What is it about McDonald's? They put a nutritionally void jumble of food and a cheap plastic toy in a cardboard box, and suddenly, lunch becomes the happiest part of the day.

Thank you, Becca Howard, for inviting us to go to the puppet show at the park today and then out to lunch at "Old McDonalds" (as Ben calls it).

Whip It Good!

We had a ton of fun at a surprise 40th birthday party for our neighbor, Michelle this past Saturday night. Our instructions were to come to the party dressed in '80s attire. We decided to go as Devo (well, 2/5 of Devo). I even found my old Swatch Watch in my sewing basket, and since it was black, I added it to the outfit. Notice the jelly bracelets... We just painted a couple of flower pots to put on our heads. What a couple of goof-balls!

Take the PinHeads Bowling, Take them Bowling!

We took the kids bowling for the first time on Friday night. It was a hoot! First they warmed up by doin' some dancin' in the arcade area while we waited for our lanes.

I would have paid money just to see them in their cute little bowling shoes.

Brian showed Maggie how to use the "ball-launcher." -------- Ted & Ben Hammond ------- Justin & Grant McMath

Jen Hammond w/ Maggie ------ Natalie Hammond (a great little bowler!)

Ben uses his tongue to muster all his strength when lobbing his ball down the lane.

Ben kicks his feet up on the ball-return. ------ Maggie, a little tired, allows Mommy to play for her.

Valentine Mishap

I wanted to get a picture of Maggie in her Valentine's Day shirt-dress this morning. Unfortunately, Ben stole her Kate Spade purse for his View Master and all his disks. By the pout on her face, you can see how unhappy she was about his theft.

But, alas, Daddy saved the day with a sippy of water for the car ride to daycare! Ben shows off with the purse and his Viewmaster. What a silly kiddo!

hats & scarves

Here are some snaps I took of Ben and Maggie yesterday while we were preparing to go outside to play in the snow. Ben wanted to try to build a snowman, so we got out the big box of hats and scarves to find something to put on our character. Unfortunately, the snow is too powdery for snowman-building. Nonetheless, they had fun trying on all the different hats and scarves. Ben is now sleeping with the rainbow hat, and he wore the ensemble to school today. He loves it! Maggie looks lost in that giant blue rainhat!

Snow Day!

The kids have just been aching for enough snow to play in. Each time it snows, Ben asks if it will be enough for building a snowman. I think this time, we got enough! About 10 inches total, I think. All the schools are closed, but Mommy and Daddy still have to work. I can work from home, but Brian still has to get there, somehow.

He stepped out the door, bright and early this morning, ready to get to work on time, but his car only made it about 4 feet down the driveway before he got stuck. So, we decided to play in the snow for a while while Daddy cleared the driveway. He and the kids just left. The crazy thing is that once you get out of our neighborhood, everything else is clear. It's just nearly impossible to get through our dinky neighborhood! The kids don't care. They had a blast.

Christmas Morning at our house

Ben & Maggie's artificial tree doesn't look half bad!

Stockings are hung along the stairway railing instead of above the fireplace since we put the Christmas tree upstairs this year.

Ben shows how excited he is about "Team GeoTrax," and Maggie tries out her new stroller.

I love this picture of Brian and the kids. Notice how closely they are paying attention to him as he shows them how to put together the train tracks. Does it get any cuter than this? Of course, Ben had already lined up ALL the trains on the portion of track that he had assembled.

Even though this picture is a little blurry, I just love it!

Ben told me that he must have been a really good boy!

Christmas Eve at Mike & Karen's

Office Christmas Party

This is it. This is almost EVERYONE I work with! I love my job!

(left to right) Brett (IT), Ryan (IT), Jenn (Pharmacist), Ryan (President),

Michelle (Pharmacist), Me (Pharmacist), Sally (Australian HQ), Rob (IT)

Missing from the photo: Mark, the Supstar Tech and All-around Yes-man! (see below)

Yes, Mark is actually wearing a dog bed on his head in this picture. That's the kind of place I work in. If you're feeling a little silly, why not put a dog bed on your head and pretend it's a 'fro? (Personally, I think it really suits him!)

Advent Candles

The kids loved these Advent candles. We made an attempt to light them daily and say the daily prayers that went along with the ritual, but, many days ended in a fight over who got to blow out the candles or who got to hold the prayer book.

We tried, right?

Grinch-y Mommy

In true "Grinch-like" spirit this year, I had decided that we wouldn't put up a Christmas tree. I just didn't want to deal with the anxiety of the possibility of broken ornaments and/or a poisoned child who was drinking from the water bowl at the base of the tree. I thought I even had Brian on board... until this past weekend when we heard Ben say, "When do we get OUR Christmas tree?" Brian looked at me and said that we both knew we couldn't skip out on a tree this year just because Maggie tends to be more than a little mischievous. So, today I resigned to digging out the ol' artificial that we only used one time (when Ben was a baby).

Ben and Maggie had a total ball decorating the artificial. I brought it up from the basement and put it in the hallway next to the bonus room, and you would have thought it was Christmas morning. They were so excited! Immediately, Ben got out his trains and told me he was going to make a "half-circle" around the base of the tree. (I think I was supposed to be impressed at his use of the term "half-circle.") Ben kept putting bells on it (yes, the bells left over from our wedding), and Maggie just kept pulling them off. Then, Mags and I went to the basement to find some more unbreakable ornaments, and when we came upstairs again, Ben said, "Look, Mom! I hung all the ornaments where Maggie couldn't reach them!" I just cracked up. Every ornament was hung on the same few branches in the front of the tree at his eye level. So cute! I'm sure they'll spend the remainder of this holiday season rearranging their ornaments. Thank goodness for artificial trees!