Small Town Living

There are some advantages to living in a small town. I have come across a couple of them this past weekend.

First, on Friday, I took a program into a local printing shop to be printed for the dance recital. I gave them my phone number, and they were going to call when they were done. As it happened, I didn't hear the phone because I was vacuuming or doing laundry (or something else domestic), and I got the message after the shop was closed. The owner had left his cell phone number, so I called him back.

In trying to set up a time to get the programs, he told me that I might be able to come to his house and pick them up. Then he found out that one of the dancers was at a local pizza shop, and asked if it was alright if he stopped by the pizza shop and had her bring them to the show. I told him that would be great. I still have to run in and pay for them.

Benefits of a small town #2: We got some Christmas cards addressed like this. They had our old address crossed out, and we got them in our current residence. I guess when your name is not very common, they can find you.

Peter Pan

This year, instead of doing the Nutcracker, the children's dance company did Peter Pan. They had two shows. In the first show Caleb was Peter Pan, Eli was a lost boy and a pirate, Emily was a mermaid, and Claire was a faerie.

They all did an excellent job. In the scene in the bedroom, Caleb, as Peter Pan, almost made me cry because it was simple and beautiful. He did a great job connecting with his counterparts, Wendy and Tinkerbell. They nailed it. It was also the first time I had seen it.

During the second show Claire was a faerie again, Emily was the mermaid princess, Eli was Captain Hook and a lost boy, and Caleb was a Native.

Again, they all did fabulously. Emily was so regal in her dancing. She really took her role seriously. Claire was beautiful. She is a little leader when she is on the stage. Caleb had a ton of energy in his dance jumping around. Eli, well, he plays his part. He made a grand entrance by hobbling on the stage, and he made a grand exit by being killed by Peter Pan, dying, falling to the ground, losing his hook, quickly grabbing his hook, and dragging his dying self off the stage.

I love to watch these four perform. They do very well, and they seem to enjoy it.

BOO-HOO! BOO

Brett announced some of his travel plans, and our Boo was not very happy about it. She made sure to let him know how she felt about it.

Here she is holding her "love" note.

Brett was not very happy about it either.

Fortunately, Brett's plans were such that he made it home on her birthday and took her out for dinner. Hopefully he will make it to her concert, and he should be at her recital.

Not BAAAAAd

My grandpa sent this to me. I thought it was very fun.

Who Needs a Snowblower,

when I have a fleet of "snow throwers?"

These were taken the morning after the blizzard. Our driveway was clear, but the snowplow decided it needed to come by and fill the end of our driveway with thick, heavy snow. I sent the children out before the bus to clear it, and they did an excellent job.

Eli

Emily

Caleb - notice he has his back pack on

Out With the Old,

and in with the NEW!

Well, this has been a long time in coming. On Black Friday, I dragged Brett out of bed with me to be at Sears when it opened. We bought a new washer and dryer. It was Thursday, December 4th when they were delivered.

Brett disconnected the old ones before the got here.

When the new ones got here, the delivery people hooked up the washer, and I used it right away to wash the sheets, I was not able to use the dryer because it is gas, and I had to get someone else to do it.

The person came to hook up my dryer on Saturday morning. I had it all up and running on Saturday, December 6.

Eli mesmerized by the washer.

I have definitely used them a lot. I got them just in time, especially with all of the cold temperatures and the blizzard. I am glad that I don't have to schedule my laundry around nice weather, because I am thinking that there won't be a whole lot of it for the next little while.

Guess

Here is the title I was going to use.

L_ _ _ _ _ _, the L_ _ _ L _ _ _ of L_ _ _ _ _ _ on the L_ _ _!

On December 3rd we hosted some young men from the Czech Republic. They stayed down in Emily & Claire's room. I put on clean bedding for the boys, and when they left I had took off the bedding and had to put sheets back on the beds for the girls. This would not normally be a "task" that had to be planned. Since I only have two sets of sheets for each bed, and since I was without a dryer, it did take some planning.

On December 1st, I had some luck with a load of whites. I put them out on the line, and even though it was cold (in the 20's), it was windy enough that they dried.

Well, Friday morning the skies were clear, even though there was snow on the ground, so I thought, "I'll give it a try." So I hung out the load of sheets. There was a little breeze, so that helped. I substituted at the preschool and then went to Claire's school to help make gingerbread houses, and when I got home there were light flurries (very light). I went out and the flat sheets were dry so I brought them in. The fitted sheets were a little crunchy around the elastic edges, so I stretched them out a little more and left them out a little longer. When the flurries picked up, I brought them in and spread them out inside. They did get dry, and the girls had clean sheets.

My blog title would have been:

LUCKILY, the LAST LOAD of LAUNDRY on the LINE!

Traditions

Normally within a week after Thanksgiving we decorate our Christmas trees. It is quite a productions. First we straighten the living room, play Christmas music, and dig out the trees and decorations. Then we arrange the furniture and leave a place for our trees. I have the job of setting up the trees and putting the lights on (I still don't have enough lights, hopefully soon). Then we decorate the trees. After the decorating is done, we indulge ourselves in cookies and eggnog.

Here are some pictures of our traditions:

Our trees (we bought the one on the left about twelve Christmases ago, and just can't seem to give it up - the one on the right was given to us a couple of years ago, so we added it to our little tree). We love the beginning of our Christmas tree forest.

This year we put on the Christmas music before we started decorating and we danced.

Eli anticipating the decorating.

Brett digging out, sorting out, and handing out the ornaments to be put on the tree (we enjoy looking at all of the ornaments the children have made).

The children decorating the trees.

Our magical visitors (they helped decorate the tree as well).

Our after decorating treats (yes, we almost always have pre-made cookies - that way they can be warm, right out of the oven, and I don't have to think about it).

Overall, our tree decorating went well. I'll have to post a picture of the finished product later.

Outdoor Christmas Decorations

My children give me a hard time about not decorating outside for Christmas. This year I decided I would give in (just a little).

Here is what I came up with...

a little snow covered pumpkin

a Santa Ghoul

a large "frosted" pumpkin

our Santa Skeleton

and who could resist our decorated & frosted pumpkin

I probably won't win any prizes for the best decorations, but at least this year my children can't say I didn't put out any decorations.

Blizzard!

We had our first real snow storm yesterday. This is what greeted us in the morning.

Our best snow drift.

Brett went out and started shoveling. I decided that after I snapped a picture I would go out and join him. It took a little while, but we finally dug out. Brett said that he will be buying a snowblower this year. We will see, especially since the children are getting old enough to really help out.

We stayed up late on Tuesday night and watched a movie. We knew there would not be any school, so no one had to get up early to check. Everyone could sleep in.

After shoveling, Brett came in and had breakfast. He had cereal and hot chocolate.

Cheers!

I tried to snap a picture of each child within minutes of their appearance to the main part of the house.

Caleb was up first.

Eli was next, and the light was bothering his eyes. He kept sneezing.

Emily with her ever present smile!

Claire, my little cheerful bear.

After waking up early with Brett to make sure my preschool information was still on the news (no preschool) and helping to shovel the driveway, the call of my pillow was just too great.

Back in bed!

The children examining the effects.

This snow day brought several activities. Caleb started with a book, but soon abandoned it. Claire curled up in my bed and started drawing pictures. There was shoveling, cleaning, playing, etc.

Claire and her masterpiece.

Emily & Eli unburying the grill and then coving it.

Claire cleaning the mirror.

Eli showing his handiwork.

Emily burying Caleb in the window well.

Caleb peeking his head out.

Em shoveling.

Caleb shoveling.

I don't know if we will get a snowblower this year. The children are getting very helpful when it comes to snow removal. They did a great job shoveling out where the snow plow threw a mountain of snow in our driveway.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

We had some particularly funny things said today, or at least we thought they were funny.

While having a conversation after lunch today, Brett was assigning family home evening assignments. Emily didn't really like her "job." The conversation went like this...

Emily: "I don't like my job."

Brett: "Sometimes I don't like my job, but I still have to do it."

Emily: "Just call in and tell them you are sick."

Brett: "That would be lying."

Claire: "It works for Squidward." (maybe she has watched Sponge Bob a few too many times)

At the dinner table the children were kissing up to Brett because he had plans to pay allowance and give bonuses tonight, and he got tired of being the one in the spotlight. He changed the focus to me for a minute and then to Caleb. Eli was throwing compliments at Caleb left and right. Caleb was a little embarrassed and told Eli to stop a couple of times. Eli said, "Give me a break, I'm trying to make a living here." He was working to get his $ up there.

We were working with the children and going through their bank books. Brett was reminded of the money he paid the boys to take down the fence, and he asked when they were going to finish the job and pull out all of the fence posts. They told him it wasn't in their contract. There was a little discussion about what the job was, and Caleb finally ended it by saying, "I didn't sign anything."

We sang Silent Night as a family tonight, and Emily came into the kitchen singing it later. Her version was slightly different. Instead of singing "holy infant so tender and mild" she sang, "holy imbecile."

It is fun to hear their thoughts. It is fun to capture a few of them.

What Constitutes Scary?

Caleb went to a movie with his friends tonight. It was rated PG-13, and he was saying he wasn't sure why it was rated PG-13. Brett asked him if it was scary, and he replied, "There wasn't even any kissing in it." I guess to him kissing is scary.

(In all reality, he was saying there wasn't violence, it wasn't scary, there wasn't any kissing, etc. Then Brett, while he was reporting asked if it was scary. I'm not sure Caleb heard him, but it was funny as I was listening to the conversation.)

Note to Self

Laundry does not dry when it is 51 degrees, foggy, and 90+ percent humidity.

Is this Me?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

One of my sisters sent me a link to this clip. She said it reminded her of me. Thanks, Joy.

As a side note: No one has left me anonymous letters or hate mail about my clothes out on the line, and I am not on a crusade, I am just too lazy to research and make a decision about which dryer I want. However, it will probably happen soon.

From This...

To this...
Today I made it to the hardware store to purchase a replacement pipe. I decided to get a new shower head, too. It took quite a bit of muscle, and a good wrench to get this in right. I had it in, and then I turned it on. There was water dribbling down the shower wall, so I had to turn the pipe 360 degrees more. I got it 180 degrees easily, and then I came to a standstill at about 215 degrees. Fortunately for me we have a few wrenches around, so I was able to make use of them.

Now, Caleb will be able to shower in his own shower again, and not in mine.

As a side note: I asked Caleb how he broke it (something I did not want to know on Sunday when it happened because I was a little angry, actually a lot angry). He got kind of a sheepish grin on his face and told me the story.

After his shower he plays a game. While the shower head is dripping, he tries to catch the drips in his mouth. That apparently was fun enough, so he decided he wanted to suck the water out. He proceeded to pull on the shower head to get it close enough to his mouth, and CRACK! You know the rest of the story.

Whole lot of Holes

So, at our house, holes this summer/fall have been synonymous with time and money.

One of our holes was when too many of our fence segments rotted out and fell down, and the whole fence came down.

Then there was the infamous hole where one of my sons threw a rock at a butterfly.

On Sunday we added a hole to the collection. Here is a picture of it:

This is where the shower head is supposed to be.

This is where it resides currently.

I was enjoying a nice, relaxing Sunday morning until Caleb asked me to come upstairs. I didn't want to get up, so I asked him why. He pleaded with me a couple more times to come upstairs and told me that he had broken something. I took a deep breath and headed up. He held the shower head in his hand. He had broken it. I took it from him and examined it. It was plastic, not metal, and the plastic end had broken off. There was about 1/2 inch of shower head still in the HOLE. I had to figure out how to get it out.

I used pliers, but there was nothing to grab on to. I used a screw driver, but there were no edges. I grabbed a hammer, and use it to pry the screw driver under the remnants of the pipe. I thought, if I can break out a piece, maybe the rest will follow. I wasn't having much luck, so I decided to burn it out. I grabbed a lighter, and headed to the HOLE. I lit the plastic on fire (I figured I was pretty safe, because if it got out of hand, I had a water source right at my finger tips - literally. I would light it, and then blow it out and pick at it. I did this a couple of times, and I realized that it would probably be a little brittle by now. So I grabbed that hammer and pliers and pounded away. I cracked. I used a variety of tools, and finally got the end of the pipe out.

Now I get to go shopping for a new shower head.

I am fortunate however that this hole is not mine.

This Guy Cracks Me Up

I love this guy! Check out "I See" and "My Band" to see more of him (he's the one with all the long curls). We talk and sing songs together on the phone. I call him, and he calls me. He will bring the phone to my sister and say, "Talk - a - Dawn." Then they call me.

So last night I was talking to him and my sister. They were getting ready for bed, so they had to go. We hung up.

A few minutes later, the phone rang. With the invention on caller id, I knew that it was them. I answered the phone all sing-song-ee and I hear the little voice while laughing say,

"I pooped on you!" I replied, "Gross! You pooped on me?" He of course laughed. He said it a couple of times.

My sister got on the phone laughing to tell me the story.

He was sitting on the phone and passed gas. He smiled, looked up, and said, "I pooped on Dawn!" It was too good of a moment to pass up. They called me so he could tell me. I told him not to poop on me again, and he ended by apologizing, "Sa-wee, Dawn."

(I guess in his mind Dawn = the phone, and I love it)

Will the Real Brett Asay Please Step Forward

This Halloween, we hosted a party here at the house. One of our friend's decided that he wanted to be Brett. He was thinking a suit and tie, or business casual because that is what Brett wears most of the time.

After brainstorming a bit, we decided that because is was a very casual event, we would get Brett's pajamas (he wears them when we go to our friends' houses for games and things) and his "house coat." I got them out of the house undetected (well, all of the children knew - which was almost cause for disaster). The night before Halloween I was on the phone with my friend Ashley, and Brett was looking for his pajamas. Claire was in the room, and her eyes got as big as saucers. She really wanted to tell him where they were. We made it though, he thought that he had left them in the hotel he stayed in earlier in the week, and I wasn't going to let him know any different.

Then, on Halloween, the Hawkes showed up, and Noah looked like this...

Brett & the other Brett on Halloween!

Take a look at this post or this post to see a couple examples.

We all had a great laugh. Our friend even colored his hair black and parted it on the same side Brett does. It was a great costume.

(It was weird seeing someone else in my house in my husband's clothes with my husband's face.)

Capturing Some Moments

The children before their first day of school.

Caleb = 7th grade

Eli = 4th grade

Emily = 2nd grade

Claire = K for kindergarten (not to be confused with a 1)

I was looking at my computer today, and I noticed that I had some thoughts from the children that I wanted to make sure I captured.

After the first week of school, we asked them how school was going. Everyone except Caleb gave a report.

Eli's said, "I like that we get to go to art, music, or Phy. Ed. at 8:00 in the morning." In response to, "How's school?" he replied, "Fun, my teacher's awesome."

"I have the best teacher. She only gives homework two days a week, and none on Fridays," was Emily's initial reaction.

For anyone who has seen Claire, her comment was so typical of her behavior. She emphatically stated, "I don't like the wearing shoes part!" She does however like the play centers and the boost up room.