Trimming the Tree!

 Initially the kids said no tree till December.  But they changed their minds!  It required cleaning out the shed so the treadmill could be moved there so there would be room for the tree. But we got that done.  And the Tree went up!

Feeling festive!

Big Yellow made an appearance.  There was some talk about leaving him under the tree, but the kids were too creeped out to do that. 

Callie was an excellent tree-fluffer. 

 Levi wanted in on the action.

 Delaney wanted to put all the photo ornaments up properly.

My new favorite ornament!  I got it made when I went to Miyajima with my Iwakuni friends back in September. 

 Negotiating what goes where.

Totally not posed! 

Someone thinks they are so clever. 

 She even smiled for me!

Hamming it up with the star.

And Callie wanted to pose with Levi and the finished product.

Student Council and Callie

 Callie joined the Student Council and they had a little ceremony for it.  It was wonderful- super short, well said, and there was punch and cookies after.

Waiting to start.

Callie doing her thing. 

The teacher talked about how each of them was a piece of the puzzle that made the picture and each kid put in a piece of the puzzle to represent their part. 

 The finished puzzle.

Fun Park? Yes Please!

 Marian and I went out shopping a bit ago and drove past a fun park. She wanted to check it out, so we went back to play.  All 4 girls came and had a marvelous time.

Waving from the balcony.

See, isn't it fun looking?!  It really was. 

Much fun was had on the slide. 

 And with several ways to get to the top, it was endlessly entertaining.

 There were some shenanigans.

It was tiring work though. 

The slide is set in this circle and you can climb up it several ways.  And there is the smaller slide as well.  So you could climb stairs, mountain climb, or take a ramp.  That's Delaney and Rylee dashing off to it after coming for a drink. 

This kid may have had too much fun! 

And this kid came and lay down and whined till I made everyone else go home.  To be fair, she did spike a fever that evening and puke her guts out, but right here and now in this photo, she ruined everyone else fun. Poor kid.

Happenings

A happy Levi.  He loves his people! 

Dan really really wanted to go to Shakey's Pizza and I did not.  Thankfully Rylee had an early release from school and he took her out. The enjoyed it immensely. 

I had suspected that the fridge was not functioning properly, but coupon;t say for sure until I got a thermometer for it.  It documented that the fridge was very broken. So I called Maintenance and they came to fix it.  They discovered it was not fixable and brought me a new one! (Well, new to me.)

The bag of food I had to throw away.  The fridge had probably been in the "too warm" area for weeks, but now that I KNEW it was too warm.... well, I couldn't eat it then.

I needed a photo of all the kids and realized I did not have one!  So I made them go out so I could take one.  They whined that the sun was too bright.

So we moved to the shade.

And then we had to add Levi.

Honor Roll

 I got to be at the middle school at 7:25am for Delaney's award assembly.  I made it but it was close!  I love the way they do them here-  Fast and simple!  6th Graders from 7:25- 7:45, 7th Graders from 7:50-8:10, and 8th Graders from 8:15- 8:35.  Granted, I had some extra time in there since I don't have a 7th grader, but I have friends and got to chat, so it was all good.  Both these girls had great grades, and Callie was one of about 6 kids to get all A's in the 8th grade.  They are awesome girls and I was proud of them.