Mr. Leaning Snowman

I wanted to take a picture of Tom's snowman this year, but during the Christmas meelee we seem to have misplaced our digital camera. So I will describe him in minute detail: He was ten feet tall, four big snowballs piled on top of each other. He had two half-oranges for eyes, a green christmas light for a nose, two solar lights for ears and a flower pot hat. He was a really cooooool dude. We woke up this morning and noticed that he was leaning a little to the left. Or right, in his case. Winston wanted us to go out and make a snow pillow for him to land on when he finally tipped over. When the inevitable happened, unfortunately it was not a pretty sight. He was decapitated by the fire pit. Poor Mr. Snowman!

In other news: we had a very enjoyable Christmas with Tom's family here. I'm sure we did lots of things but the thing that stands out most is that we all passed around the germs and almost everyone got sick with headcolds and flu and poor little Jack got pink-eye. I read in a magazine that in the 'olden' days the custom was to throw open the doors and windows at midnight on Christmas eve to let out the evil spirits. I proposed that we do it here just to let out the evil germs. Unfortunately because of the freezing temperatures, no one was interested in doing that. Before everyone got sick we had a big snowball fight. The little kids got in some sledding in the back yard. The barn game-room got lots of use by the boys - little and big. All-in-all it was a picture of family togetherness! We are now doing our best to get all well so we can enjoy a little New Years family time before we get back to school and work.

It's the Holidays! WooHoo!

I am now officially on the Christmas Break. I get to enjoy it one day earlier than my kids! Woo-Hoo! What will I do with this extra day? I'll drive into Pullman and get my driver's license renewed. I tried to do it over the internet, but I was rejected. They said I needed more evaluation (whatever that means). I think I just pushed the wrong button and they think I'm blind or something. So anyway, my day off will be spent in the Department of Licensing.

We have been getting ready for the Holidays. Tom's family will start showing up on Friday night. It will be a lot of fun. Marcia has been doing a lot of baking in preparation for it. I've baked a couple of batches of cookies so far. Oh, and Grandma's 'Oh So Good' fruitcake. I'm the only one who eats it around here, but I was doing the baking, so I made what I liked. We went to Keaton's Winter Band Concert at the school last week. It is really neat to see our hometown school helping the kids develop such talent. I kept elbowing Tom in the ribs when I heard Keaton's trombone. We had a great time. Well, we hope you all have a great time over the Holiday Break and best of wishes in the New Year!

Mama's got a piano!

My new (old) piano! Tom had a friend from work who was getting rid of his family heirloom piano and asked if we would like to have it. When Tom asked me if I wanted it - well, the answer was obvious! I've been wanting one for years. It looks so neat in the living room. It was built in 1906 - and it looks beautiful. It was well cared for over the years. The boys and I have had fun trying it out. I really have a long way to go to get my 'piano fingers' back. Winston enjoys putting out a tune or two, too.

I finally got my Holiday Cards out this morning. It feels good to have that done. I've been so busy with work that I just can't seem to keep up with everything else.

Well, we hope you all are having a great time out there - shopping or whatever. That's the nice thing about living in a small town area - nowhere to shop. We like to keep it simple around here. Take Care, Ya'll.

Bad Coyotes!

We made it back home after a very enjoyable visit with our family down in Southern Idaho. We came home to a little bit of snow and received more over the past week. It has been so pretty to see everything blanketed in white - but today it is raining and the snow is melting ):

Winston has recently picked up the habit of blaming everything on Coyotes. Whenever something goes wrong - or he is involved in some mischief like breaking something - he says "Bad Coyotes did it!" We do have a bit of a coyote problem around here and get to listen to them quite often at night. Winston really dislikes them, so I guess that is why they are the obvious choice for him to lay blame. It's really funny though, to hear him say it.

He also learned two letters this past week. He has been working with an electronic toy called the Alphabet Apple. It has buttons on it that are shaped like the letters of the alphabet, and when you push them the 'Apple' tells you what letter you are pressing. Well, Tom thought it would be funny to show Winston the letters 'P' and 'U', and pressed them in succession. Winston thought it was so funny, so he spent the weekend running around pushing the P-U over and over again. I can't wait to see what his teacher has to say!

Keaton got his first time in the Solution Room at school today. The Solution Room is our school's version of in-house suspension or detention. He gets to spend his lunch time today and tomorrow in there. I'm not exactly certain why he is having to serve time. He was somewhat vague about what happened. He said he had been looking for me at the school to tell me something and went through the wrong door. I wonder what the real story is (: It is kind of impressive that in the years since he's gone to school there (since 3rd grade) this - being his 8th grade year - is the first time he has had to do this. If you know Keaton like we know Keaton, you'll know what I mean!

Nothing out of the ordinary going on with Preston..........he's the 'perfect' child. (ha ha)

Tom has been busy, though, with good and bad things. The good: He spent last weekend building a backdrop and mantle for our woodstove in the living room. He used some old barn wood that he salvaged from a fallen barn of one of our neighbors. It looks great! And what a change to the looks of the living room. Even though it looks old - it looks new!

The bad: On Tuesday when Tom left for work he decided to play 'chicken with a snow drift. The snow drift won. He ended up putting his car in the ditch. He was lucky that one of our kind neighbors gave him a lift into town and he was able to spend an hour or so at the Library. He had to wait for the snow plow to come through so I could go and get him. We tried to pull his car out (the whole driver's side was buried in the snow bank) but the car wouldn't even budge. We ended up calling the tow truck. Tom and the car are doing fine - although the car gets new snowtires today! It's Bad Coyotes for us!

Tom's latest winter-cabinfever-so bored he couldn't see straight- project. (I love it!)