The Loft

Danielle turned Bear's room into a destination. She got that IKEA loft from Craigslist and now he has room for that sweet 4 in 1 game center. Right now it's set up for shooting pool. All he needs is a kitchenette and a half-bath.

Bear to mom...

"Mom?...I wish we had a billion dollars....then we could give it to poor people so they could buy food and Christmas presents for Christmas..."

How did this happen? How did i get such a kind-hearted child?! I am stunned... this is a Christmas miracle!!! I thought he was going to list off a ton of Wii games!!!

Mountain Climbing Insurance

Oxford and Cambridge ask kids some really weird questions in their application interviews. They say it is an attempt to identify creative thinking and understanding rather than learned knowledge. Anyways, check these things out.

You should pick one or more and answer with a comment. Here's mine: Enough thermostats put together could think.

Oxford

What does it mean to be happy?
(philosophy and modern languages)

How would you market a rock band?
(economics and management)

If it could take form, what shape would the novel "To the Lighthouse" become?
(English)

Can a thermostat think?
(experimental psychology)

How do you organize a successful revolution?
(history)

Is it morally wrong to attempt to climb a mountain?
(theology)


Cambridge

If I were a grapefruit, would I rather be seedless or non-seedless?
(medicine)

Do you think you're clever?
(law)

How would you poison someone without the police finding out?
(social and political sciences)

Would you say that greed is good or bad?
(land economy)

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/08/odd.oxford.questions/index.html?imw=Y#cnnSTCOther1

Alternative Christmas Tree

This weekend I pruned our fruit trees (which I love doing by the way). There is an especially big cherry tree that I topped off. It looked too cool just to throw away so I brought it inside to put somewhere for decoration or something. When Danielle saw it she thought it would make a cool Christmas tree. I agreed and so now we have a tree just like that. It is pretty untraditional but shoot. It looks better in real life than in these pictures, too.

Dimple Face

First Big Snow

It's the first big snow of the year. We are supposed to get like 8 inches tonight. Bear and I went to the park by our house and he tried some snowboarding. There were bigger kids there doing jumps off a ramp they built and invited him over. The big kid said, "Hey Bear, you probably don't know me but I go to your school."
I was all, 'yes! Vicarious popularity!"

The Nelso-squalis reclaim Thanksgiving!!!!

Yesterday my parents came over and brought Thankgiving with them! Bear was so excited to learn Nonno and Susu were coming over. We had the real thing...turkey, green bean casserole, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, etc...

Juneau loves Nonno, I could not satisfy him after they left. I think he went through withdrawls. They are quite the team! Juneau loves cuddling up to his Nonno and falling asleep. They keep each other very cozy.

This meant so much to Bear, i could see it on his face. He was very happy to have his Thanksgiving back, as well as a good first Thanksgiving for his little brother. He was feeling bad that Juneau was going to have to wait for a whole 'nother year. Thanks guys!!!!!

Our quaint little town...

Today John was talking to the son of our recently deceased neighbor, Jack. We knew this old guy was cool, but not this cool....We knew he was a WWII Vet, and that his name was John and he was from Mt. Pleasant. We knew that he was a car designer for GM and carved wooden models until his retirement, but we did not know he also carved working shotguns for each of his sons, and that he also enjoyed pottery. He had a potter's wheel in his basement and a kiln in his garage. We also found out, from the local obituiary, that he was known as the local 'pumpkin man'. We knew he used to sell pumpkin in his yard, until the biotch that used to live in our house ratted him out for not having a business permit for his seasonal veggie stand. People used to clog up the road in front of our house and park in our yard for those pumpkins.

His son also told us how the run down fix-it shop on the corner used to be a gas station and volunteer fire department, where the kids used to hang out and buy candy. The day care on the next block was the local school they used to walk to, and the subdivision behind us was a commune for a local cult with a UFO landing pad....wait, what?! Mmmm Hmm....

There is a one road subdivision behind our house. It was bought by a group of people in a cult that wanted to build a community wihich included a UFO landing pad. They ran out of cash after they built the road and instead were forced to sell out to the man.... Now it has really nice huge houses and lots of Christmas decorations.

Around the House

Willow's First Haircut

Before:
After:

And Danielle gave herself a matching haircut:

They look great. Danielle's only reservation was losing Willow's one little curl she had. Probably the last curl she will ever have, given her parents' hair.