Happy Christmas to All!

Mom arrived last Friday and helped get the house ready for Christmas Day. On Sunday, we baked cookies with the kids and several of their friends (Sekou, Mohamed and Shaaim)...they all went home with full baskets of Pfeffernusse, Mrs. Leonard's Cut Out Cookies, Cookie Candy Canes and Peanut Butter Blossoms (aka Kissy Cookies), to share with their families (although Sekou told me that Mohamed ate them all himself that same night).

Dwight got home late Saturday night because he was in Evansville again. He's made 2 trips in the past month. Once to evict the evil tenants. And the second time to check on the house and prepare it for renting (wish us better luck this time around). Luckily he made it home in time to give Rumbles his Christmas present. Rumbles loves to open gifts and he was very enthusastic about his new squeaky bird toys.
Punch wasn't so sure about the packages. She ate a dog biscuit while it was still wrapped and then let Rumbles open the rest of the gifts. Slowly throughout the day, she collected all the toys on her new cushion. Sly dog.

Siobhan and Henry had a good Christmas. Both received many nice gifts. Siobhan, however, did not get the "real pig like Babe" that was on her list. Thank god for that!

More tomorrow about the post-Christmas touristy things we did with Grandma.

Quiet Weekend

When we should have been out hustling and bustling and shopping amongst the masses (and here in NY, we're talking MASSES), we instead stayed in. For the entire weekend. Dwight cooked and watched football (he shoveled, too). I worked on Christmas crafts. Siobhan and Henry worked on homework, practiced music, played video, etc....
We had a few short-distance outings. I went to the gym. Dwight and Siobhan went to the new Will Smith movie (they liked it, Henry and I weren't interested). Dwight made a couple of quick trips to the store...wood, beer, food. Henry ran across the street and helped our neighbor, Helen, shovel her driveway. Other than that, it was low key.
There is still a lot of shopping to do, really we've barely started. But we can knock it out during the week. Wish us luck! :)

Long Time, No Posts

Wow! For some reason, I've not posted anything for quite some time. Don't know why, really. I've looked at the blog. Re-read past postings. Re-looked at all the photos. But nothing new.

So how about some Christmas memories?

End of the Season

Henry's last game of the season was on Sunday. Another loss. They played Hackensack and they were huge...there was no way those kids were 5th and 6th graders (check out No. 55 in the last photo below). Unfortunately it was not a winning season for the pee-wee footballers. But Henry learned more, he still loves football, and he's already looking forward to football camp again next summer. Hopefully next season he won't be the smallest guy on the team. Who knows, if he really hits a growth spurt, he might even be taller than the coach (see huddle below)! One thing will probably remain the same...Henry's "good luck" stretched out old baseball socks that he has to pull up after every play. :)

Lordy! Lordy! Look Who's Forty!

Time Out

After playing in two games over a Sat/Sun football weekend, Henry couldn't remember that he caught several passes in the Sunday game. So off to the doctor he went and was diagnosed with a mild concussion. So he's been on the sidelines. No practice. No games. The doctor says he'll be fine and can play again this coming weekend. As Bumpa used to say...'he cracked his coconut'.

The Never Ending Birthday Weekend

Siobhan's birthday celebration expanded beyond the weekend and ran into Monday evening. At this rate, her birthday events will overlap with Dwight's big 40th on Thursday!

Monday night, for the birthday dinner, we went to our favorite restaurant...Mama Mexico! Great food, a whole bunch of margarita flavors and the best part...Mariachi de Fernando Gonzalez, the finest mariachi band in all of New Jersey! Lucky for us, on request they performed a rousing rendition of Feliz Cumpleanos for Siobhan and Dwight. Muy Caliente!