It stopped snowing

This morning Ariel slept in until almost 7. After
breakfast she watched "Pinky and the Brain" while
she did a fantastic job of "keeping the fire
going" in the fireplace, as Robert asked her to do.

The fresh snowfall looked really lovely this morning,
but the 5 degree temperature not so lovely. We
waited until it warmed up a bit and then went outside
to help Robert clear out some of the snow.



















Ariel and her "baby."













In the afternoon Ariel cut and pasted and made herself
a book titled "Africa."

Busy day with Ariel

Ariel and I have had a busy day. A picture being
worth a thousand words I'll say no more.








Ariel brought the music for "The Nutcracker Suite" and is dancing
to the music.















Ariel's Christmas doll house. Not finished, but a good start.

Christmas

Christmas morning at the Cowley's














Ariel, with her robot parrot








Grandpa and Grammy





Christmas eve Vernon came up for dinner. We had an
enjoyable evening with him.

Christmas day we went to Carl's for breakfast, arriving
there about 8 AM. We had a magnificent breakfast and then
opened presents. It was fun, low keyed, and amusing. Of
course Ariel was wired, but she did OK. Robert and I
are now the owners of a digital frame which I have set up in
the living room. So far, we are displaying pictures that
Carl put in it for us, as a sample. We are going to make up
flash card programs so we can change the display as the mood
fits.

Connie gave us a start-up kit for a voice-over-internet. We
have the camera and microphone and software. Since Ariel is
here for the holiday I have not even tried to set that up
yet.


As mentioned above, Ariel is here for the school vacation.
The plan was for her to be here just during the day, but the
forecast for today is such that Carl is bringing her up this
morning, since he has a new 4-wheel-drive vehicle and she'll
stay over. By tomorrow afternoon the road should be such
that I'll have no problem taking her home in the afternoon.
Yesterday we put together her decorator doll house, or
rather we have it partially put together. The front wall is
up and the 3-stories of floors are in, but the side walls
are not in nor the lighting. I think I'll do the lighting
when Ariel is not around.