115 posts from 2007

It's come to our attention that there are quite a few birthdays this month!  Some of them have gone unmentioned, so here is a recap!

• Aunt Kim and Cousin Jeremiah on December 8
  

• Cousin Meta on December 18

• Cousin Mitchell on December 19

• Aunt Lindy on December 22
  

Happy Birthday everyone!!!

This is a neat thing that you have to try out!  Keep in mind it doesn't tell you who to vote for, only tells you which candidate is most compatible with you based on the criteria you rated.  I was not surprised with my top choice candidate, but the order of the runners-up was kind of surprising.

1. Click here:
2. And then click "President" under 2008
3. Answer the questions in the survey and be sure to rate how important the issue is to you
4. When you're done, click the "Select A Candidate" button!

Compliments of Minnesota Public Radio.

The best part about this Christmas was all the time off I had!  Good 'ol President Bush gave a wonderful (and probably the most expensive) Christmas gift - a paid holiday on the 24th!  We all did a lot of sleeping this holiday which was fine, because it was (and still is) cold and icky outside.  We went on a couple walks, but that was about it.  The sun even came out a couple times over the long weekend.  We did watch a lot of movies, the reviews of which are down lower.

Christmas dinner was awesome.  We had a ton of food when all was said and done and unfortunately nobody to share it with.  Our fridge is packed and will be like that for some time I think.  We started cooking on the 23rd, because we wanted to do everything on the 24th so that we could have today all to ourselves with nothing to do.  It's much nicer to relax on the day before you have to go back to work.

I was actually surprised this year at how many presents we got!  It was fun too, because Emma needed no encouragement in the present opening department.  She had it down to an art!  It was also fun, because all our gifts are so useful and practical and in many cases were things that we'd been wanting for some time, but hadn't quite justified buying it for ourselves.  So THANK YOU, everyone!!!

MOVIE REVIEWS

1. "Heartbreak Kid" was funny, but definitely a film not intended for kids.  Watch it if you're a single guy and envision marriage as being attached to a ball-and-chain; otherwise skip this movie.  B-
2. "The Kingdom" was a great movie that everyone should watch.  It was fictitious, but painted a very real picture of the relationship between America and Saudi Arabia.  A
3. "Stardust" was also a great movie for the entire family.  Leaning a bit toward the fantasy genre, but still good.  Acting, plot and character development were all entertaining.  A
4. "Hot Rod" was hilarious if you're into somewhat juvenile flicks (like I am).  A great soundtrack (mostly performed by Europe) and cheesy acting contribute to a pretty funny movie.  B+
5. "Balls of Fury" was also pretty juvenile and even though the soundtrack was fantastic (mostly performed by Def Leppard) the story was just a bit too cheesy and went beyond funny into the realm of just dumb.  C.

EMMA UPDATE
Our little darling can now say "please" when she wants something bad enough.  Whether or not she knows exactly what it means is questionable, but she has connected "please" with getting what she wants!

Emma also says "all gone" and gestures with two upturned palms to attest to the fact that what she's eating is "all gone."  It's really cute.

Emma also says "Waldo" when she's searching for him in the "Where's Waldo" book.