Merry Christmas!

Mimi and the bass

Mimi's in 6th grade and learning more interesting music this year.

I know the video is quite fuzzy, but the music is nice :)

Blimp Sighting

We are right on the flight path of the Goodyear Blimp.

 Yoda ran up on this little play house in our neighbor's yard to get a little closer for his picture!

We've seen it about once a year since we've lived here, but this time seems the closest.  For other Blimp sightings click here.

Sick

Right before Thanksgiving, Yoda was very sick. 

 While waiting, "I know why they call this the waiting room"

"This room is very small."

Doctor, "Let's check your ears to see if there's anything wrong in them... Whoa!  You can wiggle them!"

Just cause I know you want to see...here's a video! 

This was in the elevator on the way to the car.  I was cracking up at his new trick!

Day after Thanksgiving

We headed to the the Hopewell Culture National History Park. 

It was cool to see the earth mounds and read about the history of the people who used to live here.  The weather was perfect. 

 Of course we found a diner and had grilled cheese and something called corn nuggets?  

 

 But later we were kicking ourselves that we didn't eat here, we must go back!

 We also visited a city park that has a working farm and old toys for kids to play with. 

Song

An overly sentimental song was playing on the radio.
Me, "ugh, this song is so sappy!"
Mimi, "What does that mean?  Sad and Happy?"

The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

It's Greg, he's 42!  (that's a reference to the great book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

 We went to Costco, just the 2 of us, cause that's what you do in Ohio when you're 42.

 We had cake with his parents and opened a few presents. 

Happy Birthday, Greg! 

Halloween Roundup

We kept it more low key then ever this year, but they still had fun...

 

 School parade, we didn't get a good photo of Mimi. 

 The ward Trunk or treat was a little cold, but Mimi was into it.  

 

 Mimi as a glittery ghost

 Yoda as Batman

A few kids from the neighborhood.  

 Yoda left the older crowd and met up with a younger group of kiddos from the neighborhood. 

 All the goodies...

 

 Parker hung with me to pass out candy. 

He was "When Life gives you lemons"

New Bathroom (Again)

3 years ago we had some work done on our bathroom.  It was nice to refresh the area and it didn't cost too much.  It was just a step in the right direction, but it wasn't what we really needed or wanted.  

What was really needed? 2 new walls....  We finally found a guy who was willing to do the work. 

To jog your memory... this is what it was like when we moved in, until Fall 2014.  

Then I did a little work on the vanity and we had our friend (who did the tile work in the kids bathroom) do a little tile work in our bathroom.  I did a bunch of other stuff listed here, but like I said, we needed walls. 

And now...

After Day One: carpet ripped up, framing complete

After Day Two: Drywall up, it felt better already! 

 He moved the door and smoothed out the other opening.  He also installed the new vanity and faucet (we kept the vanity top and new sink from the old redo)

 New floor!  It looks like wood, but it's a vinyl click-in floating floor, so cool. 

After he did all the hard work, I painted and stuff. 

 Painted vanity, and knobs installed. 

and painted walls

Boom! A whole second bathroom! 

A couple funny stories if you're interested:

1-Our handyman is named Chris--the kiddos also have an Uncle Chris.  

Well, it was Chris the Handyman's birthday and I bought him a cupcake.  I also bought enough for the kiddos to have a cupcake in their school lunch.  They were super confused -- where was uncle Chris!? Why wasn't he here for his cupcake!?

2-When we took off the mirror to paint behind it, there was a written message on wall from the previous owners from 2003 talking all about the new paint and new mirror they had installed.  So we added our own stories to it with dates and names.  

3-Greg is a morning person, I am night person.  So when he gets up at 5 am and gets ready for the day, the light would blast my eyes.  When I go to be after 10 pm and brush my teeth, it always wakes him up.  Now we can get ready without bothering each other!

But every now and then we need to get ready at the same time.  I like to make the joke that it would be nice if there was a door in between the shower and sink for privacy.  It's a joke, I'm way happier now!

What?

Me, "I'm not sure about this new hair cut", "I don't know if I know how to style this new haircut", "This haircut isn't good, I don't like it", and on and on...

Greg, after many days of this, "I don't know how to talk to you about your haircut"

Me...

**************

Mimi, "I told my friend she should be an Elf for Halloween.  But NOT a Christmas Elf, that would be silly, I mean a High Elf."

Me, "wha...?"

Greg, "She means an Elf from Dungeons and Dragons"

Me, "nerds"

glasses and wheels

This was such a sweet moment.  Mimi was Rollerblading and suddenly came to a downward slope and she couldn't stop.  Parker ran after her to try and help her, but couldn't get to her, she found a parked car and stopped without getting hurt, but she was a little shaken.  When we came to another slope he made sure she didn't go too fast. 

Yoda and 3-D glasses after a movie. 

Yoda won a little prize and picked these glasses, Mimi ran up and got her current favorite book and asked me to take a photo. 

And a photo bomb.