Maddie's Gingerbread house
The gingerbread crew

Decorating cards at the framing gallery

David striking a pose

At the bonfire

We went to the winter wonderland activities and Mary and David joined us. We waited for awhile in the carraige ride line but then decided it was worth the 20 bucks to just go on one downtown and not wait in an hour-long line.

Visit with Santa
The tree

Decorating the tree (Annie took this picture)

We went out as early as we could to get the tree and decorated it! It went pretty quickly and the tree looks great. It smells fantastic in the front room. This year we got a douglas fir.

Madeline's top 5

Maddie told me her top five desires for Christmas. Some were a little surprising to me!

1. Barbie house
2. Littlest Pet Shop house
3. Belle dress-up dress
4. Swim suit wrap/skirt
5. American Girl doll house type accessories

Tomorrow Ryan will be getting up long before the crack of dawn to participate in BLACK Friday! Woohoo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Maddie being silly at Grandma and Grandpa's
Annie and Mary making silly faces

The clan after Thanksgiving lunch

Annie enjoying pie

Eating pie

We went to Ryan's parents house for a pre-Thanksgiving day lunch on November 23rd.

As for today, we haven't started to feast yet. We spent the morning/early afternoon at the rec. club working out and swimming. It was PACKED with people either getting ready to stuff themselves or punishing themselves post-stuffing. We'll be back tomorrow for another work-out and some pilates. I bet it will be busy tomorrow too.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday!

Holiday Letter

The Alphabetical 2008 Holiday Letter
(to inform the masses of our annual behaviors)

Annalise: The spunky, energetic, slightly red-haired 2 year old started Montessori school. Her teacher tells us that she leads other groups of children around the playground and is always watching the older kids, picking up where they leave off. She loves matching, books, climbing and riding, and working on different types of puzzles.
Madeline: First grader, energetic, extremely social, photogenic, bright, people loving six year old. She enjoys weekly Spanish tutoring, yoga and dance class. She’s turning into a fantastic reader and continues to love drawing/art, Barbies/Bratz, Littlest Pet Shops, Polly Pockets and all things play-related.
Rebecca: Started a new job as a planning director, turned 33, received a chamber of commerce leadership award, and otherwise maintains order in the Horner house as house mom. Loves to bake and is training to run a half-marathon. Currently trying to manage the bucket loads of stuff that she inherited. Celebrated 10 years of marriage to Ryan.
Ryan: Was promoted at the office, turned 34, gardens, cooks and maintains the structure of the Horner house as house dad. He continues to be the plumber, electrician, architect, designer and consultant of the home. He started an Arts Council and serves as president of the board of directors.
Vacation: This year we went to New York City for Easter and participated in the Easter Day Parade. We went to Kansas City to rendezvous with family members in July, and spent eight days in Disney World followed by four days in Washington D.C. during October. Will spend Christmas in Boulder with more family!

Happy Holidays to all and to all a Good Night!

Secret's out!

Okay, it's official. Ryan was promoted! He is now the operations director for a team of approximately 45 professionals in his office. He is the new Team Leader for Team One. It's very exciting for him and we're all very proud!

BIG Secret!

Okay, this is the hottest big secret on the block. Something exciting happened for Ryan but I can't share more because I am not sure who reads this. So if you're dying to know before next Monday then call Ryan! :)

In other news: Today we spent time with Madeline at school as she worked on her family tree activity. It was fun but not nearly as extensive as we had imagined. The teacher did not give very good instructions so most of the parents/grandparents showed up with a lot more pictures than they needed. I think we'll do a big tree for home in the playroom. It will be a nice art project for the girls and pretty for the wall. Speaking of the playroom, I used my day off yesterday to rearrange the room and take out things that didn't need to be there. I am donating three or so bags, threw away a very large bag of junk and put many more bags in storage. Things are organized a little better now based on the way the girls play with things. Ryan committed to making a kitchen table for the kitchen area. Madeline did say "it would be faster to buy one" since she knows Ryan's projects take awhile.

We will be having a Thanksgiving meal with Ryan's family the Sunday before turkey day. We will spend the long holiday weekend doing the Olde German Christmas events, buying and decorating a tree, putting up holiday decorations, etc. For Christmas we will be travelling to the Jacksons and spending a week with them. We're very excited about that trip, which we will be driving.

It's a world of laughter...

Magic Kingdom under the fireworks


Spectromagic



Gigantic cookie ice cream sandwich prior to the spectromagic parade

Ryan and the girls on Main Street

Cinderella's Castle

Happy Halloween (a little late)

We did the candy circuit again this year. I've been reaping the benefits that a plethora of chocolate can provide. Namely craving for more chocolate.

In a last minute decision both girls decided, independently of each other, to be witches. Oh wait, I mean fairies (so says Madeline). I did the unthinkable this year and purchased primarily healthy treats including goldfish crackers and pretzels. I did buy a bag of york peppermint patties and m&m's to offset the healthy mode. In case you were wondering, peppermint patties are one of my personal favorites. After sorting the many bags of loot I came to the conclusion that this year's most popular candies include: twix, snickers, and 3 muskateers (does anyone really like those things?). We did receive a bundle of dum dum pops too. I'm letting the girls eat nearly as much as they want in hopes that it helps dwindle the stash faster. The funny thing about Anna is that she really just likes to try things and then tosses them in the trash. On Saturday she tried about six different thing but probably ingested a bite of candy. Madeline on the other hand carfully spaces her consumption to last as long as possible. As for me, I just periodically stuff my face with crap until I start to feel guilty. It's amazing how many mini candy bars you can eat in the space of about two minutes when my better judgment kicks in. Except that by then, it's too late and I've eaten more than I should. Thank GOD for running! I can run about 4.5 miles and burn over 400 calories and call it even.

At the end of the night we all had fun. We trick-or-treated with Maddie's friend Kara and her family. Annie said "trick or treat", "thank you" and "happy halloween" like a champ! Madeline did a good job of being polite and didn't even tell people that she was a vegetarian when they stuck bags of skittles and starburst in her bag! Woohoo! It's all about the little things.