I know...finally.

Wow, I'm looking back through my pictures to see what I haven't shown you guys yet and I'm realizing I have to go all the way back to Quinn's birthday. Naughty of me, I know. Santa knows I have good intentions though. He just might grace my stocking with a lump of coal, if I'm that lucky. So, Quinn turned 7 in November and she decided that she wanted to have a party at Snip-its again like she did a few years ago. They do the girl's hair up with braids and curls and dress them up in dresses with boas and glasses and let them put makeup on. Some of the girls had to ask where the make up goes and some even had to hold one eye down with one hand so they could keep their eye closed to put eyeshadow on.







So cute. Then they walk down the red carpet like they are movie stars.



All the girls had a great time. Here is Quinn's cake I made off of a website Teresa gave. Yeah, it looks nothing like the picture but I tried. It's supposed to be a crown ;0)



Then we had Thanksgiving at our house with 7 guests not including us five. We had five extra adults staying over night here but we squeezed them in and had a nice time. It was nice to have family up for the holiday because it kept my mind busy seeing Thanksgiving was my dad's one year anniversary of his passing. Plus it was just great to see everyone.

Then it was Collin's 13th birthday and yes, I tried again with the cake thing.



Collin wanted to have his party where they do go-cart racing so dad took him.



Here is Collin.



Uhmmm, I don't know what he is doing.



They had a good time too and I'm glad I wasn't there because I think I would have a heart attack. I would probably run out on the track with the flag to make them slow down.

Now we move on to decorating the house for Christmas. We had never put up lights on the outside of the house while living in Maine so now that the addition was done, I wanted to do it. Sean was less thrilled. I knew he would be but I had bought the lights so he really didn't have much of a choice. So poor Sean gets stuck hanging lights on the upper roof line with this huge, heavy ladder. He was getting very frustrated and cold and was trying to measure them out so they were even. He proabably spent hours getting the lights up. I just stood at the bottom of the ladder, half smiling because I knew he was pissed at me for making him do this. I finally asked him if he was ready to divorce me. There was no reply. I laughed. Then at one point he freaks out and says, "AREN'T THERE PEOPLE WHO DO THIS FOR A LIVING???!!!! NEXT YEAR WE ARE GOING TO JUST PAY SOMEONE TO DO THIS!" He was wicked mad. I laughed. So he gets all the lights hung up and I'm so proud of him. Then I realize he didn't plug them into the extension cord. The good wife I am, I knew better than to ask him to do it so I grabbed the ladder and climbed it to hook up the extention cord. What a good wife I am, you know how I am with heights. I climb down the ladder and we both look up to see the weight of the extention cord pull down each light one by one like a row of dominos off the roof. All we could do was stand there and watch them ALL fall. OMG!!! I just slapped my hands over my mouth because I was afraid I was going to laugh and Sean would nail me in the head with a snowball. Multiple times. I glanced over at him and he just said, "What! There is nothing we can do about it now so there is no use getting upset!" I think he was trying to convice himself of this. I was just trying not to laugh. And in my head I'm thinking, damn, I'm never going to get my Christmas lights up now. So I hung the lights from a lower part of the house to compromise. Here's a little video.



We have more lights up now but we are in the middle of a blizzard and I'm not going out there go get pics.

So, I'm feeling a little guilty about the whole light debacle. Every year we put up a fake tree. The reason being is because I love Christmas and I'm usually the dork that decorates before Thanksgiving. Yeah, I know. I just love the lights. Sean has always wanted a real tree but you just can't keep one alive that long. So, this year I decided to surprise him. I went out, got a real tree, drove that sucker home, took it off the roof of my car and dragged into my house by myself. Then I proceeded to take our already decorated fake tree and carry it up the stairs to our dining room to put in our front window (not one broken bulb good people)! I then drag out lights and ornaments and put up our new REAL tree. All by myself. Well, the kids helped decorate. I can't wait to see the look on Sean's face when he sees it. It smelled so good. Surly that would make up for the lights. He finally makes it home from work around 10pm and I'm on the couch fighting to stay awake. He walks in the room and says...nothing. WHAT! I say, "honey, don't you notice something different?" He says, "yeah, I did. You have earrings on." ????????????? OMG. I could have killed him. Payback good people. It had to be payback and I took it like a man, pointed to the tree, complained a little, and went to bed.

Our family wishes your family the Happiest Holidays. We wish you health and send love to those who are missing someone loved this year. We are blessed in so many ways and we thank you for keeping up with us. I realize I didn't mention anything about Wesley. He's doing well in every way and we are so blessed. Here is a final pic of the kids seeing Santa. Collin is just there for moral support.



Please stay safe.

Merry Christmas,

Sean, Kristin, Collin, Quinn, and Wesley