Christmas Day

Blogging is great because it's like scrapbooking without having to pull all that stuff out.

Anyway--CHRISTMAS DAY! Snow, snow, snow and more snow. A lovely, peaceful, quiet day, just the way I like them! Happy kids, spoiled a little but not too much. Just our family and some phone calls ALL day long.

Christmas Eve

Bouche de noel at MJ's house and some last minute shopping. Darn it, I didn't get a picture of the cake. I did get a new camera for Christmas which I opened early supposedly so that I could take pictures Christmas Eve. We watched Prince Caspian that evening and there was way too much fighting for both me and Sage. At least too much for a Christmas Eve movie. Kids in bed by 10:00, can you believe it?

pre- christmas activity #4 Gardner village

Holy cow, are we done having fun yet?

It is my tradition to take the kids to Gardner Village. We look at the elves, buy a Christmas ornament, oogle the candy at the Candy Shoppe and eat dinner at Archibald's. I love it when we make it there on a day that's not too busy. This year was perfect.

The first time we went Sage was about 4 and she was so cute about it. It was absolutely magical to her. Those elves were REAL and she knew them and they were her friends and she had names for them and stories about them. It was hilarious!

I love Cash's fashion statement with the headband in these pictures. He was pretty serious about checking the naughty and nice list to see wich one he was on. I assured him that it wasn't a comprehensive list and he was relieved.

My favorite part is the furniture store right next to the resaurant. If I could choose a house I think it would be that furniture store. I just wouldn't want to have to pay the heating bill--drafty big building.

pre- christmas activity #3 Robin's house

Okay I need to figure out how to do a picture collage so that I do not have just endless lines of photos. Here Diane these are for you...

My boys slept at Robin's house Sunday night. We spent most of Monday just hanging out, watching SNL top 100 moments (of which we missed the top ten or so, darn it!) and a Christmas Story. Not to mention endless hours of computer and video game time. Then we had a Christmas dinner with ham and Robin's famous sweet potatoes. YUM.

Wish you were here Richman family!

pre- christmas activity #2 Zoo lights

This was so fun we will do it again next year. We slid in through the zoo gates just after 8:00 so we had only an hour to walk around. The lights are cool and a little more exciting that temple square. We didn't see too many animals but it was fun to see the ones that we did in a different setting ( they were not all hot and lazy and hiding from the sun.) The coolest by far was the sloth (see top picture). If I had the new camera that I got for Christmas I could have taken a better picture of him. He was in the snake house in the middle part that was roped off for the winter. He was literally 2 feet in front of us with no cage and no glass. It looked like he had accidentally come down out of the trees and was stuck on the rope fence. He kept trying to get back up there and couldn't quite figure it out. We watched him for probably 15 minutes and could have stayed longer if we had the time. So cool! Then right outside of the snake house the wolf was howling on the ridge of the hill.

Isn't Keagan just about as cute as they come?

pre- christmas activity #1 Wiggins party

Not the best picture, but the only one I took. This is always a very fun party for the kids. They look forward to it all December. Grandma goes over the top even when she thinks she's cutting back. Tons of food and treats and they get to open a present from G & G Wiggins and one from a Wiggins cousin. This year they got to help decorate the downstairs Christmas tree. Aaron made the YUMMIEST white cranberry fudge. I ate it all. (All that he sent home with us anyway.)

Priase the lord and pass the clam dip winter break is here. I helped with the party in Sage's room and I had the worst migraine headache that I have had in a very long time. BAD! The sounds and smells of 25 second graders just about killed me. I made it through pasting 25 little candy cane bags together with Christmas music blaring in the background and I didn't even throw up. Here's what I love about my little sister. When I say to her, "I have a headache." She oozes sympathy. She knows what I am talking about. It is the curse of the Dalley genes. Luckily I don't get them often anymore but it looks like I have passed the curse on to Cooper.

Anyway, the relief of having winter break start was wonderful-- like laying down a backpack filled with homework that hasn't been turned in, lunch boxes that have gone moldy at school and wrappers from every snack eaten this year. I don't have to cajole anyone out of bed in the morning or push them to get their homework done at night for 2 whole weeks. I came home, made myself some comfort food (clam dip, potato chips and coke) , and took four ibuprofen and a hot bath. Ah, these are the moments that life is made of.

Poem of the month November

I will be posting a favorite poem once a month. The purpose of this is 1-- to share a little of what I like with my readers (all four of them, okay maybe five) and 2-- when my kids read my blog they will be reading things they wouldn't normally read. Although Sage just told me she doesn't read my blog "because it's not that much interesting".


TE DEUM
by Charles Reznikoff

Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.

Not for victory
but for the day's work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table.




"When will you make hot chocolate mom?" says Sage for the 4th time in 6 minutes. And this is probably the reason I don't blog much.

Or I should say November passed without major event except for the fact that Barack Obama won the presidential election and brought hope to the hearts of the WORLD. (And Thanksgiving was lovely.)

Skip this if you'd like but for documentations sake...

GEEZ! I let all of November and most of December pass without posting even once. What is my problem? I like to tell myself that maybe I am too private of a person to blog at all but it might have more to do with lack of focus.

Anyway, November passed without major event. Thanksgiving was lovely at my mom and dad's house with Jennifer, Paul and Kira. Jen, my mom and I cooked up a storm. Jason made the gravy and Paul (as always) hopped right to the dishes before everyone was even finished eating. No pictures because that is not the Dalley way of doing things. Jason and Samantha and Cooper went rock hounding at the iron mines and found some VERY cool rocks. I helped my mom with her office and Kira kept the twins entertained. We watched John Adams and just hung out and talked. I feel very lucky that I enjoy my family of origin. I mean really enjoy them, choose to spend time with them, look forward to it even. Brother's-in-law included.