I am going to be poor

Recently the Fazolis by our house closed and they started stripping the inside of it. We had been wondering what would take its place. I don't think I can afford a Chickfila within 3 minutes of my house.

I'm An Animal

Went to In-N-Out with Chloe and Flater. Here are my animal fries. I also got my double-double animal style.
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The Performance of the Night

Chloe's violin concert was awesome! She did a great job. The concert was at First United Methodist church, which was a great place for a recital like this. It was a lot better than the school auditorium (where sound goes to die). Sorry for the darness of the video, but I'm not a professional and don't have professional equipment. I will try to do better next time.

Right Now

Chloe is playing right now. If you are not here you are going to miss it! I took some video and will get it posted.
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Last Performance of the Season

We are at the First United Methodist church downtown for Chloe's final Christmas performance. More to come.
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Jordan...Live and In Color

Above is Jordan playing in his concert, it is kind of like a "Where's Waldo?" Can you find him?

Jordan had his Christmas concert tonight. He plays percussion and played a total of three songs. In two on the songs, he played the tambourine. Let me tell you something, I have never seen a tambourine played better! Also, he got a solo on one of the songs where it is just him and his tambourine. It was awesome.

The movie below is of the song he played the drum for. As you watch you will see his music go flying off his stand and then requiring him to look over the drum at the person next to him. He kept playing without missing a beat! Way to go Jordan, you were awesome tonight!

Jordan's Turn

Chloe had dance last night, Jordan has band tonight. I will get some video and post it, but Jordan wants you to know that he is in the back and you won't see him, but he says, 'Hi."
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Chloe's Dance Part 2

This is a picture of Chloe's dance class.

Below is Chloe's dance (just the last half). The stupid camera was not working for the first half and I had to restart it to get the video. I was angry. At least you can see the ending. It is a good dance and Chloe was awesome during it.

Chloe's Christmas Dance

Here is the beginning shot. I am going to try and video the dance on their second run through and post later.
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White Elephant

At work today we had our Christmas lunch with white elephant exchange. This is what I got. It is desktop dodgeball. It is awesome. You can throw the red ball and try to knock the kids over. If you are ever around my office you can stop by and play.

By the way, I "stole" this from someone else. I didn't unwrap it. It came with a Family Guy DVD but I didn't want that.
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Making the donuts

Ok, I didn't actually make any donuts, I just stopped at Harmons to get them. But, I didn't use a cart at the store, I carried them all by myself. My work has a donut Friday every week and someone brings donuts and we all sit around and chat. Today was my turn to bring the donuts. I got three dozen and I believe everyone had a good time, but you would have to ask them yourself.
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Jordan and Sprinkles

On the polar express Jordan got to sit by an elf while we read the book Polar Express. The elf's name was Sprinkles and was nice enough to let us take a picture.
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Ry-ry's family did not make it

But I got a picture of my Mom and Dad with antlers.
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On the Train

We are on our way to the North Pole. We got Diana on no problem and we are waiting for Ry-ry's family - will they make the train? We have drama! The clock is ticking on these guys, if they miss it they will miss the first gift of Christmas. I will let you know. I will let you know.
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Going to the North Pole

Me and the family are going to the North Pole tonight. We are riding with my parents and Ry-ry's family. We will have some hot chocolate and see Santa and then come home. It should be a fun night. I will post pictures.
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Arrrrrrrggghhh! I'm a Pirate

In more home fix-up news, we need some new slats for our laminate floor. The fridge leaked and water got trapped beneath the old linoleum and the laminate. The edges of the laminate have warped and it is no longer smooth. Last weekend Flater and I started ripping up the floor and marking bad slats.

The rest of the story is that we couldn't get good enough cuts and/or have enough slats to finish. We ended up putting everything back, but now the floor looks like this:
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Look What I Did

Our microwave broke about a month ago. We have been warming things up in the microwave. It has been fun, and long. I don't know how people cooked without a microwave. I am happy to have one back.

I went out on Black Friday to get this, bit Sears was out so I ordered it. Diana and I went and picked it up last night and then it was up to me to install.

It took about an hour and a half to get installed. I was able to use the old back mounting for the old microwave which made things easier. I did have to drill new top anchor holes. I thought that microwaces would have standard holes, but they don't.

It was a good time, and now we have a microwave again. It looks good, doesn't it?
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Most ridiculous thing I have seen today

Dog in a jacket in a car waiting for Costco to open.
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Black Friday

Yes, I am out shopping. So far I have been to Sears, Target, and Walmart. I still have Shopko and Costco on my list. I have gotten a lot of the items on my list already. I did get our new microwave at Sears, but it won't be in until December 2. Target was a zoo and I got the one item that I needed from them and then checked out. Walmart was crazy and I ended up walking around the store 3 time to find everything, but I got most of it.

I got some of my shopping done this morning at 1am. We got home from Ry-ry and Anne's and I checked to see if any stores had their deals online already. Radio Shack did and that saved me a stop this morning that would have been problematic for me. I did some shopping then went to bed, then got up at 4:15am for my current shopping spree.

Nothing like 3 hours of sleep and then fighting with people, I mean, shopping black friday.
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BFFs

My dentist and I are best friends. I had a checkup today and the result was: no cavities. Six months ago I went to the dentist for the first time in 12 years or so and I had four cavities. It wasn't that I don't take care of my teeth, I just never went to the dentist so I had a lot of time for something to go bad. Diana believes that good oral hygiene is good for your heart (I don't believe it, I told her I need to see some research but she has never given me anything, so it must not be true) and I have promised her I will go every six months to get a checkup. As long as this keeps up, me and the dentist can be BFFs!

By the way, my dentist asked about my Dad. You see, my Dad and I have the same dentist and occasionally meet up there for dual checkups and stuff. The dentist finds this funny so he always says how weird it is that we were there at the same time.

I Can Only Hope

Chloe is sick. She is complaining of a fever, headache, and a sore throat. Could be a cold, could be the flu. Could be something else. Whatever it is, I hope she throws up.

That might sound mean, but she is the only person in the family with a longer streak than me right now and that is just not right. I should have the best no-throw up streak in the house. That is just the natural order of things.

By the way, you can always check out my streak counter in the right-hand navigation. Almost up to two years without throwing up. Just like a pro athlete, I am taking this streak one day at a time.

Spelling

Chloe just said that she doesn't need help getting tested with her spelling words. She says she knows them because she writes them 5 times everyday. Then she goes, "See, certain...S...E..."

Yeah, I think she needs some help.
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First Thanksgiving and Powers Out

We just got home from Diana's Moms house for our first Thanksgiving (we had spaghetti). It was pretty tasty. Diana's Mom has a really good spaghetti recipe - she uses a mix of spicy hot and regular sausage and a spice mix from Colosimos. Tasty, tasty, tasty. While we were there it started snowing and snowing and snowing. There is probably an inch or so on the ground right now and it is still coming down.

As we drove home we saw some traffic lights that were out. Then we saw some neighborhoods that had no power. Then we got to our house and there was no power. We came inside and now the entire family is camped on my bed waiting for the power to come back on.

Jordan is reading. Chloe is practicing her spelling, Diana is playing her DS, and I am blogging. We are having a good time.

I am sure the power will come back on anytime.
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I'm Gonna Go Swipe Those Kids

We are watching some friends kids for the weekend. There has been some great quotes from the little ones. Our friends kids are 10 (boy), 6 (boy), and 2 (girl) and this is a rundown of what they have said:

I was a little dancing M&M.

Interrupting cow, MOOOOOOOO!

I'm Livi-bird. Tweet Tweet! Chicken Nuggets!

My tummy is really happy.

Chloe is my best friend.

I'm a little big bad wolf.

Ring, ring. Hello, Christmas!

(fake laugh)

It was a yucky bear.

We're going to McDonald's, I can see it!

Your my best brother. Can I have a kiss?

There has been many others that I cannot remember right now. It has been a fun couple days.

Chloe and a Major Award

Chloe was accepted into the Junior National Honor Society at her school tonight. She got a pin to wear and a membership card that is needed to gain entrance to the meeting. At the first meeting they will probably teach them the secret knock so they won't need the membership cards after that.

Way to go Chloe!
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