Minivan + Snowy Road = AAA

So last night, my sister in law and I decided to take the girls ice skating at our town park. There is an area behind the town pool that they flood for the winter months for outdoor skating. My sister in law decided to take the road less traveled to reach said skating area. We slowly drove down the darkened, tree lined path and arrived at the part that was not plowed off. Sister in law decided to back up to turn around. She almost took out a couple trees before getting stuck in the snow. We then took turns trying to push the car out. I am a big girl but not a strong girl. Our efforts were futile until I started rocking the minivan back and forth and Presto: minivan freed! She then decided to pull forward again to "turn around" Bad idea I said and Yes my friends, the Sienna got stuck again. This time for good. The college aged boys who finished playing Heineken Hockey came off the ice to try and help us but nothing could be done. They took off before our fine police force could arrive to assess the situation. Once the two "girl cops" as our girls referred to them arrived and had a peek, we were permanently stuck. It took a flat bed tow truck to get the Sienna back on 4 wheels and flat footing.

We passed the time waiting for AAA to show up by attempting to skate. It was dark, cold and there are no "warming houses" on site. Things were great until 2 people who were walking their dogs came by. The dogs were thrilled to see our bag of hats and mittens. They don't call them Labrador Retrievers for nothing! Boots the Black Lab made off with two hats, a Croc and ear muffs! Seamus the mut grabbed a scarf and they were off and galloping throught the snow! Madigan loves dogs so she thought it was hysterical until she went to put her drooly frozen hat on. Avery my 3 year old niece was freaking out about the dogs even being there. And poor Lara, my 9 year old niece was just bummed out that she left her hockey stick in the minivan on the back of the tow truck!

Lesson learned: Next time we decide to go ice skating, we will either take my SUV or go to our friend's house who just built a high class skating rink in their yard!

Bad, Bad Blogger

Wow, I am coming to realize that I am a much better reader than I am a blogger! I thought I would be better at posting this year, but that does not seem to be happening! I will make a conscious effort to come up with more for you (singular?) to read!

We had a nice weekend. Friday night was LNO (ladies night out) with the preschool moms. A bunch of us still get together quite frequently even though the kids have been out of preschool for almost two years and have gone their separate ways into different schools. It is held at someone's house and we eat, drink and gab. We did a White Elephant Swap that was very funny. I got stuck with a book on the benefits of cocoa oil! I brought a frog soap on a rope!

Saturday, our family went to visit a new cousin, Sebastian August, who was born on December 18th. He is a little handsome peanut with lots and lots of dark hair. Madigan is not impressed by babies. She was more interested in wearing everyone's high heeled shoes. Lots of great Egyptian food and good company.

Sunday was spent enjoying the snow. Madigan and her cousins frolicked outside for the whole afternoon tunneling through all the snow in the back yard. I have been watching 30 Rock on Netflix so I spent the afternoon wiping the tears of laughter off my face! We then watched the red carpet for the Golden Globes but not the ceremony. Our primetime was for Jack Bauer and he did not disappoint! Two hours last night and another two hours tonight. It is like Christmas all over again!

Welcome 2009

I remember the New Years Eves of old. We would go to a party, get all dressed up and get all messed up. Now we are old, tired and too comfortable in our pj's to go anywhere. This year, we had a few friends come by. We ate, had a cocktail or two and made s'mores! the kids had a great time making their own. In fact, I am a little worried about how jubilant Madigan looks with the fire in front of her!

After s'mores, we played a great round of BINGO with prizes courtesy of the Christmas Tree Shop! There were some tears from the non winners but all were assured that they would eventually win even if the last ball left in the cage was the B-7 they were waiting on.

Hopefully, 2009 will restore some sense of order that 2008 shook up. May your New Year be healthy and happy!

Skating Party

Yesterday, we were invited to a skating party at one of the families that Madigan goes to school with. They recently built a skating rink and a warming house and wanted to share in the fun. We had a great time! Madigan and I both went to the store to buy ourselves some skates and a helmet. I have not put a pair of skates on since 1984! I did pretty well, did not fall but was not exactly steady on my feet. Madigan hit the ice around 3:15pm and was the last one to get off at 6:30pm. I was very proud of her. She took some skating lessons when she was three but all she was interested in then was the candy machine at the facility. She fell quite a few times but always pulled herself right back up. The property is gorgeous. It is a huge rink with flood lights so the fun can go all night. The warming house has bathroom, changing area with cubbies and a kitchen and living room area to warm back up! The children all had a great time and it was great to meet new people. The snow never stopped! It felt like a Norman Rockwell moment!

LOL

I went to shut down our computer tonight and Madigan was looking at old pictures. This computer is running on its last leg so I do not download anything on to it anymore. I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and found this hysterical cartoon! Enjoy it!

Egg Nog and Friends

On Sunday, we attended our annual get together with my friends. Each year, a different gal hosts except me since I do all the Summer out by the pool stuff. We each bring something delish to eat and we get something little for each of the children to open. This year, the kids were all obsessed with playing Wii. The spiced up Egg Nog was flowing especially for our hostess and her partner in crime! We had a great day and it was great to catch up with everyone. Our kids are all getting older so it is fun to watch them interact as well! We had a Yankee Swap for the adults which is always hysterical. I wanted to do a White Elephant swap where you would wrap up something awful that you already had at home but the gang wanted a traditional $10 swap. I decided to combine the two! I had a lovely plastic blue purse that I got last year from bookclub that I used to hold a sparkly tank top that read "Party Girl" with a margarita glass on it! The real gift was a pair of sterling silver earrings. Another hit was the three foot long pepperoni stick. No one even noticed that it had a scratch ticket taped to it! I opened and went home with this:

That's right, it is Rick Springfield's Christmas Wish to me!! I held on tight to my cd and have been listening ever since!

In Search of 2 Trees

We went out in search of our trees on Tuesday night. We get one for the family room and Madigan picks out a little one for her room. Normally, we get a 9-10 foot tree because we have 12 foot ceilings. This year, we decided to downsize and got an 8 footer. Next year, I am thinking of getting a prelit tree but we will still let Madigan choose her own.

It was 60 degrees out and starting to sprinkle so we did not waste any time. We grabbed our trees, some wreaths, some firewood and got home without incident. We only live .2 miles from the farm stand so we had an easy ride back! The hardest part is waiting a day to decorate!