Cabin Fever

If you've been following the west coast weather on the news, you already know what we've been up to at Tahoe this past week: nada! Of the 7 days we've been here, we have skied for 3 hours total. It's rained almost non-stop and with hurricane force winds at night (100 mph gusts at night) we haven't exactly slept well either. Days have been spent around the fireplace watching TV. I must admit, I gave Gary a hard time when he blew the kids' college education money on a plasma TV and surround sound (yes I am exaggerating but not by much); however, the theater-quality TV has really been a blessing because it's been our main source of entertainment this past week.

Now my dad is in town and gets to experience this Tahoe rain storm too. Coming from warm, tropical Tampa, I am sure he is thrilled to be here. On the upside, we did get out for some shopping yesterday and my dad bought himself a pair of Seven for All Mankind jeans. Seeing him spend $220 on jeans was a hoot-- he had sticker shock but was happy to finally have some "cool" jeans. Sales girl warned him that Sevens are an addiction and we giggled over the fact that my dad would no longer be able to go back to Levi's like the rest of us who now invest a fortune in couture jeans.

We're hoping that better weather is not too far down the road. It may snow tonight, and if so, we'll finally be on the slopes tomorrow... Happy New Year to all!

Christmas 2005

Well all those weeks (really months) of shopping paid off! Within about 90 minutes, the kids had ripped open over 70 presents that were under the tree. That must be a record for us. I took a ton of pictures but so as not to bore anyone to tears, I've only posted a few below. Thank you to all of our family who sent such nice gifts-- the kids, Gary and I (and Loco and Spike!) appreciate all of your generosity. As most of your know, we celebrate Hanukkah too and will be lighting the first candle tonight. Enjoy the holidays!

The Night Before Christmas... all cuddled up in the same bed

 

That's Madison's oversized stocking

 

Proof that Santa and Rudolf were here...

 

In the middle of all the gifts

 

Nice hairdo!

 

Hello Kitty slippers

 

Andrew's been waiting all year for one of these

 

Mommy opening a gift from Andrew

 

Tons of stocking stuffers

 

Jammin with her new guitar

 

Madison Shows Off Our New (Mini) Menorah

 

No Holiday Season Would Be Complete Without a Visit to Santa

 

I Want My MTV

A few days ago, out of nowhere, Madison said "You know what's neat about MTV"? We rarely watch TV and I didn't think she had ever heard of MTV. Gary said "what's neat about it?" She said... "well if you take away the "M", you have my best friend Tessa's initials. If you take away the V, you have my initials". COOL!

Mr & Mrs Claus

 

Getting Ready to Decorate the Tree

 

Santa Giving the Peace Sign

 

Stringing Up Those Lights

 

Mommy Watching the Kids Decorate the Tree

 

Playing With Her Ballerina Ornament

 

Getting the Job Done

 

Madison is Very Proud of Her "Baby's First Christmas" Ornament

 

The Kids Did The Decorating All by Themselves!

 

A Poem About Skiing

I don't know who to credit with this, so I'll just say it's "author unknown":

Whiteout
The corridors of our labyrinth are all
downward spirals, white on white.
We inscribe the same patterns in light
powder or hard blue ice. Under tall
pines we glide, weightless & dumb, small
almost imaginary beings. No rest at night,
we dream this same white dream. Who can fight
the snow? who choses where to fall?
To repeat oneself forever, up & down,
is purgatory, but to love it, to accept
this white puzzle of snow & tilted space...
In such a maze who can accept or reject?
It’s all the same: mountain, plain, country, town.
We would be no freer in any other place.

A Great Way to Blow off Solicitors

I just discovered a new way to get rid of those pesky solicitors that come to your door selling stuff. Today a guy probably about 25 or so catches me outside while I was putting some things in the truck-- now, I normally never open the door for solicitors so they rarely get me in person. This was one of those rare times I happened to be in front of the house. I saw him from the corner of my eye and was like "oh no" but before I could run away he said "hi there, is your mom or dad home?" Ex-CUSE me? I know I didn't have any makeup on but geez I don't look like a teenager. But instead of correcting him I just played along and said "oh, um, no they aren't..." He said thanks anyway and walked away, marketing brochures in hand, not realizing he WAS talking to the lady of the house. It was so funny that I ran into the house to tell my kids (I mean, my little brothers and sisters, lol).

Twins Day at Sunol Glen

 

Close Call!!!

How stressful is this? It's 2 weeks before the holidays and my walk-in closet is full with presents. I have a blanket covering the presents which are strewn about on the floor, and some are packed away in suitcases just to hide them better. This morning I was in my closet getting dressed to take the kids to school-- suddenly Madison busts in on me asking to cut the tag off her new scarf. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the zipper has come undone on a duffle bag that contained a few gifts. It was just open enough to see the hot pink color of the box and DISNEY written across the top (it was the character dress up set). Madison looked right in that direction but somehow it didn't catch her eye. I quickly shoved her out of the closet making some lame excuse about needing privacy (like I even know what that word means anymore) and quickly fixed the zipper. She didn't see it! I don't know how I lucked out but I need to be more careful from now on.

Madison raided mommy's closet

 

Trying to make a snow angel (but not quite enough snow to do it)