Parkinson New Years Celebration

We were lucky to have our great friends, the Jorgensens, come and stay with us for a few days to celebrate the new year. It snowed about an inch in 30 minutes on New Year's Eve.

And of course, we played LOTS of Settler's of Catan. I think I won the most.

Jason decided it would be fun to do sparklers with the kids. It was so cold outside that everyone did their sparklers as fast as they could so that they could get back inside.

Fondue!!

The kids kept busy with the Playstation while we were playing Settlers. I think Ashley stayed in her pajamas the whole time the Jorgensens were visiting.

Parkinson Christmas

Christmas Eve"Hey! Hey! Unto you a Child is born!"

Christmas Day

More new dresses.

Christmas Girls

Here are some pictures of the girls in their new Christmas dresses courtesy of Grandma Parkinson. Sara was her usuall uncooperative self and Melissa met the pavement in a little playground accident last week, so the pictures aren't great, but they're my girls!!

Snow Day

This is what a REAL snow day looks like, Nickell! The kids were a little disappointed because they had a field trip planned today, but once they went out to play, they forgot all about it. The sad thing is that now they have to go to school on Monday! There is more snow in the forecast for Sunday, so maybe we'll get lucky and have another snow day.

Meet Holly

The parakeet that we found in the driveway in Blacksburg, Polly, died last week. She was old when I found her and I honestly didn't expect her to live as long as she did! Her mate, Pete, was VERY distraught, so we got him a new friend and the girls chose the name Holly. She is beautiful!! The two birds are getting along great and now Pete is back to his old self again.

Graham Cracker Tradition

Time for the traditional decorating of the gingerbread (graham cracker) houses.

It's VERY serious business. Even Sara was really getting into it. She had frosting all over her face.

The finished products. From left to right--mine, Ashley's, Rachel's, Jason's, Sara's and Melissa's.

Here's our complete village on top of my new fireplace. If you look really carefully, you can see some flames. It's working great now!!

Our Tree

This is the first year we have ever bought a real tree. We were given an artificial tree for a wedding present and have used it for the last ten years, but this year I told Jason we are buying a real one no matter what. I took $30 cash with us to the tree lot so that I wouldn't be tempted to spend more. With that amount we both expected to come home with a three or four foot tree, instead, we came away with a ten foot Douglas Fir. Turns out trees are cheap here in PA! If it looks sparsely decorated, it's because it is. We don't have enough lights, tinsel, or ornaments to fill up a tree this size, but it smells so great and I love it!!