Decorating the Christmas Tree

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving, which means it's time to decorate our Christmas tree.  Julia put her ornaments within her reach . . .

 . . . and Evelyn put her ornaments within her reach.  Thankfully Evelyn can reach higher so the ornaments were evenly spread.

 Lookin' good, girls!  They did a fabulous job trimming the tree this year.

Evelyn and Her Rainbow Loom

Evelyn jumped on the Rainbow Loom bracelet bandwagon a few months later than most kids did, but she is really enjoying this new craft.  Julia does, too, since she can make color and design requests.

 Even though she hasn't been making bracelets for long, Evelyn wanted to make a starburst bracelet for Julia.  It took her about a week to make the bracelet, watching a few segments of an instructional video at a time.  But Evelyn was so proud of herself when she finished the bracelet, and it's one of Julia's favorites.

Thanksgiving 2013

It's Thanksgiving!  That means a holiday meal.  And that means Evelyn will make her infamous corn casserole.  She has come a long way from making this casserole as a three-year-old who only stirred the ingredients.  This year, she did everything on her own.

 Julia's cooking assignment: brushing the dinner rolls with melted butter.  She loved "painting" the rolls, so her job was a perfect fit.

And here's the whole Thanksgiving dinner spread - corn casserole, red raspberry Jello salad, green bean casserole, roasted pork, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls.  Delish!

New Dishwasher (again...)

Once upon a time, in 2011, we moved into a townhouse in Maryland that had a crummy dishwasher.  It was loud and didn't clean.  After weeks of careful research, we replaced the old dishwasher with a fancy, quiet, new model.

Fast-forward to 2013, when we moved into a house in Massachusetts, which had a crummy dishwasher.  It was loud and didn't clean.  This time, however, we didn't need to do any research.  Whirlpool still made the model we had bought two years ago.

And today was the day!  The old guy was pulled out from the kitchen . . .

 . . . and was ready to be hauled away.

Now we're back to our Whirlpool Gold dishwasher, which is so quiet we have to check the lights on the front to see if it's running.

Clean Laundry

How long did it take Rosie to find the pile of fresh-from-the-dryer clean laundry?  About two minutes.

Math Story Problem

The current math unit Evelyn has been studying in 4th grade, multiplication, has been giving her fits with homework.  She usually has about 45 minutes of (only) math homework...and then she still has to tackle other subjects for homework and practice her clarinet.  There was a silver lining in tonight's math homework, though.  Just have a look at the picture...

Duckpin Bowling in Rhode Island

After lunch, we threw the girls in the car and told them we were going on a family outing.  We didn't tell them where we were headed, just that it was far enough that they could watch a movie in the car.

 Our destination:  duckpin bowling in Rhode Island.  The girls really enjoyed duckpin bowling in Maryland because the balls are small and light-weight.  The closest duckpin bowling alley to us is in Providence, Rhode Island, which is only a 45-minute drive from our house (not that much farther than we drove in Maryland).

 And yes, the girls were very excited that we had a family bowling afternoon planned.  :)

 Julia's form is improving.  She tries to bowl with her arms to the side rather than under-handed from between her legs.  She's still lucky that the bumpers are up, though.

 Who won?  Evelyn, with a whopping 85 points.  Troy came in second, I was third and Julia came in last (only four points less than me).  But we were there to have fun, and I think we all did!

Pretty, Early Sunset

When we girls left the gym this evening, a little before 5:00, this was the sky that greeted us.  I don't like how early the sun sets here in Massachusetts, but I'll forgive Mother Nature just this once if the sunsets are this colorful.

American Girl Craft

The girls got out of school early today.  This early-dismissal day coincided with a craft day at the American Girl store.  One look at all the pink in the picture below, and you know where we went!  Julia and Evelyn had fun decorating their own tea cozies.  I suppose this means more trips to Starbucks are in our near future.

Last Soccer Game of the Season

Julia wasn't able to play in the last soccer game of the season because she was sick, but she still showed up (because I still had to coach!).

 Plus, who would miss getting a trophy?  Not this girl!  Julia says she would like to play soccer, again, in the spring...as long as her mommy coaches.

Lap Cat

Rosie usually only sits on Troy's lap, but tonight she cuddled up with Evelyn.  I think both girls are happy!