The Shupeville Zoo: It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Lots going on around here lately....

It has left me too busy (read too tired) to post very much,

but here's the (not so) short version of the Shupe goings on the past week or so.

Christmas Concerts for Kindergarteners

Please excuse the lousy picture. I couldn't do any better than this. Grace in down front alone in an ocean of boys wearing red shirts. Poor girl! I think she feels outnumbered some days.

The concert was very cute and very brief...perfect!! The sang a few songs and performed christmas carols with the hand bells.

Grace was a little ahead of schedule last week. She wanted to put snowflakes on the windows.

Usually I reserve this craft for January when life slows down to a crawl and when there's a higher probability of it actually snowing when we tape our little creations to the windows.

She was not to be stopped however, so I let her proceed with taping her snowflakes. She had high hopes that it would snow...thus perpetuating the myth first begun with John and Emily so many years ago.

And just like so many times before,..........to my amazement.........it worked.

She

was

ecstatic!!!

Grant was pretty pleased with the outcome as well.

They both enjoyed their first snowy day of the season.

Remington loved the snow too. It was his first time seeing it.

Dad got in on the fun by helping the two little ones build the first snowman of the season.

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I don't have time to go find the pictures

but these pictures remind me of a dad and two other little ones making a snowman in that very same spot about six years ago when they were that age.

The finished product

Friday it was a trip to school to help Grace make a gingerbread (graham cracker) house.

Lots of parents worked hard to make their kid's houses look just perfect.

I think Grace's looks just perfect already.

Also on Friday, I had two of my new favorite men knock on my door. They were window washers hired by my husband to wash my windows.....a birthday present from my hubby.

A man who knows what a girl really wants....

I mean REALLY wants.

I'm not joking. I loved it. I HATE dirty windows and who has time to wash them anymore?

Friday night was spent in the great company of Mom. She came over to visit for a day.

We went to see Anita Renfroe who was in town performing.

We had a good time.

Thanks for coming, Mom.

Saturday was the Sixth Grade Tournament for Quick Recall

I had to have the kids at the location of the tournament by 8:00 that morning.

They did not get finished until almost 5:00 that evening.

They took first place in the quick recall part of the tournament, but lost the overall title to a Catholic school who did much better than our school in the written assessment part of the tournament.

It was a fun day.

Saturday night was another night out on the town.

I worried the earth might rotate backward if I actually went out two nights in a row, but my fears were unfounded.

We hosted our company Christmas party at a local restaurant.

There was food and pool tournaments and dart tournaments and door prizes

and laughter and fun and renewed friendships and new friends

and more bourbon than my husband would care to remember for a while.

I will not post incriminating pictures.

I love the man too much.

Remember the windows??

Sunday was spent at church and then hanging out at home.

I helped the kids string cranberries to put on a tree at the farm.

If we make it out there before Christmas, we're going to put up an old artificial tree from ECO and decorate it the old fashioned way with popcorn, cranberries and paper chains and snowflakes.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

I'm not the most crafty person in the world.

Emily and Grace enjoyed stringing the cranberries more than John did

as evidenced by this picture of him napping on the couch.