You-know-where must have frozen over

Tomorrow, January 1 2009, we are moving to a place I said I would NEVER move to. Can you believe I am actually a little excited about it? (And a little bit dreading it, too.)
Let you know how it is when we are standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona...

Rich

Just had to share this little experience I had with Mase today at the grocery store. Christmas Eve at the grocery store is no fun. So maybe I threatened him a little that Santa would not come if he did not behave...

He looked at me with big eyes and said, "Santa brings gifts to everyone, the rich AND the poor."

I contemplated this for a moment and said, "And what are we, Mason?"

He said, "Hmmm.... well, we are happy... so we are rich!"

The hug I gave him was maybe a little too long for the busy grocery store but I felt so proud of the wisdom he already has in his short four and a half years.

Merry Christmas!

Sillyhead

Blog neglect has led me to allow that wounded pic of Mase to be up for too long. So here is a silly one just to be at the top of the blog. We had our pics done and Mase really delivered some great photos... but THIS is the one he was dying to have in his new room. So he will have an 11x14 of this in his new room in Winslow.
Oh, by the way, did I mention we are moving to Winslow?
Next week?

Up and down

Our week started with a little of this:


(Mase jumped off a chair and had a fight with the sharp edge of the trash can)

And also had a little of this:


(Ava in the ER at 1:00am-- she is fine now)

And our week is ending with me frantically cleaning the house on a Friday night at 9:30 just so I don't end up feeling even MORE depressed tomorrow on my 30th birthday... Is that pathetic or what?

On the bright side, our we also did a little of this:



And one more day of this: (Our annual pass expired yesterday)




Life really is full of ups and downs. We'll see which category tomorrow fits into...

THIS HAIRDO....

Inspired the nickname "Fuzzy"...

Needs no detangler...

Softened Daddy's heart (and opened his wallet) to accept many purchases of cute hairbows...

Makes us feel like we still have a baby in the house...

Looks a lot like MY hair at this age...

Creates the CUTEST bedhead on the planet...

Probably invites strangers to think she is going through chemotherapy... ??? Really, as much as I think it is adorable, when will it grow???

The event we anticipate all year...

No, I'm not talking about Christmas. Not exactly anyway.
I have a big family. Okay, kind of a HUGE family. Now that all of my eight siblings are married and (almost) everyone has kids of their own, it's very hard for us to get together for Christmas. All the traveling and having commitments with in-laws make Christmas Day pretty hectic. For the past few years, we haven't gotten together in December at all. We end up grouping holidays together and do a weekend of celebrations all at once. This year we did the 70th Birthday Party of my parents/Thanksgiving/Christmas all in two days and all very early. (I'm just late writing about it...)

Our favorite thing ever is to have a weekend with family, fun, and food and LOTS of cousins, so here is my abbreviated recap:


A fun surprise pizza party for my mom and dad, who each had an important Fall birthday...


Finally took a big family photo... (Thanks for cooperating, guys!)


Had an eventful family talent show, including the above group called SABBA. For more information on this exciting performance, see here. If you are really in the mood to make fun of some people, you can watch the Youtube video after we put it up.

It was A LOT of fun and I'm so glad everyone came! We missed the few family members that couldn't make it and can't wait for you to be involved next year!