Should've listened to the wife...

Where do I begin with this one... Well first of all Anthony asked me this morning "what should I do today? I reply with "hey how about taking down the Christmas lights. He says "naaaa, it's too wet out from the big storm yesterday and I'll get muddy" I asked again in hopes that I could get the last of the Christmas stuff put away, but no....and this is what he chose instead.
While I took Meika and Anthony to go see the Bodies Revealed exhibit in Sacramento, He was supposed to take Tatiana to go get her phone repaired and buy her some shoes. Somehow, after the shopping he heard the hills a callin' and decided to go mudding around in a field.
First he called me, then Justin and Mike. I was way up in Sacramento so Justin(metallic duly) and Mike came to rescue him.....but Mike(white truck) got himself stuck and Justin's truck was too heavy to get any closer..... so they called Tim (Jeep with the winch)
Here's Justin wearing his brand new duck hunting suit and Anthony on their way to go diggin!


....little Anthony admiring all the mud

muddin'part 2

Tim's saying to Anthony..."Uh, I aint getting dirty dude!" ...while Justin's under the truck just rolling around in the mud. Mike is the one keeping his distance.

"Awww, come buddy, gimme a hug"...says Justin covered in mud as he hugs Anthony.

Proud of themselves for getting all of the vehicles out..."say MUUUUUUD"!

The kids had some fun making their customized gingerbread houses this year!

This one is Tatiana's...she got her inspiration from her History class while learning about the French Revolution. King Louis XIII is on the guillotine that has written "End the Monarchy" while Marie Antoinette has the bloody axe chopping off her head while being whipped by a peasant with licorice, blood strewn everywhere. Honestly I really don't know where she gets it.


This is Anthony's creation complete with little Gingerboy leaning on a tree and candy path to the heart shaped entrance...

Finally, this one is Meika's. She made her's with a snowman and a Gingergirl and cute little candy path with trees at the front....

Here's our "fresh"(and I use the term lightly) Christmas tree that we had to get rid of........and replace with "old faithful" artificial.

New Zealanders

We had the pleasure of hosting some guests from New Zealand last month. They came over to
America to play Tatiana's school in basketball. There was a group of girls from a private all girls school and then there was the boys team from another all boys school. We had three of the girls stay with us and we had a blast.....
Here are the Buckingham girls(in white) and the Sacred Heart girls after they played. Tatiana is on the floor on the far right.


We somehow managed to cram all three girls into Meika's room for three days. Originally we were only going to have one girl, then it turned into two. Then somehow at the last minute we had three.


We tried to show them a good time in America and what better way than taking them out T.P.ing ! That's right, we took a whole package of costco's finest and went to town on a rival T.P.er. The girls were so excited and had always wanted to go T.P.ing....just look at the joy on Bryony's face! They can't wait to go home and get all of their friends. For the nightcap we did a chinese firedrill.

Ho Ho Ho

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit us this Christmas. While Santa seemed to have kept the weight on, it would apear that the Mrs. only gained some fur.