Christmas Spirit

"Nativity" by Brian Kershisnik

Oh Christmas Tree

Here's our little Christmas tree.

The gorgeous decorations were made possible by Mica and Phil's early Christmas present.  When I was in Utah over Thanksgiving, Mica and I made a day of it and got all of these decorations together at Tai Pain Trading.  It was so much fun and I think it turned our rather well, don't you?  I also got the idea for the pom-pom strings you see there from Tai Pan Trading.  I think it adds a little somethin'.  This pretty tree was up the first weekend of December and besides the fact that I'm allergic to it, it's really made our home feel cozy as well as full of the Christmas spirit.  It almost looks fake, it's so perfect.  We love it.

The Nutcracker

My mother-in-law gave me an early Christmas present this week.  

Last night we went to see The Nutcracker performed by the Moscow Ballet at our own little Paramount Theatre.  Thank goodness for such a beautiful venue that allow these incredible acts to come through town!

I'm so glad I found this video, so you can get a glimpse of exactly what we saw last night!  It was such a great production and definitely put me in a Christmas mood.  I was mesmerized the entirety of the show and felt simply giddy afterward. What a fabulous Christmas present.

So grateful for Diana.  She and I have such fun being nerds together.  We got a few honks and thumbs-up from passing cars after these poses.

Fun story: after the ballet we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and while we were in line at the register I saw a bunch of the Russian male ballet dancers walk past in their leather jackets and fancy jeans.  Diana was quick to the bait and suggested we go tell them what a nice job they did.  I'm a chicken and thought we shouldn't (especially because I doubted most of them spoke any English.)  Diana's response:  "Um... I need a gallon of milk," and quickly took off in direction of the dancers.  So we stopped a few of them to shake their hand and tell them what a wonderful job they did.  And yeah... they didn't speak much English but what fun!  And they were so much shorter in person.  Moral of the story:  I have a rockin' mother-in-law and last night was a blast.

Happy Christmas/can't believe Christmas is this weekend!  Hooray!

Jesus Christ The Apple Tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

That's What Christmas Is All About Charlie Brown

Idiot Glee

This is Ian's brother James.  I've mentioned Idiot Glee before... but I thought I'd share some of his work.  He's makin' quite the name for himself.  We're all feeling idiot glee for him.

Happy Day

Don't Go Out Tonight

All Packed Up

Jamie's Song

filmed and edited by Ian.  Woot, woot!

New Member

Just wanted to welcome the newest member of our family.  I can't get over how gorgeous Mica and Phil's kids are.  There may be some bias in that statement but I'm sure plenty would agree. Congratulations you guys.  We can't wait to meet him.

Old News

Way back when, when we were on our way to Utah for Thanksgiving... I busted my arm.  I suffer from night terrors sometimes.  In our hotel in Wyoming, Ian woke up just in time to watch me launch myself off the end of our bed and trip over the bench that was there.  I wasn't aware of what was going on until a jolting pain in my arm woke me up and I quickly realized I was on the floor.  It's been an adventure.  It wasn't fun to be without an arm for all of Thanksgiving but ya know.  It made me realize all of the little things I take for granted-- and thus made me extra grateful this year.  The E.R in Wyoming told me I had a buckle fracture below my elbow.  We then sent the X-Rays to an old Orthopedic friend of ours only to find that it was impossible to be a buckle fracture (both because of my age and the location of the 'fracture') and as far as he could tell (from the poor X-Rays that were taken), it was a compression fracture.  Now I'm back in Kentucky and have come to find that my bone is now fine, but the muscles in my arm are not aligned.  Which doesn't feel that great.  I'm not real crazy about the medical field right now.  My arm is doing loads better than it was though.  I can write and type again.  And sleep normally.  And dress and shower in regular time again.  So that's all.  Thought I'd share.  Don't know why.  Maybe to remember it or something. See ya.

Coupla Songs

Cute song.  Even if it was on some goofy commercial.

Thanks to Sophie for sharing.

Hula Hoop Coach

Does such a thing exist you ask?

Yes, my friends.  It does.


As I mentioned a while back, I am currently working with AmeriCorps.  It's a long day at Catlettsburg Elementary, what, with tutoring math during the day coupled with a massive amount of planning, then running around like a mad man for the after-school program once the bell rings.  It's certainly been an experience.  I've learned a lot, gone insane a couple of times and overall really enjoyed myself.  One of the biggest endeavors thus far has been... hula-hooping.  Back in August my boss asked me if I could hula-hoop.  Thinking to myself: 'well yes, I can keep a hula hoop going'-- I answered with a semi-confident "Yeah, I'm not too bad."  It all happened so fast.  My boss asked me if I'd form a team of kids to hula-hoop and then introduced me to the program called 'Hoopersize.'   She showed me this video:



The woman in that video you see there, Miss Kellee as she is called, has apparently made millions with her DVD of hula-hoop tricks.  After watching the entirety of the DVD my confidence of hula-hooping didn't hold up so well.  My boss looked at me with a large, excited smile in expectation for my now promised hooper team.  I couldn't refuse.

I thought if I took a little time with it, I could get it and it'd be no big deal.  Let me tell ya.  This stuff is hard, yo.  I took this DVD home with a borrowed shiny pink hula hoop and I honestly did my best to follow along.  To no avail.  Apparently, hula-hooping for ten minutes is the equivalent to running a mile.  At first I scoffed at that.  I no longer scoff.  This woman, and all the kids she has with her, will jump while hula-hooping (an alley-oop), kneel while hooping (the munchkin), jump and spin(180 and 360) while hooping,  lay down on the ground while spinning hula hoop on the arm (the mummy) etc etc etc

ANYWHO... even though I couldn't do any of the tricks I ventured forth to form a hooper team with the after-school kids.  Luckily for me, these students were able to follow the DVD a lot better than I could, and a few of them already knew tricks from the year before.  These kids are awesome.  I was able to come up with a routine to music and we've now performed twice.  Once at a mall event, and once for a district wide assembly for families.  Ian was out of town for the first performance, but my mother-in-law sweetly came along to watch.  She thought it was cute but also laughed saying "I've never seen you act so peppy before!"  I do kind of... speak into a microphone and... prod them along in the routine that is semi-narrated by me.  I've surprised myself at how into it I get.  I jump around.... say things like "when I say hooper you say size.... HOOPER SIZE HOOPER SIZE."  It's certainly been an adventure.  And it's sucked up all my time believe it or not.  And besides shaking my head and thinking... never in a bajillion years would I have thought that I'd be a hula-hoop coach... it's been a blast.   I even had my one (and only) first grader point at me in the hall and nudge his pals saying "That's my hooper coach!"

I am so awesome.

And yeah... a lot of the kids will drop their hula hoops during the performance.  Or they'll bump into each other and cause a domino effect of dropped hoops.  And more than half of my kids on the team can't actually hula hoop but can keep it going on their arm while sporting a rockstar stance.  But hey, it's hula-hooping.  And my number one rule as a coach is to have fun.  Which they all scream in response when I ask them what my number one rule is.  Whoda thunk.

So Ian did finally come home from filming a trial in Atlanta, GA and was able to come to our second big performance.  Haha. So he snagged a couple of pictures for me.

And guess what.  We got a standing ovation.  

Which I understand was after 5 separate choirs performing that each lasted twenty minutes long.... 

And ours not only had movement and color, but only lasted two minutes

But hey-- I'll take it.

An Old Adventure

 A while back Ian and I made a trip to Columbus, OH.  On our way home we stopped at Renick's Family Market.  It was one of those awesome Autumn things to do.

 Apple cider slushies.  Oh my giddy aunt.

So good.

 Nerds.  

Halloween Decor

I hear ya Mica, I hear ya.

Happy Halloween!

Yeah... my halloween has been up for almost two weeks already.  Semi-early.  But hey-- I love halloween.  Halloween is my celebration of Autumn, fun times and family.  And last year was kind of a dumb halloween.  We had very minimal celebration on account of busyness and stress.  We didn't even dress up.  Boo.  So this year-- I gave myself a head start and have loved every minute of it.

It all started with this little pumpkin guy.  Ian, Holly and I went out and about in the new Fall weather a couple weekends ago and explored downtown Ashland.  It was pretty perfect.  The weather was that beginning crisp cold of Fall combined with the warmth of the afternoon sun.  Gorgeous.  I confess, I was on the lookout for classic halloween items.  I'm kinda low on my decor and was hoping to stumble onto something that spoke to me. We stopped into this shop that I've been curious about for a while because I pass it every day on the way to work.  I was not disappointed.  A few things spoke to me in the shop, but I couldn't pass up this happy jack-o-lantern with a witch hat.  It even opens up on top and is currently filled with halloween treats.  Soon to be inhaled and gone.  Once I had this pumpkin on hand I couldn't help but begin the years decorations.

Thanks to my sister Mica I did have these cute 'spooky' blocks from last year that we made... but besides this we really didn't have much.  It was kinda anticlimactic.  I was all in a flutter to decorate and when I had finished with the few items we had (cobwebs, these blocks, a cute print and a couple cute apothecary jars)  Ian looked at me and said "That's it?"  I was glad for this reaction as it gave me an excuse to shop.  Wahoo! So it was 9:30 at night and I made my way to Wal-Mart being careful not to spend above $5 on any one item.

Creepy window treatment: $3.50

  Black card-stock:$2.00 (Martha Stewart idea)

 I even made pillows!  When I finished with them (within the 24 hours of this madness) I was kind of shocked at myself.  Since when do I have a project in my head and execute that project right away?  Never?  It's amazing what a little excitement and determination can accomplish.  I found some black reject fabric at Wal-Mart for $1.50 for the spider and crow, and with leftover white fabric, silhouettes I found online and an unused pillow for stuffing I had me a couple halloween pillows. 

 Nine glittery black spiders (now all over the house): $2.00

 To die for cute adorable print by Sarah Jane Studios given to me by Mica

Adorable crochet vampire ornament-- gift from my mother-in-law :)

Ain't he cute? 

 Trick-or-Treat Tree: $5.00 total for bug suckers and lollipops

Branches found in woods surrounding my apartment

 "The Raven" displayed in the typewriter?  Priceless.  Bah haha.  What a nerd. Ignore me.

  Adorable Halloween garland: $3.50 from Target (love Target)

I know this garland would be better with a fireplace mantle, but for now... it works.

 Cheese cloth for ghosts: $2.20,

 Ghoulish ghost bucket: $2.50 from Target, 

Tablecloth from last year $4.00

Okay, so those items add up.  But still.  Fairly inexpensive for a halloween makeover.  I've had fun.  The house feels cozier somehow and I'm looking forward to halloween that much more.  Now if I could only figure out who (or what) I'm going to dress up as this year... 

Autumn in Our Central Park

Ian's Europe

I've chosen but a few pictures of Ian's adventures with his brother James.  He had an amazing time. 

London-- Sheffield--Leeds-- New Castle-- Brighton-- Venlo-- Amsterdam-- Stockholm-- Berlin-- Hamburg-- Tilburg back to London