We survived the tree hunt

Last Friday we pulled the kids out of school early to take them tree hunting. Mike was headed out of town this week, so I talked him into working from home of Friday to spend some time with us before he left. We went out to Melchers Tree Farm in Gervais. We were met at the van by the owner with candy canes for everyone. He gave us a tag to tie around our tree when we found it and we were off. They have all of their "lanes" named for reindeer. It was damp, but not raining. The kids had a blast running through the trees trying to find the "perfect" one. We probably looked for 15 minutes before we found it. It stood about 8 feet high and was beautiful. Mr. Melcher came and cut down the tree for us and then hauled it (and a couple girls) away with his golf cart pulled trailer. He shook out all of the dead needles and bundled it up for us. Helped Mike tie it onto the van and then we headed inside for free hot cocoa. All in all it was a really fun experience. I'm looking forward to going again next year.

An early Christmas gift

We decided to buy ourselves an early Christmas present this year. We bought a new Nikon camera. It is really cool. It has lenses and everything. Mike could tell you all the specs, but I just think it looks good and takes awesome pictures. I'll post a few. Of course, the reason we bought a new camera is just in case Santa does decided to bring us a trip for Christmas, we really need a camera that works. We have a small Canon power shot, but the batteries don't hold charges. Both of them. Crazy. Anyway, I can only take about 5 pictures before it dies. So instead of buying new batteries, we would just buy a new camera. Makes sense. Spend $700.00 instead of $50.00. That's totally MY logic! Anyway, we order the new camera because it's on sale at Costco. Then Mike tells me to go ahead and buy the new battery for the Canon too. He he, so now we have a really cool new camera and 2 new batteries for the old one!!! Merry Christmas to me!

Ann-Elise has started her holiday performances for tap dance. She had her first one last Saturday at the Woodburn Library. It was fun. Alia and I went to watch her. She did really well. She's pretty shy, but she did great. As parents, we love that kind of stuff, but I'm not so sure I would enjoy it that much if I was just watching. But it was nice to see her outside her element and do so well.

We are planning on getting our Christmas tree this Saturday. That should be fun. In theory. Reality is that it will be freezing cold and/or raining. We'll have 3 kids that refuse to go and at least 1 running around like a mad (wo)man. But, we're gonna try it anyway! My friend, Niki, told me of this place that they go, and it sounds pretty fun. Hopefully it won't be miserable. Oh, who am I kidding, I know it's not going to go well...

Let's see, the hamster cage: Tommy is still in his cage. He hasn't figured out a way to get out of the new one (yet!). Although, a few days after we got it, Alia opened the top of the cage to give him some food, and forgot to close the lid. It's about 4 inches square. Anyway, Ann-Elise comes running downstairs saying that Matisse is going to eat Tommy. I run up there and Matisse has climbed into the cage and is curled up inside. Just resting. Tommy was smart and stayed hidden in his little house. Heck, he probably didn't even realize what was going on! Needless to say, Alia is VERY careful about closing the door!