Justin had a little minor surgery on his head today. He has had a bump growing and growing for several years now. We had it cut off about 4 years ago and then again 2 years ago and again today. If they don't cut it all out, then it will grow back again. The problem is that everything looks like fat so, you can't tell the growth from the not-growth. If you are already getting squeemish, then here is your warning: don't read any further!

The kids all wanted to watch the dr. cut it out so when we had waited 45 minutes for the dr. to come in, I went out to the waiting room and got them. They all crowded around, across the table from the dr. and watched as he numbed up Justin's skin and then cut into the scalp. Kale was really the only one who watched from beginning to end. The rest of them would wander away for a second and then come back. It was kind of fun to watch him cut and pull at that thing that has plagued Justin's hairline for so long. The dr. thought it was a wart of some sort (no, the dr. wasn't Dr. Suess). Of course they'll send it off to be sure. The best part of all was the cut artery that squirted blood with every beat of Justin's heart. The dr. lifted the gauze long enough for all the kids to see a couple of good pulses and then he clamped it down and tied it up into the stitches. There were 4 stitches. Lots of fun!

After that, we went over to Justin's mom's house where we met her new husband. If you hadn't heard, she got married 3 weeks ago. None of us have ever met him so this was our chance. The kids were excited. So, we went for dinner. He seemed nice enough and we had a good time getting to know him a little bit. We are having lunch together tomorrow and then they are coming to our family New Year's Eve party on Thursday. After that, we won't see them again until March, maybe.

I had to put out a thank you again to whomever returned our original "Penguins Wanted" sign from the first of the month. It blew away a couple of days after we put it out. We went looking for it but never found it. It showed up on our doorstep today! Someone is really helping us have fun with our penguins. Who are you?

This video is for my brother and sister-in-law. I wanted them to be able to see the present they got for the boys. They love their cars! Really cool! Our walls aren't smooth enough to drive the cars but our counter cabinets are and the bedroom doors as well as the front bay window. Kale is driving so it's not a very smooth ride. But, they are plenty of fun. Thanks Brian and Meranda!

Newest arrivals

Look who showed up on our doorstep last night:












They are the cutest little penguin family we've ever seen! Much cuter than anything we would have made! It's a family of Mom, Dad, two boys, and two girls. The sign that they have posted reads, "Will werk fur fish". Too cute! We were so surprised and thrilled to see the newest arrivals to our community. We sure wish they could tell us where they came from!

Penguins Wanted

We decided this year to populate our front yard with penguins. We were hoping that some of our friends and neighbors would add to the collection, but so far, we've made them all. They have been fun and some of our friends drive by just to see the penguins. We took some to Kale's classroom this week and the kids liked them. They are made from plastic bottles with a styrofoam head.

We spent our Thanksgiving in Reno. We had a really great week with family.

On Friday, we went ice skating in Tri-Cities for a school outing. Hadley fell while ice skating and cut her chin open. We had to go for stitches. It took four of them to close it up. She was pretty upset about all of it but she got a new outfit and a lot of attention out of the whole deal. That made her feel better.

Today was Seila's birthday. Last night Justin and I checked her birth certificate to verify that our memories served us right. She was born at 3:26 am. So, Justin set his alarm for 3:25 am. When the alarm went off, he went downstairs and woke her up to tell her she was just born 14 years ago. It was kind of fun, not something we've ever done before, but Justin thought he might just do it every year for the rest of her life.

I can't believe she's already 14!