Gingie house

Yeah, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet. 

But, you see, I found these bead Christmas ornament kits down in our store room -- I bought them back in 2006 or something -- and they were so cute, and Christmas was only a few weeks away, and we had a free afternoon, and these kits were just sitting there, waiting to be used, so....

We gathered around the table on the deck (this was a couple of weeks ago when it was just mildly cool outside), opened the kits and spilled the beans...er...beads on the crafting surface.

Some wire, some very small beads, some pliers, and a lot of concentration.

And giggles, because those tiny beads never stay where you put them, and several of them are now decorating the moist dirt beneath our deck.

And in the end, some festive little beaded gingerbread houses!

*Please disregard the somewhat maniacal look on my face.  We were having fun.  And I didn't use a chainsaw on anyone's body parts.*

Mr. Frosty

We got our first "real" snow last night.  Real, meaning enough to accumulate on the grass and actually have fun with.

It looked like this last night.

And like this today.

So after we picked up G'pa from the airport this morn (Yay!  G'pa is here for Thanksgiving!!), the girls used the afternoon to assemble a frozen humanoid-ish object.

The blue food coloring mouth which was meant to make him look cold actually just makes him look like he's drooling...blue.

He's adorable.

And will probably melt by tomorrow afternoon.  Because that's how fall snow works.

Birthday of the Week - #2

Two days after the festivities surrounding the anniversary of my birth, we celebrated the other birthday in our family -- Jenna!!

This was the one in which Karen and I became parents of all teenage girls.

Yes.  Jenna is thirteen.

Wowie, wow, wow.

The evening began with Karen's BBQ meatballs, at Jenna's request, of course.

Sorry no picture.  But they are little balls of sweet, slightly smoky, beefy delectability.  Definitely a party in your mouth.  Which is fitting, since we were fixin' to party outside our mouths.

Jen opened her presents.  First, Wreck This Journal.

It's a journal.  That you're supposed to wreck.  Hence the name.

Each page says to do stuff that you normally wouldn't do to a book.  Like wipe your feet on a page.  Or dribble and spit coffee.  Or scribble profusely.  Or tape fruit stickers to it.

It's demented fun.  Although Jenna has found that it seems overtly rebellious to purposefully destroy a book.  So while she's fascinated by much of it, she's admitted that some of it she can't do.  Yet.

I think with time, her inner tornado will let fly.

Next, her sisters gave her season three of Gilmore Girls.  I've written before about our affection for the Gilmore women.

Anya also gave Jenna a picture.  But first, the back story.

Anya is affectionate.  So is Jenna.  But Jenna does have a strong sense of personal space when it comes to Anya. 

So Anya tries to hug Jenna.  And Jenna squirms away from the hugs.

Anya attempts to snuggle up to Jenna.  And Jenna swats her away.

So Anya drew a picture to commemorate their...complicated relationship.

The parents also gave her a box full of crafty fun:  crayons, markers, glitter glue, colored pencils; and all of it in a wonderful container, perfect for storing crafty items. 

I'm not sure which she liked more, the box itself or the items in it.

Next was a Wii game.

The look of surprise is not so much, "Oh I can't believe they got me this!  It's just what I wanted!", but more, "Oh I can't believe they got me this!  I never even thought of this before!"

We took it back and got a Wii game she really did want.

Next was a gift card from G'pa.  You really can't go wrong with that gift.

 Her favorite candy bar and some nice cash for the wallet from Grandma & Paka.

And once all the gifts were opened, we got to dig into the always luscious, oh-so-moist, tantalizing, fabulous chocolate strawberry torte.

A perfect cap to a wonderful day.

Happy birthday to our thirteen year old baby! (sniff, sniff...they're all getting so old...)