Removing the Tree

Our wonderful Christmas Tree. It was beautiful, but it is time for it to go. How does one remove such a large tree? I thought I'd share our process.

First you get the ladder in to take everything off. Then Jon takes a pruning sheers and starts cutting off branches. Hm. That could take awhile.

Then you discover that in all of those branches you had a bird's nest that you never knew was there. At least there were no birds - or any other animals.

Then you just take a saw and start cutting the trunk of the tree.

Remove the top half of the tree.

Then another section goes out.

Until this is all that is left. Gorgeous isn't it!

Then you seep needles into a pile. Chloe kept saying ,"OOHH"
I think we will be finding needles for the rest of our lives. By the time we actually get rid of them all, it will be time to bring in the tree for Christmas 2010. And my house feels really empty without the tree in it. It took up a lot of space!

CHLOE JEAN KAPITZ!

OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!
If you look closely in this picture, it is the bathroom door from the outside. And if you look even closer, you can see that the drawer inside the bathroom is open - which means that you can't open the door. It is Chloe's new thing. This is how she locks herself in the bathroom. We have to find a knife, screwdriver, something that can get enough of a grip on the drawer so that we can slowly inch it shut so that we can open the door. Meanwhile, Chloe is inside by herself.

See.
"Don't come in here! I was combing my hair!"
Atleast this particular time we didn't hear the splashing of the toliet water while we worked.

Church Christmas Program

The kids had their Christmas Program at church on Sunday. They did a great job. I'm so glad that another parent was able to take pictures of my kids. My annoying camera died on me.

"Glo-ooooo-oooooo-oooo-ooo-oooo-ria"

Christmas Cookies & Snow

Since there was no school on Wednesday, and Jon & I were not getting out of the driveway, we decided to do our Christmas cookies instead of saving them for Saturday. I cheated and used the neighbor girls to help - it makes it go faster.

Chloe got her own plate with one cookie and some frosting. She didn't even know that I gave her the "blob cookie". You know - the blob of dough at the end that you don't know what to with so you cook it too.

But she mostly ate spoonfuls of frosting.

Then they went outside. I think that she looked like a pink snowman. I know my sisters will get a good laugh at her outfit. You also might notice that she has 2 different mittens on. The girl has 2 sets - and I could only find one of each. Frustrating!!! Although I'm proud to say that I'm not caught up in what my kids where. Play clothes and warm in winter clothes are all that matter. Who needs to match? Some day I'll do a blog of "Hannah Pants - the girl has style!"

But they are too small and kept riding up her legs. So I had to go and dig out a bigger pair. I guess at least she wore it once - for 5 minutes. But then she satyed outside for 30 minutes! And the other two stayed out for 1 hour & 30 minutes - and came in because it was dark. They couldn't resist the new snowbanks after dad came to plow.

Gingerbread House

The neighbors invited us over for a gingerbread house making party last Saturday. And it was a party - lots of people and TONS of candy to put on the houses. The kids had a great time. This is their house & yard. It's hard to see, but the one snowman peep is already missing his head. They can't stop eating the candy.

And they had to cover every possible square inch on the thing. They even put a fireplace and stockings inside the house.

Then the next day...

This is what we found. A collapsed house!

I think they put to much candy on the roof. Gumballs are heavy when you have 40 of them on one side of the roof. Oh well, now I can throw the thing away rather than keep trying to find a place for it in my house. But at least it was a fun time.