The Griswalds live here?

We got our tree on Sunday. We had tagged a few weeks ago, and Jon went to cut it down. Hannah was taking some pictures of the process - or her feet.

Yeah, Jon is Mr. Griswald. At least he had a truck and he didn't have to tie it to the top of a car. It is huge! It was smaller in the field. I think the neighbor girls couldn't believe it. Chloe can stand at the base of it, and the bottom branches are just above her head. I never thought our tv would look small.

After a run to town for some more lights & ornaments and got it done. This is the tree last night - before the kids added all of their ornaments at 6am this morning. It really is a beautiful tree and I love it. But, does anyone have a bigger tree skirt they want to sell?

Black Friday: To Shop or To Sleep

I hate to shop. I buy what I need and I leave. So with this new tradition of going to Wal-Mart on Black Friday I was torn. Do I really want to lose precious sleep to shop? This year I caved in. I got up at 3:30am to go to Wal-Mart. Do you know what I needed??? A wreath hanger. Yep. That's it. Here is Tracey K. helping me push through the lines to get to them before they were gone. $1.50 is a deal!

The things that I do under peer preessure. I hope they never sugggest jumping off a cliff.

But I got my wreath hook and was back in bed by 6am. Good times.

You Know What?...

Tyler has an issue. He likes to say "You know what..." And then you have to say "What?". In fact, yesterday on the way home from school he was telling a story and he was saying it so many times that I started to count. In the distance from Country Inn to mom's house (what is that 4 miles?) he said "You know what..." 29 times!!!!!!!!!!! And you know what...I really dislike that phrase.

I also hate homework. My kids don't have a lot of it, but I still hate it. Tyler does alright with his. But Lord help us all when Hannah gets real homework. She likes to do it because it makes her feel like a big girl. However, now that it involves something constructive and not coloring a picture, the tide has begun to turn. Last night she had to make the number 5 four times. Above she is trying once...

Then take cover fast because ... "I CAN"T DO THIS! I HATE SCHOOL. (throw pencil) MOM, DO THIS HOMEWORK FOR ME!" If you look at Tyler's face, I think he is confused by the outburst. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Can anyone teach me how to teach her to hold a pencil? When she has to pick up a pencil she acts like it's a foreign object that is full of something yucky. Did I mention that I hate homework?

And there is this one. While I am trying to help 2 kids with homework I have an attachment to my leg. "PICK ME UP RIGHT NOW! I WILL FOLLOW YOU AROUND IN THIS POSITION UNTIL YOU DO!"

"OR ELSE I WILL STRIP ALL OF MY CLOTHES OFF RIGHT HERE IN THE KITCHEN" Well, instead of words insert screaming. I'm interpreting here.

As a lovely side note...you know what :) Chloe did on Sunday. She woke up from her nap and the neighbor girl went in to get her from her play pen. Kelsey screamed a little and I knew it had to be bad. Chloe had stripped everything off (that is her favorite thing - she even stripped in the church nursery). However - she had a dirty diaper that she took off too! yeah. And then she smeared it all over the pay pen, the blankets, herself. that was so much fun to clean up! I just hope I didn't lose a potential babysitter since Kelsey was slightly mortified by the scene.

Sweet Tyler

Tyler is so sweet. At Awana Mrs. Wrage had them make a thank you card that they could give to anyone they wanted to. On the way home Tyler started asking me what street Gary lived on and how mail got to him. I was like, he doesn't have a street, and they fly the mail over...Why? And he said that he made his card for "Uncle Gary!" AAAWWW! Here he is with his card saluting Gary.

This is the inside "Thank you Gary for being in the Army. From Tyler"

And this is the outside a little USA and a picture of two guys shooting at each other. He may be sweet, but he's still a boy. So we will ahve to get this in the mail to Gary. Tyler also asked how many guys were over there - one or two? And I said thousands. Tyler's response..."They must have a big camper".

Game Time

Jon and I were able to go to the Packer-Viking game on Sunday. We got there nice and early this time. And it was beautiful out - not minus 10 like it was when we went last year.
Our seats were pretty good.

It was a great game to be at, although it could have ended better. We were surrounded by Viking fans. But the group next to us wasn't too bad. But it was a great date day and we had fun.

Pumpkin Carving

On Saturday we decided to finally carve our pumpkins.

Chloe hated it. She wouldn't touch the stuff. She cried. So we put her to bed.

Joni came to help us out and have some pumpkin fun. Here they are making stars on the back of the pumpkin.

And here are the final products. Chloe liked them when they were finished and lit up. I guess I can't blame her for not liking the icky stuff.