I finally did it!!!

It has taken me a year and a half, but today, finally, I was able to go and have my hair cut.  Yay!!  I decided to donate my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  They use the hair from 6 donations to make a wig for a woman with cancer.   There are many other organizations that will take hair donations, but they are typically 10+ inches, and I just didn't have it in me to wait that long.  I can thank my friend Lisa who turned me on to Pantene, for which you need 8 inches.  (You can go to www.pantene.com and check out their website.  There is a link to hair donation).   This donation is made more special by the fact that Dave's mom passed away this year from cancer and I only hope that I can help someone else's mother who is going through chemo, radiation, etc, get some self esteem back with a wig of real hair.   Thanks to all of my friends and family who have heard me gripe about this from time to time, but I have to say that when she was cutting that ponytail off, it was a teary moment for me.  

Beaver!

On our hike we walked along a ravine and noticed, oddly, that there was a beaver laying right on the edge of the retention pond next to his dam.  Usually, beavers will run before you ever see them.  We are worried that he is ill and isn't able to get around.  This puts him in prime position to be attacked by a predator.  We emailed the man who is the head of the caretaking of the preserve and let him know where we saw him.  Hopefully, the beaver can be helped.  

Birthday hike in the nature preserve

For Dave's birthday Monday, he wanted to take a hike in the nature preserve.   It was not too cold, just a bit windy.  There was a lot of slush and mud (which Caleb of course managed to fall into) so we didn't get to do the whole, long hike that we enjoy around the entire pond.    The sun was out and it was gorgeous though.    Dave did take a picture of just me (which is rare) and then Potter took a really nice shot of me and Dave together.  I didn't know that Dave and I did things together, as there is no evidence to the contrary.

Dave is forty (40)

A few shots of the old(er) man opening some presents.

Bathroom update

A few updates on the bathroom:  1)  My new supply line for my toilet  2)  My new copper piping and higher up shower 3) My new piping for the double sinks (notice how they made the large white pvc pipe at an angle to help draining, very clever!!)  4)  My moved over baseboard heat (you can see where the hole is on the left where it used to be and 5)  My newly installed shower base.  Yay!!!!

Bye to Granddad

Happy times!!

Early birthday

Dave got an early birthday present from his dad, a new vacuum cleaner!!  Seriously, this is something that Dave wanted.  But maybe not in banana yellow.  But it really sucks!!!!

Train set

For all of the grandchildren, Granddad gave them a brand new Lionel train set.  They all think this is totally cool.  It has a real train whistle, real smoke, and can unload the logs from the appropriate car with the push of a button.  Hours will be spent with this toy.

Everyone is enjoying their new stuff and playing with what is left, the wrapping paper!!

My favorite of all of these is the kids in the new pajamas, as my daughter put it 'small, medium and large'.  

Santa's gifts

Santa brought many things, among them were the DVD Wall-E, a new sled, Mario Karts (for the Wii), and a blow up baseball game for Caleb.  

Opening the stockings

Starting off the morning right by opening up the stockings that Santa left full of goodies.

Mommy's special present

Potter made me a special Christmas ornament at school, which I had to open first and put on the tree.

Christmas Eve

We attended a Christmas Eve service in the afternoon and then, while we were all dressed up, snapped a few pics of us, including MacDougal (Granddad's faithful doggie).