Christmas via photos

Happy Holidays! Here's a recap of Christmas via some photos.

We decided for an inexpensive Christmas this year and used the tree I used to put up in my condo. It filled the space beautifully in the small condo, but looked pretty puny in our house. So we decided, instead of just a tree, we would have a Christmas Area. We made some snowflakes and sprayed them sparkly silver. The blank wall on the right ended up displaying the Christmas cards from our friends.

Here's the fam on Christmas Eve at my parent's house.

Isaac playing one of his Christmas songs

Zane has been taking singing this year. Here is his Christmas piece.

Isaac wanted to take before (Santa) and after shots of the tree. Here is before

Zane and Isaac got the traditional Christmas pj's from grandma. Zane likes to be different and root for the "other team", so grandma obliged.

School/sibling rivalry.

Isaac's post-Santa shot on Christmas morning.

...and that would be the end of the shots. We were having too much fun playing nerf guns and new video games to take any photos.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Where Oh Where is Baby Bear?

A couple of weeks ago, I was pretty sick. I got feeling mostly better after a couple of days, but I had a fever that hung on for two weeks. I finally went to the doctor yesterday. When they took my temperature, it was normal. After checking for various infections (sinus, etc), the doctor asked me what type of thermometer I used. I told her the ear kind. She told me those were unreliable and concluded that I never really had a lingering fever.

I have a hard time believing that my thermometer was that off every time I took my temperature. I actually had Rick take his temperature a couple of times over the last two weeks to check our thermometer and his temp was normal. However, I decided to take the doctor's advice and buy a new thermometer. She said the oral kind were most accurate. I came home and took my temp and it came out.... LOWER than normal. What's the deal? One is too high, one is too low. I need the one that is just right!

THEN...

I'm having foot surgery tomorrow. I had the same surgery on my other foot a few weeks ago. I learned from that surgery that my foot will be too sore to put any weight on it for a couple of days. So I decided to borrow some crutches. I have tracked down two pair. It turns out one is for people 5'10" or taller, and one is for people 5'2" and shorter. I am 5'5"!! Too high, too low- I need the one that is just right.

Isaac's Book Report

I take it back. Two posts in one day. I am the best blogger ever. :)

For this month's book report, Isaac had to read a non-fiction book on Egypt and make a diorama for his book report. We have been working on it all week. He is very proud of the end result.

The ground is sand paper. We used a little too much glue, but it turned out to look like ripples in the sand. You can't tell in this light, but the pyramid sparkles in sunlight (just like vampires).

Yes, I know, I have mad photo skills. Sorry it's blurry. The glue is also still wet so you can see it, but all that will be fixed by turn-in time tomorrow. The mummy is my favorite, we wrapped crumpled paper with white tape- very life like. You've probably summoned the curse by looking. Are you scared?

Here is a video of Isaac explaining the project.

We are proud of his hard work.

p.s. I just have to note what a nice kid Isaac is. As we were working tonight to finish, he kept asking if my foot was OK and if I needed to put it up.

I suck at blogging

It's official. I am a bad blogger. I few weeks ago I had a nice photo-filled blog ready to post including all of our fall fun. Blogger told me it was too big, so I gave up. I had foot surgery last week and figured with all my down time I would catch up, but the drug induced stupor along with not being able to get out of bed foiled that plan. So here's the quick and dirty version.

We carved pumpkins, however I didn't take any photos of the finished product. More proof of my bad-blogginess.



Rick and I attended a Halloween party as vampires (along with about half of the other guests). We dressed up as Egyptians to give out candy- also no photo.


We took monster cupcakes to the party- they turned out cute! (I can't figure out how not to underline here)

The boys all designed their own creepy cupcakes






We also made caramel apples with cookie crumbs and smashed up candy bars. Yum.


I had included an update on my "brown thumb" post. The roses ended up being beautiful this fall until the deer ate them all. I had several pictures but edited down to just this one.

The wildflower seeds I spread throughout the backyard finally bloomed. I loved it. I'm excited to see what blooms next year.

Betsy Brown Thumb

OK all my green-thumbed friends, I need some gardening advice. Here's my backyard:

I have this hill of rocks that I threw wildflowers seeds all over when the snow finally stopped late Spring. Now I have a bunch of things growing, but I don't know if it's weeds or flowers. What seemed like a great idea is not turning out to be such a smart plan. However, I do have a few flowers starting to bloom.Cute, huh? They are pink, purple and white. I have several patches now in bloom. Fun!

Although, this is how most of the yard looks.
And that's after pulling what I know are weeds. (My mom informed me what I thought were poppies were actually weeds, sad.)

Here's my biggest problem. We planted 4 rose bushes. Two are looking good and two look like thisHelp. This rose is called the Ingrid Bergman rose and is a beautiful deep red. I don't know why the leaves are turning brown. Do I need to water more? less? fertilize? pesticide?

This is our other problem areaIt's very sandy soil that is eroding away from the rocks. (One rock actually fell and rolled into our house- it may stay there and be landscaped around, as it is extremely heavy.) I heard that day lilies do well in sand and may help with the erosion. Any other ideas?

This is my favorite part of the backyard. This tree was overgrown when we bought the house. (It was a rental and the yard was in bad shape). We trimmed it up and now it hangs perfectly over the lawn to provide a little shaded area. I planted some bright orange flowers beneath it that have done very well.
This is another tree that we have pruned. It had branches growing along the ground and huge thorns on it. Rick and I were scraped up for weeks (worth it). We still have a little pruning to do on it, but it may wait until next year. We now have to figure out what to do with the hillside. I'm thinking a hardy ground-cover.So there it is. I'm up for any advice/ideas.