A Puzzlement

Roses are red

This flower is yellow

3-D puzzles are fun

When you're calm or mellow

It's a beautiful flower

As you can see

But to put it together

Just about killed me

And while Hannah says thanks

For this beautiful present

Those of us who had to build it

Did not find it so pleasant

So Uncle Dude if you ever think

That we'd enjoy another thrill

Think again (and again)

Because you, I will kill

Christmas!!

I didn't take a lot of photos on Christmas Day because we were all involved with the cat (and trying to keep the dog away from the cat!) but we did have our usual fun with the Bentleys on Christmas Eve.

Hannah still sort of believes in the magic of Christmas and Santa and all that (especially since we have the you-must-believe-if-you-want-to-receive rule!) but didn't want to sit on Santa's lap. Until we got to Aunt Terry and Uncle Ray's house where luckily, there was the perfect Santa for her to sit on!

It's just not a Garrity Christmas celebration without crackers ... here's Lizzie wearing her crown:

Uncle Ray (and Casey) taught Hannah and Lizzie a new fist bump sequence that goes something like bump, explode, talk about it (pictured below is the talk about it part). So our Christmas Eve was educational, too!

 And, of course, no modern-day gathering is complete without someone checking their electronics. Max was smiling for the photo though, so all was good!

Christmas Day was a lot of fun for us (I have to admit to being verrrrrry tired since I was up much of the night worried that the dog would discover the cat in the closet. He barked his head off at 4 a.m. and when I checked on him he was actually NOT barking at the cat who was about two feet away from him in the closet, but rather the neighbor's light up reindeer that had been there for weeks. Good thing for him, he's handsome.

So first, here's our feast. We had turkey, stuffing (terrible -- made it from a bag of pre-seasoned breadcrumbs and won't be doing that again), cranberry sauce, turnip, mashed potatoes, glop (that's the green bean casserole but you add canned asparagus instead of green beans), sweet potatoes with cinnamon, and creamed onions. Dessert was cookies and pumpkin pie. It was all delicious (except for the stuffing) if I do say so myself.

And last but not least, here are pictures of various family members with Bella:

 

Next up is the week AFTER Christmas!

Twas the Week Before Christmas...

Christmas (and New Year's!) may be over and done, but the blogging is just beginning!! The girls had almost two weeks off (they went back to school yesterday, but then had a snow day today!) and we did a lot to keep busy. Here is the photographic evidence:

We started off our vacation with baking. I bake with the girls a lot but this year they required very little help to get things done. Here they are making snickerdoodles (which were delicious, by the way):

Lizzie also decided that Cash wasn't festive enough so she stuffed this hat and put it on him. He is a very good puppy to put up with us all -- especially in light of what happened on Christmas day (MEOW!!)

Or actually BEFORE Christmas. There's a stray that's been coming around the house and since it's been cold here we've been letting her sleep in our garage. And then our laundry room. And then one morning we let her into the house and she ran right up our Christmas Tree. I am happy to report that NO ORNAMENTS were hurt (or cats) during this extraction:

Things got really fun when the Garritys came to visit the Saturday before Christmas. We were supposed to all get together the weekend before that, but Mother Nature had other ideas, so T.A. and Tina came with Tommy and Brenna and a good time was had by all. And Ann, it really was warm enough that day to be out without a coat! (Here's the coatless Brenna with Hannah)

It was also warm enough to go sledding on the driveway. The kids were dragging each other around in the sled on the driveway and around the front yard.

The ever-thoughtful Aunt Tina wore the same outfit as Cash:

Seriously I have no words for this picture...

Then we did some more baking (actually decorating). Here's Lizzie and her gingerbread people. She made Santa and Mrs. Claus and also some Christmas cats:

 Hannah, hard at work:

 Hannah and her finished people. She made a cat and some miscellaneous people. And then she ate them.


Next post: Christmas Eve and Day (not too many pictures of Christmas Day since we were all consumed by the kitten!)

Holiday Talent Fest!

This is the first year that the girls had separate activities for the holidays. Lizzie continued dancing and was in the Nutcracker and Hannah has continued with her singing.
Due to a huge conflict I had to deal with Lizzie's dancing during Hannah's chorus concert. It was a little tense (but only a little!) as I was able to go see the concert during school hours. Rob handled the concert on the actual concert night and I handled the dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker. Whew. How do people with MORE than two children handle anything? Rent additional parents?

Anyway, here are some photos from these extravaganzas of talent.

Lizzie had three roles in the Nutcracker, which was not exactly the traditional Nutcracker we'd all come to know and love. It was still a good performance though. In the first act Lizzie played a little girl. Here she is with some of her friends from the dance company, wearing her fancy dress for this role:

 She was also an angel, again. We have decided (Liz and I) that because she's so petite that she's going to be an angel until she is 27 years old so she's just embracing it. Here are all the angels and FYI, Liz is standing on a step in the back that makes her as tall as the younger girls who are standing in front of her:

And here she is all by herself. These costumes were made new this year. I loved the dress, but the halos were a pain in the you-know-what to attach. I helped out backstage for several of the performances, but did manage to get to see most of the performance on the last day.

 

And finally, she played a friendly mouse in the candy cane dance. Here she is with some of her fan club (and Hannah -- ha ha!) This is Shelby, Aunt Terry and Rob with the friendly little mouse. 

 

Here's a picture of Hannah just before her concert. Even though I had to get Lizzie over to her dress rehearsal I was asked to curl Hannah's hair. And I mean she asked about 30 minutes before I had to have the dressed, bunned and made-up child over to the dance venue. So it was hectic, but we survived. Rob said the school concert was great (I had seen it the day before and had to agree -- better than usual!)

 

And while we are on the subject of dance, Lizzie has a big announcement. She's been approved to go on pointe! Yay (for her at least -- now I've got broken ankles and disappearing toenails to worry about!) Here she is with her first pair of toe shoes The need to be approved by her dance teacher before I can sew on the elastic and ribbons, but she's still begging to twirl around in them anyway!

 

 

Merry Meowy Christmas

We are having a great Christmas. Here's a short video of two VERY coveted gifts:
We hope you are enjoying your Christmas with family and loved ones (and your own version of very coveted gifts!!)

Thanksgiving birthday

So the birthday fun ended for about three days and then we went down to the shore for Thanksgiving and MORE BIRTHDAY FUN!!
Grandma Connie is recovering from cancer treatment so Aunt Linda and I did our best to recreate the family thanksgiving -- which includes birthday cakes (what? yours doesn't?) and PRESENTS.

Here is the photographic evidence of that extravaganza!
First, no self-respecting New Yorker (or former New Yorker or offspring of former New Yorkers) would even think of watching anything but the Macy's Day parade -- so we made the girls watch. This is the end when Santa makes his big entrance. See how THRILLED they are?

And then we took some time to celebrate birthdays:

Here they are making a wish (Lizzie -- it takes a while!) and blowing out the candles (Hannah):

The presents included clothes and earrings and (what a surprise!) Monster High dolls as well as some games and other little baubles:

Rob performed "Misty" for us. I know this because it's the only song he's been playing for about three months. No joke.  (I do love this piano though!)

And Aunt Linda (who refused to allow me to post any pictures of her ...) did Hannah's nails. The girls also put on a fashion show with Aunt Linda's very funky NYC boots and make-up.

Then it was time to eat. Here's a picture of Rob and his AMAZING turkey carving skills WITH HIS EYES CLOSED!!

Then after dinner it was time for a rousing game of Battleship. Guess who had the most fun (hint - not the 11-year-old): 

It was all over way too soon, but we saved the best for last when Hannah and Lizzie got to help deflate the air mattress. We Rasmussens really know how to party!

A month of birthday

I realize that the last time I posted it was a few days before the girls' 11th birthday. So long ago, in fact, that I was signed out of blogger and had to work VERY HARD to remember my password. Which I did.
So now I can post the birthday pix, the Thanksgiving pix, the Nutcracker pix, etc. etc.
But let's start with birthday photos and see where we go from there, okay?!?

We started with a celebration ON the girls' birthday, Nov. 21. They each got each other a Monster High doll (in fact ALL Hannah wanted for her birthday and Christmas was/is MH stuff -- she's obsessed!) They were both happy with the selection (made easier by Hannah telling Lizzie, I want Gigi and Lizzie telling Hannah, I want Venus McFlytrap) which made for a great birthday:

 Aunt Terry got them each their own magic 8 ball and Hannah's reaction was pretty much the exact same as Lizzie's. They were thrilled and discerned within 10 minutes that I was going to get them a puppy, let them stay up until 10 p.m. and pass gas in church. Jeesh!!

 I made cupcakes for their birthday and they each got to blow out the candle:

 And here's our favorite birthday tradition (well Hannah and Liz might like the gifts best) seeing if Rob can still hold both girls. Cash was jealous and Lizzie doesn't look all that confident but I am happy to say no Dads or daughters (or dogs) were harmed during this stunt:

The Saturday after their actual birthday they had a sleepover with six girls. They had originally invited 8, so I was happy when two couldn't come, since the noise level with just the six (plus H&L) was probably illegal. Here Rob's helping them with the pinata. Lizzie actually broke it open

 Before they could HIT the pinata, they had to find it. The theme of the party was "In the Dark" so they did all sorts of glow-in-the-dark activities. I set up a treasure hunt for them outside and they had to go around with flashlights (and they all had those alien headbands that were glow in the dark, too) and find the treasure chest. They were very successful (and very loud!)

Here they are hunting:

And here they are right after they found the pinata (which was in the shape of a treasure chest, in case you are looking at this on a teeny tiny screen!)

The girls ate in the dark (we turned on the lights when they were blowing out the candles) and I'd set out a bunch of glow in the dark bracelets and blinking lights and stuff. It was cool. They had pizza and all sorts of chips and other junk to eat.

After dinner they played around a bit more (really with 5th graders you don't have to plan anything -- they just like to hang out!) but then I gave them each a sample sheet of Mary Kay cosmetics (you can find ANYTHING on ebay) that had eye shadow, blush and lipstick on it. They also each got a hair accessory and some glow in the dark jewelry and had to (in the dark) make up their partner. This is the result (as you can see, some were better at it than others!)

 

Then it was lights out. Okay it was lights out again and again and again until about midnight, but eventually everyone fell asleep. Lizzie's allergies were bothering her (and by allergies I mean Hannah!) so she slept part of the night in her room instead of the basement, but still had a great time. here they are the next morning eating the pancakes and bacon I whipped up (in the microwave!!!)

Everyone had a great time and went home happy.. The girls were happy that they came over. I was happy that they went home! Seriously, the girls have some very nice friends and I always enjoy it when they come to visit (but it helps when they stay in the basement!)