#Babble*

The kids are out of school all week and this morning I went for parent teacher conferences. It's always nice to get a chance to speak to the teachers and hear what they have to say about Peter and Sarah.  Usually it's no surprise what they have to say.  I am usually always well aware of what they point out as their strengths and as their weaknesses.

This morning I was told that one of my children had a great sense of humor and always kept the class laughing (but in a good way not a disruptive way). That made me smile and was something that I would have never expected.  Oh, to be a fly on the wall in both of their classrooms!

The kids were excited to have this week off because they really needed a break. Even though they both have homework, it's nice that they have a whole week to complete it and can do it at their leisure instead of rushing between homework, basketball practice, and scouts.

Dan is excited to have a long weekend as well. We'll be driving to the mountains to get our tree on Friday.  Last year was the first year we've ever had a real tree.  We are always gone for so long over Christmas that it never seemed to make sense to pay for a real one, enjoy it for 3 1/2 weeks and then come home to a half dead tree.

Last year we decided we were ready for a new tradition and a real tree so off we went to get one. The kids enjoyed the drive, picking out our very own tree, watching it being chopped down, and lunch at Taco Bell afterwards.  I could take or leave Taco Bell, so Dan and I have already picked out the BBQ joint we'll be stopping at on our way home.

Poor Dan has spent our entire marriage saying the fake tree looks nice but it just doesn't smell like Christmas without a real tree.  Last year was the first year in 13 that I didn't have to hear him complain about the fake tree.  It was totally work all the vacuuming I had to do in January!

I will leave you with a few pictures of our week so far:

This is Sarah hard at work on a book report that's due on Monday.  Sarah is a very good writer but she tends to write with a lot of flair.  And by flair, I mean extra words that don't really add anything to the report and that I know the teacher won't appreciate because they are basically superfluous.  She and I were butting heads during the editing process yesterday.

Another reason that the kids were excited for a week off from school is because they don't ever get to hang out with Colton and Cheyanne any more because of basketball practice.  They came over yesterday afternoon to play and Chey brought Sarah this beautiful hat that she knit for her!! Isn't it gorgeous?

Sarah and I like Kale chips and my BFF, Jennifer, turned me on to this kit.  The kale is already chopped an a seasoning packet is included.  So easy!! 

And so yummy.  Sarah and I snacked all afternoon on these two pans!  (That was half the bag of mix.)

* #Babble - This is my new blog feature. There are many times when I want to write about something but it doesn't really have a beginning or an end and is more stream of consciousness . I had been using 7QT for that but I've recently decided I don't want to necessarily wait for Fridays and I don't want to be confined to a list and I just want to babble on my blog when I want to babble.  And since it's my blog, and since everything has a # these days - #Babble it is!  When you see that in the title, you can be warned that the post is just me rambling about whatever is going on or whatever happens to be on my mind!