JAG Movie Event

One of the annual events organized by JAG (the social group at work) is the Christmas movie event. This is held at a cinema in Creve Coeur (about 20 minutes from our house) & is fully subsidized by JAG for all household JAG members. This meant that we all got to see a movie for free! Jag usually offers four films & since I was out-voted two to one we all watched Disney's Enchanted (which was actually quite good even though it was a bit 'girly').

Thanksgiving 2007

Our friends Tony & Mary invited us to their house for Thanksgiving. We had a really nice relaxed afternoon with just their immediate family, the three of us, & a huge table of food!

Beth's Party

This year Beth asked if she could have a princess party for her birthday celebration. There are quite a few people that offer these themed parties & since our basement is nice & big it seemed an ideal place for the party (although it seemed a lot smaller when all the 20+ girls that Beth invited had arrived!). All the girls got to dress up in fancy dresses, have their nails & make-up done, & then take place in a fashion parade & dance. There were iced cupcakes with pink chocolate for everyone & Beth also had a Hannah Montana birthday cake complete with make-up in a guitar shaped holder.

Beth's Birthday

Beth got lots of cool presents this year for her birthday, one of which was tetherball. Since the pole for this needs to be concreted into the ground we had to do this before her birthday, but it was a bit difficult to disguise an eight-foot long pole which suddenly appeared in our garden. Luckily, lots of people have flag poles which made for a perfect cover story. When she was asleep we attached the ball & rope to the pole & then just wrapped up the empty box, which caused a bit of confusion when Beth tore off the wrapping paper!

We also went to the Pasta House Co to celbrate Beth's Birthday. As usual, when it is your birthday, Beth got a huge slice of cheesecake covered with strawberries, whipped cream, & spinkles, & she had all of the servers in the restaurant singing the Pasta House Co's version of 'Happy Birthday' to her before she blew her candle out.

Mom & Me Movie Nite

Beth is a Girl Scout & there are always a couple of events throughout the year when the girls have to take along a parent. This year the 'girly' event was held at Beth's school & was a 'movie nite' for the girls & mums only. One of the conditions was that you had to dress up in your pajamas to make the night more like a slumber party, which meant that both Cheryl & Beth had to make their way to the school dressed in their PJ's!

Bunnies Christmas Bazaar

The House Rabbit Society holds an annual Christmas Bazaar at the Missouri Humane Society in downtown St Louis. We took the bunnies along so that they could meet a few friends & have their photos taken with Santa. It was also an ideal opportunity for their health to be checked & to get a manicure! There were lots of rabbit themed events including a bunny race that was comprised of large cardboard tubes & boxes (I guess to be a bit like a burrow) but neither Cookie or Spritz seemed interested in taking part, preferring to just sit & look at all the people trying to convince them to move! One of the vendors was selling chew toys & Beth made both the bunnies a personalized version to hang up in their cage as a Christmas present.

Tony's surprise 40th Birthday party

Our friend Mary asked if we could help with a surprise 40th birthday party for her husband, Tony. We organized for me to take Tony 'car shopping' (so that he was kept well away from his house for a few hours) whilst Cheryl, Beth, Mary & the rest of her family set up the party. I took Tony to a couple of car dealerships (one in Missouri & one in Illinois) that specialized in just hot rods, musclecars, & classic vehicles. We had a really good time looking at all the cool cars that were for sale & deciding which one would be best parked in our respective garages, but realistically they were all out of our price range. Tony was surprised how much money '69 Camaros were being sold for since his uncle has one that he used to drag race & then put in storage for 30+ years (so it is in good condition).

When we got back to Tony's house everyone yelled 'surprise' when he walked through the door & he said that he had no idea that there was a party for him. Since Mary's brother's birthday & her son-in-law's birthday were also close to the party date it was a triple celebration. One of Tony's friends brought along a miniature cannon that used to belong to Mary's dad. This had been modified so that it could be fired, & it may have been small, but when it went off (the first of nay times) the noise shook the house. We finished off the evening outside next to a bonfire that Tony had built during the week. When it was first lit the flames were easily double the height of the house but after a while the fire had died down sufficiently so that we could all toast marshmallows & enjoy the warmth provided during the cold night.

Class visit to The Arch

Beth's first 2nd Grade class outing was to The Gateway Arch, or rather more specifically, the 'Museum of Westward Expansion' underneath The Arch. I managed to re-organize my working hours so that I could pop out for an hour or so & spend some time with Beth & Cheryl at the museum. All of the children from 2nd Grade were split into two groups, but I think that Beth's group got the short straw! Although the subject matter was quite interesting, the guide didn't seem to be quite as child-friendly as those hosting other groups within the museum. I guess it must be quite taxing at times to have to continually take groups of 30+ young children around exhibits, but it seemed like most of the time was spent telling the kids to be quiet :(

Halloween Festival

We went to a Halloween festival at the local old peoples home with Sherri, her Mum, Emily, & Jordan. This is a large building (approximately 200 residents) with substantial, well landscaped, grounds so it looks & feels more like a well appointed hotel. There were plenty of Halloween themed snacks (e.g. pumpkin shaped cookies) & drinks available & there were lots of competitions & games outside. There were also some indoor events including the 'haunted house'. One of the larger rooms had been completed blacked out & a maze type corridor created with things hanging down & spooky sounds. It was completely dark in there (other than some UV lighting) which really frightened some of the younger children, especially when staff members appeared as ghosts & started wailing! All of the children visiting the home were dressed in Halloween costumes (Beth was a fairy) & they all took part in the fancy dress competition. To end the event there was a magic act for the children & residents.

Pumpkin Picking

This year, instead of waiting until the last minute, we made sure that we went to the local pumpkin patch well before Halloween so that we had a better choice of pumpkins. It was busy, as usual for this time of year, with lots of attractions including face painting, pony rides, live music, a maize maze, & tractor rides, all taking advantage of the large number of people. Beth had a go on one of the horses & decided that she would like to start having horse riding lessons. She also managed to find a couple of really good pumpkins that we carved to look like Tin Man & Dorothy from The Wizard of OZ.

Fall Festival

Beth's school held their annual Fall Festival with lots of indoor games & Halloween fun, all in aid of the school. Beth had a go at every game/event & even won some prizes. One of the more popular attractions was the hair spraying, which always had a long line of people waiting to have their hair coloured. This was so popular that it wasn't long before the volunteers ran out of the aerosol cans of hair dye (& they had a lot of cans). Luckily, Beth was able to have her hair sprayed pink just before the last can got used.