Weekend Numbers

5: the number of concession stands we helped set up Friday night for the Holiday Hoop Tournament at 5 schools
4: the number of games Noah played in one day (they won 3 and lost 1, placing 3rd)
1134: the dollars spent on food for the concession stands at Costco by me ( to be reimbursed later after I take back the
unopened cans of nacho cheese sauce and chili)
135: the number of hot dogs sold
39: the number of teams who participated grades 4-8
14: the number of hours spent at the tournament yesterday

I had to be at my station yesterday morning by 7:00 AM to start the coffee and put the gluey nacho cheese sauce in the crockpots to make nachos later in the day. I could feel my intestines tying themselves up in knots just looking at that disgusting yellow goo.

The first games of the day started at 8:00 AM. Noah played at 8, 10, 3, and 7. If they'd won the 7:00 PM game they would have played in the championship game at 8:00 PM. After such a long day the boys just ran out of gas. After shutting down the sites and cleaning up it was after 9:00 PM before we got to head home. It was a very long tiring day. I didn't get to see Noah's first game because the teams who were supposed to run the stand I set up didn't show up so I was stuck there until I could recruit some workers. Despite the stress of not having enough people to work concessions and trying to keep on track of all the games going on at five different sites around town it was a fun day.

But today we've all been lying around resting. The most strenuous activity I engaged in today was putting new sheets on the bed. Tomorrow the Christmas tree comes down and I'll get to work on updating photo albums. Since we went to school through the 21st we don't have to go back till the 7th. It's nice having a long break after the holidays are over.

Merry Christmas

As you can see by the clock in the photo of the aftermath of opening presents we had an early morning. All the presents were opened by 7:00 AM. Video games, movies, and clothes were the most prevalent items. We don't get toys at our house any more. After a breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls we played Kabookii on the Wii. It's a version of the board game Cranium. The kids beat the grownups. Then we watched Zac Ephron, John Travolta, and company in "Hairspray." Our ham feast was followed by a chilly walk around the neighborhood. We had snow mixed with rain during our midday dinner. It definitely felt cold enough to snow during our walk. The Sonics play the Trailblazers tonight so I'm sure we'll watch the game later. Last night Forrest talked to his family since they do most of their celebrating Christmas Eve. I talked to my folks this afternoon in Portland. Today was a nice, quiet day at home. The rest of this week won't be so quiet as we head towards the tournament that our league hosts on the first Saturday after Christmas. It's a one day basketball tournament that runs from 9:00 AM till 9:00 PM. I'm helping coordinate the concession stands at 3 or 4 different sites. I'll be one of those ladies at Costco later this week pushing one of the large flat carts.

Yule Log

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Check out the history of the yule log TV phenomenon.

Real Trees vs. Fake "Trees"

I am firmly in the real tree camp. We always had real trees growing up. For several years we had live trees which we later planted in the yard. Live trees are very heavy. It's a pity no one every videotaped our efforts to wrestle the heavy potted trees into the house on my brother's skateboard. Later in my childhood we discovered local tree farms where we could cut our own tree. My parents have gone to the same farm for years. The county where we live has several Christmas tree farms. We've tried several of them during our 18 years of marriage. I figure that I'm supporting a local farmer when we choose to cut our own tree, and after the holidays the tree is recycled into mulch for local parks. The only time we've bought a cut tree was one Christmas when Forrest was horribly sick with bronchitis. And even though we didn't cut it down it did come from a local farmer.

Fake trees are not natural. They don't smell wonderful. They eventually end up in a landfill as garbage. Enough said.

I Forgot the Decorating Photos

As you can see the kids had to stand on the back of the couch and on the piano to decorate the biggest tree we've ever had. I had quite the odyssey trying to buy more lights on Sunday. Two months ago when Costco first put out their LED lights I bought a string of 100 soft white lights. That is enough lights for the smaller trees we ususally buy. But not enough for this monster. So I went back to Costco and they were completely out of LED lights. I proceeded to try Lowe's. They were out too. My last store was Ace Hardware where I was finally able to buy LED lights. However, these were bright white, not soft white. There's definitely a difference when you put them next to each other on the tree. I guess December 9th is too late to shop for lights.

Busy Weekend

Two basketball games for Noah, ice skating with friends and taking her written driver's license test for Alyssa, hunting for and arguing about the perfect Christmas tree, and a birthday party for one of the kids Alyssa babysits.

Alyssa passed her test, she'll take the behind the wheel portion on Dec. 27th and if she passes it she'll be officially licensed on Feb. 1st. Noah's team won both of their games. The first one by more than 30 points and the second by more than 20.

Sunday morning dawned cold and snowy. Our house always looks more festive when it's snowing. The Christmas tree farm just down the road was beautiful covered in snow. We tramped through the snow and admired the views. We finally decided on a beautiful 12' tree. It's a gorgeous, full, Grand Fir, very aromatic. The whole house smells great. Amazingly enough we got this huge tree for $25.00. It should have been $35, but the owners of the farm didn't feel like measuring and just let us have it for the under 10 foot price. Since no one plays the piano in our house any more we decided to take full advantage of our vaulted ceiling and place our big tree in the middle of the living/dining room blocking the piano.

The birthday party was at a place called 3,2,1 Bounce. It's a huge warehouse building filled with a variety of bouncy houses, the kind you see at carnivals. It has become a favorite party spot for the kids of our friends. This is the third party we've been to at 3,2,1 Bounce in the past six months. The little cutie Alyssa is posing with is the sister of the birthday boy.

Hey Check out the Elfs click below

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1207634211

Everything Runs Together

Children's sports schedules are crazy. I just paid Noah's AAU basketball fees right after Thanksgiving to the tune of nearly $150.00, and tonight I have to go sign him up for Little League. Then they have tryouts in January and practices start the first of March which is right after the basketball end of season tournament. Football sign-ups are in April with tryouts in May, gear hand-out the last weekend of July, and practices every day for three hours starting August 1st. The month of July is the only month without sports for Noah.

Basketball has the most reasonable schedule. Tryouts in October, practices start in November and the season starts Thanksgiving weekend. I don't understand why baseball sign ups are so early this year. Maybe the league is afraid they'll lose kids to the new arena football league that has sign ups in February, so they're trying to get kids to commit to baseball early. That's the only explanation that makes sense. I think this might be Noah's last year of baseball. He's toying with the idea of participating in track next year when he's old enough to do middle school sports. He'd like to try shotput and discus.

I guess our sports commitments mirror the holidays. Some stores are already marking down their Christmas decor and it's only the first week of December. They have to make way for the Valentine's stuff.

Stormy Beginnings

Wow! December sure has started with a bang. We had snow, sleet, icy temperatures, white out conditions, and slick streets all day Saturday and into Sunday. Today the temperature is 20 degrees warmer than Saturday's high and flood watches are on all the rivers through Wednesday. It's breezy here, but on the Oregon and Washington coast wind speeds over 100 mph have been clocked this morning. Forrest is waiting to see if he'll have flood watch duty any time this week. His shift to patrol the dikes of Skagit county during a flood is 6 PM-6 AM. Hopefully if they're going to send him out tonight they'll send him home early this afternoon to sleep for a few hours. The photos I've posted are from late Sunday morning. As you can see it was snowing very hard, but it wasn't cold enough to stick. Usually we can see the island and Port Susan beyond the trees, but as you can see we were all socked in and our view was hidden.

I'm at school with no children today. It's our report card day. However, since we went to an online grading program that the parents can access all the time I don't have reports to fill out. Right now I'm waiting around for my music and library grades so I can finish updating the online system. Then I'll have the rest of the day to get things ready for my December arts and crafts projects.

Since Forrest and I didn't go away for our anniversary in October as we usually do I took him on an overnight trip to Seattle over the weekend for his birthday. We had a great time Christmas shopping, going out for coffee, eating out, and seeing the beautiful Christmas decorations.