Holiday Happiness...

Wow, it has been awhile since I updated...the above is a picture from Isabel's School Holiday Program. Ashlen wanted to dress up in a Christmas dress too...this was taken before we left the house that night. Here is the little Holiday Song Bird on her own:

Here she is in line with her class waiting to go on stage:

Here she is with her 'boyfriend' (oh, brother...eyeroll, sob, sigh):

And here she is with her best friend:
Turned out to be a very cute, very fun show...the kids had a blast!!!

As for Christmas, I cannot even imagine a more perfect holiday! It was a white, peaceful, healthy Christmas...who can ask for more? Jason's days off just happened to fall on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year (which NEVER happens), so he took a few extra days off after the holidays as well. Having him home made it a very relaxing and special holiday for us all...considering that won't happen again for years, we enjoyed it while we could! The girls were spoiled, as usual. The highlight came on Christmas morning when Santa Claus delivered an American Girl Doll (Mia) for Isabel and a Bitty Baby for Ashlen. Of course, he also brought lots of accessories and clothes for the dolls. It has been a whole week and the 'new' has not yet worn off...they go wherever the girls go. Isabel's birthday is in January and she is already eyeing the American Girl catalog for new items for Mia...we are having a little trouble deciding on a bed, so for now she sleeps on a pillow next to Isabel's bed. For any of you that have not had the 'pleasure' (a.k.a.='expense') of shopping for American Girl stuff, I must admit that it is quite addicting...that stuff is so stinkin' cute! And, who can resist purchasing things that your kids will actually play with and enjoy, rather than forget in a toybox forever?!?!

Anyway, here are a few pics of our holiday highlights...
Ashlen has been coming up with some pretty funky hair requests lately...on Christmas Eve, she begged me to do her hair like Cindy Lou Who, so this is what she got:

Opening presents at Grams and Papa's house:

Cuddling with Aunt Jackie (Jason's MUCH older sister...hahaha, I hope she reads this!!!):

When I was little, playing with cousins was the best part of the holidays, so I am very grateful that even though the cousins are quite a bit older, they are still willing to play with my little ones (check is in the mail, kids!!!). This is Cousin Megan (Jackie's daughter) with the girls:

Isabel has been wanting a snow globe!

Ashlen 'tends to her young':

I like to take the tree and decorations down as soon as possible, so now we are all ready for a new year and warm spring days. I know, I know, we have many cold months of winter before us, but I can pretend that spring is just around the corner and it makes me feel better! I will focus on planning Isabel's birthday party and this year's summer vacation to help me get through the cold weeks ahead...and, if all else fails, I will climb into a warm tanning bed and try to convice my brain that I am laying on my own patio on a warm summer day...*sigh*.

Let It Snow!?!?!

I HATE winter. Even caps lock cannot express the strong feelings I have against the season. But, there is one small exception...snow on Christmas. I love it!!! I don't even mind a few little flurries when I am out Christmas shopping or wrapping presents. Come Dec 26, I will return to my hatred of everything winter, but for the next couple of weeks, I am actually hoping for a little snow. It did snow a couple of weeks ago and I just wanted to share a few cute shots of the girls playing in the nasty stuff:

In the past, the girls have had no interest in going out in the snow, so when they asked to go outside, I was shocked (and secretly hoping that they would not ask me to come out with them). For Ash, I found a pair of snow boots (that her piggies barely squished into) and snow pants (which were a tad short and tight), but poor Isabel had to wear four pairs of sweatpants with a pair of my fuzzy socks and rain boots. We have since purchased appropriate snow-attire for the girls because they actually had a blast and played outside for over an hour, which came as a complete surprise to me considering I had promised that they could have cocoa when they were done. I really expected ten minutes, tops...then, begging for chocolate!!! But, they had a snowball fight:

Tasted some snow (It looks like sugar!?!?!):

Threw snowballs at Mommy's window:

And attempted snow angels (which looked more like Pillsbury Snow-Boys):

So, with hopes for a white Christmas, I am a little disappointed that it has all melted. And, I am actually looking forward to some more...after all, I want to get the good out of the new snowsuits and snowboots that I bought!!!

Warm Wishes from our Family to Yours!!!

Thanksgiving's Over...Next Holiday, Please!!!

As much as I enjoyed the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that my mom prepared (and my dad...I was very impressed with your culinary skills, dad!!!), I am already excited about the next holiday...CHRISTMAS!!!

It is my favorite tradition to put up all of the Christmas decorations the evening of Thanksgiving day. I am usually willing to stay up into the wee hours of the morning so that when we all wake up the day after Thanksgiving, the house is ready for Christmas. Luckily, fate stepped in this year and gave me a weekend with no plans last week (this NEVER happens). So, I did all of the decorating then...except for the ornaments on the tree--that is a tradition that I can't forego for the sake of boredom. Well, I mention fate because the day before Thanksgiving, I found this:

This is mold. Behind my dishwasher. On my wood floor. Ugh.

For the past year or two, I have mentioned that the toe kick under our cabinets seemed to have a bit of water damage. I made the mistake of believing my darling husband when he told me it was just normal water damage from washing the floors and emptying the dishwasher. After I made bread for T'giving, I was wiping flour off the floor and decided that I was going to inspect this "normal water damage", so I un-installed our dishwasher and this was the surprise waiting for me underneath of it. Lots and lots of mold. It has had a slow leak for years now. But this was not the end of fun surprises for me...as I went under the sink to turn off the water supply so I could finish disconnecting the dishwasher, I realized that the hose Jason replaced on the faucet sprayer last week was leaking terribly and I had a cabinet full of water. By the time Jason woke up that afternoon, we had no dishwasher and no faucet (I made the executive decision that we needed a new faucet and sealed the deal by un-installing the faucet as well...why not, I already had the tools out...). So, the point is that I have spent my entire weekend cleaning mold, drilling vent-holes under the cabinets, spraying bleach water, and installing a new faucet. I would have been very disappointed to have a single post-Thanksgiving day without my Christmas decorations up, so I was glad it was already done.

Finally tonight, we put the decorations on our trees. I let the girls decorate both trees, but I will "fix" the main tree after they go to bed tonight and they won't be allowed to touch it after that. The pink and purple tree is all theirs and it will stay however they want it until the day after Christmas. Here are some pictures:

You may have noticed that Isabel is missing part of her smile in some of these shots...SHE LOST HER FIRST TOOTH yesterday at Grandpa Whitey and Grandma Moppy's house!!!! Her bottom tooth has been loose for weeks now (in fact, the adult tooth was almost completely grown up behind it), but she refused to let anyone pull on it. Without us knowing what they were up to, Isabel asked her sister to pull it out for her. Without hesitation, Ash reached in with a tissue and yanked it out!!! It was very exciting for both of them! Ash has decided that her calling in life is to be a "tooth doctor".

The Christmas Card...

Creating the Christmas card is one highlight of the season for me. This year I had two ideas, so I decided to do both and see which one turned out better. Here are some of the shots we took:

Cute picture, but doesn't Ash have a suspicious look on her face?!?!?

Probably my favorite, but for those friends and relatives that don't see us often, they might wonder what the girls' faces look like this year...

At this point, the kids are getting pretty annoyed with the process and the smiles are starting to look plastic-y.

Pretty cute, but boring background!!!

Face problem again.

Okay, so I am a little picky...but I frame each year's card picture and use them to decorate the hall table so the way I see it, this is an historical document of 'Christmas 2008'. I recognize that this is my desperate attempt to justify blowing the importance of a Christmas card picture so out of proportion, but oh well! I can live with that!

Which one did I pick, you ask??? That will be a surprise for when you open your Roberts Family Christmas card next week!!!

We sincerely hope that you all have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

Christmas Came Early For Jason

Santa delivered Jason's gift early this year...he delivered a 275+ lb typical buck within 10 yards of Jason's stand this morning!!! Due to 'rut' being in full swing this week (for those of you that do not have the pleasure of hearing about rut 24/7 from August-November, it is about one week out of the year during which the male deer are so crazy for the female deer that they lose all common sense...sound familiar, ladies? Too bad the human species doesn't 'rut' only one week out of the year, right?!?!?! Anyway, it is around this time that you all start seeing lots of deer on the side of the road because if a male deer smells a female deer, he will run right into danger trying to find her. Usually deer are very cautious, but not during 'rut', which is why hunters love it!) So, back to the story...Jason took advice from a good friend whose magazine predicted a good hunt for today and decided to take off work so he could sit in a freezing cold, wet, tree stand for hours. As he walked to his stand, he left female doe pee (yes, you read that correctly...and, yes, I do have doe pee in my refrigerator...anyone want to come for dinner???) on the ground on the way to his stand. So, this morning, after seeing nothing for hours (all the while cursing his friend for convincing him to use comp time to sit in the cold rain), a "dandy" of a deer comes toward Jason's stand with his nose in the air...THE PEE WORKED!!!! The 'good friend' was instantly upgraded to BFFF (Anyone else see Pineapple Express???) and the rest of the story.....I think the pictures can tell the rest of the story for me:

When Jason first called me, he had an adrenaline shake in his voice and I thought he said he just shot a "Bambi". I was very confused about his excitement until I realized he said he shot a "Dandy". I thought the word was reserved for gentlemen in their late 80's, but apparently, Jason is brining dandy back.
The neck swells during 'rut'...apparently female deer are attracted to big necks. I guess size does matter.
Jason could have never gotten this deer out of the woods without my dad's help...and his toys. It took a sled, a 4wheeler, a 4x4 truck with a Hemi, and good ole Allis Chalmer to get him to this point.
Just over 275 lbs!!! We may need to buy a bigger scale if Santa comes back in November again next year.As a kid, I was always SO EXCITED when my dad got a deer. When he was out hunting, as soon as it got dark, my brother and I would start watching over the hill in our backyard so that we could run out and ask if he saw or shot a deer before he even made it into the house. The girls are following in those footsteps! They wanted to pet him. I had to draw the line when Isabel asked to stick her finger in the 'red hole'. Maybe she will be a surgeon someday...or, maybe she has some issues we need to address...yet to be determined, I guess!
Props to 'Big Dog Tree Stands'!!!

Nice tongue.

Jason did take him to be scored. The unofficial gross score is 171 2/8.

Balloons and Candy Bars!!!

The Morton Pumpkin Festival is usually around the second week in September and it is a fact that 'Mortonites' LOVE the Pumpkin Festival. Although I have only lived in Morton for 7 or 8 years, I think there is a Mortonite deep inside becase I LOVE the Festival as much as humanly possible. I buy pumpkin shirts for the girls for each day of the festival (complete with matching bows and hats of course!), I go up to the carnival every single day, I start keeping my eye on parade seating about a week in advance, and I start looking forward to the next year's festival around November. So, imagine my shock and delight when we got a phone call a couple of weeks ago that Isabel had won the Festival's Balloon Race. Ever year, the school kids of Morton release orange balloons on the opening night of the festival. Ashlen had dance class, so Isabel released one for each of them. Apparently, Isabel's balloon traveled the farthest of all of the balloons. Because of bad weather this year, it only made it to the Indiana border, but still...we were so excited!!! So, we went to the Chamber of Commerce and she had her picture taken with her reward (a $25 check that she calls her 'money ticket'). Then, a reporter from the Journal Star called and wanted to do the story. So, after a week of playing phone tag to try to get a picture, I finally offered to just take a few shots of the girls (for story reasons, he wanted both girls in the picture...you will understand when you read the article) and send them to him. They were not in the mood for pictures (as usual), so out of all of the pictures, here is my favorite: So, be watching the paper for my little punkins!!!

What did Isabel do with the money, you ask???

She is my daughter, so of course she went shopping for candy! Actually, she has recently found a passion for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (thank you, Halloween) and when I asked her what she wanted to buy with her money she said "A Reese's Candy...the one with TWO in it!!!" (thank you , Kristen). When I told her that she could buy more than that, she immediately said that she wanted to buy one for everyone in her class. I was so proud of her generosity...personally, I would have bought enough for myself so that I could have Reeses dessert after every meal for a week. We also bought a few Milky Way bars in case of peanut allergies (yeah, yeah, I know...they are made in the same factory...it was getting late, I was tired...at least we made the gesture, okay?!?!). Here she is with her candy and her check (corny picture, but hey, I had to document the event!):

And, yes, she did buy one for her sister, too!