Christmakah. - a family blog tradition.. i mean competition

What an amazing 2011. Soooooo much to be thankful for. We thought we'd highlight a few of the many reasons we're thankful.. as well as take you on a journey of some familiar family traditions.

Too avoid a Christmakah like this...

We had to mix things up a bit.. We started with a Trueblood family tradition of X-mas light "judging".. in the great white north. Very rarely does a house get the highest marks.. and here's a highlight of what we found in the Twin Cities.

Twin Cities Worst:

I mean... really???

Twin Cities Best:

Since we landed in Columbus for the holidays.. we decided we should continue the tradition.. here's what we found.

Worst......!

Home of the Rules Committee

Best: TBD

With the fun family traditions out of the way.. let's move on to what we are thankful for.

A healthy, happy family.

What a family!!!

A wonderful dog..

Riley does ice cream



Challenging yet fun jobs..

Big red.



and.. the best for last..

Grandparents that can't wait to welcome our new addition into the their home.. and cars.

Ready in the womb. vroom vroom baby

Baby on board!! Can't wait to show your friends!!

So thoughtful of the rules committee!! Thanks!!

Your generosity is over the top.. what a great welcome into the family.. and for a future member of the rules committee.

Merry Christmas to all.. and to all a good night.

Get ready to rev your engine!!

Let the fun begin..



Game on. (Continued)

P.S. - I hope Champion Chores http://championchores.blogspot.com/ steps up their game...

the only game they have now is E$'s referee uniform.. boom.

Game on.

Hey http://thetrobaughtribune.blogspot.com/, we're down.

"Get ya popcorn ready"

I would like a cameo from E$.. want to compare it to Corey's. Weeeeeee!

Chimney Sweep

Finally, a house with a real wood-burning fireplace! We love the smell and were really looking forward to lighting fires. Last week, we had a chimney sweep come over to clean it and make sure everything looked ok. Unfortunately I wasn't home so I didn't get to see if he wore kickers, suspenders and a chimney sweep hat.

We needed a screen and some fireplace tools, too. So we got these supplies from Target, and voila! Our new living room decor.

And an evening by the fire.



Fall Leaves

Being a homeowner really is a lot of work. Look at our front yard -- it's covered with leaves!

We found out some of our friends raked all of theirs before the snow starts so the leaves wouldn't be trapped all winter. The idea made sense to us, so I started to rake one day last week.

After 45 minutes and 3 bags full, I needed a rest. This is as far as I got.

It's a start! We're hoping the snow holds off a few more days so we can get some of these leaves cleaned up over the weekend.

Mikey's turn..

Guess who's back.. back again..

Since the all inspiring post by Corey on "The Trobaugh Tribune" Future NY Times Columnist, I've been itching to get back in the saddle.

I have to add some color to a very fun day we had with Ethan on a nice fall afternoon. You can find all the fun toddler activities here - The Playdate.

I'd like to highlight - the "slide ride" in particular.

From the top: note the excitement in E$'s face and the anxious excitement in Aunt Ali's.

From the bottom: Conveniently, this picture missed the cut in the original post... but note Aunt Ali's expression as she "protects" Ethan on way down.

Someone check her pants....

Kids Commons

Over Thanksgiving, we got to spend lots of time with Ethan. While Mike and Jim went to Bloomington for an IU basketball game, Carolyn, Anne, Ethan, Corey and I went to the new Scotty's Burger Joint downtown Columbus. It is one of a few new restaurants at the Kids Commons (and Puccini's is opening there soon too... yay!!!). Columbus is just getting huge!

They have a great playground at the Commons too. After dinner we played there for a few minutes. There was a larger female child that was following Ethan around for awhile but I think she got the hint that he wasn't interested in cougars (she was about 5 -- way too old for him). He was so independent and had a great time playing!

Trip to Danville

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we made a short roadtrip to Danville, IL to visit Grandma Trueblood. She was happy to have visitors and it had been too long since we had seen her. We brought in Pizza Hut and enjoyed lunch together, and were entertained by her roommate, Cora, who is quite a character.

Grandma Trueblood wore us out (or maybe just me -- I slept the whole way home)! That reminds me, I told her I would send copies of the pictures we took. She requested a copy of each one... we'll get those in the mail soon!