Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!

The boys and I were on our own getting a tree this year,

Keith was putting in a long day of work on our tree buying day.

We took off in Devin's truck for the McLean Rd. Tree Farm.

Most of the trees were either too big, like this one the boys

had to get a running jump at to get their hats up to the top,

or too small.

Hey that's a Charlie Brown tree if I ever saw one!

Ahh, this one's just right.

Let's cut it down!

And haul it back to the truck...

And tie 'er down real good. Devin's got some good lashing

skills. We'll get it home and the real work of getting it into

the stand and making sure it's nice and even begins!

A few projects around the house

I found these cute sconces and put them up. They were

solid black though, and looked too stark in the living room.

So I grabbed some bronze craft paint and a sponge and

softened the color dramatically.

I really love the way they turned out.

Hooray! I've been waiting years to replace the sliding glass

door with broken seals so it looked dirty even when it was clean.

I love the way it looks now, with the white framing

and trim, and the white grids. It's beautiful!

I overhauled the shelves in my bedroom.

What a difference. This area is no longer an eyesore.


And one last picture showing the new window in the front hall.
The white frames are so much more attractive than the
brown metal frames we had throughout the house.
This window is just clear glass. It replaces a golden tinted
obscure glass window. This is so much more beautiful!
Thanks to Keith for all the hard labor he put in replacing
all the windows. I love it!

The Dent in the Wall...

Here is Eric's very accurate reinactment of the incident which

put a large dent in the hall wall. It started innocently

enough by my suggesting that he'd better get off of the couch

and get to bed since it was nearly 11:00. He stood up,

walked into the front hall and collapsed! I heard the thud

from the kitchen, so I happened to look over and see him

conked out on the floor! I rushed over to him and woke

him up. He seemed to be fine initially, just a little confused

about what he was doing on the floor!

A little later, while eating the snack I forced upon him,
he noticed that his knuckle on his left hand was bloody.
It was then that we checked out the wall and saw it.
The Really Big Hole!


I think he was actually pretty proud of it. It's not every day
you can punch a hole in the wall and get sympathy instead
of gettin in trouble.

Look at the size of that thing! We've waited a number of
weeks, months actually, to repair it. It's quite sentimental.
I assured Eric (and his dad) that we could take pictures
and blog it and then it would be ok to patch it up!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Dessert this year included pilgrim hats.

Dinner at Grandma Schenk's

Eric is excited to be diggin in to dinner.
Keith is a little surprised at how many people can fit
around this table.

Carson passing the rolls and getting out of the picture.

Pass those potoatoes please!

Turkey Bowl

After watching Forever Strong the boys were inspired to

put all their energy into the game!
The competion continues!

Dressed for success. Our boys were on the winning

flag football team.