say proves the fact that she’s drunk.  I had the hiccups the other night and she said “You must have found my secret stash of whisky!” 

Hee. Hee. She cracks me up!

I Love to See the Temple

On Saturday, we took Elle to the temple for the first time to do baptisms:

It was great!  She did 4 family names plus 5 from the temple.

They let me do 10 names as well.  Chris baptized us and helped with the confirmations.

It's always nice to get a good dose of the spirit to help fill our cups.

 And here is our annual Thankful turkey:

Happy Halloween!

For our ward Halloween party, Chris and I volunteered to run a "booth."

We (I) decided to do Pin-the-spider-on-the-web.  I figured that it'd be good for a wide range of ages.  For the little ones they just walked up and put the spider on.  The older kids, we blindfolded.  It went pretty well.

This was my favorite.  He tried several times for the dead center.  In this pic., in case you can't tell, he's winding up for the kill.

No.  He didn't make it.

And here is the man behind it all.  He did a killer job of tying the bandanna on little people, handing them the spider and leading them toward the web.  Since he doesn't like to dress up, I made his wear this shirt.

And, WHAT is THAT?  Could it be?  Is that the Three Wolf Moon shirt?!

In case you are not familiar with this amazing piece of fabric, you can read the "Most Helpful"review here:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2XKMDXZHQ26YX/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R2XKMDXZHQ26YX

 I didn't bother trying to make Chris wear a costume, but I thought he wouldn't mind wearing the coolest shirt ever.

Yes, of course Chris made the spiders and web.

And here is our lovely Dorothy.

And her little dog too!

I dressed up too!  My hat fell off right after I struck this pose, but the important thing is that you can see my droopy sleeves and wicked green socks!

I was planning to let Elle paint my face green, but then the Primary presidency called and asked if I could stop by the store to get some more bowls for the chili.

I decided NOT to go with the paint. Plus, Elle thought they wouldn't let us in the store.

To make up for my lack of green face, you get to see this creepy picture-gone-wrong!

And here Elle is on the Big Night with her pals

She had a brilliant idea of making ghosts out of the cheap dumb-dumbs we bought.

It totally worked!  Even the teenagers took them!  We heard one group of girls inspect them right after the left the porch

"Oh. It's just a dumb-dumb." :(

Chris decided that Halloween night was the perfect time to make his own ramen noodles.

It turned out great!

Yum!