So This is Christmas

We had a great Christmas. John's parents got the kids a slot-car racing track. We stayed up until 2:30 setting it up and getting it ready for Christmas morning. It is waaaaay cool! I spent an inordinate amount of time as a child with my brothers and sisters putting together tracks and racing our cars in the basement. This new track far exceeds the ones we had as kids, and we are lovin' it. We also got MarioKart, which we are so happy to finally get! It's also just as much fun as expected. I, however, officially suck.

We traveled the day after Christmas to see family and friends. As my parents are trying to downsize their very large house, we felt this might be the last hurrah at their place. My sister came from New Mexico, and we had a great time catching up and spending time together. Of course, we also got to spend time with Auntie Nina. She and G. Midge planned a huge day with the kids, ending at one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the food at the table. We had just watched a program on the food network about one of those places, and it was pretty cool for the kids to get to go.

We ended up at the Coulters....where it's always a good time! There were about 400 kids running around, playing, having a blast. We all had a go at Dance Dance Revolution, and Max brought out his new nerf gun...the Vulcan.

We're happy to be back home, enjoying all of our new toys, looking forward to ringing in 2009.

Our Awesome Scalectric Racetracks

Christmas Crackers


John's Fabulous Christmas Dinner
My Fabulous New Apron

PARTY HATS!

Presents at G. Judy's

Playing Skittles

The "Shann-Wich"

Nerf Wars

Dance Dance Revoltion

Christmas Eve

John and the kids went searching in the woods for a little bit of mistletoe...they ended up up chopping down a dead tree, harvesting more firewood to heat our home, and coming home with several sprigs of mistletoe placed strategically throughout the house....

I have no pictures, but the rest of the day was spent merrily in WoW land. It has been our passion of choice of late, thanks to the Traaseths and their extraordinarily generous selves :)

And what better way to spend Christmas Eve, than in the company of Ralphie, pining away for that Red Rider BB Gun...can you say Fra-gi-ley?

Pursuing Happiness

One really cool thing that I have noticed with my kids is their willingness to try something totally outside their comfort zone, just because it sounds like fun. They are not worried if it's cool to try it, or if they'll look stupid because they've never done it before. I think it has something to do with their freedom to choose how they spend their time. Everything they choose to do, they choose to do it because it is meaningful to them, or they get great joy out of it, or it helps them on their journey to do something else. They aren't so much worried about others' perceptions of them... just pursuing happiness.

Sophie Pursuing Happiness...in the form of Recreational Basketball

Braggin'

I was asked by some friends to be in a variety show they were producing. They wanted me and several of my students to be in a belly dance number. I declined on the grounds that the vision they had for the piece conflicted with my philosophy of ATS(American Tribal Style Belly dance). However, I told them Max and I did a duet, combining hip-hop and tribal belly dance. They liked it and a Pinocchio-themed piece was created! Max is most definitely the star. I am simply the back-up dancer. He steals the show anyway...I mean, how could he not? Lo and behold, they discovered Ella could do gymnastics, and asked her to be in the show as well.

At one of our rehearsals, an incredible videographer filmed the proceedings. He made this promo video and now it's on YouTube. Yup, we're famous :)

Much to be thankful for

We hosted Thanksgiving year. My parents came, as well as one of my brothers, his wife, and their two daughters.
Thanksgiving has always held a very special place in our family. My parents (my mom and step dad) met on Thanksgiving 32 years ago. I was 4 years old. See, my sister went to kindergarten with these twin boys whose mother had died shortly after giving birth. She invited them with their dad to our house to celebrate the holiday. 4 months later my parents got married. It was truly a fairytale romance.
We had a wonderful time cooking, eating, hiking, climbing, and playing games. We really do have so much to be thankful for... our family, our home, our lifestyle which allows us all to shine... I love my life.

Uno, good coffee, hot chocolate, and cinnamon rolls

Littlest Pet Shop resurrects itself..along with Dora's House

Cooking and drinking beer around the kitchen...c'mon!

Another trip to Rock Town