Dad Turns 60!!!

Let me tell you, the Bills family knows how to PARTY! My dad turned 60 while we were in TX and we threw him a BIG SURPRISE PARTY. Lots of food, friends and FUN. People were dancing and singing karaoke until the wee hours, and dad was definitely surprised. It was so much fun and I was so glad to be part of it all.






You gotta love my dads new "flair hair" golf hat.


My brothers, getting down.


The lot of us. We put every bit of the word fun in dysfunctional.

Happy Birthday Dad, here's to another fantastic decade.

Dillon and the Spider

Dillon and Charlee came down stairs excited today because they found a spider and were eager to catch it. Dillon got a container with a lid and they both left to get the spider.
A bit of time past and they came running back in and said that they had put a dead fly they found in the container so the spider could eat once they caught it....

Me: Well that's great, but spiders really only eat living flies because they like the fresh blood.

Dillon: Well maybe there's still a little blood left in this fly.

Me: I'm not sure baby, that one's been dead quite a while, you really need a living fly.

Dillon: That's going to be pretty tricky... I guess we'll just have to give it some of Charlee's blood.

Who Says You Need A Man

(although my hands are all blistered and my arms ache just trying to type this....
maybe I do need a man after all) And by the way, all shovel!

Stripping

I've learned a few things while stripping this door...


One, I should have never started to begin with.

Two, the previous owners liked to repaint their door every year, it appears.

Three, when the bottle says it will strip off multiple layers, it lies.

Four, chemicals purchased to strip paint off doors also apparently strip flesh off hands.

And five, I should have never started to begin with. ( or did I mention this already)



I'll let you know what it looks like when/if I finish.

Sledding

Lots of sledding. Even grandma hit the slopes.



Charlee would take the sled down by herself, but she much preferred to belly it.

There's nothing like a few hikes back up to wear you out.

Bringing In 2010/Eggrolls and Chocolate

Last New Years Eve we started a tradition with our friends out here. Eggrolls, fried rice, and the chocolate fountain. Lori brings over the stuffing (SO YUMMY), we all wrap up the rolls, she fries them, I whip out the rice, and we gorge ourselves on chocolate afterwards. A recipe for perfection.


It was hard for the guys to do the fireworks with the kids. Not sure if it was because it was snowing, freezing, or just because the fireworks were leftover from 4th of July 2008, but all most of them would do is smoke. Oh well.


I has to post this picture of Molly which reminded me of the following picture of Dillon from the year before.


Dillon, New Years Eve 2008

Christmas 2009

We were blessed again this year to have Grandma and Papa join us for Christmas and New Year, and even better, they brought GG with them. There were many good times spent together playing games, sledding, eating yummy food, and watching the kids enjoy a wonderful Christmas morning. It was sad to see them go, but we know it wont be for long. Thanks for sharing the holidays with us, We Love You!

Christmas Eve and Grandma reading a bedtime story.


The kids in their Christmas pj's and ready to hit the hay, anxious for the big day.

Christmas Morning

The kids were overwhelmed by the packages, until they noticed Santa and his reindeer had eaten all the food we put out for them. They had to stop to discuss this for a while.


Dillon


Molly


Charlee

This kid has a passion/obsession for candy. With all the loot she got that day all she was interested in all morning was the candy from her stocking... and the candy from everyone elses stocking. I finally had to sweep the house for everything sweet and hide it all completely away before she would even acknowledge that there were other things to focus on.

Christmas Dinner with Family and Friends (well they're pretty much family too)

Lots of time spent playing Mario Cart on the Wii (thanks grandma and papa for the Christmas gift for Dillon, it's a great game!) And an extra treat left by Santa in the basement. The kids were very excited to find it and get their "roll on" with their friends. (Do you have any idea how long it took Santa's elfs to blow thing dang thing up?!)

A Christmas as merry as they come!