My birthday

I had a great 33rd birthday. I was spoiled with breakfast in bed (raspberry crepes). Camille came over and we played games. I beat her at Scrabble by one point- happy birthday to me. :) My friend Tiffany took me out to lunch at BJ's (my friend Hilari also took me out to lunch the day after my birthday). Ken took me out to my new favorite mexican restaurant for dinner. Then I got some books and puzzles and games at DI (I love going to DI!). We finished the night by watching a new episode of Monk. What a fabulous day!

Snow Day! The kids couldn't remember the last time they had played in the snow. It had been too long. They all enjoyed sledding, though Kate only wanted to go twice.



Kate knew it was nap time and took a short nap on my lap and then on the sled when I got up.





Natalie and Nick wanted to bring some snow home, so they worked at the hard snow to get chunks that fit into a bucket. We were up in the mountains for almost 3 hours and had such a fun time.

Free smoothies!

We like free stuff. We wore funny hats to get free Jamba Juices. John (Ken's brother) and Stephanie and their kids came, too. They brought 4 extra kids (nieces and a nephew and a friend), so we had a lot of people there mooching. It was fun! The employees loved it and took our picture.

My friend Tammy helped me make these pajamas for the kids. They all loved them and wore them every night for days. The kids always get new pajamas on Christmas eve, but this is the first time they were homemade and matching.








Aunt Camille and cousin Rachel baking cookies for Santa.










After the kids had unwrapped all of the presents, we were hanging out in the other room and Ken said, "What's that present over there by the table?" (A Christmas Story technique) They unwrapped it and it was the Wii video game player that the kids didn't think they were going to get. On the from tag, Ken wrote "Ratella" (pet rat). The kids think it's funny to tell their friends that they got a Wii for Christmas from a rat.

Christmas singing

Here is the video of the girls singing in the Christmas show. They are the second one singing in each song.

Natalie's stage singing debut. She sounded so sweet! When I figure it out, I'll get a video on the blog.

Elizabeth also had her singing debut and she did a great job, but the picture didn't turn out. Here she is in one of her dances.

The girls' cousin, Olivia, was in the show, too. They were so cute doing their dances.

Elizabeth was so sweet with Natalie. Natalie was nervous and Elizabeth helped her to not be scared. She took care of her backstage and they had a great time together.

What is that thing? It's a major award!
I laughed and thought of my family when I saw this house. There are other "A Christmas Story" enthusiasts out there. It even has the word FRAGILE on the side of the box. Merry Christmas!