Cool accent

Saying good bye to 2011

Being true to our family’s traditions, what would Christmas vacation be without one or all of us getting some bizarre illness that renders us immobilized along with making our family and friends shun us until we’re not coughing, drooling, nose running or with pyrexia.

Sparing Judith and Echo this time around it started with Silas spending all day Tuesday lying on the couch basically in a state of suspended animation. With his high fever it was like having a wood burning stove in our living room.

It went through the ranks and hit me hard on Thursday which somewhat suspended my garage cleaning efforts and forced me to switch to filing.

Could be worse ... it could be your garage.

I knew I'd find that kid in there

This was a task I was able to do while watching TV and lying on my back with a splitting headache and a sore throat.

Yesterday, New Year’s Eve we were all feeling much better so we thought we would spend some time in the back yard so our TV would get a rest. 

All was great the kids had a Nerf war, we played Bingo, tossed around the football, and played a lighthearted game of soft ball and then the sun started to descend.

It was like we never felt better.  All the symptoms all came tumbling back so it was back to the couch and the TV.

We had a quiet evening watching an Abbott and Costello marathon waiting for midnight.  Girlie and Hank bowed out early and the rest of us had homemade pumpkin pie with Cool Whip and watched the ball drop.

Today we’re getting ready for a Marx Brothers marathon and hopefully this illness will be a thing of the past by Tuesday so we can get back to our normal routine of life.

The Case of the Missing Icing

The Characters

The Duchess of Kitchen

The young selfish Prince

The suave debonair Prince who’s in line for the throne

The engaging beautiful maid

Engaging isn’t she?

The butler who doesn't have an alibi

The bumbling inspector

Can’t get more bumbling than that, can you?

Will the case be solved or will the Icing Thief continue to acquire

other people’s sweet thick icing?

“Spoiler”

Caught red handed or should I say with chocolate icing on his face!



Tune in next time to see the events that lead up to the capture of the Icing Theft

 

Christmas morning

Everybody's lined up for the gift exchange

Girlie gets an ironing board and a homemade iron

A neighbor of mine was throwing out this cute little ironing board

due to a broken leg support and as you can see

I replaced it and made it good as new. 

I also made a custom made little iron out of scrap wood from the garage.

Recycled material, 45 minutes of work, the look on her face … PRICELESS!

Echo gets a chin up bar

Judith gets a Kindle Fire

Hank gets a I-Pod dock

Girlie gets a fancy jewelry box

Silas gets a camera

Jimmy gets a TV remote organizer

Not pictured: Josiah received a really cool mother of pearl pocket knife from OutDoor World along with a vintage Army surplus helmet from the Vietnam War. I received a Sonicare toothbrush and shower mirror.

Everyone was happy with their presents and we spent the rest of the day lounging about like a group of sloths with the absence of any physical exertion.  The human body is only meant to eat like a King and Queen but once a year.

That's all folks!

Our Christmas Eve Celebration

The gangs all here!

Three generations ...

Echo, Grandpa Joe, and me.

At home in the kitchen

Getting pointers from the old man

First course: The Antipasto, hot Italian bread and steamed clams

Note: we were all eating, Judith and I were preparing and  we were all having such a grand ole time stuffing our faces that we neglected to get a photo of the steamers, sorry.

Makes your mouth water doesn't it?

Hey, look what I got!

Our friend Cindy brought over a cardboard ginger bread house
for the kids and it was the hit of the party, thanks Cindy.

Hey, I’m not supposed to have these!

Somebody take them away from me

before I write on the my face or the furniture.

Too late I wrote on my cheek.
A kid’s not safe when their parents are partying.

Cindy and Girlie (Elise)

The kid's table

Hank

Our long time friend Jamie

Grandma gets a bath robe

Grandpa gets some shirts

Hank gets a game

Girlie gets a ballerina jewelry box

Hey, it's playing my song ...

Fur Elise

Does she realize she's sitting on my gift?

Echo gets a football

Emerson gets a wooden farm toy

Echo gives himself a can of soup

Emerson plays with his gift

The second course: Sautéed calamari in a hot Sicilian sauce

The kitchen staff

The main course: Shrimp/lobster tail/bay scallops over a bed of linguine

Dessert: fruit, nuts, chocolates, coffee and tiramisu

If my dad is smiling you know we did it right

Mr. and Mrs. Head Chef