Evie and Annalise Taller: November 2009

It's about time.

For 2 1/2 years I have been asking for a shelf under my stove top. Mostly we just open the door and throw a pot or lid in and hope for the best. Jim must have completed all the things he wanted to do in and around the house because he FINALLY filled my request.

I asked him what was so hard about installing a shelf. Turns out the hard part was driving to Menards to buy the shelf itself. All that left was putting the pegs into the pre drilled holes in the cabinet.

Evie "helps".

The finished product. Now maybe he will solve the mystery of why when you flush one toliet in this house, another starts running.

And the debut of our fiber optic tree. Now Christmas is complete!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

We filled our quota of flopping around the house in our stretchy pants yesterday. Today we had to get down to the business of decorating the Christmas tree!

The garland that Evie and Annalise made with Grandma Seibert fit on the tree perfectly!

Annalise worked on the lower branches.

Evie worked on the upper branches. They did a great job of decorating. When they are all clean tomorrow after church, we'll get a pic of them and the finished project.

Post decorating, we had to get a snack to get in the spirit. Candy Canes. Some were several years old, but that didn't stop us from enjoying them!

Annalise picked the "cherry" one, but it was really cinnamon, and really stale.

The hook is the hardest part to eat, but must be eaten first.

The Day After.

Jim and I awoke before dawn to witness Black Friday. We drove to Walmart an hour after they opened thinking that all the crazy was gone. We were wrong, but we did scope out our purchase and determined there were plenty left if we came back later. So we went to Menards and Kohls and then back to Walmart for the present. It was pretty much empty by 7:30. We came home, made some pancakes, said good bye to grandpa and Grandma Taller and then put our stretchy pants on.

Getting up early for shopping is no longer Mom's cup of tea. I needed a couple naps to catch up on my sleep. Annalise cuddled me to sleep on the couch.

When I woke up, I learned Evie was walking around with her pants unbuttoned all day! She must have eaten too much turkey!

After some naps, we went outside to finish the decorating. Since there isn't much gardening to do, I swept out the garage. On a trip back to the compost, I checked on the garden. We still are picking lettuce and today we pulled radishes!

And the grand finale--the house has been decorated. When twillight hits and the light sensors turn the decorations on, I imagine the electric company has to go to auxillary power, much like in the National Lampoons Christmas Vacation movie.

Joy to the World! Well done, Jim. You made this a Christmas to Remember. Except this is way better than an illict love affair in Tahoe over Christmas.

We beat you to it Aunt Becky!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We had quite a day today with a huge feast with 4 generations gathered under our roof. We ate just like the pilgrims (according to Evie's line in her Thanksgiving program). We ate "Turkey, potatoes, squash and corn" plus a few additional things.

Evie hams it up for the camera while Jim puts the finishing touches on the table.

And we all sit down to enjoy the feast!

Believe it or not, there was actually some leftovers. It's nice to use the dining room once a year.

We knew dinner was over when Grandpa and Evie started balancing things on their heads. Goofballs.

The balancing challenge continued while the grownups cleaned up.

While Grandma Taller and Great Grandma Wagner tackled all the handwashable dishes, Grandma Seibert provided crafttime for Evie and Annalise. They strung packing popcorn and beads on a string to make garland for the trees.

And Mom put her feet up. Check out these ankles, Aunt Becky! I look like you when you try to exercise on vacation!

We then retired to the basement and watched Grandpa Taller's video of the girls' programs. And then they put on their costumes.

With all these grandmas and grandpas around, we needed to get some pictures taken. Note, both of Grandpa Seibert's eyes are open. Way to go, Grandpa!

We also had a problem with little girls putting their legs up in the air and getting flashes of panties, but they took a nice picture with Grandpa and Grandma Taller.

Four generations--and a panty shot. Oh Man.

Well, the girls took a nice smile...Grandpas need to work on their smiles.

The Taller 3 generation shot.

And our goofy family. We clean up pretty good.

And then the phone rang so I had to answer a call from Aunt Laura in France!

We had a great Thanksgiving and are too stuffed to eat supper. Maybe just a slice of pie.....

Evie's Thanksgiving program

Evie's Thanksgiving program/Grandparents day was today at Kindergarten. The children put on a nice 20 show of songs and poems.

All the kids came in their costumes. Evie is above with her purple feather in her Native American headress.

The kids were all very animated. We enjoyed hearing them sing.

After the program, we had an opportunity to visit Evie's classroom.

This is some of the artwork in the room. That blonde is Evie's rendition of herself.

Videos aren't great, but there are 2 just like Annalise's program. Enjoy.

Family Fun Thanksgiving Decor

We have gotten a lot of mileage out of the Family Fun magazine. I was sad to see that the last issue came today labeled "The fun is over". But the website is free and has lots of good ideas. We decided to make table decor for Thanksgiving.

Annalise gets in the mood by wearing her Turkey hat from preschool. The mood is questionable.

After watching the how to video, Evie and Grandma get to work.

This turkey waits on its body. Reminds me of our Thanksgiving turkey. We purchased it from a local farm and the Turkey is fresh as it was "processed" today. Can't wait to taste it!

Here's a teaser of some of the turkeys.

Evie was pretty patient. She completed 4 or 5 turkeys. Annalise gave up after 1.

Grandma and Annalise work together.

The finished product. Now all we have to do is make dinner.

Annalise's Thanksgiving Program

Today was Annalise's Thanksgiving Program at her preschool. It is mostly a showcase of cute holiday outfits being worn by a bunch of scared nose picking preschoolers. It was pretty adorable.

Annalise's class, the Butterflies, take the stage.

At first, she was a little distracted by the bright lights.

And then she got really into the song about Turkeys. Her hat also sports a turkey that she decorated.

The Turkeys are hiding before Thanksgiving.

This is the song about the Turkeys.

And this is their song of prayer. What cuties.

General Stuff

This week was a little slow. Jim was out of town for most of it. My allergies finally caught up with me so I spent a couple of days laying around. When I finally started feeling better, we got some work done.

Annalise "cleaned" the furnance filters.

She made sure that the sink didn't over flow when we filled it up.

Family fun strikes again. We shared these turkeys for dessert on Friday night.

And the leaves really came down this week. We raked them several times (but never bagged them). When Jim came home, we raked them one last time and shredded them up for the compost.

Evie is a pretty hard worker.

Annalise's heart just wasn't in it.

Evie got to choose something from the treasure box at school for good behavior. She picked Silly Putty. This was her first Silly putty and she really enjoys it. Her favorite thing to do is to stretch it into very long strings. And then when the string breaks, there are the thinnest pieces of silly putty stuck to the floor, and then your sock. We had to make a rule that the silly putty stays on the kitchen floor. Here, she created a Turkey for Thanksgiving.

Sunday, we drove a couple hours north for the Annual Seibert Christmas party. Good food was followed by the Christmas story and then present opening.

All the kids and Aunt Elizabeth wait patiently for presents-

Annalise was almost overlooked, but then her present surfaced. A farm puzzle and a whole tube of tiny plastic farm animals to add to our herd. She didn't want to open then so she wouldn't have to share them.