Our Christmas Fun 2008

One of my Favorite Things...

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

This one is blurry....go to above link for a MUCH clearer and nicer movie...and don't forget to mute my music first!!!!

Christmas card 2008

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This is as good as it gets this year for a 

Christmas card!! 

 Sorry...

I got a lot done, but not cards...so I hope 

everyone who 

reads

 this has a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Thank you Sackbut!!!

What am I talking about?  Thanks to the sackbut Ben did amazing in his band concert...What is a sackbut, you might be asking....

It is the ancestor to the good old trombone....I just learned that last week as a matter of fact.  It's a kind of odd word...but fun to say.  ha!

Anyhow, have a listen to one of the junior high grade 8 and 9 band songs!!!

You can see it here..

http://gallery.mac.com/pcbta1#100243

Desperate Times...

Call for desperate measures!!!!!

We're on day 6 of our 12 days of Christmas we're doing for a family.  They are HARD to do!!!  They stand at their windows and doors and wait for us...there is a streetlight out by their LARGE window that they look out of which is also by the front step.  It's getting quite tricky getting over there and for the past 2 nights, we have resorted to disguises.

Ben(pink wig) and TEssa, and then Pete and Ben

yikes.

See ya later Thomas!!!

Thomas Takahashi...our nephew...just left two weeks ago on his mission to Sweden.  He is such a nice guy and such a good example to my kids, I know he will make a great missionary!!  We'll miss his smile for awhile!

Gingerbread House

It's a tradition every year to put together a gingerbread house with grandma and grandpa Baker...It's a fun one!  Ben was missing this year...

What you get for 30 bucks...

Because we are living in a TINY duplex with no room to spare and stuff stuffed in every possible nook and cranny, we decided to get a small tree this year.  It wasn't the happiest time, choosing a tree, as we wanted badly to be in our real house.  We were thinking of a real tree for 40 dollars...(love the smell of real trees...they're messy, but the vacuum works) then we saw this fake  winner for 30 big ones.  At the local grocery store.  It's actually pretty awful...I think I'll pass it down to one of the kiddies for the bedrooms next year...anyhow, here is Christmas where we're at....

Dare grad, and videos...

The other night we had DARE grad for the grade sixers.  Dare is "Drug Awareness Resistance Education" that all kids in that grade are taught by the rcmp each year.  Tessa was one of 8 chosen to give a little speech about it.  You can find it here....http://gallery.mac.com/pcbta1#gallery

As well as her choir songs, for any family members who are interested.  They are the ones near the bottom.  Watch the one where they start out facing backwards...it's called "Hot Chocolate"...very cute!

Also...WRIGHT side of the family...you can check out koocanusa.  It's taken me forever obviously to get it together...I don't know if you can download it or not...if not, I can burn it for you...

Choir concert

Tonight was Tessa's last CHRISTMAS concert ever!!!  so sad.  I have absolutely loved every time these choirs have opened their mouths.  They are #1 in Alberta, and I'm convinced that they would win nationals too, if they were allowed to travel that far!

Anyhow, here are a few not so great pics...videos to follow!!!

She played handbells some of the time too.

Wish me LUCK

well, here we go.  I will attempt lederhosen starting tomorow.  I can only hope and pray that the final result photo will look SOMETHING like this one!!!  Or at least be recognizable as lederhosen.  Why does Augustus Gloop have to be german?  sheesh!

Advent Activities

Here is what we did for our advent calendar yesterday...read Christmas stories and had hot chocolate.  Each day we TRY to do something or make something.  Not too much work, just easy little things...like today we took a secret elf present to someone, and the other day we watched Christmas movies...

8 Years ago, plus things I MISS

Here is a cutie from Christmas 8 years ago!  WOW it is amazing how time flies, seems like only a few years ago...And here are some santas I made probably 5 or 6 years ago.  I'm not too much into woodcrafts like back then, but I would still put out my santas if they hadn't all burned to crisps in the fire...sniff sniff.

Cool Clouds and Happy Flowers

I get stressed this time of year.  I don't mean to...or want to.  But there is a lot of pressure!  Lots to do everyday, and trying to find great presents for everyone on your list.  I LOVE giving things to my kids for Christmas, but sometimes I wonder about the rest of it.

Anyhow, the other day was a bad day, and Pete showed up after work with flowers!!!  It really made my day...here's the pic.  What a nice guy!

And 

I just can't help myself.  I see neat sunrises, and sunsets and I HAVE to take pics.  I just have to.  I think I'm so lucky cause I live in such a beautiful area of the world...and I'm

 happy that I can look out and see lot

s of sky, and not buildings!  So the other evening, the clouds looked all swirly and ice-cream-ish.  They were cool!  Fun to watch with my kids...

Monday Memories...

I'm currently sitting in a hotel in Edmonton waiting for Pete so we can do some Christmas power shopping.  So, I thought I'd grab my laptop and post a Winter Memory from 3 years ago...who ARE those cute kids!!!???

I Saw It!!!!

Twilight was GREAT!  In my opinion!  Don't read on if you haven't seen it and want to.  I wasn't expecting great things, because it is a movie made from a book...never a good outcome.  But this turned out very good.  

The part when you first see Edward walking into the cafeteria...the whole theatre started cheering and screaming.  I looked at over at my friend Betsy to see if she was screaming, but she was just laughing.  hehe

LOVED how the characters were cast...not one disappointment!  I really loved Jacob...too bad about the ending of the series.  ah well, another post for another time.

Edward was cast perfectly!!!  I thought they ALL were...

Oh and the baseball scene?  amazing!!!!!!  

Back To IT!!

Just playing away while they wait...
Here we are, back at painting.  This is me doing the guestroom and bathroom...

Finally ...painting!  I can't believe it.  Pete cuts in...and I  roll.  I don't mind rolling...it's hard on the neck and back after awhile.

The prep work took forever to complete...done by Pete.  It looks really good too!!!

So we'll be painting for quite a few days, then flooring, tile, cupboards...and that's about it.  At least something is happening...

Wacky-Photo-Wednesday

I thought I'd share a few weird ones! Funny how most of them revolve around Ayden. Maybe I'll make this a regular wednesday occurance.

Charleston elves

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Barn Dance elves

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Disco Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A PLEA for HELP

Does anyone have some LARGE green velvet pants I could have? Somehow in the next few weeks I have to come up with a LEDERHOSEN costume for Ben. He is "Augustus Gloop" in his Willy Wonka play for school. Oh, and it has to be padded...cause he's uh, a bit large.
If anyone has any ideas...I would greatly appriciate it! Please don't tell me to look online...I've spent hours and hours looking and if I have to look at one more "Beer Guy" costume, I'll scream.
Any creative sewers out there? I like to think I'm creative...but am not crazy about sewing a full costume...
PLEASE comment with suggestions if you can!!!!

A Good Thing

I hope everyone knows about Kraft Canada recipes!  Go to the website and register, and they will send you the BEST recipe magazines every month or two.  These are the easiest and yummiest recipes ever.  I really am NOT a fan of complicated or long recipes or cooking in general...so these recipes are life savers.  There are lots of one-pot dishes, yummy desserts,  stove top stuffing dishes (yum) and recipes where they give you list of what to buy for the whole week's dinners.  And it's supposed to fit into one bag.

Anyhow, just a good hint I wanted to pass along.

Yup, We're goin to DISNEYLAND!!!

We're taking a vacation to Disneyland...in February!  We decided to paint our house ourselves again this time, knowing that we would get paid to do it.  And we felt that the best way to use it?  A big TRIP!!!  We've never taken our kids past Utah, so we're very excited!  We think that after the year we've had, we want to star next year off with a bang...and heck, our kids deserve it!!!

If any of you have any advice about what else we should do down there...feel free to leave a comment!  We think we'll hit Seaworld, Universal, Disneyland...and we don't know what else yet.  Anyone know of fun places to eat, or see?

FINALLY BACK ONLINE!!!!

WELL, It's only been about 10 days or so, but being offline makes me feel totally disconnected from life!  I'm glad to be here again, I missed my blog!  

Halloween

UGH, I'm frustrated.  No internet last week, and probably not for another week...I'm using the school's signal right now just to post a bit about Halloween and then get on with other things....I hate being offline!  Anyhow, here is what we did...well, the signal is so weak I could only load 4 pics in about 20 minutes...more later I guess.