Bustin' A Move

Natalie had her Winter Dance Showcase on Saturday. Photography is prohibited at the Spring show so I fired up the camera for this one.

(Nat's the one in the back)
 

 

Then she got her dad out there for the Father/Daughter dance. So fun!

It was right about here that Jill and I later admitted to getting all choked up! 

It sure looked like she was having fun...

...especially when she could show Dad who's boss!

It's times like these that I bet Jon's glad Natalie's such a petite little gal.

 

Mindy took video of the dance so I can't wait to see that since my whole perspective was through my viewfinder.

These two should be proud of their performance! I thought it was neat that the lady said the kids aren't going to remember if their dads made a misstep or were out of synch but they ARE going to remember that their dads did this dance with them!

Our stars of the show!



Happy Brrrrrrrthday!

Mom has always contended that January 25th is, typically, the coldest day of the year. 29 years ago we were warmed from the inside out when Tony made his appearance in our world!

On this January 25th I don't know if the weather story is the cold or the wind. If you have trouble blowing out your candles, Tony, maybe the wind can help. Happy birthday! 



Birthday Greetings

Happy birthday, Mindy!

OCB on a warm day yesterday was a great birthday/anniversary celebration. And now... back to winter! 



It Was A Cold Day In...

...Blooming Grove! 68 years ago today my folks were married in a small, country church with two steeples.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!



It Wasn't What It Is!

We have this magnet that Cate noticed in amongst the rest...

...I think most of you will get the meaning. We told her it just means no cows in the house but her eyes see a buffalo so be forewarned...it's posted...No Buffaloes here either! :) 



Water Bomb. Highly Recommended!

I just get sick to my stomach when we start having water issues. Thursday night about 10:00 Jill says "Oh no! What's this?!" There around the floor drain in the basement was a big puddle of the dish water...suds and all...she'd just emptied from the kitchen sink. That in itself isn't so bad but we have an iron filter that dispels water into that drain for thirty minutes every other night and if this was the night I knew we'd be in trouble. We got the filter bypassed and got a plumber to come already at 9:00 the next morning. After cleaning out what didn't look like THAT much sludge he gave me some advice for preventive measures.  A "water bomb" once a month!

He said it's the best thing you can do and he does it at his house every month. Fill up your sinks and bathtubs and empty them all at once. The volume and pressure of all that water knocks the gunk through from some 1 1/2" pipe to a 4" one. You might think that sounds like wasting a lot of water and maybe it is but the cost of it is nothing compared to a plumber...$130 for an hour's work!



A Timely Show

Movie day today. At the lofty recommendation of two of our favorite families we went to see the Disney animated "Frozen" this afternoon.

Two thumbs up! (Well, four if you count both hands.) And what could have been a more appropriate show when we only just recently climbed above zero degrees!? 



Who Would Buy It?!

There was this hat at Walmart...

...that should have been on the clearance or free pile. Nobody in their right mind would buy a Vikings hat that's green and gold! Ewwww!



First Project Of The New Year

We need to do some serious organizing and storing in the basement! I put together this storage cube yesterday...

...Jill's been going through some stuff already down there but I'm sure she needs me to help her decide which things can be eliminated! My philosophy is, if we haven't used it yet we're probably not going to and IF we decide we need what we may have gotten rid of we can go buy another one. Jill would rather keep EVerything, just in case!



Christmas Baking Rewind

We did some holiday cookie creation during December. Claire and Cate started it out with a Hello Kitty gingerbread house of their own design.

Mom and I managed to bake some thumbprints and Peanut Blossoms.

Jill being as......particular (anal!) as she is wasn't happy about the one red cookie in amongst the green.

Most of us were able to gather at Cher's to frost sugar cookie cutouts.

It was quite colorful and artistic this year.

Natalie and Harvey were particularly proud of their efforts!

 

 



Happy New Year!!

I always like even numbers better than odd ones so we wish for you that 2014 is even better than 2013!

The happiest of new years, Everyone!!