Holiday Roundup

The past 2 weeks have been a bit of a blur with all the merriment ....... and arguing children.

We started off all jolly and giddy - made some gaudy cookies......




I had the whole week of Xmas off from work but the kids had to go M,T, & W - is that beautiful or what? We're in different districts so our calendars are slightly different. Their first day of vacation was Xmas Eve. Off we went to my sister Anne's house. The kids love watching Santa's path on the computer. I do not know who that ghost is on the right........


When I was uploading photos, I found this on the computer! Frances used photobooth on the Mac to take a picture of our tree.


The other day I went for a walk with the kids and saw this on one of our neighbor's lawns. It's wrong on so many levels - the glittery garland, the folded up tablecloth, the creepy old doll, the fake flowers in the window boxes ..............


Tzuhsimama wishes everone a peaceful New Year!

Hmmmmmmmmmm

Thieves among us

We woke up to a beautiful day on Saturday, cold but sunny. Everyone was excited to go cut down our Christmas tree!
We bundled up and headed out to the boondocks.
This year we decided to go to a different farm and we were in for a treat!

Giant haystacks for climbing, with tunnels underneath!


A big ole slide! The kids couldn't get enough of it!


A wagon ride out to the fields! Even the Lawyer was smiling!


We trudged, we sized them up, we chopped down a beauty!


The kids argued about who got to haul the tree back to the wagon (really)!


There was free hot cocoa and cookies in the barn! Fake horses to climb on!


Lewie really wanted this "LADY HAT" he found in the gift shop!


Happy little story, eh? When we went to pick up our tree (they provided numbered tags) to take it to our car, it was G*O*N*E!
And the wagon ride, choosing a tree, chopping it down and hauling it had to be repeated. Not so giddy this time!

Back to the Bowl-a-Roll

It's November ......It was rainy and chilly today .......where else would you find Tzuhsi and family?
No, we wouldn't even venture to Target on Bleak, Black Friday.

It was Black Bowling!

These 2, aka Water and Oil were up together. Oil cracked a joke ........

Water pretended to think it wasn't funny


Ana and Lew had a war over the matching green kiddie balls.


Here's Tzuhsi fine form ..........


A big draw to the bowling alley is the vending machines stocked with cheap crap manufactured by poorly paid workers in China



This one was a giant porkchop today. Seems that not getting a score of 200, like he gets on the wii, makes him "HATE THIS STUPID GAME."


Yup, a good time, all around.

A little child labor

Yesterday we went to the cottage to rake and winterize......... the children are thrilled when I announce we're going to Seneca in November............yeah, right.
BUT, it was a beautiful day, which softened the blow.
AND Pop let the kids play with the fire that was burning the leaves. Now THAT makes all the difference in the world. Raking was fun when they could rake the fire. What a grandfather.

This first picture is just for Suzie...... remind you of another photo??????


Lewie was in rare (ok, ok, his usual) form with his poses




and making everyone laugh


Frances was whining about going to Seneca until that fresh lake air hit her......


The girls kicked Goofy out of the picture......





No one enjoyed playing with the fire more than the Lawyer. It brought out her inner pyromaniac. In this shot she recreated the Santa Ana winds with her leaf blower. I was worried that someone was going to call 911. She generated a LOT of smoke. The kids loved it.

All the leaves are brown........

Last week we took a little ride into the country for leaf peeking. We went to a ski place and took a ride up the chair lift.



Lisa went with the "Twins" - poor sucker. All I got of them was this nice butt-shot



Frances stayed glued to Ana. Frances was convinced that one of them was going to fall from the chair and splat on the hill below.



After the ride we went looking for a place to have lunch. Strangely there was nothing available at the ski lodge. After weaving around the country roads and making everyone carsick, we ended up at McDonalds - blech, close to home!

Something I don't like to see on my weather map!