A Big Blue Ball of Tape

Yesterday I painted the living room, dining room, hall and stairway. It was a taping nightmare. The reason I look so awesome in this picture is because I spent 10 hours straight prepping and painting the house and never got a shower.

Dad was a gem. He ran all the kids to their various activities and kept them entertained the entire afternoon. I even took the curtains down and washed them so now our upstairs is like new.

We are so excited about the results that the kids and I have already been scheming about which rooms to do next. As long as the bug lasts I might as well paint every room in the house and get my spring cleaning done at the same time. I wonder how many more rolls of tape I will need.

Alexander Tutunov in Concert

The three oldest got to go to a concert with their dad a couple of weeks ago. The concert featured Alexander Tutunov, a world famous Russian pianist, and two sisters who are pianists from here in town. One of the sisters was Camille's piano teacher. It was great for the kids to see these outstanding pianists perform.

The kids took notes in their programs and wrote things like, "His fingers were flying across the keys" or "This piece was boring." I posted a picture of our oldest daughter's program. She was just as enthusiastic about the looks of the performers as she was about their level of talent.

Our Baby is 3!!!

Our baby turned three last month. Her siblings and I gave her a great party. Part one was a movie night before her birthday complete with a Tinkerbell show, popcorn and candy. On Sunday she celebrated her birthday with the Michael family. The kids went all out on her cake and decorations. Happy birthday Baby R.

Dead Doe

Two weeks ago while driving home from a meeting I hit a deer. It was on the road by my house. It came out of nowhere. I had no time to even think let alone react. I have the image of its flailing limbs imbedded in my memory forever. It broke my car and now I have to pay a bundle of money to the body shop. Dumb dead doe.

The Kids All Dressed Up

New Years

This year we celebrated the new year up in Washington at a church camp near White Pass. It was a lot of fun for us to see almost all of the Baughman side of the family. The first pict was taken on our ride up to the camp. The girls and I made these cute little Build-A-Bear animals in the back of the car. Everyone knows that's where the party is.

The kids had a blast with their cousins and aunts and uncles sledding, skiing, and playing games.

Below I have included a photo of our cabin and the nearest bathrooms. I was partial to number 8.

Christmas

This year was the first year we didn't have any family around for Christmas. No one came over and we didn't have anywhere to go. So, we decided on Christmas eve to do some caroling to our neighbors, make a Santa pizza (a tradition from the past) act out the nativity and finish off the evening with A Christmas Story movie. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing.

Christmas morning was early this year. I don't know what time the kids went out to get their presents but they woke us up at 5:15. I specifically told them not to get us until 6 a.m. Wishful thinking. After all the presents were opened and they had eaten breakfast we surprised them with their "big present," scooters (and a trike.) Most of the day they would alternate between riding their scooters and watching one of the many movies they received.

That afternoon Dad and I cooked up the BEST Christmas dinner ever made. We are sure of it. We couldn't get over ourselves and how amazing our cooking was (it is probably because neither one of us considers ourselves a cook and therefore, to have such success shocked us!) I also performed a miracle, I made a cheese ball "like Mom's." Dad loves cheese balls. I have to say, that was yummy too.

What a great Christmas.