Farewell, Foxtrot!

As most of you know, Jeff and I are big comic strip fans. One of our favorites is Foxtrot, by Bill Amend. He's been doing the strip for 19 years now, and Jeff has been reading it for most of those years! We have several books/treasuries and we really enjoy the family dynamics. There's Roger, the bumbling Dad; Andy, the work-at-home Mom; Peter, the 16 year old eating machine; Paige, the 14 year old fashionista; Jason, the 10 year old uber-nerd; and Quincy, Jason's iguana. Now for the sad news -- Bill Amend has decided to expand his universe by scaling back on his comic strip. As of today, he will no longer be inking daily strips, and will only be doing Sundays. So, Amend joins the ranks of such greats as Bill Watterson and Gary Larson, who retired long before we were ready for them to! You can check out Foxtrot at this link, and you can see Bill Amend's website here.

"I'll Be Home For Christmas"

(Eh, just turn your head sideways to see the top picture -- I can't figure out how to rotate it!)

Here are a couple of pictures of Jeff and me in costume at the musical, as Norma and the "Newscaster". The close up was taken at the Commerce Cultural Center, where we performed. The dress I'm wearing is, I believe, authentic 1940's. The buttons are glass, and the zipper is metal, and it's "gently worn" as they say. I bought it on E-Bay for $5! A local antique store loaned the church about a dozen hats so that the choir would have a really authentic look. Jeff is wearing his dad's suspenders. Apparently men's fashions haven't changed a whole lot in 65 years!

Ballerina Girl

Katie is taking ballet again this year at Grove Level Baptist Church. She loves it, especially because her friend Lydia is in the class, also! They have performed twice this month. Once in front of the children's church, and once at a local nursing home. (In the picture taken at the church, Katie is kneeling just below the door.) They'll have another performance in the year end recital in May.

O Tannen Baum!

Because we moved to this house in January, this will be our first Christmas here! I had not given much thought to a Christmas tree, but one day Jeff said, "How in the world are we going to fit a tree in the living room?" Since practically the only solutions were to 86 the couch or suspend the tree from the ceiling fan in the middle of the room, we thought we would forego the tree this time. Fortunately, our friends the Cospers had a spare little tree that they let us borrow to put in our bay window. You can see in the picture that it's really pretty perfect! (They also gave us their tree trimmings to use as decorations.) A tradition that I began with our kids is to give them each an ornament every year. To represent their first year, I use their first baby shoes. Katie's is a little white crocheted bootie with pink ribbon and Joe's is a more traditional white leather shoe. The Willow Tree nativity scene was a Christmas gift from Jeff last year. I couldn't wait to set it up this year! (The books you see on the shelf beneath are Katie's school books.) Another tradition we do is to have an advent calendar, counting down the days until the birthday of the Saviour of the world. The tiny white stockings hanging across the mantel are what we use. Katie and Joe love taking turns opening a stocking each day to find the surprise inside. Well, they love the surprise part, not so much the taking turns part!

Poor Little Joe

Saturday morning Jeff rode with a friend to the high school state playoffs. The local team, Commerce, was playing Jeff's old school, Lincoln County, and Jeff was determined to go see the Red Devils win. (He wasn't disappointed!) I hated having to call him to tell him I was on the way to the emergency room with his son. Saturday afternoon Joseph was playing in his room and hit his head on the toy box, cutting himself above the right eye. (Just to the left of where he cut himself last time on the coffee table.) When I had him in the bathroom mopping up, assessing damage, Joe was fascinated with his reflection in the mirror. "My boo-boo!" he kept saying with a big grin. My friend Chrissy came and took Katie home with her and I took Joe on to the emergency room at the local hospital. Seven stitches were required to close up the cut and Joe and I both cried our way through the process. Fortunately we found a size three toddler football uniform, complete with pads and helmet, on e-Bay so we shouldn't have any more injuries.

New Layout

Blogger has updated their site and given people the option to upgrade and change their blogs. So, I'm experimenting with these options and adding information and generally trying to figure out how everything works now! I'll be done "tweaking" when I'm satisfied with how it looks. Until then, expect frequent changes!

Christmas Musical

Once again, pictures will have to wait until I get them developed, but I thought I'd go ahead and update everyone on what's been going on with us. Last weekend Jeff and I were in "I'll Be Home for Christmas" a 1940's themed Christmas musical. The story revolves around a family in 1941. The choir performs all the music and the shows that the family hears "on the radio". I played the mom, Norma, and even sang a duet! Jeff did a fabulous job as the newscaster who breaks in with updates about "the war in Europe" and delivers the news about Pearl Harbor. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad life can get back to normal now. Whatever that is!