December 31, 2011 – Endless Late October

It has indeed been an endless late October this so-called winter.  Here  we are at New Year’s Eve.

This afternoon, for example, it was in the upper 50’s a far cry from the common sub-zero usually on this day.


Heck, we were even able to get laundry out on the line!

December 30, 2011 – Emma at Citrus Bowl

The Bobcat Band has spent the last couple of years raising money for a bowl trip. This year they went to Orlando for the Citrus Bowl. The following photo came from another band parent.

No doubt I’ll have more on Emma’s trip when she returns with her camera.

December 24, 2011 – New Kind of Christmas Dinner

With Emma heading off with the Bobcat band to play in Orlando and in the Citrus Bowl parade (corporate sponsor intentionally left off), we couldn’t spend as much time as usual in Minnesota. So we were home Christmas Eve and after sugar-high crash, we were craving something green and fresh.

Linda made some spring rolls from scratch for the first time. We’ll work on the rolling, but they were still yummy!

Then it was a wok full of stir-fry for the main course.

December 23, 2011 – Christmas Chaos

More than anything, family Christmas gatherings seem to be more chaos management than Silent Night. I won’t pull out the smiling children in front of a Christmas Tree now (that may be coming later).

This photo captures much in its ordinariness.  People gather around the appetizers in the kitchen while Martin receives instruction from his uncles regarding sound effect production.

Middle child often gets left out of family publications, so to make it up to her, I found her doing dishes while her siblings were off playing and having fun.  Great Christmas memories for Emma, for sure!