Little Drummer Ninja

Merry Christmas!

Meghan got a Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader so she can now buy digital books. No more paper books, she has entered the future of reading. Unfortunately, she won't get it until January 11th so she only has the gift certificate to show for it - poor Meghan. But it will be worth the wait with as many books as she reads. She also got a bunch of other cool stuff and Neema got her several hoodie sweatshirts (her favorite) and other clothes. She also handpainted her a pair of Twilight Converse high-top tennis shoes that are really cool. Neema and Papa sure know how to make Christmas special!
This is Michaels main gift... A set of drums that can be played with his X-box or like a real drum set. Neema and Papa got him a cool stool for the drum set (not in this picture) and some nice clothes and a GameCrazy gift card.
Chris got spoiled as well... Mom and Larry bought him this really cool popcorn maker that looks like a movie theater popcorn maker. He was so excited as soon as he got home he had to make some popcorn at midnight! They also got him a nice nuts, bolts & washer set, and a Harbor Freight gift card. I got him a Blue Ray player and some movies, a new wallet and some books.
I got totally spoiled this year! Although the above gifts look more like something for Chris, they are actually jewelry making tools that I have been wanting for a long time. I will be able to make true silver lined Pandora style beads that you see at major jewelry stores. And, most importantly, Chris got me an Ipod Touch so I can listen to music and go on the internet wherever I can find access.

All in all, we had a great Christmas this year. Hope everyone who reads this were equally as blessed :)

Managing Slush

Well, last week we had -24 degree frigid weather. This week it is 55 degrees and all the snow has melted and made our driveway a slush pit. So Chris had to get out and move the slush around so that when it gets cold again we don't have an ice-skating rink for a driveway.

Being that we don't have a garage, and we converted 1/2 of the carport into a bobcat habitat, Chris had to get creative to keep the quad dry until we build a garage next year. My parents gave us a chain-link dog run they weren't using and we made it into a make-shift quad garage.

Chris put Carly's jacket on and went in the house to get his gloves and came out to find that Carly was ready to go!

Nothing like a boy and his dog :)

And speaking of bobcat... We have completely finished the habitat. The last thing we had to do was build his den, which we did and it turned out nice.

Last Monday when it was -24 silly me thought that perhaps it was too cold out there for the bobcat. So at 6:30am I was out there getting him in his travel cage and bringing him in the house to lock him in the bathroom where it was nice and toasty. Later that day, when the kids got home from school, Mikey let the dogs out to go potty and Mr. Fuzzybutt Bobcat reached his paw under the door and grabbed LiLi, our little Shih Tzu, playfully. But playing with a bobcat isn't very smart for a little dog. We thought he broke his leg and he had some nasty gashes from his claws but I managed to doctor him up and he was walking just fine in a couple days.

Just about done...

The big cat habitat is nearly done. We were able to put him in tonight, we just need to do some finishing touches on his "decor". But as you can see, he has much more room to play. We added his old cage on the outside, so he has a sunroom to play outside.

And this is a shot thru the chain link. We added one tree so far and we will add some more going in different angles so he can climb. Chris is going to build him a nicer "den" that will be high up off the ground.

This is him sharpening his claws on a tree log. He seems a lot smaller in the much bigger cage.

Timmmmmber!!!!!!!

Well, after making several phone calls over a few months I had to send a certified letter to the electric company to get them to come out and cut down 2 trees that were dead on our property. I sent the certified letter on Friday letting them know that if the tree should fall on our house (or the neighbors) our homeowners insurance company will hold them responsible. So today, Wednesday (just 3 business days later), they were here bright and early to cut our trees down. The power of the written word is amazing.

And these are Mikey's homemade pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Happy Fricken' Birthday to Me...

Poor Chris... Today is his birthday and we woke up to 9 inches of snow, and it's still falling. So that meant he had to get up and go plow the driveway, shovel the back patio and snow blow our walkways to the workshops.

Here is our patio table.

Exactly 9 inches at about 11:00am.

Habitat for Felinity

You have probably heard of the wonderful charity called "Habitat for Humanity", well this is kind of like that... We are building a house for a less fortunate cat :) Although he is going from an apartment to a mansion, he will actually be quite spoiled.

The whole family was involved today. Her is Mikey putting in heavy duty staples to fasten the caging down.

Meghan is digging a trench to bury the next wall.

This is the next wall being assembled that will go where Meghan dug the trench next to the boat. Notice the dusting of snow on the ground? It was a cold day but we were comfortable most of the day with just sweatshirts on. It didn't snow, that is leftover from a couple days ago.