Wednesday, December 10, 2008

10 Things to Share . . .

. . . and then I'll post about Thanksgiving! Which means I'm catching up! Merry Christmas indeed. Okay, so here's some of what we've been up to these past several weeks:

10. Thing 1 won a Spelling Bee and we all enjoyed some really fun group games together.






9. The kids helped Mark tear down the old, rickety fence in the cold (they were hot--story of my life--I'm freezing and everyone else is warm. Apparently, I am jealous about some things).



8. Thing 1 had another violin recital. She looked and sounded great!



7. After the recital (it was a really full day since I had taught Relief Society before the recital--we seriously ate in the car between all of these things), we attended a FABULOUS concert (Mark's on the community board that puts on these concerts and we got to help usher and hand out programs) -- The Glenn Miller Orchestra! It was SO SO SO great!! The organization that puts on these concerts is really great and the family pass is a TOTAL bargain--it's seriously amazing. We love the concerts and this one was no exception. They're trying to draw in younger crowds (we really stand out there since most of the patrons are over 60) and slowly but surely, they are. Anyway, this may sound like an old, fuddy-duddy concert, but not so! It was toe-tapping, dance-in-your-seat fun!! LOVED it.



6. We visited Washington's Crossing (where Washington crossed the Delaware). We were going to do Valley Forge, too, but spent the whole day at WC instead. We're doing VF and Gettysburg as well soon. This month's Field Trip? The Philadelphia Mint! Anyway, Washington's Crossing is a really beautiful place and it's fun to visit all the historic buildings along there as well. I thought it would just be the river, but there's much more. Neat, neat place. And it's perfect since we're studying the American Revolution in history! Mark got some awesome pictures of the river, too--it was unseasonably warm and foggy. Very cool--be sure to check out the slideshow. You'll see very cool pictures.





Oh yeah, that picture of Thing 1 sleeping? Yep, she can sleep in all kinds of crazy positions. She was really tired. She's such a doll.

5. My Mom came to visit and it was a GREAT visit! We love having her and it feels very comfortable and nice. This is the first trip she's actually talked "in-law apartment." We'd love it if/when she'd like to.


Here she is at our knitting group teaching a certain kind of knot--our homeschool group loves having her here, too. We did all kinds of stuff, including lots of Scrabble and Settlers, too. Lots of good eating. Lots of movies. Good times.

Playing restaurant--Thing 2 takes our order (he also does a mean Hibachi show)

Pretend Tea/Restaurant Parties (she also watched A LOT of Star Wars with Thing 2--he has told her, however, that she can't watch Revenge of the Sith (PG-13) until he is 13).




Real Tea Time with the Rats

The Rats LOVE her

We took her to visit Santa, too! :)


Our "Gratitude Door" -- we do this every year for the month of November to help us celebrate Thanksgiving -- Mom got to add stuff to our door, too!

4. Okay, THIS was INSANE. Have I ever mentioned that I'm not a big fan of feeling cold? We went to our monthly class at the Wildlife Preserve. We've gotten quite a bit of early snow sprinklings and I'm amazed that I even drove in this. So, to get there and hear our instructor tell us we were going to hike in it to go bird watching for an hour? I thought he was kidding. He wasn't. My mom (I was NOT about to drag my 68-year-old mother out in the snow for a hike) had a great time hanging out at the Preserve, checking stuff out, meeting people, and watching birds from INSIDE (smart). Anyway, it really was fun (brrrrrr). This is love--I want massive amounts of credit for doing this hike (I'm so not a camper either--or did you already gather that?).




Oh, one of these pictures is very "Joshua Tree"--I love it! After hiking in the snow (our kids didn't have boots on and their feet were freezing! What kind of Mom am I? The kind that didn't think we'd seriously go hiking in the snow. In case I wasn't clear), we attended our Religious Studies class on Buddhism. It was really interesting and then we did a pretty neat craft--we did a colored sand prayer (mandala) and it was fun to be artistic and then throw it to the wind to share our prayer with the world and send planetary healing to the world.





Well, apparently, it's a list of 7, not 10, things. I thought about renumbering and then thought, "Neh." So, surprise, you're done with this post. Well, right after you hit the comment button, that is.

7 comments:

Emily said...

Washington's Crossing seems really neat! I'd love to go there some day.

April (Thorup) Oaks said...

Fun stuff! Congrats on the Spelling Bee Kate!

Vivian said...

5 Comments: 1)loved the scenery pictures 2)hope you post a video/sound clip of the violin recital 3)will you replace the fence?

Boquinha said...

Emily, there's so much to do here, it's amazing. You could fill up two straight weeks of vacation time and barely scratch the surface.

Thanks, April!

Vivian, LOL! I love your comment.

1. Thanks!
2. Good idea. We can do that--Mark's got it recorded so we can.
3. We'll replace the fence eventually. The plan was to do it before it got too cold. Long story, but the tree guy who cut down the rotting trees didn't remove all the stump as he said he would, so digging one of the holes is nearly impossible. Then he went into some kind of rehab, so we got credited back some of the money from the job, but that lessened our bill payments (it's a whole no-interest thing with the utility company--strange, but it works) but didn't put the cash in our hands exactly. So, now it's really cold, we have 3 1/2 holes in the ground (with rope and orange ribbons around them), looking for a way through that stump, and eventually putting up more fence. Wow, maybe you just wanted a yes? :P

Vivian said...

Re: #3--Now that our landscaping is hindered by 3 ginormous stumps, I like to hear other people's stump stories. Some family members have suggested dynomite, but i think the city frowns on that. I'd like to set them on fire and let them burn down below ground level, but then there's that city-frown thing again. Seriously, after the holidays and when it is a little warmer, I'll go after them with the new sawsall Gary bought.

Swawa said...

Wow you guys are so busy. And yes we do LOVE your Mom very much...which is why I'd love for her to come for another visit soon.

Boquinha said...

Vivian, boy do I hear you! We might be trying to get through it with a chainsaw next. I suppose the FAA would frown on you travelling with that new sawsall, eh?

Sierra, that's so sweet. :)