Been a Long Time Comin'...

Lots to catch up on. I haven't posted in awhile!

The update begins the week before Christmas.  We stayed at Kev's parents' house for the deep freeze weekend. We were a little worried we wouldn't be able to find anything in the kitchen, but our fears were all for naught because of Janet's careful labeling system:

For real. On every cabinet. Kev's dad added a few of his own. This one says "oven":

So the weekend was great until Kevin left for the Giants game with my keys. I ended up taking a cab to school and BJ had to go get my keys and bring them to Centerville. We were happy the Giants won, but they blew it later so I got to milk the whole incident for a looong time.

 

On to Christmas. Maddy certainly enjoyed her stocking, even if Raf is a "Scrooge". She also got a candy cane bone, which we were not allowed to touch:

Video footage available for those interested. I don't have the patience to wait for it to upload.

After a few great days in VA, I headed to PA by myself. Well, Maddy came. We had a Wii Brain Academy gift exchange the first night. This year's theme was infomercial only. Guess what Kip got?

I got to spend an evening with the Meases and the Fyocks, went shopping for a day with my mom and Andrew, visited Bev (my grandmother), got my nails done (with snow flakes and everything) and had lunch with Carrie-Anne. All in all, it was a fantastic trip, despite the snow on the way home.

I came home New Years Eve and after a bit of cleaning we went to Karen and Ryan's for the night. We ended up making our own sushi. Here is Haylie, sushi master (mistress?), in action:

Here are some of our samples. First, the ones made by the talented people:

Professional looking, eh? Not bad for amateurs... Here is some of the buffalo/bleu cheese sushi the non-sushi eater, Raftery made. These things were huge! (That's what she said)

 Unfortunately, Ryan went a little too quickly. After a rousing Game of Things (Kris Kross), he passed out:

Here's the proof that it was pre-Midnight. Zoom in or trust me. The picture is crap.

WE had a good time...

Back to school on Monday. Apparently it was a good day, 'cause Raf got his first fire. I took a picture of a picture of him at the fire:

He and Chris Zach came to talk to my after school program kids because the workshop we are doing is about forest fires. They were loving sniffing the guys' helmets and hearing about their equipment and training. Here's a picture of the experts in action:

 Sooo, the school week at good ol' Centerville continued. I took some pictures for the gifted newsletter today, including this one, from the cafeteria wall:

And these, of my second graders' Wonders of the World projects.

 

Then...

Big time. Check out those awesome nails. Oh, and that ring. Know that it's currently being held on with a band-aid and I'm terrified that it will accidentally get flushed down a toilet. Here is the actual moment:

Yes, he did it in a photo booth. That's my classy man. I'm just thankful it wasn't some huge public display or a surprise wedding, both of which he has threatened.

SAVE THE DATE PEOPLE!

OCTOBER 9, 2010

(10-9-10 for those who are forgetful.)