Christmas tree-as per request

Here is our tree this year. We changed it up since last year, in the living room rather than the family room (since it has furniture this year!). We had a lot less drama so far when it comes to the tree. Last year we bought a real tree which tipped over as I was finishing the decorating and broke several ornaments, which made me cry. Then, we got it to stay put and the sucker dried out like you wouldn't believe, can you say fire trap? So German brought home a fake tree that I hated and vetoed immediately. Luckily it went back to the store easily. We went out and bought a tree at Target and were happy with it. This year it seemed much easier. Dad and G. put it up-did you know that the branches are color-coded to help you put it together? Who knew?! I decorated it (with some help from Sof) and we were basically done! The lights were a bit of a trauma, German had to mess with them a bit three nights after I thought we were done! Keep your fingers crossed for us that nothing crazy happens this year! The lights outside the house are a story for another time!

Fall walk in the woods

Ok- I have torn myself away from the finale of Dancing with the Stars to enter this blog. On the day after Thanksgiving, my dad suggested we take a hike in the park near my house that we cross country skiied in last winter. Rather than brave the crowds at the malls, I thought it would be great! We bundled up and hit the nature trail. Here are some shots from that day. It was snowy but sunny and SUPER cold. There isn't anything I'd rather do on a day off than spend it with such nice scompanions!

Testing with a picture!

AS you can see I am being cautious about how easy this is to do. I am going to add a cute photo of Sof and later I'll upload some more recent pictures from our camera. Sof's shirt says Born to Read (for those of you that need translation). She is a hoot and having fun learning her letters and sounds and insists on being read to every night, even if she is practically asleep already! Right now she is "helping" me with Christmas decorations by wrapping herself up in bead garland! More to come! Thanks for your patience!

First new blog

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I am again attempting to find a way to blog about my life to share with people far away (Andy, Novaks) and those I don't see enough who are close. So here's another try!

After our leftover dinner, I'll try to add some lovely pictures of a walk we took in the woods today!