A little love

For Valentines we didn't do much. With it being on a Monday, after a long day's work it wasn't worth trying to fight the crowds to go to dinner. So we just got Chinese food (Caleb's choice). I made him a little two layer chocolate chocolate cake. And he surprised me with an Edible Arrangement. I have always thought those looked fun. Now we have fruit to last the whole week. Yum.

Finally they can see

In the winter we tend to let Sadie and Sylvester go quite a while in between haircuts. They just look so cute all fluffy. But it was getting to the point where their hair was so long you could barely see their eyes and the hair on the feet made it so slippery they would slide out if they went around corners too quickly. So finally I took them in to get hair cuts and they came back looking so skinny. They left Sylvester's head looking pretty poofy--a big head on a tiny body. Sadie is much more proportional. Now with so much less hair they are cold in this winter weather and they lay snuggled up in little balls with their noses tucked under their paws.

A Little Culture

Saturday night we decided it would be fun to do something different. I had heard about the RPO concert from someone at work and we decided to give it a try. It was Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. Part of the concert was just the music, part was music with the cartoons, and there were a couple segments of just the cartoons. It was fun. Because of the cartoons a lot of kids were there. And one of the funniest things was when it was quiet as the orchestra played during a cartoon and then a kind would think the cartoon was funny and burst out in laughter into the silence. We had a fun time and will have to go back for more performances in the future.

The End and the Beginning

This year we continued the Marcell traditions for New Year. For the first time we had a New Years tree. It was only about 4 feet tall but it was prelit and festively decorated. Of course we had the "seafood feast"--4 lbs crab legs, 2 lbs shrimp, lobster tails, porterhouse steaks, baked potatoes, salad. Fortunately another couple came over to help Caleb eat all that seafood, because I am no use for that stuff. Needless to say, everyone was stuffed by the end. The rest of the night until midnight was spent playing our new game Nerts and then watching the ball drop. Times square didn't seem nearly as exciting as it used to as a kid, lots of product placement bits. It was a fun night.

Saturday we started off the year by taking down all the Christmas stuff. Fortunately it was kind of warm (50's) and the snow was melted, for Caleb to take the lights off the house. Unfortunately it was rainy, which made the ladder a little dangerous. Once the tree is out on the curb you know the holidays are officially over. But it feels nice to have all the extra stuff put away again.

Christmas Decor

This year we got Christmas lights up on the outside of the house for the first time. Typically our street is kind of a dud for lights but we must have set a good example because there were several houses that had at least a string of lights up. We got LED lights so our "white" lights have a little of a bluish tint.

We got our Christmas tree early in December and decided to try one with long needles. It sure smells good but those needles just keep falling off. We went with a combo of white and colored lights. I only ended up using about half the ornaments and that was plenty.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving my parents came out for a visit. Mom arrived Tuesday night and we spent Wednesday shopping--for groceries and tableware. Dad arrived that night and we got some of the food prep started. Thursday was, of course, a day full of baking and cooking. We tried a few new recipes--cranberry jello, sweet potato casserole. Plus there were all the old standbys--stuffing, potatoes, turkey, green bean casserole, rolls, gravy, peas, etc. We used a turkey roaster this year so the oven would be free for the other stuff and it worked really well. We also had pie--cherry for Caleb and apple for me. We tried to teach Mom how to play Lego Indiana Jones on Xbox. Quite entertaining. Of course we watched football and the parade. It was a fun day.

Friday the guys were busy and got the Christmas lights up outside. For the first time ever we put them up along the roof and in a couple trees. They did a great job. All nice and straight. While they were freezing outside, the girls were inside putting up some Christmas decorations. It is amazing how much stuff I have but I am not sure what to do with. We rearranged a little to make space for the Christmas tree that we will be getting in the next couple weeks. We ended the day going to see Harry Potter. It was pretty close to the book and so Caleb thought it was a little slow moving.

Saturday before they left we went to see the gingerbread houses at the Eastman house and check out a little art fair on Prince street. It was a busy but fun weekend.