So, what are you doing for New Year's Eve?

We decided to stay 'in' tonight. Well, actually after a quick trip to CVS and WalMart, we are staying in for the rest of the night. Jon gets the pleasure of spending the New Year at work, bummer.

Every year we make Snickerdoodles on New Year's Eve, so once again we've got warm, yummy cookies to enjoy. I started doing this about 4 or 5 years ago, and believe it or not, I forgot about it this year! Riley and Payton actually asked me when we were going to start making them. I was flattered that they had remembered a fun little 'tradition' of ours for New Year's Eve!

The kids have been collecting pop tabs to take into school. Our school has a goal of something like 100 gallon jugs full of them for this school year. We have wonderful friends who have been helping us collect them and they even handed over their collection to the kids as well! Thank you Brad, Amy, Tom, and Chris! Payton thought that tonight would be a good night to get them all loaded up in a milk jug and ready to take into school when we go back next week. He was so adorable that I had to get out the camera and snap a few pictures to savor this 'cute' moment. I know, I know... me get the camera 'out'... who am I kidding? It was already sitting 'out' on the computer desk ready to go! After a few fun pictures of the work he was doing, he wanted to hold up the entire bag, so our blogger world could see just how many pop tabs he was working with. This obviously wasn't the best idea...oooops! The bag slipped and most of the little tabs landed on the floor. The best part was the look on Riley's face when I asked if she would come help her brother with something! She turned the corner and saw all of the little tabs everywhere and was in shock. After a few giggles, they were all picked up and Payton finished filling his first milk jug! I think we have enough for a few more jugs, what do you think?

Payton's 1st Grade Christmas Program @ HHPS

Payton's Christmas program was adorable this year! Thank you to all of the teachers and assistants that put so much time and patience into this large group of 1st graders! I know that Payton had a blast that night and I'm sure the other kids did as well!

One of the most beautifully decorated homes at Christmas...Grandma & Grandpa T's!

Jon's mom and dad, Roy and Lucie Tindal, have the most beautiful Christmas decorations around! They put so much into every detail, that it is simply striking to see. Every tree has a theme and reflects a passage from the Bible. You can just feel the Love of Jesus while you are looking at all of the beautiful decorations!

Uno Attack!

We LOVE to play games and board games! We opened our new Uno Attack game and played it with a few friends on Monday -- it was so much fun! The kids love Uno (check back in the archives for the post where Payton taught Grandma Bessie how to play! August 08), so this new version, (I know, I know... it's not new, but it is new to us) was quite to hoot to get used to! The kiddos were begging and pleading the little red machine not to 'spit' out too many cards each time they had to push the button!

Our own "Marley and Me"

Well, the movie America has been waiting for is here.... Marley and Me. I guess not everyone has been waiting for it, but my family sure has. The kids and I have read parts of John Grogan's book Marley and Me together, so we were overly excited to see the movie. We feel that we have our own version of Marley, but in our house, his name is Barkley! At one point during the movie, we joked that we shouldn't watch this at home with Barkley... we wouldn't want him to learn any tricks that he hasn't already tried! Here are a few K-9 Highlights of the past few months with Barkley....

* He traded his orange squeaky ball for Riley's ceramic pumpkin that she made in art class and ate the entire top off of it

* He loves to sleep in the bed, but not at the foot of the bed... nope he squishes himself right in between us and then sprawls those 4 long legs way out while lying on his back.

* The kids like to sleep with a few stuffed animals, mainly their Webkinz, but they know that Barkley likes to take them away. The kids thought they would 'prevent' him from taking them by hiding them under their blankets... for most dogs this would work, but not for Barkley! He waits until they are asleep and then moves in for the steal by digging under their blankets and comes prancing down the stairs displaying his prize!

* He will eat ANYTHING! No joke!

* Out of all the dog toys that we get him, he literally chews through them in just a few days. Even the ones that are listed as being 'tough enough for strong chewers' don't last very long in our house. He will, however, hang on to those annoying $1 squeaky toys from Walmart forever! He really loves them and I don't think he wants to tear up his favorite ones. The best is when those crazy toys end up in our bed at 3:00 in the morning!