Pictures! and Snow (of Snow?)

Here's a few pix of the recent snow related activities ... mostly Timmy based because Emma was a school when Cyndie was out with the camera.


How cheery, right? This is in our neighbor's yard.



Here you get a little feel for Emma's new short hair. I'll try to get a better picture at a later date.

The week moves on

So the week is nearing an end, and the Wildwood DeVries are dutifully trudging along. I think we're all pretty excited for Christmas to come with the perks that surround it definitely in mind ... vacation from school and work, family time, extended family in town. The larger than usual (or so it sounds) amount of snow, and its fluffy goodness, is also contributing to our general holiday mood. That plus our kids, especially Emma, are in the sweet spot for Christmas excitement. All of which means, we're ready for the season to officially begin, that beginning being marked by Emma's last day of school and my last day of work on the 19th. Let the countdown commence ...

Days until Christmas Break:

Today is a pretty normal day of work and school. Timmy may have a play date after school. Tonight we'll probably head over to the library for a showing of Madagascar, then Cyndie has her normal "Second Thursday" women's outing.

Two items of "interest"* in sporting news today:

1) Timmy is doing very well in his swimming class. In fact, he's getting to the point where he'll jump off the starting blocks thing** in to the deep end. Go Timmy. This is quite a change from last summer when he was hesitant to even get his face wet.

*I use that term loosely. Because while I am interested in these things, you, my faithful reader, may not be.

**You know, this thing ...
2) I had a fun, I think, night of bowling last night. The first game (we play three each league night) was one of my worst ever ... harkening back to the first night of league when I hadn't bowled for a LONG time. I think I rolled a 112 or something. Then the second game was my best ever. I'll remember the score for a long time (especially because I don't think I'll duplicate it any time soon) ... 199. It's especially memorable because on the last ball I had three pins left which I needed to get all of them in order to get the magically 200. Well, I missed one. Oh well. The last game I think I rolled a 159 which is probably the second best game I've ever rolled (and shows how much better than normal I did in the second game). It could have been even better if I would have score more than 38 pins in the first four frames.*

*Look at me using all these bowling terms. I am totally a Wisconin man now what with my bowling league-yness and all.

This night also marked an improvement for the Ham Fighters* in that we picked up 5 of a possible 7 points, this against one of the best teams in the league. Perhaps this will move us out of the league cellar!

*Did you forget the name of our team? Go Ham Fighters Go!

Delinquent again ...

The blog has fallen on hard times, due in large part to the excitement being experienced by the head blogger over a couple of Christmas presents he is currently creating.*

*Yes, I have no excuses, but I have been pretty wrapped up in some projects that I've been working on. I've been spending all my free moments on those instead of blogging. Hopefully the end result will be three cool presents with the sum total cost of exactly $0.**

**I'm very happy with that price tag since Cyndie and I decided this year to try to cut back a bit and make some things!! Oh, and I just remembered that I actually did but two things at Home Depot for a grand total of $3 and change. I stand corrected.

So, news of note (or perhaps not of note, but I'll ramble on here anyway since there is no one to stop me!):

• We've had quite a bit of snow over the last several days. I think I was out shoveling and snow blowing 4 or 5 times. It makes the trees (especially) look awesome though ... all of them are covered with snow and it makes a quick look out the window seem like a scene from White Christmas.
• We've had a few sniffles here and there, but no one is getting sick, which is great!
• We've had some troubles with obedience lately, so we've instituted a points scheme where the kids are rewarded for good behavior. So far, so good ... obedience levels are up across the board.
• Cyndie spent some time with Mom working on a sewing Christmas present. Aren't we crafty!
• It's cold today, but the weather is supposed to warm as the week progresses finishing at 45 or so degrees by Friday. I'm hoping that will take care of the layer of ice that's currently on the driveway.
• Sunday night we went over the Auntie's Karens apartment and helped server soup for her Christmas Soup Supper. I also played the guitar for the caroling. That was fun.
• Saturday morning we had Auntie Karen and my mom and dad over for breakfast to celebrate Mom's birthday.

That about does it. I make no blog frequency promises, but hopefully we'll be doing better the rest of the week!

Typical Days

There's not a whole lot exciting to report here. School, work, play. Last night Cyndie went to a women's Christmas dinner at the local mega-church* with one of her friends from sailing and my mom. She had a really nice time. Dad came for dinner and to hang out for a bit. He helped me work on the Christmas present that I'm making for Timmy. I think I'm almost done!

*I think mega-church is a relative term here ... perhaps how I should have described it is as the biggest church of the area ... 600 - 800 people.

Today Cyndie has a play group from MOPS over this morning as well as Timmy having a play date with the neighbor girl, Ari.

So that's the story!

Snow and driving

I'm in at the office today to meet with the project lead and go over status and a few other things. This means that the nice snow that I see out the window will make my drive home ... shall we say ... challenging? We're supposed to get around 4 inches of snow, some of which is turning to slop on the wet roads. Should be a fun drive home!

On the kid front, Emma asked yesterday if she could get a hair cut to around chin length. I'm not sure where that originated, but Cyndie gave her a hair cut*! It looks cute ... kind of sassy (to steal a word from Auntie Laura).

*Pictures will be provided at a later date ... when we've actually taken one, and when I'm at home to upload it.

Yesterday held more sledding for the Timmster. That boy loves to hit the slopes. He was pretty pooped by dinner time though.

Enjoying the snow

So not a whole lot new to report on this Tuesday. Mostly it's been the normal work/school/errands/etc. The kids sledded for an hour or so yesterday after Emma got home from school ... until it got too dark. Timmy was previously out a bit during the day. We did a run to the library and got some new books and checked out a copy of White Christmas* to watch and get us in the holiday mood.

*Someone has stolen my copy of this classic movie. Whoever has done so will be sure to pay a large price ... that's one of my all time favorites!!!

So that's about the extent of it!

Catchup ... I guess

I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to document the entire long weekend. There was lots of food, family, football ... and of course, fun.

Thursday was the progressive Thanksgiving dinner ... appetizers at Auntie Karen's, dinner at Mom and Dad's, dessert at our place. Friday we put our Christmas decorations and did some work outside in the yard. Saturday we went down to Dave and Amy's for the day. Yesterday was church, then a bit of rushed work in the yard as the snow started and we tried to get all the cut trees picked up and the wood stacked ... mission accomplished! I also cleared out the kids sled run in preparation for several months of sledding.

We got about 6 or 8 inches of snow last night, so this morning was getting the snow blower out and started (took a little effort!).

Here are a few pix from the last day. I don't have any from Thanksgiving ... Cyndie must have already taken them off the camera.

Snow has come to Wisconsin ... and the Dragon's Lair shows it!

This is the teepee I made for the kids at the end of their sled run. Emma is very into Native Americans (didn't they used to be Indians ... I'm so politically incorrect) right now. She's been studying them in school in conjunction with Thanksgiving. As a result, she was doubly excited.

As a time killer between dinner and bed time, we decided a dip in the jacuzzi might be fun ... so in we went!
As I sit here and type this, Cyndie and Timmy are outside sledding. Timmy LOVES to sled. He'll stay out there for hours. I can see that he's picking up right where he left off last year.