Merry Xmas

What a wonderful Xmas. I could not have asked for more. (ok maybe to have family closer) . I Think sarah and i sat in front of the tree longer this year than many years in the past. Our tree , is a monument filled with memories . hand made ornaments from the very first year we were together, babys first xmas.  and ornaments from chilhood... 

This year we had A visit from sarahs dad and connie  and they gave us some help in setting up the tree.  and helped to select and cut a second tree . This was the first year our family has had a live tree.

WE made it to the xmas lights at the zoo again this year. Always very interesting to see how creative they get with the lights

think my favorite is the big tree that changes colors with the music

xmas morning is always a treat, this year we had the wake the kids up, we were waiting for them this year.....

looks like santas been here

let the opening begin

and so what do you do when all the gifts have been opened.........    you open the family gift, run for cover , hide under a chair , and laugh harder than you have in a long time ...  100 foam darts , 4 guns , and  you have the making of a great xmas morning...

hope everyone , had and is still having a fantastic xmas... 

Science, Plays and other such things

Friday was a busy and fun day for all.  Kenzie had Renaissance Day at school.  The 5th graders were responsible for planning Renaissance activities for all of the grades.  Kenzie was in the Renaissance Dance group and so she taught the same dance to 10 different groups of students. 

Thank goodness for Aunt Debbie that made Kenzie and Kayla BEAUTIFUL Renaissance Dresses last year for Halloween!!

While Kenzie was dancing the day away, in Kayla's first grade class they were doing science experiments.  They are studying the states of matter and how those states of matter can change.  So Joe and I came in and we made Old fashioned homemade ice cream with the students.  We also did the Mentos in Soda experiment and tried to figure out if more mentos would lead to larger fountains of soda.  It turned out that you get maximum height with 8 mentos and more than 8 mentos gives you about the same height.  Kayla was my trusty lab assistant and helped me prep each bottle of soda and released the Mentos into each bottle!  She will make a great scientist one day!

Thank goodness for Joe's big muscles as we only had 25 minutes to turn the liquid milk-sugar mixture into frozen ice cream!

At the end of the day the 5th graders performed a modified production of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Nights Dream".  Kenzie played the mischievious fairy PUCK in the play.  She did a wonderful job and was so comfortable on stage!

Our Nations Capital

Had the pleasure of spending 4 days in Washington DC with the girls while Sarah was at a conference.  Miles and miles of walking continuously led to another treasure.  Each day's Metro ride into the Mall revealed something new to see. 

Day 1:  Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Reflection Pool (aka. Big Hole in Ground undergoing renovation), Lincoln Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Natural History Museum.

Day 2:  My niece and her family from Maryland came and spent the day with us.  We toured the Monuments, Air and Space, Natural History Again, and the White House.

Day 3:  Sarah played hookie from her meeting and we all went out to the Air and Space Hanger in Virginia.  So many cool planes:  SR71 Blackbird (the one that "transformed" into Jet Fire in this exact building in the Transformers movie), the Enola Gay, the Space Shuttle Enterprise (and not the one from Star Trek), the Concord, fighter planes from WWI, WWII, and everything more recent, acrobatic planes from the last 100 years of flight, and so much more.  This place really is a treasure trove of aeronatical history.  It is off the normal tourist map but a MUST SEE if you like airplanes!

Day 4:  Only had a half day to explore so we wrapped up the trip with Engraving and Printing Museum (now I know what $1 million looks like), Jefferson Memorial, American History Museum (Kermite the Frog was actually more gray than green....maybe he just faded with age).  Did you know that the Ruby Red Slippers from Wizard of Oz were supposed to be Silver in the original script?

whats it take

So you want to move huh? Well we do , But what does it take in a crazy buyers market? well patience, and the willingness to spend money to try and give your home the "WoW "factor.  When i was a child my father would but and sell homes. We would live in them for awhile and then sell to upgrade or make a profit. Now this wasn't your typical house flip. We would live in them for 5-6 years and then sell for what ever the market would return. Seemed like a easy thing to do. First the for sale by owner sign would go up. then we would move. I was either blind to the entire process , or basically back then , there wasn't much of a process.  

Lets jump ahead 30-35 years.  Crown moldings, granite counter tops , all brick homes, and lets not forget stainless steel appliances. These have become the must haves , so much that contractors lure new home buyers  in with all the "top grade "  upgrades.  So we find ourselves needing to compete .  I remember sitting in a park in mountain view ca one day chatting with a neighbor and the discussion of home prices came into the conversation, and i remember telling her that even if home values came down 100000.00  homes would still be very expensive (around 500000.00 -700000.00 ) , my neighbor then proceeded to tell me then homes would be affordable...  excuse me but who in there right *&%%@(& mind thinks that is affordable.  maybe thats why we are in the mess we are in .. 

So my days have been filled competing....            shampood the carpets, painted the room and sarah spent countless hours staging the bookcase .

new rugs ,shampood carpet and paint from floor to ceiling

new staging flowers on the coffee table , new rug, carpets cleaned and paint from top to bottom

 

new floor in the bathroom, paint, framed in the mirror, new lights..

. we were able to find the top of sarahs craft table in the overhaul...

kitchen took new paint, new floor , crown moldings on the cabinets(not shown) counter tops.

and the mighty list goes on and on and on.....     good news is we have the house just the way we want it.  problem is , its 8 years later and we dont get the enjoy it....   but the key thing to remember , if your trying to sell, or trying to buy..   a house is just that , a house........    a home is where we enjoy time with family and friends.

thursday .

well thought i might add some pictureshere is a picture of one of our baby turtles and mom... think we are up to 15 turtles now..... 

now on to the house, we have been busy with painters and i have finished the countertops and the new floor   ,, always glad to get a project completed

one more picture of the formal dining room and family room...

 if you look up at the top of the page you will notice some video links,  its from the red green show , and for some reason red always reminds me of bill.... enjoy....

Is it wed already?.

where do the weeks go. Today was an average day filled with mowing the yard and weed wacking. and speaking of yard work , whats going on , i used to be able to zip on around the yard and finish in no time flat. Now its 3 breaks later and i must admit im pooped.   Dinners on the stove for the girls and then its off to horse back riding. kayla always gets so excited on wed.

no sure if i ever mentioned it or not, but we are quite the turtle breeders .yesterday , while sarah and i cleaned the turtle enclosure sarah found two more baby turtles. bringing our official number up to 15.  Two of which are curently on loan at the girls school as class pets for mackenzies class.

well time to wrap this up for now, but with any luck i can get some pictures posted soon...

off and running (almost)

As if getting up in the morning isn't hard enough, It was time to pack lunches and get the girls out the door. And out they went...... Moments later , in they came.  I guess it was high expectations that we would get more than 7 years out of of a car battery. So sarah ran the girls to school , while i was pulling the battery out of her car. As soon as sarah got home we went and picked up the new battery ... ok , on with the rest of our day..... almost, as i sit here typing this blog, sarah proceeds to get side tracked and make charcoal ooops i mean warm up the buns for our sandwiches......     second set of buns, ready to go , and i think i will stop here and see if we can get through the next hour incident free.....

Day one , Time to my blog on

Day one,  setting up the blog. Now that sue has started blogging, I cant be left behind.