And more parties...

We also just had Emma's 12th birthday party with her friends this weekend. We thought and thought about what party activities to do so that it would be not all the way lame...and maybe even a little cool. Quite a challenge!

We decided on an Amazing Birthday Race party (like our favorite Amazing Race tv show). I made a treasure hunt with clues all over the house and neighborhood and the girls had to do challenges (hula hooping, searching for hidden pennies etc) to get some of the clues. They got to run around outside in dark, goof around, and get a prize at the end. Sounded about right to me for 12 year olds! Then they ate pizza, red velvet cupcakes & S'mores & watched Fantastic Mr. Fox. They all seemed to have a good time...and I did too (shhh--don't tell the 'tweens!)

Oh, and did you hear the big news? Emma, aka "the last 12-year old on earth without a cell phone," got the cell phone she's been hoping and praying and begging for since she started middle school. We got her a phone and took a picture of ourselves holding a sign that said "Happy Birthday" and made that the photo that came up on her screen when her phone rang from home. Then we hid the phone on the bookshelf behind her Christmas stocking. Near the end of her party, we called the phone and she figured out it was for her...priceless!

It was only then that we realized that the piddly 300 texts a month we added to her account was going to cause serious financial problems for us as she immediately received more than 10 texts from people...people who were still with her at the party!!
Today, we promptly changed our plan to unlimited texts.

Oh dear...here we go...

School Parties

Sophie & Julia had their holiday parties before the winter break. They don't really call them Christmas parties or even holiday parties anymore though. They call them book donation celebrations or something like that (since each kid donates and wraps a book for low income schools in the district). Oh well, it's a great cause and teaches the kids the value of helping those in need...and they still get cupcakes with really gloopy frosting in the deal...
(Julia's class had a "Polar Express" themed celebration by reading the book, watching the movie, dressing in their pj's & riding the "polar express" right in their room...



Sophie's party was a bit more subdued but the kids still got to play holiday bingo, wrap their books & have snacks...

Sounds of the Season

Sophie's school choir had a holiday concert the other day. They've been practicing (every Wednesday 7:00 am) since school began and they sounded great. One song(sung in French and in canon) was so pretty it brought tears to my eyes--no surprise there!

One of these things is not like the other...haha

The Grand Finale: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, of course!

Joyful Indeed

Sophie & Julia joyfully jostling after school one day last week...

Joyful

We recently discovered a couple of lab-rescue organizations around town & even mustered up the courage to put in an application for a little chocolate gal who caught our eye (sorry, Sara). She's preggers right now though, so she won't be ready until around February (if she's not too messed up from her crazy chained up life in Grand Island Nebraska). Anyway, their applications are quite detailed and rigorous...you'd think we were applying to possess the soul of the Queen of Bulgaria rather than adopting a labrador retriever but whatever floats their boat...

Today we had a phone interview (stage one of the approval process) and Bob was articulate and funny and charming on the phone with the lady who said that in her notes she's going to put down that we are a "joyful family."

Joyful. That's worth the whole process even if we don't get a new dog out of it...

hohoho

our new lighted star tree-topper (and "Undercover Boss" in the background)

...and we decided to dress up the family room for Christmas too this year so we all got some Starbucks hot cocoa and perused a nearby tree lot for this 3-foot beauty. Nice to have a bit of Christmas in there (we put our big tree in the living room). It's nice to have the pine smell and the town underneath...and flashbacks from younger years!

Finding Peace