The tree!

On Friday night we decorate the tree!

  

Yes, that is a snowman floating above Nathan’s head

  

Sam is scheming again

Artsy shot!

Merry Christmas!

Tis the season!

According to Kawell tradition, the day before Thanksgiving is the first day of setting up for Christmas! This is the day that all the outside lights and garlands are put up.

Sam untangles lights

The garland is the hardest part

Jesse and I (Abby) were at our respective jobs that day, and Mama was cooking. It was up to the Daddy, Sam, the twins and Nathan to get the job done!

But football is never left behind!

The day after Thanksgiving, we go to the Old Baker Farm to hunt down the perfect tree!

We found two absolutely perfect ones, and only one of those would actually fit in the house! It was still a hard decision…

The annual Christmas Tree Picture.

Somebody’s always squinting…

Or falling asleep!

Cutting it down…

Still cutting…

The boys all take a turn…

Step 1

Step 2

 

And step 3! Tada!

Thanksgiving

The lovely table, complete with the Mayflower, of course!

Broccoli casserole, stuffing, sweet potato casserole and turkey

More turkey!

Gravy, green beans, and mashed potatoes in the Crockpot

 

Sam approves

Nathan still isn’t the biggest fan of all the food, but he enjoys his sweet potatoes, turkey and rolls

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Mayflower

For a Thanksgiving centerpiece, our Lego masters created the Mayflower. When I first saw it, I was convinced that it was a set they had bought, but they assured me that they came up with it themselves. 

It has a full complement of sailors (for a merchant ship, anyway)

 

Two cannons

This is the captain’s cabin, of course

Down in the hold, the ladies are cooking next to the hammocks while a rat runs by. Ship life is never very sanitary.

A thanksgiving feast for the, um, six pilgrims.

The Mayflower!

Transition

Just in case you were starting to wonder, the Kawell family is still alive. The Kawell family blog, however, has been somewhat comatose for the past few months. The reason is that I (Abby) the main blogger of the household, have been having an incredibly busy summer. I am still working at Publix three or four days a week and on my off days I am babysitting (or, as I call it, part-time nannying) for a family I met through work. The good news is that I am thoroughly enjoying myself and making lots of money for college next year. The bad news is that I have had to cut many other things out of my schedule, including, as educated readers may have gathered, this blog.

Unfortunately, my life will not be slowing down anytime soon, what with my Senior year coming up this fall and (gasp) college next year, so I’m going to be handing the reins over to the twins! I don’t know how smooth the transition will be, it may still be a while before we get regular postings again, but we will be working on it!

Minnie May

Saturday afternoon, we said goodbye to our sweet Minnie May. She was just a puppy eleven years ago when our neighbors found her running loose on the street with a broken chain and a metal collar welded around her neck. She had clearly been the victim of animal abuse and it took weeks before she learned to trust us, but since then she has been the sweetest dog imaginable.

Earlier this week she stopped eating and the vet found a tumor growing on her spleen. It was hemorrhaging and too late for surgery so he put her to sleep Saturday afternoon. We know that she had a wonderful life with us and we are so grateful for the time we had with our precious dog.

Roma Pictures

I have finally posted my pictures!

Here, on Windows Live, I've posted virtually all of the pictures I took in Roma (1233 pictures uploaded) in full quality. Some features you'll like to know about...

• You can go to the pictures by clicking on one in the list. Once you have clicked on the next picture (in the upper right) you can use the left and right arrow keys to scroll through the pictures.


• There is a "Slide Show" button at the top of the page that is very nice for scrolling through all of them.


• You can download any of the pictures by clicking the "Download" button at the top.


• All the pictures are uploaded in their original 10 megapixel size, so you can click on the picture again to view in super-size.

Every picture has a caption which tells the location of where the picture was taken (usually nothing more than that). I have posted a comment on each picture that represents the start of a new day.

In order for you to comment on the picture, you will have to get a Windows Live account (which I strongly suggest. It has a lot of cool stuff). Be sure to friend me when you get your account!

Hope you enjoy!

Grace and peace to you...


http://cid-7884bc0629443c97.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Roma

Temporary Roma Pictures...

Hello world! I (Jesse) have not posted on the blog in a very long time (and this post will be short), but I thought I would check in and tell everyone that I am safely back from my trip to Roma, Italia with the University Fellows Program of Samford University. Roma is perhaps the most amazing place in the world and I've posted a few pictures online already. Follow this link to see them. I am busy uploading all 1250 pictures I took, and I'll post a link to those when I get it done. Enjoy the pictures and God bless...

Grace and peace to you

The Finks’ visit

  Brian and Trish Fink, Mama and Daddy’s dear friends from Canada, came down for a visit earlier this week.

 

A beautiful Indian birch bark basket!

This was one of the coolest things they showed us. It’s called birch bark biting; the Finks know an Indian lady who takes paper thin strips of birch bark and literally folds and bites it into these beautiful patterns!

A totem pole that Brian carved himself!

This was my favorite: an eagle’s head carved from the butt of a moose antler!

You may have noticed that Jesse and I (Abby) are not in these pictures. Jesse is half-way through his trip to Italy right now! He is having an incredible time, he even got to spend his actual birthday in the Pantheon! And I was at work (at the Publix grocery store) when these pictures were taken.

 

Our piano awards night was last Sunday and Chris and Sam were Captains, meaning that they were among the top four students with the longest average practice time this year!

 

Bowling!

Look at that form! Okay, so we’re a little out of practice… We’ll be doing a lot more bowling over the summer.

 

This is one of the coolest caterpillars I’ve ever seen!

 

No, this wasn’t from the same caterpillar!

 

Opening up the pool for the summer is always a big job, and a nasty one! This was before clean-up…

And this is after! It’s still a little cool for swimming, but the boys had to try it!