Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Tisha's Christmas Mice

Tisha is just too creative! She made these Christmas mice for a dinner we attended at Roebuck PCA. All the kids flipped (and a lot of the adults too)!


Ian & Mia Playing at Trinity

Ian and Mia also played their guitars at Trinity this past Sunday. They played "O Come, O Come Emanuel" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." They were quite the hit!








Recital at Converse College

Ian and Mia did a Christmas Recital at Converse College with their guitar class. They both did a wonderful job. They are really coming along and will start to learn to read music next semester.






To see a clip of Ian and Mia playing. Visit this post on their Grandmother's blog.

Trinity Youth Choir Christmas Musical

The kids have been busy this year! We'll start with the Trinity Youth Choir Christmas Musical. It was a simple program this year, but fun. Here are a few highlights:

Both Mia and Aidan had solos this year.

This was Aidan first BIG solo and he did a great job! Mia did too!

Ian is no longer in the youth choir, but that doesn't mean he's unwilling to help. He, Nancye, and Stephanie did the puppets. They were great! Nancye especially. She had Grandpa Jack laughing so hard I thought he'd have to leave. She's great on stage no matter what she does.

My favorite part of the musical was one of the last parts. The kids started with a couple of presents they used as props for the opening. At the end they use the same ones for the closing song. Aidan refused to take any other presents other than the ones he had the first time. The had to go through all of them until they found the right ones. He's something else!

Sorry about some of the red eye. I couldn't get my flash to work right with the lighting. :(

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Christmas Tree 2008

Ian has started journaling every day. Here is one of his latest...

Today we decorated Grandma's Christmas tree. I helped put on the lights and branches. After that Mia and Aidan put on the ornaments. There were at least 50 ornaments. They put all the ornaments in one big blob, so Grandma and I had to move them around.

The next night we decorated our christmas tree. Dad put on the lights the day before. This time Mia and Aidan put the ornaments in reasonable places. Later I put on the star. I think we will have a very good Christmas this year.

A Planetary Surprise

We went outside this past Wednesday evening and found a surprise waiting for us.  It's not uncommon to see Venus in the evening sky, but seeing Jupiter is a treat. I was fortunate to get this picture. My camera is not really designed to take evening shots without a flash. I wish I had a filter so I really could have gotten some good picture. This will have to do though. Click on the picture for a better view.


Second Thanksgiving

Because we spent Thanksgiving with Marc and Kelly, we spent the day after Thanksgiving at Grandma Mickey and Grandpa Eddie's. They fixed us an awesome ham along with collard greens and corn bread. Tisha made her famous macaroni and cheese to go with it and a couple of pies. It was a feast!

The West Table


One great looking ham!


Aidan napping after his big meal.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year the O'Donnell Clan celebrated Thanksgiving at Marc, Kelly, and Megan's house. Kelly is Jim's first cousin. They live about an hour and a half from us. Their house is incredible! The indoor theater was a favorite for the kids, and I thought we'd never get Ian and Kelly's daughter Megan off Guitar Hero in HD.

The food was spectacular! Kelly cooked the turkey in one of those oven bags and it came out prefect. My mom and dad and Marc's mom and dad were there and helped with the cooking. Here are a few highlights...

Grandma Pam and Cousin Kelly


Marc, Kelly, and Tisha getting things ready for the big meal.


Marc meticulously carving the turkey. Nice shears Marc!


Marc's chocolate bombs of death. These things are so good they're deadly!

Thanks to Marc and Kelly for having us over. It was a great Thanksgiving!

Go Lightening!!

Ian had a great year on the soccer field.  His team placed first in the region and placed second in the area finals.  Great job guys!!!