Last night we baked sugar cookies and the girls had fun decorating them. Aunt Shann had sent us some food coloring markers a while back. Paige and Megan loved coloring their cookies, thanks Aunt Shann.

Sprinkle Sprinkle Sprinkle!


Here are the cookies that Megan and Paige colored, they are mini-me's.

You better watch out . You better not cry. You better not pout, I'm telling you why.....Santa Claus is coming to town!



Here are the Santa pictures I promised a few days ago. Sorry it took me a few days to get them posted. We drove over to Alum Creek to see the light display that they have for Recreations Unlimeted , for ten dollars a car you can drive through their big light display and stop and see Santa. They have free hot chocolate and cookies and even free marshmallows to roast . There is an extra five dollar donation to take all the pictures you want with Santa. I would rather donate money to a good cause like that (the money goes to help kids) then donate to a big shopping mall. The only thing is I wish Santa would have smiled, I know you can't really see his mouth but you can tell if a person is smiling by their eyes and this Santa looked a little bored. Oh well the kids got to talk with Santa, we got our pictures and donated to a good cause too.




Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Brandi, Mike, Paige and Megan

Last night C.D.A. had their last two performances of "The Nutty Nutcracker" for the 2007 season. Paige had been at the theater since 1:30 in the afternoon. They had a practice run before the first show at 4 p.m. It was a long day, but she was a trooper and danced and smiled in both shows like a pro. She had lots of friends in the audience at the 4 o'clock show. Aunt Deb and Bud were there. Paige's best friend Brittany was there with her mom. Our neighbor boy Harry was there with his mom and dad and our neighbor lady Linda was there with me. Unfortunately we were unable to get pictures with all of them because they have the dancers go backstage after the show so they can clear the theater for the second show.

So here are the pictures that we took after the final show. Below Paige a.k.a. A Santa's Sleigh Keeper is with the sleingh on stage.Here she is with Rudolph, she better watch those flowers Rudolph is looking hungry.
Here she is in the lobby of the theater. Aunt Terry asked her to turn around so we could see the naughty side of her hat.
But we all know Paige is always NICE!
Paige is such a little trooper to stand with all those flowers and have her picture taken with mom,
and dad,
and mom and dad,
and finally with Aunt Terry. Somehow we never got a shot with Megan, and I am sure Megan will point that out in about 5 years or so.
After the show we were invited over to Aunt Deb's and Bud's for dinner. That was a welcome treat. They only live about two miles from the theater.
Don't you just love their tree ? It's in the sun room and it looks like it could be in a magazine.
Oh here's Megan I told you she was with us, no we didn't leave her home with the dogs!
Paige poses for one last picture with Bud before changing out of her costume. We didn't want to risk getting pizza sauce on her feathers or sequins. That would be a disaster!
Paige relaxed with her dad while our little chef
Megan helped Aunt Deb with the grilled cheese sandwiches. We had pepperoni pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches and a yummy chicken, spinach artichoke soup. It was all warm and yummy!
Megan thought it was amazing that Aunt Deb actually had a real brick covered in foil to press the cheese sandwiches.



After all that hard work our little chef had to have a snuggle break with Joe Boxer.

Yesterday we decorated our Christmas tree. It's not quite as big as our trees in the past but it has a nice shape and it smells good. I let the kids put their ornaments up they have quite a collection and I put just a few of my glass ornaments up. I would love to get a 4ft artificial tree to put in the bay window of our den so I could just put my fancy glass ornaments on that and then we could put all the rest of the ornaments on the live family room tree.
It's funny how the kids can't remember to keep the bathroom door closed so the pup won't go get the t.p. or they can't remember to make their beds on the weekends, but they CAN remember that Grandma Barb left them a package and she said they could unwrap them before they decorate the tree. Funny how the memory works. So here they are opening their gifts from Grandma Barb and Grandpa Jim. The dogs were very interested too, maybe they thought there may be a puppy treat in it for them.

No puppy treats, but surprise four cute little personalized ornaments for our tree!

Hanging the first ornaments for 2007!

Below, Paige and Rebel taking a snuggle break.
Ta-da behold the Izzy Christmas tree of 2007! Let's just hope the pup leaves it alone, so far so good. Merry Christmas!

Thursday night after dance classes we took these two characters with us to pick out our Christmas tree at Anderson's. It was cold and there was snow on the ground from our first snowfall of the season .
The guys in the nursery must have been bored because they put together this reindeer out of spare tree parts and a red dish scrubby. I thought it was pretty original. I told them they should mount it on the pole barn.

Paige above as a reindeer-unicorn and below with two antlers. I can say one thing our kids have imagination and a good sense of humor.
This is Tim he is the manager of the nursery and a pretty good guy. We always manage to get him in a few photos. I told him we would put him on our Christmas card.
Megan doing some kind of Christmas tree dance. She was also using her tree branches to sweep snow off the trees.
And here is the tree we picked. It was one of the first ones we spotted but we had to continue to walk around in the cold and snow until we were sure or rather too cold to care.

Happy Holi-DAZE to all!

We are so proud of this girl!Yesterday the girls had a snow day and school was canceled. They played in the snow, had hot chocolate, played Lego's and relaxed. But this girl also boned up on her multiplication to practice for a timed test at school. They have 3 minutes to do 50 multiplication problems. She had been having a tough time with her 7's, 8's and 9's. She practiced and did some timed test at home, her best score at home was 50 in 2 minutes 33 seconds. Today for the test at school she got 48 within the 3 minute time, before today's test her best at school was 37 correct. We are very proud of her for working hard, improving her score and doing her best. Way to go Paige!

This is why we had a snow day....Megan wore her pajama's inside out last night. When Paige was in 2nd grade Mrs. Black told them that if they wore their p.j.'s inside out then they would have a snow day the next day. Now this only works of course when snow is predicted, but it's fun just the same. Paige did not wear her p.j.'s inside out, she said that it's just superstition . Megan was not taking any chances and she also took ALL the credit for the snow day!
Below- Paige, Megan and Rebel enjoying the first snow day of the 2007-2008 school year. When I left for work at 9:15 Mike was out shoveling the driveway and the girls were taking the pup for a walk in the snow. Rebel does not seem to mind the cold, he likes to stick his nose in the snow and chase snowflakes, silly puppy. Rowdy on the other hand is not impressed at all with the cold white stuff. When I let him out he made it about 4 steps off the back steps and peed in the snow on the patio, no chasing snow for old dog.