December Catchup!

The day after Emily's birthday seemed like the perfect time to put up the Tree. I definitely wasn't feeling Christmas this year and I don't know that I ever did through the season but I figured getting the decorations up was a start!

December 13th was Katie's Christmas Band Concert. It's hard to believe that it was only a year ago that Katie was performing in her very first Concert! She has improved so much and does a very good job.

My Mom came down and joined us for dinner before the concert and then stayed with Emily as we ran to the school for Katie's Winter Conference with her Core teacher. I then ran home to get Emily, my Mom and my camera to take them back to the concert and when I got there I realized that I had left my Card for my camera in the computer!! I was bummed because I was finally sitting in a spot that I could have taken pictures of Katie. She is so short and Clarinets are always in the second row so I never get any pictures!!

I think that this picture makes up for it though! I really like it. It's nice when she wears her hair up out of her face and we can see what a pretty girl she is!

I was able to get a full length shot of her too! You might recognize the dress since both of my girls are pretty much the same size we were able to get lots of use out of this dress this season!
We got my Mom a little gift before she went away on her trip!
My Mom and her grandaughters.
On December 13th I went out with Cheryl on her annual Birthday Extravaganza. We had some lunch, saw Everybody's Fine which was certainly much different than either one of us was expecting and did some shopping. I didn't really get any pictures this day except the one below on my phone camera and apparently it doesn't focus well!!
I dropped her off after our day and we were met by this Crazy Hawaiian who came out to meet us!! Who else would come out in shorts and flip flops in the snow (with a sweat shirt)!!

Some of you may have seen this picture on Facebook but it's too cute not to repeat! Emily got a new coat for winter this year and she wore it when we had that really cold snap with snow. I think that she looks like Nanook of the North!



Maggie and I got this bright idea to take our Troop on a Field Trip to work on some badges over Christmas Break. Apparently it didn't click for either one of us that it was THREE DAYS before Christmas!!! We took them to PetsMart and to the Mall. This is a fantastic group of girls and everything went really smoothly. The crowds at the Mall weren't even that bad.

The upper left picture is of Grace feeding a Grasshopper to an Oscar. She surprised me by jumping in and catching the Grasshopper that had escaped on the floor and didn't bat an eye when it was suggested that she feed it to the fish!

At the Mall we worked on the Differently Abled Patch and the girls tried eating their Dinner with their eyes closed and also walked around the Mall trying to simulate being blind.

More updates to come so keep checking back!!

What we've been up to!

Once again, its been a bit since I've posted but I had the time to update today!

This year, for the first time, Katie decided that she didn't want to go Trick or Treating and since Gord was working there wouldn't be anybody home to hand out candy, she opted to stay home and do that. She did a great job with the kids and seemed to enjoy it. Emily got invited out for a party first and then to go Trick or Treating with them. Emily's the witch in the purple!
I'm including the next picture, even thought it's not a very good one, since it was the 10,000th picture with my big camera. I got my camera in May 2008 so I've taken 10,000 pics with it since then. I just wish that my 10,000th picture was a much better one!
Katie had her first band concert of the year the other night and they did a really nice job. Unfortunately I never caught a picture of Katie but here's the 7th Grade band as a whole!
I know that it's not the kids' birthday until December but I tried to be proactive this year and think about their birthdays much earlier. Unfortunately it wasn't earlier enough and all of the weekend slots were already taken so we decided to take advantage of no school on Veteran's Day and have their party then. We invited about 27 kids between Katie and Emily and I think that there were about 23 kids that ended up coming. They were a wonderful group of kids and everyone seemed to have a good time!

Gotta love Costco cake!!
I found some funky candles for the cake and they worked out well!
Gord helped me light them.
Katie and Emily blowing out the candles!
Here's the group shot although I discovered after taking it that there were still a couple in the changing room and they had all skidaddled before I could retake the picture!
Last night was Emily's Father Daughter dance for her school. Gord was able to take the night off in order to attend. This was taken right before they left. Emily looks so grown up!
Gord got Emily a very pretty corsage for the night!
Boogieing the night away!

Gord was having a great time!!

This was taken as the night was ending. They both had such a great time!

Here's a picture of Emily with her friends at the dance!

Before I end the post I need to express an area of concern in the neighborhood. Gangs have moved in and I think that they're about to take over the neighborhood. We now have the Scooter Gang! I'm scared ~ how about you??!!