Well, it seems my blog has been neglected as of late. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays behind us, I can catch up with the happenings of our home!
We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating with family and friends. We kicked off the holiday celebrations by celebrating Hanukkah with my Dad at my sister's house. It is our annual latke and brisket dinner, and it's only done once a year. Everyone always participates by grating potatoes and onions into the huge bowl, and my Dad fries them up into the most delicious latkes on the planet. Seriously. I always sprinkle ample amounts of sugar on top of mine, and then hope that the "gentiles" in our family DO NOT use ketchup. So wrong. We opened gifts and the kiddos all played a money game by answering Hanukkah trivia questions for money prizes, such as "Name one of the four ways to spell Hanukkah". The kids and adults alike really had fun!
Christmas Eve, we continued our tradition of hosting Dave's side of the family for dinner. All three of Dave's brothers came, along with his Mom and stepfather. We missed his Dad, as he was just coming off of being in the hospital and was too weak to come ): I served my favorite pot roast recipe, and it was a huge success! The kiddos had fun opening their gifts from Grandma...she is always so thoughtful and gets them things she knows they will enjoy. Vance received his long-desired rock tumbler, and it has been tumbling faithfully ever since (fortunately in the garage where I cannot hear it). He has enjoyed collecting rocks at the park and turning them into beautiful little gems! The kit came with things to make them into rings, necklaces, and keychains and such....he has already presented me with a lovely ring! Cute little boy. Luke really loves his little finger bikes and accessories. He has ramps, a swimming pool, and lots of things he can "ride" his bikes on. There isn't a day that goes by that he is not playing with all his little tech decks and finger bikes. The dining room table was completely covered with his extensive "skatepark" the other day. So cool. Austin needs to learn to be careful what he asks for, because he just might get it. Behold, a large brick of cheese appeared as he opened presents from Grandma. He is such a cheese lover. He enjoyed a big huge hunk of smoked cheddar, which he so generously shared with all of us. He also got Pictionary Man, and gave us all a huge chuckle when he revealed the "Pictionary Man" figure's bare behind...realistic, I must say. And that's all I have to say about that. Yeah.
Christmas morning, we enjoyed just being together as a family, eating our traditional cinnamon roll breakfast, and opening gifts. We gave Austin a new digital camera, Luke a Ripstik, and Vance some new motocross boots. Everything was a HIT! They were all so surprised! We relaxed around the house for a while, then drove down to my sister's house for stocking stuffers, appetizer dinner, and a sleepover with a movie! We had so much fun together. Breakfast the next morning consisted of my brother in law's STELLAR corned beef hash. He is becoming quite the breakfast chef over there. I only wish I could show up at his house every Sunday morning to partake of all his amazing breakfast dishes. Check my sister's blog column titled "dimanche matin avec Riche" for more delectable details!
We are back into the swing of homeschooling again, and things are going quite smoothly so far! Dave has been working crazy long hours trying to meet deadlines for his project at work, the famous artist, Jeff Koon's "balloon bunny." If you've seen Night at the Museum II, you saw the red balloon dog hopping around the Smithsonian. That was created by the same artist, and Dave's company, Carlson and Co. made that earlier in the last decade. Now they are working on the first of several balloon bunnies that are proving to be quite a challenge. If you look on the link for his employer above, click under "Fine Art" and then "Jeff Koons" and you will see the giant balloon dog. It literally looks like a giant balloon dog, but it's completely fabricated out of metal, then polished to a precise mirror finish. It's really spectacular, if you like that kind of thing....oh, what artists will make. But hey, this artwork is paying our bills! We're thankful!
Signing off for now. Stay tuned for a new Tasty Tuesday in a couple of days!
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