saturday, saturday, saturday, saturday

highlights of our saturday:
ryan puts first coat of paint on our entry-way ceiling (results are spectacular, way to go Ry!)
afton attends bowling birthday party
lunch at Atlanta Bread Company
slept in
looked at more furniture
ella scored a balloon at furniture store
leftovers for dinner (lowlight of the day)
ry watches patriots/giants game
amy searches food blogs and buffalo blogs
new official holiday (2nd friday in march)

afton had an idea (picked up from an Arthur episode) that we have our own special holiday. we thought that would be a great idea and decided on the 2nd friday in march. we're calling it Hulse Day! to celebrate we are heading to the waterpark, which will be a welcome distraction from the buffalo winter weather. i'm sure the 2nd friday in march will not arrive soon enough. great idea Aft-o!

gruntle

my new favorite word is gruntle. i heard it on The Office tonite in a rerun. i hadn't heard it before and i think it is hysterical. michael told jan, we have no disgruntled workers, we are all gruntle.

this is the cutest picture of gg and elle singing "you better watch out, better not cry, better not pout, i'm tellin you why." ella also says, "santa claus is comin' to THE town." she has been singing and singing while marmee and gg have been at our house. they actually flew home today and we are missing them. ella was bothered that she wasn't going on the airplane with them. i explained to her that we didn't have a ticket for the airplane today, but we would probably be getting one soon. for the remainder of the day she said, "we get a ticket for the airplane really soon."

i just wrote a whole post that was really good, if i do say so myself. however-something bad happened and it didn't get saved and so i will have to rewrite my thoughts another time. i'm a little tired of myself right now.

Christmas Day!

Merry Christmas! Today has been a great day. Afton woke up at 1am, wide awake, asking if it was time to open presents. We sent her back to bed finally and then woke up at 8.

The girls did well, as usual. I did a lot of unwinding twist ties on the back of Littlest Pet Shop sets and baby dolls. Ryan scored a remote control dragonfly. Apparently the first RC insect! I received an IPod Nano. I am excited to load it up and use it while running.

We had a great gathering last night with around 40 big and little people. We had two Marys and not one Joseph in our nativity story scene. I guess this is the 21st century.

We have been playing games, watching movies, and making ourselves sick on candy and chocolate fondue. Mmm, Mmmm!

GG, Ry, Aftie and her friend are going to the big Sabres game tomorrow night. GG and Aftie each got two tickets to the hockey game and will have a great time. I suppose Marmee, Ella and I will be staying home and watching movies, which is perfectly fine with me.

GG has been calling Ella, Butch, as a teasing nickname. Ella keeps saying, "I am Ella, not Butch". Ella and Afton have been having a great time playing with Marmee and GG. They have been playing games and doing puzzles nonstop.

Marmee and I went to the late movie the other night, something I have not done in a very long time. We saw P.S. I love You! It was good. We were crying, laughing, crying, laughing the whole way through. I highly recommend this one.

Hope your Christmas was a great one too!

Update

It is definitely wintertime in Buffalo. We have about a foot of snow and at least 3 feet where the snowplows have pushed snow back from the roads. Afton is loving it and lingers outside after she gets off the school bus. We actually got out of church early on Sunday because it was so snowy. Ryan had to speak in Niagara Falls and I was a little worried about him driving because the roads hadn't been plowed yet. However, he is so devoted and made his way there, only to find no speaking partner! We had a nice afternoon at home. Afton went to a friends house to decorate cookies for a couple of hours and had a great time. Luckily we have 4-wheel drive because I definitely needed it. Another mom had to be pushed out of the cul-de-sac. It's always so exciting around here.
Today was just another day of laundry, dishes, tea parties with Ella, and dressing up. Ella said, "Today I am a mermaid and a butterfly". She put on her mermaid halloween costume and then put on butterfly wings over that. Quite creative if you ask me. Then we each took turns singing happy birthday to each other and blowing out a plastic candle and pretend eating the plastic cupcake. She thought that was great and had a funny little smile each time I sang to her, like "oh, aren't you sweet to remember my birthday?".
Last night for Family Home Evening, we went to the Planetarium at the High School down the street. Afton has been several times with her school classes. She absolutely loves going. I saw a holiday show advertised and thought we should check it out. It is a tiny little room, but the show was great and both of the girls were totally into it. Afton loves learning about space and the planets and tells me new and interesting things all the time. She even checks out books at the library about the sun and the planets. She's a smartie, I'll tell you.
Ryan has been chosen for a mentoring program at work and it's pretty fantastic to be chosen. He's the only one from his sight and will be mentored by a guy at the corporate office who works in a different Honeywell business. I think Ry will make the most of it and it will be a great experience and hopefully he'll be able to set some good goals and move in the direction he's hoping to. Afton gets her smarts from her dad, that is for sure!
Tonight the YW in the ward had a service project. They volunteered to watch any children for 2 1/2 hours while the parents did Christmas shopping. I have never seen so many Mormons on time in my life! The babysitting began at 6pm and people were waiting in their cars 10 minutes before. Of course we took full advantage and finished up our shopping.
Tomorrow we start the work on our ceiling-taping and mudding. It really couldn't be a better time to start a big, messy project. Oh well, I'll feel better about not cleaning before my parents arrive on Thursday!
That's all for now. Good night and goodluck.

saturday fun

this morning i was supposed to volunteer at the WNY (that's western new york) food bank. my new friend, susan, picked me up and we headed downtown. when we arrived, we were told our services were not needed. so, we decided to hit a few spots downtown while we were out. we went to a restaurant supply store, which is good to know about, just in case i need a crate of plastic pitchers. actually i did score a little something for anne for christmas. shhhhh! then we went to a chocolate store called Platters. www.platterschocolates.com
apparently the owner is a patient of susan's husband and he always brings chocolates when he comes to his dr appointments. i heard one lady asking about the coconut creams, wondering if the filling was firm. i was laughing inside thinking, why doesn't she just ask for a sample. so, the chocolate shop employee asked if the lady would like to try one and she said, "oh, well i really shouldn't. it's a little early." it's just chocolate, lady, not a martini.
when i arrived home i asked the girls where dad was and they said, "he's in the bedroom singing sooooo loud!" he likes to tease them by singing really loud and then they scream and yell, "DAD! stop it!!!"
the saturday night live christmas special is on and good old chris farley is on playing Matt Foley, the inspirational speaker who lives in a van down by the river. one of my all time favorite snl characters.
and here's a shout out to my favorite snl watching partner, christi billquist, who peer-pressured me into starting this blog!
other highlights of the day include:
lunch at atlanta bread company
last minute shopping at Pier 1
looking at furniture for our family room
grilled cheese for dinner
an exciting game of family bingo
christmas bedtime stories

christmas time in buffalo

it's that time...christmas time is here! the tree is trimmed, the stockings have been set out, the radio has been tuned to the 24 hour christmas music station, and we've been to the mall several nights 'til 11pm. my parents will be here thursday night and the celebration will officially begin. the 1st grade winter party will be held friday morning. doesn't it sound exciting to go to a winter party? we are a diverse school, therefore we celebrate winter and leave out the holiday and religious aspects. one of our 1st grade friends said (about another little girl) "i think she celebrates something that starts with a d, and she worships a god named abbah". isn't that cute? we are all learning lots of new things about other cultures and religions. our little sweetheart has been bringing home books on hanukkah and knows how to pronounce all the words. she's also asking santa for a dreidel. i'm not sure how that works, exactly.

also on the celebration agenda is a christmas eve gathering at our home with the traditional soup, breadsticks and chocolate fondue. to quote rachel ray: "YUM-O!" we will also be holding the annual nativity dress-up. one year we had two 3 yr old Mary's, and a spotted dog!

we're looking forward to this year's lineup and it's getting closer everyday.

it certainly is the most wonderful time of the year!