Christmas is coming...

We pulled into our neighborhood Sunday night, the last

day of November, and it looked like a tribute to

Christmas Vacation. Every house was lit with twinkle

lights, inflatable Santas and electric reindeer drinking

out of the riverscapes so popular here in Arizona

landscaping. Our kids' eyes lit up as we drove through

our Magical Winter Wonderland to our home. As we

turned the corner to our house, Collin's face fell into

disappointment as he noticed our completely dark house,

with not so much as an outdoor light on.

"Aren't we celebrating Christmas this year?"he asked us.

Though we had just returned from being in California

for over a week for Thanksgiving and a family wedding

AND it was still (technically) November, I did not have

the heart to tell him I had no plans of putting our

Christmas decorations up until the next week-end.

I found myself Monday morning waving good-bye to

Garrett as he left for Washington D.C. and getting the

boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations out of the

attic and highest shelves of the garage.

The things we do for love....

The First Catch

The kids finally wore Garrett down and he took the family fishing last week. We went to our local

Riparian Preserve armed with Dora and Spiderman fishing poles, an urban fishing license and worms.

Five minutes into the adventure I was already regretting the trip. All the kids wanted to do was cast

and reel it in (evidently it is hard to catch catfish if they never have a chance to bite the bait).

After a long hour and a half, I began packing it up. Garrett, however, was determined that the kids

would catch something to avoid the downtrodden expressions that were forming as they saw their

mom folding up the chairs. Garrett and Collin spied a small grouping of teensy fish just off the shore

and went for it. These pictures capture the momentous "first catch". You'll have to look hard for the fish.

Luckily, we were not relying on the adventure to supply us with dinner!

Garrett and Collin bringing in the big catch.

Claire and Collin admiring the fruits of their adventure.

Collin holding the line admiring the catch.