Macey singing Rudolph

Macey's preschool had a very nice Christmas program. Each class sang one song and then there was a family sing along afterwards. We then had cookies and drinks while waiting to visit Santa. It was a fun evening.
Here is Macey performing. She cracks us up! A natural on the stage.

December fun

We got a dog for Christmas. Lucy is a schnauzer yorkie mix. She is 4 months old. She is very mild. She does like to play, but she has lots of snuggle time too.

 We gave her a bath the other day. She didn't seem to mind.

 We worked together to make gingerbread cookies. I love refrigerated gingerbread dough. Who has molasses in their cupboards? Makes my life so much easier.

 A large grin for his awesome cookies.

 Yeah, don't eat the pink ones.

I made these ones for the preschool program... which was delayed. I hope they freeze well.

Grandpa is in town

 Grandpa Black was trying to get from Baltimore to Tucson when he got stuck at DFW. He got a cab and came to our house. Every morning he gets up to learn that his flight has been cancelled for the day. We have enjoyed having here, although I'm sure he is getting stir crazy.

 We've been playing Rummy Cube to help pass the time. We also played a rousing game of Monoply.

Oh, and we've got a new puppy...

Ice Storm

Ice Storm 2013. It started sleeting Thursday night. An 1 1/2 inch of ice has crippled the city for 4 days now. School has been cancelled for 2 days. But it should melt off a lot today.

Why do we think of things 3 days too late. We've had neck breaking ice on our sidewalk for days and it just occurred to me that I have rock salt. That I have tools. That we don't have to suffer!

Sledding in the front yard. Sunday the neighborhood came alive. Our 4 houses on the corner shared smores over a campfire and sledding the street.

We also invited a few friends over to sled at the local park.

November recap

 Messy face. Gotta love cholcoate!

 We had Collin and Asher over to play with Ryan. They got up in this tree but didn't want me to take a picture. They kept turning away, which was tricky in a tree!

 Macey had a Thanksgiving feast at preschool. Truth be told, not much was actually consumed except for the cupcakes!

 Macey wanted to wear her fancy dress to school for this special day.

 5th Grade is the Year of Dressing Up. This is Alex on Colonial Day. A handsome fellow I think.

The 2nd graders put on a performance called Pen Pals Near and Far. Ryan's one line was 'Wow, That's far away!' But he did sing along and even did some square dancing.

Camping

Dan took the kids camping. Originally I was going too, but I ended up staying home ALONE for 2 days! I really enjoyed my quiet time. And the family really enjoyed camping. I wasn't there, so I can't comment too much on these photos, but here they are nonetheless.

These are all the little girls on the camping trip.

One of the 5th grade boys bought this cook kite. It was a very windy (and somewhat chilly) weekend for camping.

Fishing from the shore.

Macey playing with her friend. This girl is 2 and she repeats everything you say like a parrot.

Macey helped catch a fish. She thought she was going to take this fish home as a pet. Thank goodness that didn't work out!

Instead she found a snail to play with.

Ryan enjoyed playing with another family's pet.

Here is a random home shot with Macey and her unicorn friends having a treat.

Macey Preschool Halloween

I was planning to post our Halloween Day, but as usual we didn't get many shots of us on the actual evening. But here are some pics and videos from Macey's day.

Macey goes to a Church of Christ preschool. I thought it interesting that they had a Halloween party and not a fall festival, but the school especially opened on Halloween just so the kids could have a party and parade on that day.

 Here is a class picture. Half the kids will go to kinder with Macey.

Sister enjoyed being on display. She was very excited to go up on a real stage. I believe we might have a performer on our hands!

Macey and Meghan. The little girls didn't trick or treat together. Two of Ryan's buddies joined up with us, as well as the D's and Chilean friends. Ryan fizzled out early, as well as Macey. The kids hauled home a huge black pumpkin full of candy. This really is a year supply!

 

The weather was absolutely perfect for trick or treating! We did do a round of trunk or treat at the church, which was fun, but I think next year we'll have a party at home and just do t-or-ting in the neighborhood.

Oh, and the day before Halloween sister asked when we were going to decorate. I hadn't planned on it since we aren't even home to hand out candy, but she insisted that it needed to be spooky outside. We found this character at Michael's. She carried it around hugging it. I then went to 4 stores to get spider webs. Next year I'll know to buy that earlier!

Happy Halloween!

 Thanks to the neighbors for taking pictures of us just as they returned from vacation. 

 'Weren't you a wizard last year?' No, he was a ninja. Two years ago he was Harry Potter playing quidditch. So this is TOTALLY different.

 I love his Jack Frost hair.

 I know this dragon needs some real wings on the back. That was Ryan's one complaint. "Why can't I fly?" True, a dragon that can't fly is just a crocodile, but imagine his long arms sweeping around...

 I really don't know how I got away with a generic princess instead of a Disney one, but I think she looks so beautiful and she isn't pretending to be someone else.

 I spent the least amount of time on Dan's costume and his turned out the best, I think. Of course how can I resist a man in leggings?

 Missing anyone? Yeah, there aren't any pictures of me. I really do like my costume (I worked the hardest on mine this year since I usually don't end up with one.) and I hope that we can get some nice shots of me in the round. A fairy godmother needs to be out granting wishes and delivering good cheer!

 Our Kroger (Fry's) hosts a Halloween night. You wander the store and play games and win candy. I promise there were other kids in costumes. Not many adults, I'll admit!

Bet you wish you had been at Kroger with us. We made a lot of folks smile. (Even if my family was a little embarrassed.) Next year I'll throw a real Halloween party so we don't have to do our trial run at the grocery store!