Brrrrr!!

This morning when I went to work it was 18 degrees below zero! Right before I left for work there was a phone call from the school saying that all the schools in our county were going to be delayed 2 hours. Then, one hour later, there was another call saying school was cancelled. So I had to work and the girls got to stay home. Brad stayed home with them part of the day and I came home a little early. The cold weather is going to stick around for the rest of this week but at least it should get above zero!

Thanksgiving

Grandma and Grandpa came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. The girls went to Newcastle and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Brad and I went to Rapid
City on Friday. We had to pick up our camper from Dakota RV because they were done fixing the siding. (Amazingly, there wasn't any snow or ice on the roads!) We did some Christmas shopping and then went to Newcastle.

Friday night we watched Grandma Bonnie in a play called "Smile." It was fun to watch.

Saturday we spent time with Matt and Addie.

Sunday we came home and watched the Broncos play an awesome game!!

Unfortunately, once again, I had my camera with me and didn't use it! So, I don't have any pics to post right now. Sorry.

It's Not Pretty!

It's not pretty, but it works! Home Depot delivered us a "loaner" stove today so we would have a working one for Thanksgiving. They are ordering us a new one but it won't be here for about 2 weeks. I was so excited to use a stove again that I made an omelette for supper and baked banana bread muffins and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

Pirates!

Aye, aye matey's! Tonight was Makenna's winter program for school. It was a pirate themed musical. Instead of doing Christmas concerts where the kids just stand on the risers and try not to pass out while they sing 5 songs, the music teacher produces a really fun musical. It is always entertaining. Makenna was one of the best dressed pirates there (thanks, Anna for the costume coordination)! She had some speaking parts and also sang harmony in a small group of 6 girls. She really gets into the acting, dancing, and singing. Actually, all of the kids really get into it, and you can tell they are having a lot of fun. It is a lot more fun than the concerts I remember growing up. Here are some pics from tonight.

Have You Listened?

Have you listened to the playlist I have on my blog? Several of the songs (Treasure, Here with Me, Angels on the Moon, and Imperfect) were on our short list of songs for Makenna's dance solo this year. After careful consideration and discussion with Makenna's dance teacher, we all agreed on "Imperfect" by Keri Noble. What do you think?

Alanna will also be performing a dance solo this year. I will try to get her music on here soon. It isn't a familiar song, it is going to be a character dance that requires her to do some acting, which is just her thing!

No Longer Seeing Red!

Yay! We're no longer seeing red; in the kitchen, that is. While we were at the Kmart bake sale Saturday, Brad started on a long awaited project: painting the red kitchen. At the time, red seemed like a great color for the kitchen. However, after we installed black granite countertops and stainless steel appliances in June it just didn't seem such a great idea anymore.

Brad and I had been going back and forth on the idea of painting the kitchen for about 5 months now (as long as we have had our new countertops). As it turns out, we both agreed that red wasn't the right color anymore but it would be a hassle to paint over red. We had made a deal: he paints the kitchen and I would get him the Madden '09 game for the Wii. I guess he finally had the energy to tackle this project this weekend (and he really wanted that game). So he painted, and I bought Madden '09. He started and finished this project over the weekend. After it was all done he said it was a lot easier to paint over the red than it was to paint the red. It took 2 coats of pink primer and 5 coats of red paint to paint the kitchen red and it only took 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of Eggshell Cream to cover the red paint. It really lightened and brightened up the space. I took some pics of the kitchen tonight. It looks so much better, so much brighter. The pictures don't really do it justice. (Notice my stove in the pics, it is not on because we have to keep the breaker switched off so it does not turn on all by itself.) I will try to post some pics tomorrow of the kitchen in the daylight.

By the way, the Madden '09 game for the Wii is really fun! I am glad Brad painted so we could get a new Wii game!

It's Been Awhile

I know it has been awhile since I've blogged (or scrapbooked, for that matter). We got pretty busy towards the end of last week with dance fundraisers.

The girls did not have school last Thursday and Friday due to Parent/Teacher conferences. I am happy to report that they are both doing very well in school!

Anyways, since they did not have school on Friday a traveling bake sale fundraiser was scheduled for Friday for Alanna's dance company. A bake sale at Kmart was also scheduled for Saturday. So, as if making 14 dozen baked goods was not time consuming enough, my stove decided to get a mind of its own and went crazy. Early Thursday morning (about 8am) after I had been to a meeting at work and frosted some cinnamon rolls with homemade buttercream frosting (for Dad), I was getting ready to put 2 large pans of pumpkin bars in the oven when I realized I had a problem. I opened up the oven door after it had preheated and was hit by a heat wave. It had supposedly preheated to 350, however, when I opened the door it felt more like 500 degrees. Now, I wasn't completely shocked by this because I had been having problems with my oven several days before this. Unfortunately, it decided to really act up at a very inopportune time. Keep in mind that our appliances are only 5 months old. Long story short, I ended up lugging all of my baking supplies to my friend's house that afternoon so I could bake my 14 dozen goodies. Thankfully, I have an awesome friend who would let me take over her kitchen for almost 6 hours (she even did my dishes)! I ended up making one tray of pumpkin bars, 2 trays of Rice Crispy treats, 12 loaves of pumpkin bread, 2 pans of brownies, and 4 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

We ended up making over $200 per dancer for these bake sales so, I guess, it paid off. But, if I would have known my oven was going to go bonkers on me, I would not have signed up for 2 bake sales! What a nightmare that was! Anyways, we are working with LG and Home Depot to get our stove either fixed or replaced. Darn these new, fancy appliances anyways with all their bells and whistles! Well, I will keep you updated.