Christmas 2007

We had a great time with my mom and my brother and his girlfriend Kristen. We ate really well and had a nice time watching to boys open presents. Here are some photos; included in this album are several shots from our visit later in the week with Libby's brother and SIL Uncle David and Aunt Brenda. Here's Eli on his new bike; and here is Briggs on his. Above Briggs is showing off his new watch and Spiderman sweater. Though you can't see them, he's also showing off some new firefighter boots!

Two great tastes that taste great together

The last time we had pizza a couple of weeks ago, Briggs got onto the topic of his favorite foods. Those are pizza and chicken nuggets. The next day when he was suggesting (as he does every day) what he wanted for supper (always either pizza or nuggets), I suggested a "chicken nugget pizza." He was stock still in his tracks! He barely could comprehend a meal of his two most favorite things at once. We agreed that next time we had pizza his could be a chicken nugget pizza.

Tonight was the night. It was heightened by the fact that the nuggets had dinosaur shapes! One half was "his" pizza; the other was Eli's usual pepperoni. FWIW Libby had green pepper and ham; I had barbecued chicken and red onion. Next stop for Briggs, the virtues of "tastes great; less filling!"

Elf-ed

Too cute! Take a gander here!

Stupid Cat

She's not looking at anything; she's asleep! The cat has found the heat rising from the basement wood stove to be a real enticement. She likes to be near the vent where the heat rises into the living room. On the floor, on the sofa, on the arm of the sofa, as long as she's near the heat, she's very happy. So I thought she was just looking at the floor while enjoying the heat. But no; I nudged her head and she didn't move. She was totally asleep! Amazing. The other shot is from below. You can just make out her face between the arm of the sofa and the wood top of the side table. I expected to see a trail of drool dribbling from the corner of her mouth!

Christmas Party

We kind of missed doing a party for Eli's birthday, so we made up by doing a Christmas party with several of his buds. They played with Legos, watched "Fire House Dog" and decorated cookies. A lunch of hot dogs and chips completed the day. Here are some photos. Merry Christmas to Sam F., Matt B., and Ian K. from all of us!

Christmas decorations

Here are some shots from around the house
with our decorations up. Libby says the wreath
is probably her best one yet. The house looks
very nice at night with single white candles
in each window (very Richmond) and the
front stoop lit up. I'll try to get a picture of
that later. We also have stockings yet to hang,
so I'll get that later too. We got our own
tree this year from a farm (Doug Harrell near Spruce Pine, NC); it's nearly 8 feet tall.

At last

Painting's done. Including the little hallway in the upstairs. The same weekend I finished the painting, I built this bookcase. It did it in between coats of paint upstairs. I tried some mitred edges on the trim of the bookcase. One of the four actually met and looks nice, the others needed a little bit of wood putty. Hate the orange color; it's supposed to be maple. But in the basement it will be fine. Notice it's already pretty much full!