HIllary....

Grandma Tinka has finally found a kindred doll-loving spirit. Anyone who knows my Mom knows she loves dolls. Especially American Girl Dolls. She started giving them to Breanna when she was young - and gave her three in all. Melissa, Lindsey and Marisol. She gave Hillary her first a couple years ago - Nina and her second last August for her birthday - Kaya. So there are 5 in our house. Breanna no longer plays with hers as she has grown out of them - so Hillary has taken possesion. She loves them all. She dresses them all up multiple times a day and it's the cutest thing to watch her try to carry all 5 around at once. She frequenly lines them up on the couch for what she calls "family picture" time. There is almost always one in the car where ever we go and they are amazing at holding up their end of the conversation-at least that's what I'm told.

Happy Birthday Dad

This is the year I'm going to start posting for birthdays. Of course I've started late and missed several already - so I apologize in advance and promise you'll get a post soon. So this post is for my Dad.

The pictures of my Dad are not the most recent pictures - I don't see my Dad as much as I'd like since he lives way over in Virginia. But these are some of my most favorite of him. They almost always involve his grandkids.

This is when they took my kids down south on a mini-vacation. Hillary was 2 so it must have been in 2007.

This was last August when Hillary and I went to visit.

This was December 2008 when we were all home for Christmas.

Christmas 2008 - all the grandkids except Connor - who know where he was.

Here are some things you may not know about my dad, but they are a small part of what makes him great.

• Last week he sent all his kids a picture of his colon. Yes it's healthy and clean in case you were wondering. I guess this says more about his sense of humor than anything else. But it made my day when I got it.
• He is smart. If any of my kids has a question I can't answer - they always ask to call Grandpa cause he will know.
• He takes care of my Mom. And the last couple of years have not been easy for him. But he does it without complaint and with love.
• He loves fossils.
• He can fix just about anything.
• He will watch the same dumb cartoon over and over with a grandkid just because she wants to.
• He has freakish good taste in clothes. I hated to admit it when I was growing up - but the stuff he picked out and bought for me was pretty cool. And looking back - the best homecoming dress I ever had was picked out by him. The worst - was picked by me. Breanna is learning that now too.
• He is incredibly patient.
• A couple years ago he decided he didn't want to be called Grandpa - so now he refers to himself as "Super Ralph". Sadly he's the only one who has caught on to that name (at least in our house). He's still Grandpa Ralph to us.

So Happy Birthday Dad. I hope your day is great and you do something fun. We love you.

Sledding

A couple weeks ago there was almost enough snow to go sledding. The one year I buy my sleds early so I don't get ripped off paying $20 for a skimply piece of plastic-We can't get snow that stays long enough to sled on. All our snow comes in the night and melts at dawn it seems like. But I've had these sleds in the basement since early December and Hillary has been dying to use them. So when there was just a skiff of snow - we went. We took her cousin Marion. As you can see not even all the grass was covered - the older kids didn't go but wouldn't have been able to sled even if they had. But Hillary and Marion had the best time.

Has it been a year already?!?!?!?!?

It seems like just yesterday we were making the yellow truck for the Pinewood Derby last year - and it's time again already. It's actually past time now due to my lack of timelyness in posting - but we'll pretend I am more on top of it. So for the first time Connor decided to go function over form. The past two years he just wanted his car to look COOL. And they did. But they didn't win. This year he wanted to win. So we went with a slick design with low wind resistance - at least that's what the package said anyway. He wasn't the fastest car - but unlike the past years he wasn't the slowest car. He actually won a couple of heats and never came it last so he considered it a successfull year. I'm sad it will be our last.

His is the red one.

Just being his cute self.
Loading his car onto the track.

Again - the red blur is his.

Here he is coming in second place.

A link for my nephews...

Dear Dylan, Tasman & Benjamin -
Make your mom's pull up this link from my side bar. You'll like it a lot. Then convince them to make one for you. If you came to visit me - I'd make them every day for you. I miss you all tons. ( Amelia too - but she won't appreciate this link like the boys will).

Love
Auntie Heather

Insanewiches

Christmas morning pictures

Here are the rest of my Christmas Morning pictures.

Pat relaxing after about half the presents are opened.

Breanna and Hillary waiting in the hallway. We had to literally drag Connor out of bed.

Hillary being excited before even opening anything.

Connor being excited.

A pig shaped spatula I got for Breanna. She has started a "hope chest" for lack of a better term. She is collecting things to use when she moves out. Feel free to contribute if you'd like. She is actually really enjoying buying/receiving stuff for it.

This was the ultimate surprise to Breanna. The only thing she was expecting for Christmas was a new phone. I had her convinced that we couldn't go get one until the Saturday after Christmas due to schedule conflicts. She was fine with this - but I snuck out and got one without her. She loves it.

Hillary playing with her tug-of-war puppy. She has already either broke it or worn out the batteries as of the 10th.

Pat's new Redskins beanie.

Hillary in her other new pajama pants. You'll also note the throw-up bowl next to her. She had a rough morning - open a few presents, throw up, open a few more, throw up. By noon she was over it though and enjoyed the rest of the day. I think it was just too much excitement.

Connor being super excited about the huge lego set from Grandma and Grandpa.

Pat being super excited over all his new music...

and his new flexible shish-ka-bob skewers. And yes they are awesome and the work great.

Hillary post sickness in her Tinkerbell dress-up clothes.

I was taking all the pictures so of course there are none of me - but I raked it in this year getting a new MP3 player, a fancy new phone and an enamel coated dutch oven among other things. We all had a great Christmas this year - hopefully you did too.

PS. I think I should get a prize as I was all prepared with extra large packages of batteries in assorted sizes and nothing any of my kids got required any. Not installing batteries is definately the way to go.

Christmas Eve Pictures

I decided I had to split my pictures between two posts. I know the split is lopsided but oh well. The second half of the post will be tomorrow so watch for it.

This is the kids on Christmas Eve displaying their new jammie pants. I actually made Connor's and Hillary's. I bought Breanna's on sale for less than I could buy material so I didn't make hers. She has requested that I make more like them for her though.

These are pictures of the kids stuff "after Santa Visited".

Hillary's haul. Yes she outdid everyone - but we expected that so it was okay.

Breanna's haul. She cost the most money - also to be expected.

Connor's haul - you can't see the skateboard ramp he got - I don't know where it was.

Patricks stuff on the right and mine on the left. We both did well too.