we really are still here

the most wonderful time of the year also seems to be the busiest, doesn't it? but so far we've been able to carve out some time to do things like spend time with dear friends and relax and also spend some time with just the 5 of us. even though things are busy, we are really enjoying ourselves. it had been absolutely forever since we'd had an evening with our kaplan family so last weekend we made it happen. nothing fancy, just a pot of chili and some grilled cheese sandwiches plus some amazing brownies jeff made. oh, and some espresso ice cream from me (ina garten recipe...yum...). all of our boys had a good time, all of us adults did too. lots of conversation. we love to play games and they brought one we'd never played before, called apples to apples. it was really fun! we just love them and don't care what we do, as long as we have time together.

we counted coins from our change jar and ended up with more than we expected. the boys said we could go to dinner and a movie, then we realized the same amount would sponsor N.T. (our little guy in mali) for 2 months. that was an eye-opener for them. while we were up to our elbows in change, we added some more state quarters to the beautiful wooden map our friend mike made for us. don't you wish you had one?

max got instructions on pb&j construction from drew. although i disagreed with his technique on a point or two, max had a ball and giggled the whole time. all 3 boys have really loved the time we're getting with drew while he's at marshall.

the boys worked in the yard again at my mom and dad's. they've really been helping pop out in that department. it's been a recurring job the past few weeks. they had a good time this week because there were a lot of leaves to blow/rake/flop around in. i got to take them this time, which gave me time to sit and talk with mom and dad. which i love. when we got home the boys had a pumpkin throwing party. over the hill they went! (the pumpkins, not the boys.)

after several days of being put up and ready to be decorated, our trees got their Christmas decorations. this is an easy job for us these days. especially this year since blake put up the tree. i pull out the ornaments i want up and they take care of putting them on the tree. quite a set up! blake is tall enough to put the star on the top of our bigger tree now. that was an odd moment for me! and max was tall enough to put it on our little one. i'm not sure about all this growing stuff. one of our favorite ornaments is a little caesar's coupon that came to us on a pizza box sometime around when greg and i got married. somehow it has made it through the past 18 years intact. it's a tradition - say "pizza pizza" and hang that on the tree.

because of schedules, max was the only creasy grandson available to take care of nanny and pop's tree this year. he did it all himself except for a few ornaments my mom put on and the star, which i put up. my dad was busy, so he couldn't help...

we had a 2 hour school delay day that turned into a snow day. that was fun. we had nothing to do out in the world, at least none of us but greg. so we just stayed in and stayed warm.

blake sang in his freshman choir program. it was really very good. it was weird to be the parent sitting at a high school choir program. greg and i were talking about how we remember being the ones in the high school choir and our parents being out in the auditorium. WEIRD. luke's 8th grade band concert was last night. it was entertaining. (was that diplomatic?) actually the very last song was REALLY good. he said they just learned that one the day before, so who knows why it was so good, but it was. i'm just glad they learned that one.