Mmm...Sweet Delicious Christmas Tree

I spent the entire weekend making our house look extra tacky, er, I mean festive, for the holiday season. For myself and Stephen, this resulted in an utter mess of the house, aching muscles, little sleep, and much frustration. Why go through such trouble, then? For the children, of course! And by children, I mean cats. Cats sure do love plastic, and at Christmastime, the house turns into a plastic wonderland on which to chew. It's the same routine every year - the first few days after the decorations go up are spent scolding and swatting, and then we finally come to terms with the fact that our cats, like many, have an addiction to plastic that's second only to their catnip addiction. And after all, nothing quite brings in the holidays like cleaning up the first mess of festive kitty spew.

Here is Sophie, playing with the tree decorations...

And Charlie, happily chewing on tree pieces...

And finally, here's Sam, being "punished" by Stephen. Actually, he does seem to hate being kissed on top of the head...

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The Big Three

Yesterday was Ella's third birthday. I'm frankly a little shocked at this, because I swear she should only be about a year old now. She spent her special day talking about her cake, looking at her cake, asking to open her presents, begging to eat her cake, pleading to open her presents, looking at her cake some more, opening her presents, begging to eat her cake, and then finally eating her cake. There are a few pictures here of the birthday girl, but I didn't take as many as I would have liked because she scolded me numerous times that I'd taken enough pictures. I guess sometimes it must be irritating to be the center of the universe.

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Thank You Letter to My Mother-in-Law

Dearest Maryann,

Thank you so much for the M&M's you sent home with Stephen the other night. I'm not sure if they were meant specifically for me or not, but I'd like you to know I've decided this evening to take over custody of them. For the first couple of nights after they arrived, I managed to keep my distance. I figured you must be trying to play some sort of cruel joke on me - who gives a three pound bag of peanut M&M's to a girl with no self control? I was determined to prove you wrong - I can be strong and keep out of the candy! But, tonight, Stephen's cell phone was turned off, so I couldn't get ahold of him and find out what time he'd be getting home. I figured I'd better have a "snack" because it might be late before he arrived home and we could eat dinner together. My "snack" quickly turned into a bellyache.

Oh, how I love you, peanut M&M's. I hope your three pounds of chocolate-y, peanut-y goodness will last for a long, long time. Or at least through the weekend.

Love,

Kim

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Angie Gets Saved By The Bell-Ding

My friend, Angie, recently shared with me some of her photos of her wild night out for Halloween. I just had to share this picture - recognize the man in it? It's the guy who played Mr. Belding from Saved By The Bell! Looks like Angie was a bad girl and was sent to the principal's office. Who knew she'd be rubbing elbows with such high-profile celebrities now that she's living in Chicago? Who knew Mr. Belding would be looking so old? And the real question I know Angie's wondering, why the heck couldn't it have been Zach or Slater there that night?! Angie, just be thankful it wasn't Screech. We all know what he's been up to...

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It's Not So Much the Great Pumpkin, Stephen Barr

I really don't want to be one of those neighbors (you know, the "car on blocks in the driveway, upholestered furniture on the front porch" kind of neighbors), but it looks like I'm on my way. I know it's well over a week past Halloween and we should have trashed Mr. Pumpkin the next day, but honestly from a distance he appeared to be just fine. However, I've discovered we've gone from being pleasantly festive to disgustingly lazy in a matter of a couple of days. Today at lunch, I walked past him and noticed he sort of looks like he's trying to eat himself. His face is all sunken in, and his lid has collapsed. And, ew, gross, he's covered in mold on the inside! Luckily, I didn't notice any rotting pumpkin stench, but with the uncharateristically warm weather we're having this week, I predict there will be much stink in the near future. I suppose I could go rid the porch of him now, but, ew, did I mention there's mold involved?! I really think rotting pumpkin disposal clearly falls into the category of man's work. So, Stephen, I beg of you, please put Mr. Pumpkin out of his misery before the bugs make a home out of him and I get totally grossed out.

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A Shout Out to Sloan

Sloan, the eight year old daughter of my good friend, Laurie, was baptized on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, we were unable to attend, as we had the party in Dayton for Adam to attend, but Laurie was kind enough to share this photo with me. You can't really tell from this tiny picture, but Sloan is the cutest little girl and -get this - she's seriously not a brat!! She's one of those rare children you meet who actually support your theory that it's possible for your kids to be different from the rest (i.e., not little monsters). Laurie informed me that everything went really well during the ceremony, except I guess Sloan was just a little miffed that the priest messed up her pretty hair. I laughed when Laurie told me this, because the apple definitely doesn't fall far from the tree! Anyway, congratulations to Miss Sloan for this big step in her life and in her faith!

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For He's a Jolly Good Fellow

On Saturday evening, we attended a lovely party hosted by Angela and Jeff for the family in honor of Adam's return from war. There was a bountiful feast of appetizers (which Stephen and I missed out on because, of course, we arrived over an hour late; but they looked like they had been delicious 1-2 hours prior), Chinese takeout, brownies, cookies, chocolate cake, and all sorts of thirst-quenching adult beverages (one in particular, who shall remain nameless, apparently really enjoyed said beverages, claiming to have drank an entire bottle of wine all by oneself). Adam must be a pretty swell guy, considering the great turnout of people at the party (that and the fact that most of the family doesn't miss an opportunity to attend a good party, and it's well known that Angela and Jeff throw one hell of a party). Of course, the best part of the evening was just the fact that Adam was there, home safe and sound, but we really enjoyed getting to catch up with people we hadn't seen in eons. Adam even presented an interesting slideshow of some of his pictures from the trip. It was a good time had by all, but it's pretty certain that Lily (Angela's and Jeff's dog) had the best time, as she was gleefully the willing recipient of gobs of attention and oodles of tablescraps.

Stephen was supposed to be cameraman for the evening, but he neglected his duties in favor of socializing and, to be honest, I was too lazy and scatterbrained to take the pictures, so this is the only picture we got for the evening. This is Adam and Uncle Joe displaying the banner Angela made for the parade held in Monticello a couple of weeks ago.

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Why We Can't Get Anything Done: Part II

I'm folding laundry on our bed this evening when the phone rings. I run downstairs to answer it and am gone for a minute, tops. Upon my return, I find what you see below: kitties all over the clean clothes. I swear the smell of Bounce attracts them like catnip.

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