Where does the time go these days?!

I have seriously not been a very good blogger lately. No telling how many people have given up on me! But there is so much to get done around holiday time!

We had a great Thanksgiving. I got up to start the turkey at 5AM and Mom and I started cooking in earnest probably around 7, so it was a very busy day. I didn't even really take many pics, except a couple of J entertaining the girls and keeping them out of our hair!

Today was a wonderful day too... we started our Christmas season by putting up our tree! The girls had fun doing that, although they ended up being a little overstimulated and are already in bed as a result. Here are some highlights of the tree trimming...








This last one is across the street at S&B's house. Their holiday decorations are GORGEOUS!

Next weekend... Dickens on the Strand... the next one - Nutcracker at The Grand!

In Abbye's words...

Abbye says this picture includes me, Annie, Jessica and Grandma and Poppy.

Thanksgiving

Two years ago... Mom & I received the news we would be traveling to Russia to BRING HOME ABBYE & ANNIE! Thanksgiving has always been, but even more so now, one of my very favorite holidays.

Visiting family has departed and we are winding down, the girls playing in the living room and I'm making turkey soup. I LOVE turkey soup!

What happens at YMCA after-school...

Self-portrait, age 3

How cute is this? Annie drew herself and Abbye. We went through several versions of (very similar) renditions of other members of the family but the funniest one was a version of this that had "hair" sticking out in all directions! Annie wouldn't say who that was.

See how swollen the right side of Annie's face is? I guess it's a little hard to tell from this angle, but this is significantly better than Wednesday. And as you can see, children's ibuprofen does wonders for pain and fever. And yes, I've been wrapping Christmas presents (in the background).

Where the Wild Things Are - Galveston!

Ballet curtsy

Misc weekend highlights

Tiny ballerinas...


And we all love flamingos! (Trip to the Houston Zoo)


And finally, two pink groundhogs in amongst the brown!

Videos coming in a separate post...

Hey Mom...

...it's 19 degrees and snowing in Perm! BRRRRRRRRRRRR

two places at once?!

The days where both kids have to be at different places at 0900 are challenging! My two usual helpers are out of town this morning too, so I had to do it solo. Did I say challenging?

Not to mention the rest of the insanity at my house this morning. The housekeeper was here. The guys finished the work I was having done on my house, which included replacement of all the cheap fiberboard siding with hardy plank, repainting, repairing all the trim and woodwork outside (which was a lot), painting my storm blinds and miscellaneous other repairs. AND... one of my friends dropped off her two dogs, who are staying with us for a few days while she goes on a trip! The painting crew did not speak English and I could not make them understand that I needed the front door and all the gates TO STAY CLOSED because of kids and dogs, so I was constantly running around closing gates behind them until the boss got here and clued them in.

But it is done. The house looks great, inside and out. The dogs are all settled down. My cats are PISSED. And the kids are napping. Now me!

Happy Halloween!

Getting ready to go.... (Sam, how did I do with my improvised pirate garb?)


First glimpse of other trick-or-treaters...


Inspecting the loot...


GOOOOOOOOD stuff! (Gee, thanks, Louie!)

As always, too many good pics to post, so click on any one to follow the link to Flickr! and see the whole set.