An announcement:

MY LITTLE SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED!

Heather and her fiancé, Josh

Which list are YOU on?

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Merry Christmas!

Your guess is as good as mine.

Well, not really.

'Cause I do know what this is. But when I first opened it, I had no idea.

A few years ago, this was one of the gifts Shane gave me for Christmas:

Care to take a guess as to what it is? What's the most bizarre gift you've ever received?

Drumroll, please.

For the last week or so, Hannah has been saying that we all need to go look at how her classmate's house has been decorated for Christmas. The other night we finally went out to take in the spectacle.

The entire show lasted a good 10 or 15 minutes. Hands down, this, was my favorite part:

Catching Up

Can you believe Christmas is this weekend?! It seems like the last three months of this year have flown by...

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Speaking of Christmas, the girls' elves are here and have been getting into all sorts of fun...

A few of the mischievous deeds "Sandy" and "Sophie" have done are: packed the girls' lunches with an odd assortment of things from the pantry, cut out and hung snowflakes over the kitchen table, and replaced the stockings with the girls' "unmentionables". They've also used food coloring to turn our milk green (but something I the elves won't do again, as Hannah and Michaela refused to drink green milk. "It looks like green slime!")

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I donated 33 items to my local food bank.

THANK YOU.

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We've sort-of adopted a stray cat... which Michaela couldn't be happier about, as she's been wanting a cat for the longest time.

This stray cat has been hanging around the house for the last few months and we've recently started taking care of it. I'm pretty sure it's a female (I haven't yet taken it to the vet) and Michaela has named her Peaches 'n Cream (or just Peaches, for short)...

I know the cat looks a bit perturbed in this picture, but she really is the sweetest thing. And just look at the joy on my girl's face!

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Did I mention Christmas is this weekend?!

I see a lot of buttered popcorn in my future.

Now that I've chronicled the top 11 movies I'd want to see in 2011, here are 12 upcoming movies I have my eye on for next year (in no particular order):

• The Hunger Games

• The Dark Knight Rises

• The Woman in Black

• The Raven

• Les Miserables

• Coriolanus

• The Great Gatsby

• Brave

• This Means War

• The Five-Year Engagement

• Snow White and the Huntsman

• The Amazing Spider-Man

Any movie(s) you're looking forward to next year?

11 Movies to see in 2011

This is the last post in my series of the top 11 movies I want to see in 2011:

#1 ????

There have been a lot of good movies released this year and until now I've not had any problems narrowing down the ones to add to my "must see" list. I can't decide which film should earn the final slot!

If you've hung around the NutHouse awhile, you'd probably think any film starring my movie-boyfriend would be an automatic choice...

But you may also recall that I didn't much like the book. While I do think I will see this movie at some point, there are two others that I'm more excited to see.

The first one is Shame:

Though I have no idea when I'd get a chance to see this one... it has a NC-17 rating, and therefore will most likely not be shown in any theater in my town.

BUT.

Hellllloooooo, Michael Fassbender.

I recently watched Jane Eyre and X-Men: First Class (I also recall seeing him in 300)... and, dare I say it? I think Daniel may have a bit of competition!

The other movie I'm considering is Young Adult:

While I'm not a fan of Charlize Theron (she's in the same category with Cameron Diaz... I just don't see their appeal), I do like Patrick Wilson, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. And I think this movie looks sharp and witty.

Sooooooo... which movie would you pick: Young Adult, Shame, or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

Game On

I wasn't the athletic type as a kid... sure there was the occasional baseball or volleyball game in the backyard, but I've never played any team sport (though I did take ballet for 6 years.) Shane, on the other hand, played ball as a kid and soccer in junior high and high school (that is, until he broke his leg and never got back into playing.)

So while our own kids took ballet and tap and even tumbling class, neither Hannah nor Michaela had shown any interest in playing an organized sport. Until now.

Hannah recently finished playing volleyball through our local kids club. At the end of the last school year, she did participate in a 4-day volleyball camp and really enjoyed it. So when she brought home a flyer from school about the winter volleyball season through the kids club, I thought she'd be interested and asked if she'd like to play. She enthusiastically said yes!

Some shots of my star player in action...

Hannah's team, the Red Hots, placed 2nd in the Intermediate Division... not too shabby for a team made up of mostly first-time players!

I know she's just beginning, but I would be lying if I didn't admit I'm already thinking ahead to college scholarships. And maybe even the Summer Olympics...