From there to here

John and I like to joke that TIVO changed our lives (it kind of did), but I’ll go ahead and add that foundation primer, tweezers, and a big round brush also changed *my* life!

I like to lurk around Kelly’s blog, but this time I felt the need to participate, ’cause like I said, PRIMER CHANGED MY LIFE!  I don’t know what’s in it, but it makes my skin smooth before I put on my foundation.  I’ve tried the expensive brands and the cheap ones, but I keep going back to the Sephora one.  It’s not exactly cheap, but it’s $18 well spent!

Also, if you knew me before 1994, you’ll remember that I had a bit of a Burt (as in *and Ernie*) eyebrow going on.  Then, Kim Aikman Schrader introduced me to the TWEEZER!  It takes a special friend to tell you something like that.  Anyway, also life changing.

That same year, I went to this salon in Fayetteville called Nu-U (remember that place in Colt Square?) and a hairstylist there introduced me to the big round brush.  If you have yucky wavy/curly/frizzy hair like I do, you MUST have one of these when you dry your hair.

Whoa.  Six inches of snow.  It’s beautiful.  And I’m ready for it to melt.

Alex has never seen so much snow!  He liked it for about 2 minutes.

He wouldn’t keep his gloves on, so his hands got really cold, really fast.

Snow angels.  The snow is so powder-y.  We tried to make a snowman, but it wouldn’t stick together!

The kids went inside for hot cocoa, and John and I stayed outside for a few minutes alone. It was gloriously silent!

The first grade program this year was called, “A Barnyard Moosical”.  Cute, right?  There was singing, dancing, and the absolute most beautiful goat ever! The entire first grade dressed as goats, cows, pigs, chickens, and farmers.

Kate saying her big speaking part. She did so great!

I went to the daytime (with Abby and Alex) and the evening performances (with John), hence the outfit changes

Kate and John

Kate with her friend, Ophelia

We went back to the skating rink this weekend with our friends Anna and Quinn (and their mom) after a little at-home practice.  The girls did great this time and really got the hang of it.

Abby, Kate, and Anna

Abby doing the limbo.

We went to the rink in Bentonville and it’s pretty retro (and awesome!).   I played with this picture a little so it looks like it could be me with my friends at 8 Wheels on Mabelvale Cut Off in about 1985.

Kate is on the left and Abby is on the right.

Even the skates are like I remember them: brown and orange.

Kate did it, Abby did it, and now Alex is doing it: constantly taking off his clothes and diaper (before being potty trained).  I cut the feet out of some pajamas so we could put Alex in the straight jacket. It works great until a sister helps him by unzipping it…

On Friday, they finally tore down the house at the end of the street that burned last year.  Alex and I stopped for a while to watch.  He really enjoyed watching the bulldozer work!

The entire house was gone by the next day.

Saturday night we had Fancy Restaurant Night at our house.  The children ordered cheetos as an appetizer, steak with roasted green beans as an entree, and popsicles for dessert. The chef (Mommy) prepared their meals while the waiter (Daddy) refilled their Frescas and served their food on fancy plates.  All the while, their little brother ran laps around the table trying to get his clothes off.  Just like a fancy restaurant, right?

I took the girls roller skating for the first time on Sunday afternoon.  Kate really enjoyed it after she got going, and Abby liked it for a while, but then she got tired and decided she didn’t want to skate anymore.  So she sat down in the middle of the rink and started to take off her skates.  That’s Abby. :) Kate was really starting to get the hang of it, but then we had to leave.  Can’t wait to go again!

Miss Sassy Pants

After skating, we went to Marketplace for hot fudge sundaes because they had such great attitudes about skating.  It was hard work and really frustrating, but they both got up every time they fell down and kept going, and they were all smiles doing it (well, mostly all smiles).

Since Christy, Heather, and I were planning to run the 10k on New Years Day, John and I hosted what we called “the LAMEST New Years Eve party ever” for our 3 families.  It was really fun to us, but healthy food, lots of kids, drinking water, and ringing in the new year at 7pm is not exactly *wild*…

While I was getting everything ready for the party, Alex got into the Cheerios…again….

Gotta have the black eyed peas.

The big kids: Ian and Lia, Parker and Henry, and Kate and Abby

Then, bright and early on New Years Day, I ran in the Fayetteville Twenty 10k.  Because it’s Fayetteville, it seemed uphill both ways, but I finished in 1:07.  It was 20 degrees, so I was truly happy to finish the race, no matter how fast I ran it.

Christy, Heather, and me before the race.

I also ran into a friend from Arkadoo, Melissa, during the race.  Her husband (whom I’ve never met) snapped a picture of me and also of Christy while he was getting one of Melissa.

Here we are around mile 4 running up Maple Street (Melissa is in pink).

After presents and lunch, the girls went outside to play for a bit.  Alex came out, too, but I fell flat on my bee-hind right after John brought him out, so I got cold and went inside….

My front doormat.

Santa ate the cookies and Rudolph ate the carrot.

The girls weren’t sure what to expect when they came downstairs first thing in the morning…

But then they checked out the Santa loot, and all was well!

Alex woke up a little later and found what Santa brought for him, too.

My parents and grandparents came for breakfast, and then we all surfed a little while.

We went to my parents’ house on Christmas Eve for presents and dinner with my grandparents.

Look at my super cute new scarf my mom got for me!

Then we came home, it started snowing, and we left cookies and milk for Santa (and a carrot for Rudolph, of course).

Larry went home to the North Pole with Santa.  See ya next December, Lars!

Typical James family silliness…

Wayne and Kathy came up on Christmas Eve Eve for dinner and presents.

Here they are explaining the finer points of Chutes and Ladders to Watermelon.

These were their first presents of Christmas.  So exciting.

Kate got press on nails.

Kathy got me an autographed copy of this cookbook I wanted. Love it!