decorations a go-go

last weekend was a festivus for the rest of us kind of weekend. it was decorations at two gramma's (one regular one extra strength *which means great-great*), wayne county lightfest and fff (free food friday).

we started with a fabulous fff of my parents new fave-- ham and tons of delish side dishes. nic and i know this, but you may not.... we tend to go on kicks. well, my parents and i do. i don't know if nicole does it as much. our previous kick was garlic bread made from the artisan bread at sams. it seems our new kick is ham dinner. nathan and i love it, b/c we just don't make ham and it's been so good the times we've had it so far.

after dinner the kids decorated the tree. my parents have extremely fragile, extremely unique ornaments so i was pretty freaked the whole time. thankfully, connor was only interested in playing with the wooden canoe ornament. crisis averted.

after that we headed over to the wayne county lightfest. let me tell you, it was a delight this year. my parents said they would get us in if we wanted to go, but the deal was the kids HAD to ride in their car. nicole and nathan did NOT want to go, but i said i wanted to. i'm not sure about mike. i think he told nicole he didn't want to go, but then he played the "good s-i-l" card and pretended that he was totally into it the whole time. yeah, we know the truth, mike. so i think my inheritance should go up b/c i was the only one that wanted to go. i'm glad we went b/c i really enjoyed it. fyi, if you're local and interested in checking it out, they do ask for a $5 per car "donation".... yeah, like calling it a donation makes it kosher. you have to pay. i'll shoot it straight.

connor and av loved it. when rudolph came by connor said, "a deer! shoot it!" and when we went through the tunnel av just looked up and said, "this is cool!" i wish i could have heard them, but i'll have to live with the stories from my mom.

sunday we had lunch at gramma sanders and decorated her tree. connor loved decorating there b/c there are so many different ornaments. she has some from ww2. it's fun to see them all... except the angel. it too is a good 50 years old and as hideous as ever. gramma tally loves it b/c it's nostalgic, but we all make fun of it even though deep down we love to see it come out and top that little tree. of course, the best one is the picture of me and aunt claudia. i made sure it had a prominent spot this year.


unfortunately, i don't have any pictures of gramma's tree b/c i forgot my camera.

..... ok, i'm posting now b/c i have to go wash connor. he just calmly walked in here with dripping wet hands and said, "i... i.... i.... i put my hands in the potty." ah, yes, another festivus miracle.

our tree. i love our ornaments. we both got to keep our childhood ornaments from our parents, and each year my mom buys all of us a new one. some of my fave is my mouse from my 3-yr-old s.s. teacher. nathan has tons of faves. his aunt used to buy him a new one each year and tons of them are sports related. i don't know that i really have a connor fave yet. maybe this year one will strike me. i really wanted to have a star on our tree this year, but i forgot to buy one after christmas last year. maybe this year i'll remember.

me:ok, guys, be very careful.
my mom: don't worry about it. (apparently, she doesn't really believe in a sin nature.)

he was pretending to paddle his canoe.

av..... honey.... it's not an ice cream cone .... whose kid IS that anyway?

my dad told us about how grampa sanders used to put on the tinsel one piece at a time, and then he would take it off one piece at a time and use it for years and years. i asked my dad if it was safe to put it next to his humongous lights that get really warmish. his answer was, "uh, hello? it's metal. melting point of 700 degrees." then he read the box.... it's plastic. "oh, woops. it's plastic, melting point of 78."

the little elves. i think connor was trying to put his arm around ava.

"remember liela, i'm your favorite."

"no, sweetie... aunt chrissy is your favorite. remember, i'll change your diaper."

"liela will always love me!"
awww... that's cute, buddy. give her a kiss.

no, i said a kiss... don't eat her face.

oh, we're handin' out love, huh? here ya go, av.

and how 'bout a kiss?
ok, enough, connor. give it a rest, man!

here's the gate you drive through at the lightfest. i was trying out different things at my camera. the rest of it was great. you just drive a few miles down the closed section of road. it was a good show this year.