I want a new blow up doll for Christmas!

Jessie, this one's for you! Since moving from Iowa I've been on the lookout for that perfect house for the holidays. I think I may have found one that topped our favorite corner house in Coralville. I just wish these pictures would do it justice. It is seriously AWESOME! Everytime I pass it, I think of Jessie and I waiting for the next holiday to come around to see what new blow up dolls they had gotten for that year. We were always anticipating Christmas, of course. I now have something to remind me of my holidays in IOWA. This is for all my Iowa friends who loved that festive corner house!

Cracked NUTS!

We have started a new tradition! Last year we took Lorelei to the Nutcracker for the first time, and to our surprise she sat still the whole time. We now have made this a Christmas activity to do with her Nana. We had a great time watching all the beautiful ballerinas as well as the dainty men dancing around. We bought her the book "The Nutcracker" and during intermission we read it to her. It helped her understand what was going on. When we asked Lorelei how she liked it, she exclaimed at the end of the show, "It was TOO long." However, We TRULY did enjoy it. Lorelei has now been dancing around with our Nutcrackers at home!

"I LIKE SMILING, SMILING'S MY FAVORITE!"

SITTIN' WITH SANTA
"SANTA, I KNOW HIM!"
RUDOLPH AND SNAPPY THE ELF
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Tis' the season to be JOLLY???

So much for starting out our Christmas season being JOLLY! After Thanksgiving is over and we are done stuffing our guts with leftovers of Thanksgiving dinner, we are then prepared to make the trip up into the attic to get out our 6 bins of Christmas decorations. One by one we take them out, trying to figure out which one has "what" in it. We finally find all the strands of lights and decide let's decorate the outside first. We are all happily in the Christmas spirit. Look how beautiful Chad and Lorelei decorated it. It was DANG good! Happiness fills the air, we are so excited that the tree is finally finished. We go inside to relax and about 15 minutes we look outside our window to see our beautiful tree, lightless! What the hell? The next day Chad tries this again, we go buy new lights, string them all around and beauty fills the streets again. We go inside, look outside our window about 15 minutes later and IT'S GONE. So after 4 attempts of decorating that DANG tree, we are throwing in the towel and saying, "Bah HUMBUG."

Going to the Zoo with OMA!

Lorelei had a great time with her Oma in town! She especially enjoyed being able to cruise around on Oma's scooter. She thought it was a lot of fun. Lorelei enjoyed all the attention she got from Oma. She got extra bonding time, since there were no other grandchildren to compete with. They played games, went to the park, sang songs, and spent a day at the zoo together.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Lorelei's Pine cone Turkey!

Oma & Opa coming down for Thanksgiving! We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. We invited the whole family down for Thanksgiving, however, only my parents were able to come. I made everything from homemade pies, to gravy. I can't believe I pulled it off, it was insane, but I did it!
It was DANG good!

Grinch Name!

http://www.yourgeekfriend.com/GrinchName/GrinchName.php

What is your Grinch Name? My Grinch Name is "Scroogeyfrown Crustynoodle"
Makes me nauseous just thinking about it!