Tree Trimming.....

I know I say it every year, but my how time flies!  I can't believe it's time to trim the tree again.  Scott & I let the girls decorate the tree by themselves this year.  It worked out great!  We got to just sit back & relax.  Winston didn't enjoy it too much because he always gets decorated :)

Ah, the devil eyes!

Winston attacking Scott.

Just relaxing while the kids did all the work.  Wish it was always that way :)

The girls were excited that we finally got a new angel for our tree.   It was Corey's turn this year to put the angel on top.  She's gotten tall enough that she doesn't need help anymore.





Christmas Forest



Friday afternoon we went to the Red Lion Hotel to view their annual Christmas Forest event which raises money for the Providence St Peter Foundation.  The trees are decorated by local organizations & businesses then auctioned off.  There were several different themed trees.  Corey's favorite was the Toy Story tree.  While there we also watched two local dance schools perform traditional Irish and Scottish dancing.  They were a lot of fun to watch.  We had a great time and I'm so happy I remembered to bring my camera this year!



I really liked this Dr Seuss inspired tree.

There were also many beautiful wreaths.

This Elf tree was really cute.  In the background are a couple of the performers in their Scottish attire.

These girls performed an Irish dance.  They were really quite amazing.

Snow Day!

I know it's hard to believe, but the kids had their first official snow day today.   The weather people kept warning us that this was a La Nina year which would mean colder & snowier weather.  Well, they were right!  3.5 inches of snow fell in Olympia yesterday (the official tally from KOMO).  The whole western Washington area got snowed in with the most snowfall in Sequim at 14.5 inches.  Pretty much every school district was closed today, and I'm sure there were a lot of happy kids out there playing in the white stuff.  As for me, I made it in to work and back without incident which is always a good thing.  No snow today, but the cold is still around.  Our temperature topped out at 27 degrees today.  The low tonight is expected to be around 12 degrees.  It is supposed to start warming up and be in high 30's on Thanksgiving so luckily we'll have driveable weather for Black Friday!  It's not even winter yet.  Maybe Scott's idea to move to Arizona has merit after all :)

Report Card!

We are so proud that Corey made straight A's on her first trimester report card!  She took several advanced classes (pre-AP English, geometry & biology) and managed to juggle all her homework between Colorguard activities & being a stage hand for the school play.  She is obviously a girl of many talents :)

Grease

Corey is taking theatre this year, and one of her class requirements is that she attends a live performance each semester.  Today we went to see 'Grease' at SPSCC.  At this point I will try to be nice.  There were some memorable parts (my favorite was the Freddy song, which is not in the original movie) and some less memorable parts (pretty much the rest).  The person who played Danny was not a great singer and this was a MUSICAL.  Ok, you get my point.  I would not recommend it to anyone.   The worst part, I think, was that there were tons of kids there, and the language was quite vulgar.  They even said the "F" word.  I wasn't expecting that, and had I known it would be that way, we would not have gone.  It was disappointing & totally unnecessary.  Corey's school will be putting on a musical in the near future.  I am looking forward to seeing that and am hoping that it will help restore my faith in local theatre.

Last Turkey Feast

Yesterday Scott & I went to MTS to have lunch with Gabby.  Every year the school puts on a Turkey Feast.  The students get to invite their parents or other family members to come enjoy a delicious meal of mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, green beans (although for some reason they had corn this year), cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  I have gone every year and was sad to realize that this will be our final year to enjoy this tradition as Gabby will be graduating from MTS in June.  7 years have sure gone by quickly!  The picture above of Gabby & her friends (Emma & Nicole) was taken right after lunch.  They were preparing to be helpers in the lunch room.

Halloween Pictures

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! This year Gabby decided to be a Polar Princess and Corey was a nerd (I refrain from making a comment!). A few of Corey's friends came over, and they all went trick-or-treating. It was nice that they let Gabby tag along. The weather was actually dry for most of it and pretty mild. We had tons of trick-or-treaters. I did enjoy seeing the little kids dressed as.....Obama, Yoda, princesses, a whoopee cushion, a banana...and lots more that I can't remember now.

                                                        Our Polar Princess.
The group-Graham, Gabby, Emily, Corey & Hannah. I don't know what's up with my camera, but my pictures have been really blurry.....maybe it's time for a new one?
                                                     Emily as the cookie monster.
                          Emily & Corey-such a cute picture.....I hate that it came out so blurry!

                         Corey as a nerd.......love the suspenders we borrowed from Solon!