Happy Together

Most days, Mikey and Molly are content to play together. This is one of my favorite pictures from this month - just coloring on the floor by my feet.

Christmas time was good this year. The four of us were happy together. It was quiet, we didn't have any family or friends over, but it was cozy.

We didn't even cook a Christmas dinner this year.

It was super hard to be away from my family and friends. Harder than I thought it would be. But, we made it, and Chris is on his way to the Outback Bowl with Kevin and Bo. Here is a picture of us tailgating this year. It is Chris, Kevin, me, Mikey, Mom Keller, Dad Keller, Bo, and Molly.

The kids and I went downtown to look at the ice sculptures as they melted down the sidewalk. We would have taken pictures, but we sent the camera with Chris to FL.

Oh, Molly is the queen of opposites lately. If Mikey and I are slowpokes, she is a "fastpoke". If we are going downtown, why aren't we going uptown? Some of them are pretty comical. I'll listen for more of them tomorrow.

Our first letters to Santa

Dear Santa,
I would like a green Care Bear with a rainbow, a sleeping bag, and a light pink towel with a hood.

I was good. I shared my toys with Mikey and listened to Mrs. Pritchard, Ms. Lonni, and Mrs. Johnson at school.

Love,

Molly







Dear Santa,

I would like in my stocking a nice, red, juicy lollipop, a nice juicy candy cane that tastes like peppermint, and apple, pear, banana, and orange and strawberry candy canes. One more piece of candy - a fruit roll up!

I want a pice of train that has a rolie thing on top. I want a Lite Brite, new Play Doh, a Christmas tree ornament, and a sleeping bag with a pillow.

I'm good at jump roping, putting my toys away, doing my speech, and I like to read books and work at school.

Love,

Michael




(Mom's note: We are taking the letters to Santa's mailbox downtown, and he really send you a handwritten letter back in the mail!!)

"Mom. Mom? Mommy....Mom! Hey, Mom...Mom? Mommy!"

I feel like my mother. She used to hear that all of the time from the three of us. It seems like my name is all I hear from my kids anymore...if I had a dollar each time they called for me, I could quit work! Today I told them I was changing my name, it wasn't Mom anymore - it was a secret, and I wouldn't tell them. Mikey promised that if I told him, he wouldn't tell his friends. I wasn't buying it. Finally, I picked a name and told them. Now, my new name is Babe. I couldn't decide between Babe, Toots, or Hot Stuff. Maybe next time I get tired of hearing "Mom", I'll be Sweet Thing. :-)

The House is Disappearing

The kids and I made our first gingerbread house on Sat. afternoon while Chris was at school. OK, so maybe we didn't make it, but we did assemble it. The directions didn't call for a hot glue gun, but we used one! I hot glued it together (no waiting time before we could stick on those candies!!), and the kids went to town. Twenty minutes later, the candy was all on, the sprinkles were sprinkled, the gumdrops all dropped onto icing, and we were done! Well, I think as much candy made it into the kids' mouths as on the house, but we were proud. I'd take a picture, but it wasn't THAT good....lol.

We proudly displayed the house in the living room on an end table. Over the past 3 days, more and more of it is missing! The kids know it is glued together, because we went to buy a new glue gun to make it. Therefore, they know not to eat that part. However, the candy stuck on the icing? Going, going, GONE! The house is a bit naked. I just turn a blind eye to the missing candy. After all, if you are going to fuss over a gingerbread house with kids, why bother making it?

Oh, and tonight I went to the cookie exchange (9 dozen), and I also got a tray of cookies from the parents at school today. I am on a total cookie sugar-high, trying to type. Some of them are so yummy I won't put them on the neighbor's tray - they are staying right here in the Solo household. Chocolate peanut butter truffles, anyone?

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I love getting Christmas cards. We move a lot, being in the military, and some of my friends I only hear from at Christmas, it seems. They have moved, we have moved, they had another baby, we did NOT...lol And my favorite part of the cards? The pictures and the newsletters. In the pictures you can see how much the kids have grown, and who they are beginning to look like. Oh, and how they were posed. That is always pretty comical. Oh, and if you don't get a pictures at Christmas? I guess you just didn't rate high enough on the list to get one. :-)


The very best part of cards? THE NEWSLETTERS!! Oh, everyone has such a perfect life and a perfect family and a perfect year at Christmas, don't they? You never hear: "So-and-so got suspended from school this year for..." or "Our son is turning out to be such a nerdy dork!" "Our daughter is totally spoiled and throws tantrums all the time, and she is almost 14!" Another thing you don't hear - "We have moved, and are settling in, but it is difficult." NO, everyone who moves loves their new house, their new neighbors, their new friends - they never say "I had to find a pediatrician, and don't really like the one we have...." or " We still haven't managed to find a dentist, but we'll cross that bridge when we really have to!" One of these days, I am sure I will get an honest newsletter, one that tells the whole picture. As soon as I do the same... ha ha


I am excited today, though. I have some friends coming over to stamp Christmas cards. Yup, friends. Well, one that I meet up with every week, and the other two are potential friends, I guess you could call them. We'll see. I am thrilled to get out my stamps, my inks, my paper cutters, etc and get busy. I had better go clean up this dump before they see I actually LIVE like this. See? That should go in my honest Christmas letter, huh?

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!!


Today I took the kids to The Creamery. Can you believe the price of a cone went up again? $2.50 a cone...and there is only one size cone. They pile as much ice cream up as the cone will hold, and that costs $2.50. Now, it IS a lot of ice cream, don't get me wrong. I would just like to pay less to receive less. After all, I ate as much as I could, and look how much I still had to throw away! I suppose I could go down to Cold Stone Creamery downtown, and eat fancy ice cream there, and not be-atch about how much it costs. But I can do that anywhere. While I live here in Happy Valley, I'm sticking to The Creamery on campus.

Back when I was in school, (no, I didn't have to walk to school, uphill, 2 miles each way...) the cones cost $1. Inflation. Wait, now that I think about it, I DID have to walk to classes, about a mile each way...lol I hate to think about how long ago that was.

Mikey still goes to speech once a week, and I still laugh at what comes out. For example, he has always called the garage the "ba-gwage". Chris and I will probably call it that for the rest of our lives. Dessert is "bessert". Once he was pouting after dinner, and I asked him what was wrong. He said "I just want bessert in my mouth..." So, now we only have dessert on Fridays. Other nights, don't bother asking. At least not until the kids are in bed!

Oh, big news. I've finally finished raking the yard! Now, for some of you, you might think "BIG deal..." It IS a big deal. In the afternoons when Heather called, most days her message was "Well, I guess you're outside raking. Call me when you come in..." Just in the back yard, we have 25 trees that drop leaves, and at least a dozen bushes and trees to rake around that don't drop their leaves. The borough sends a big leaf sucker truck around a few times a week during the fall to pick up the leaves. Their last trip was on Thursday, so I had to be done by then. I finished, we had a huge windstorm on Friday, and the neighbor's leaves (who didn't rake at all the entire season ) blew into my yard. UUGGG!!

Here is our leafpile. It really doesn't do it justice, since I also had leaves picked up that I had raked a couple times a week all fall. I was one tired chickie.