(This photo was taken last Friday, but I was so overcome by the pooey car that this post had to wait.)

Adam participated in his school's basketball skills tournament and did especially well on the shooting part of it.  He made 4 out of 5 shots (actually, he made 5 out of 6 shots, but they didn't count the practice shot).  I was very proud of him--even when he wasn't doing as well as he wanted to, he kept his emotions under control and cheered for the other competitors.

1st Advent Sunday

According to the internet, the first advent Sunday symbolizes hope.  So, over dinner, we all shared something we hope for.  Here are our hopes in 2011:

Luke hopes to someday play college football.

Adam hopes we all will do well in school.

Pepper hopes Jesus will come again soon (he gets extra credit for his answer).

Jessica hopes we can all be happy.

And, I hope all my children will make choices in their lives that will make them as happy as I am.

(I also hope that next advent season, Brad will be done with this ridiculous job and can be with us on all four advent Sundays.)

Guess what movie we saw tonight!

(I'll give you a hint:  I actually had to ADD red-eye to this photo)

Yep, we saw Breaking Dawn Part 1.  Only those of us who are actual fans were allowed to go - we had a couple of anti-Twilight friends who thought about joining us, but we didn't want their pooh-pooh attitude towards sparkly vampires and ripped werewolves to spoil our fun.

Just because it's stupid doesn't mean we can't love it.

One of the perks of Brad working for a car company is that they give us a brand new company car every six months.  I'm not going to lie - it is pretty nice (I thought about downplaying it for modesty sake, but then decided that would be ungrateful of me).

So, about a week ago, we traded our six-month old company car (full of old french fries, dead leaves, and forgotten school art work) for a pristine, brand-spanking-new car.  For a few days, we cruised around, basking in the hum of a new engine and the scent of stiff new leather.

Then, on Wednesday when I took the kids to their church activities, Pepper stepped in a huge pile of dog poo on his way to the car.  It was dark, and Pepper was oblivious, so he climbed in the car and proceeded to smear said dog poo all over the carpet on the passenger side.  It took about 10 seconds before all of us in the car were gasping for air and totally grossed out.  

Of course, when we saw the problem, we immediately stopped the car and made Pepper get out and clean off his shoes.  We wiped up the poo the best we could with the packet of tissues I had in my purse (five minutes I never want to relive), and when we got home Jessica took a bottle of sanitizing cleaner to the carpet and gave it a good scrubbing.  Problem solved, right?

Wrong.  

Despite all the scrubbing and leaving the windows open at night when the car was in the garage, for days the car has still stunk.  Reeked.  So bad that every time we drove anywhere, I would look in the rear view mirror and see Adam's head hanging out the window and Luke's eyes watering as he tried to suppress his gag reflex.

So today I couldn't stand it any longer.  I armed myself with a scrub brush, soap, and rubber gloves to attack the offending carpet.  But before I started scrubbing, I found what I believe to be the lingering culprit:

This was hiding under the seat - a big hunk of dog poo wrapped in dead leaves.

Holy Crap.

  Brad is in the U.S.A for work, so he was able to eat turkey with his family in Utah, but the kids and I had an absolutely de-light-ful Thanksgiving dinner with our friends

It's the day before Thanksgiving, so a-shopping I must go!

This is my grocery-store-of-choice.  Kaufland is a grocery store with big wide aisles and plenty of parking - the way God intended.  I will gladly drive 15 minutes out of my way to avoid the tiny shops with 10 parking spots that are so common here.

Years ago, Jessica got a big stuffed tiger as a birthday gift from a friend.  She named the tiger Cutie, and Cutie has been a member of the family ever since.

Well, this week, Cutie has been adopted by Luke.  Luke has been dragging Cutie around with him everywhere - to bed, the dinner table, and of course wherever Lukie is playing.  But, Luke refuses to call him Cutie.  Instead, in keeping with Luke's machismo, the tiger must be called Spidertiger, after Luke's favorite super hero.

Here is Luke making sure Spidertiger eats a good breakfast.

The only thing that kept Spidertiger from going to school with Luke this morning was the fact that he is too big to fit in Luke's backpack.  So, Luke put Spidertiger in Time Out (this is the Time Out Chair at our house), and instructed me many, many times to make sure Spidertiger stayed there until Luke gets home.