Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Party

For 8 years I've thrown Joe's work Christmas party in our home. I'm ALWAYS amazed that I can get it all pulled together. Here is it looking pretty...


The disaster before... does this happen to you? I was stunned by the mess as I pulled out all of the boxes. The kids had so much fun put everything out. I rearranged a little bit, but they did a great job, so I really didn't have to do much.


Beginning to decorate the tree.



As I was wrapping the stairs with the garland and very frustrated, I decided to wrap the bottom of the spindles instead of the top. What a brilliant moment... so much easier and now we can still hang on to the railing as we come down the stairs.

One of my favorite wreaths that I had to "steal" last year during our annual gift exchange... it was so worth it!



My little artificial group of trees... sometimes I add small ornaments, but this year they are adorned with ribbon.



The green room set up for the party. We had a smaller group this year, so I was able to leave the couch in the room for the first time ever.



The tables were set very simply with white table cloths with an overlay of gold toole... just to give it interest. Usually, I bunch up the toole down the tables, but Joe always feels like he has fabric in his food... so we went with simple. My awesome teaching partner wrapped all of the brown boxes for me and tied all of the ribbons. I had them scattered on the tables and around the room... the PERFECT touch!



Merry Christmas
Our self portrait near the end of the evening!


Sunday, December 6, 2009

They're all mine!


I love this boy! I can always find him on any court... that hair gives him away EVERY time. Taking pictures in the gym are so hard... I need a few lessons!



I love this boy! This boy that turned 8 -- I can't hardly believe he's already 8. He had a "tailgate" party at the house with a few of his friends -- it was INSANE! He made me smile from ear to ear when he opened his first NBA jersey -- Portland Trailblazer, Brandon Roy -- he SCREAMED like a girl. It was awesome :)


I love this girl... this smart, witty and funny girl who is not afraid to show who she is. At her brother's birthday party, she showed EVERYONE how to do push-ups correctly! She got down on the floor and told the boys, "This is how you do it!" and she proceeded to do 5 REAL push-ups and then she smiled and went on about her business. I hope she can take that drive and finesse it over time.