Thanksgiving came and went. We found ourselves full of good food and time with good friends. This year we stayed in town instead of visiting with family. We'll reserve that for Christmas. Ken was the ultimate chef again cooking one turkey in the "green egg" and deep frying another turkey. Believe it or not there were no left overs. Of course when you are eating with a bunch of people it's easy not to have left overs.

The kids and me and our good friends visited the Renaissance festival. Last year when we went it was blistering hot and humid. This year it was cold. Note to self: standing on your porch to check the weather is very different than being at a festival in the open air. We happily suffered through it and had a great time. Dustin tried out the bungee jump. It was so funny to watch him. I couldn't tell if he really liked it or not even though he had a smile on his face he kept saying "ok that's enough, that's enough" but every time he said that the man would bounce him higher. He said he loved it. It was the perfect day for shooting some photos, which is one of the main reasons Jen and I go. So while we were there the kids heard the bagpipe players playing the "old Scottish tune" which if you don't know what melody that is, it's the tune that the "Praise to the Man" song is set to. Dustin looked at me with wide eyes and said "MOM! that's Praise to the Man!". Laughing, I said "no, it's just the Scottish tune". But it was cool to hear it in real life.

Dustin on the bungie jump

Daria trying to get warm in Ino's RuneScape Cape.

Had to post this picture of Jen, ordering her tickets for Renfaire before putting her skirt on. Who knew that Maidens used the computer!

Both Daria and Dustin had their recital Monday night. Daria played a "Sleigh Ride" duet with Janalen. This was a tough song, 5 pages long for each and Daria did a great job. This was Dustin's first ever recital. He said he was nervous but sat down and played both his pieces very well. He played "Jingle Bells" and "Cheerful Chimes". I was lucky enough to attend a recital without feeling completely overwhelmed with fear. Since I didn't take lessons this semester that meant no recital piece for me. I am still playing at home but felt I needed to step down since Dustin was just starting and I knew I would have to sit with him a lot. I just couldn't justify spending time with him and myself at the piano. Hopefully I can start up again sometime next year.

Sometimes life just cracks me up. It really is funny if you think about it. The mindless things that happen. As parents we all have to look at the little successes our children do, even if they are not exactly where we want them to be yet. For instance. My kids are good at doing their chores and homework. It's really not a battle. Now how those things are done is sometimes questionable. The other day I reminded Dustin it was trash day. He quickly gathered the trashcans from around the house. Later that day I noticed that while he had started his chore properly, putting back the trash cans was not done correctly. My bathroom trashcan was thrown in the bathroom, nowhere near where it came from. All of the other trashcans seemed to miss their proper spot too. This is one of those moments where you just have to be glad that they tried and gently remind them at a later time how you put trash cans away.

Funny thing two. What thoughts run through your head when you go to your friends house and on their front porch are your daughters socks? Better yet, after you've asked her to pick them up they are still there 3 days later? Then when you go into your friends house you see another pair of your daughters socks. I'm still trying to figure out why when my kids get home the first thing they do is pull their shoes and socks off. Daria made a big deal about Dustin making his peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the counter before cleaning it off. I reminded Daria that she had just spent the evening running around the neighborhood without shoes or socks and then played with her toes and forgot to wash her hands before she started her sandwich. What's the difference?

Not so funny thing three. Ken went out of town on business. His flight was at 12:40pm. He calls me at 11:50a to inform me that he cannot find his license. He never takes his license out of his wallet. Anyway, no license, no flight. They will however take his passport. Notice the time frame. We start church at 1pm. On any given day I wouldn't mind being late to church but on this particularly Sunday we were getting a new Bishopric, and for us Mormon folk, since nothing else interesting happens at church, this is a pretty big deal. Who wants to miss that?! Oh wait, bringing Ken his passport is more important I remind myself. The kids got dressed quicker than they ever have in their whole life. We make it to the airport on time to deliver the glorious passport. Ken gets on the plane. Still, we are in the dark wondering where that license could be. Ken says a prayer. Then has the impression for me to check my purse (which I had already checked). Several weeks ago he had a small procedure done and I had carried his license and insurance card but SURELY I gave it back. I check my purse again, this time the small outside pocket which I never put anything in. Sure enough there is the all important drivers license. This means that not only has Ken been driving around for a few weeks without a license, it also means I had it with me when I dropped off the passport. Lame. No drivers license also means that Ken can't rent a car, which is a nice perk when you are spending a week in another state. So Fed Exing the license is necessary (especially since he'll need it to drive home). So I was guessing that rates probably went up a little from when I used to work and send out a lot of Fed Ex packages. Well a little ended up being a lot. A whopping $38.00 lot. The silver lining to the story is that through this whole thing neither of us got upset at each other and neither of us got impatient. I drove home from the Fed Ex store still boggled at the whole situation.

In the middle of all this Dustin turned 7. SEVEN? where did time go? Actually Ken and I were thinking "he's only 7?" It seemed like he was already seven. Life plays strange tricks on you! Anyway, for his birthday we drove to the Lego store as a family. We are lucky to have one in our state. I'm one of those mom's who likes Legos, so I'm ok with him getting them. Dustin by far LOVES Legos. He picked out two Star Wars Lego kits. After that we ate some ice cream to celebrate. The funny part is that we got home late so the kids had to go to bed. We all know what it's like when you get something you've been wanting for months and months. Who can go to sleep when it's sitting in your room staring at you?! I check on Dustin who is sitting on his floor staring at the two boxes with his chin in his hand in gleeful contemplation. I make him go to bed. I pass by his room later. He's sitting on his bed in the dark staring at the two Lego boxes. I remind him he needs to be asleep. It is not surprising that he and Daria were up early the next morning putting the kit together.

This is the last week the kids are in school. I am the home room parent for Daria's class. I did not sign up to be the home room parent. I've never wanted that position and always sign up just to be a helper. But this year no one signed up to be the home room parent so they asked me if I would. So of course I did, I mean who could imagine a class without a home room parent? So far it's been ok. I've received a lot of support from the other parents in the class. There are 21 kids and when I sent requests for items for the winter party, 18 sent in items. Can't beat that!

My last thought to leave each of you is to let you know that one of my most favorite things of the Christmas season is all the cards, pictures, and family letters I get in the mail. We always sit together and open them one at a time. So thank you for sending us a bit of you and your family!