Wii boxing

Here is a cute picture of Emma boxing on the Wii. She kicks ass!

The day after Christmas

So, it's over. All the build up for Christmas and then just like that, it's done. I have to say we did really good this year. We didn't spend too much on gifts and everyone got everything they wanted. The big gift was the Wii and some games for it. We pretty much spent all day yesterday playing it. My arms, back, and shoulders are sore as shit from boxing with a computer guy named James. He kicked my ass 3 times before I got him. Kyle got Legend of Zelda and Emma got Super Mario. It's crazy to watch a kid that small navigate stuff like that. Oh, I also got the new camera that I'd been wanting, but a way better model than I had been expecting, with better zooming capabilities and things like that.
My sister and BIL were here this past weekend and we opened gift with them on Saturday. Then we had Christmas eve with Rob's family and spent Christmas day here. It was really warm, like 45 degrees yesterday and my mom and I took the kids sledding. Here are some pics with my new camera of Christmas present opening and sledding:

Damn, I really need a new camera

Emma had her Christmas program at preschool today and I took some really shitty photos. They had the program in the sanctuary which is notoriously dark, plus I had a bad seat, so I had to zoom. So here are some grainy, zoomed, mega red-eyed photos of Emma singing Christmas songs.;)

Snowball fightin' with Geraldo

Christmas scrapbooking

We had our scrapbook group's Christmas party/crop yesterday. My secret Santa got me a bunch of stuff to do some basketball pages. Which is nice considering that both kids are playing basketball this year. I got all my pages completed and again, I'm caught up. ;) Guess I'll just have to be a little more camera happy for the holidays. Actually a new camera is on my list since my current one is 5 years old and in the digital world, that is ancient. At least they no longer cost $400 like they used to. Here are some pictures of some of the pages I did yesterday:

Santa x 2

I've got some kids with Santa pictures to post. The first one is of Emma and Kyle(who no longer believes in Santa and was really put out by having to pose with his sister) with one mall Santa and the second is Emma with from today with another mall Santa. Gee, can you tell which one was taken by a professional? I'll give you a hint, it's the one without the raging red eyes. ;)

Never trust a big butt and a smile

Ah, class of 1990. This one takes me back. ;)

Snow play

We got some snow today and here are some pics of the kids playing:

Dexter

I just got done watching season 1 of the Showtime show Dexter on DVD because, of course, we don't have Showtime. It was entertaining and he sure makes for an adorable serial killer. ;)

Top 10 Chuck Norris "facts"

1. Chuck Norris' calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd; no one fools Chuck Norris.
2. Some kids piss their name in the snow. Chuck Norris can piss his name into concrete.
3. Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.
4. Chuck Norris once visited the Virgin Islands. They are now The Islands.
5. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
6. Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas.
7. Chuck Norris likes to knit sweaters in his free time. And by "knit", I mean "kick", and by "sweaters", I mean "babies".
8. Chuck Norris puts the "laughter" in "manslaughter".
9. Chuck Norris once won a game of Connect Four in 3 moves.
10. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

Bill Brasky

The Hobbs family as elves

These are the best moves Rob has ever had!

Christmas decor pics

Here are a few pictures of the house after the Christmas decorations went up. We put the skinny tree upstairs, the fat one downstairs and I got all my Christmas dishes in our new/used China hutch(we got it free from a funeral home and I had to scrub it thoroughly before my family was satisfied that I got the "dead smell" out).

I'm on a roll

I'm officially caught up on my scrapbooking pictures/pages. Good thing Christmas is coming to give me something to do. ;) Speaking of Christmas, I got all my decorations up this past weekend. The guys put the lights up outside and helped with the tree and I finished the rest. No pictures of that yet, though. I like this years arrangement better than last year. I guess I needed a practice year to figure out what I wanted/needed for this house.
On an unrelated topic, guess what my apparently non-women's lib daughter said to me today. We were in the car picking up Kyle from school and got to talking about some birthday presents that she had gotten. Here is the next part of the conversation:

Emma: I got you a present for your birthday, Mommy
Me: Oh yeah, what's that?
Emma: a new cleaner bottle
Me: You got me cleaning stuff for my birthday?
Emma: Yes, and a new mop too
Me(clearly not sarcastic enough for a 5 year old to understand): Wonderful. That's just what I need for my time travelling trip to 1950.
Emma: You like those presents, Mommy?
Me: Yes, honey, they're great.

Most typical Emma pose ever

Some pages

I got some new scrapbook pages done this past weekend. They were pages that I'd made awhile ago and just needed to add the photos, so it was kind of cheating. But still......they are complete and that's all that matters. I got all of Halloween done, most of fall and soccer. This weekend we have an all day crop at the library and I'll be finishing up fall and Emma's birthday. Tonight we are going to take the kids to see Celtic Woman at Wells Fargo Arena as a birthday treat for Emma. She LOVES Irish music and calls the Celtic Women her "girls". :) Here are some of the completed pages:

Emma's birthday

Emma turned 5 years old today. It's hard to believe it's been that long since we've had an Emma in our lives. ;) We had a little family party on Saturday. The theme was Tinkerbell and here are a few pictures of the cake I made and Emma with some of her gifts.

Wii

I got a Wii a couple of months back and have kept it hidden as it is a Christmas present for the family. Rob and my brother know where it is and this weekend convinced me that we should get it out and use it. You know, to "check and make sure it works alright" wink, wink. The kids were at the in-laws this weekend, so I agreed. We only had the sports game that the system comes with, but we played for hours. We were up until 3:00 am, 2:00 with the time change, thankfully. That thing is just a shit ton of fun. My shoulders were sore yesterday from all that tennis. ;)

Halloween 2007

Here are some pictures to enjoy:


The kids right before trick or treating


Kyle and Nosferatu from down the block


Emma at her preschool Halloween party today

Tarzan's medical history and a Halloween party

I went to the library today and as I was walking though an aisle I caught a glimpse of a book entitled "Tarzan's Tonsillitis". That's not a subject I thought they'd cover. ;)
We had our playgroup Halloween party the other night at a friend's house. She did a great job decorating and making a "spooky room" in her basement. The kids looked so cute in their costumes and their buckets were overflowing with treats and goodies. Kyle was a little annoying with his Yu Gi Oh hair that he kept taking off. I was like "you picked that costume, now you wear it". Another friend's son had the same issue with his Davy Jones costume. He kept taking off his octopus-type headgear. So between the two of them, my friend and I were telling them all night to put their head/hair back on. ;)
Here is a picture of Kyle pretending to be scared by the spooky room.....you know for the benefit of the younger kids:

And here is Emma in the yard before the apple bob:

More pumpkin patching

Today we had Emma's field trip for preschool. It just happened that Kyle was out of school today so he got to come along too. We went to a little farm outside of Ankeny that had tons of pumpkins and some fun other activities like a hay bale maze and a corn barn. They also had a giant log swing that the kids liked, but had trouble staying on:

Redneck tank top

Just thought this one was humorous:

Early trick or treat

My mom and I took the kids to trick or treat at Living History Farms this past weekend. They have scary stories, marshmallow roasts and stops along the trail for the kids to get candy. It was a nice night to be out so it was really busy and the kids were bitching about being tired and their feet hurting, etc. Kyle has a Yu Gi Oh costume that he refused to wear for whatever reason so Emma was Strawberry Shortcake and Kyle wore Rob's Frankenstein mask and a Halloween t-shirt. Whatever!

Pumpkin patch pics