our collective digital self
Posted by Michelle on Dec 5, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, More Family
I didn’t have time to take photos during Thanksgiving because I was cooking (and eating, watching football, sleeping, eating, you get the idea) but I took some the next day at the house and stable before Jeff’s family left.
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Posted by Michelle on Dec 2, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle
I’ve just started this and will be adding more soon.
Back by popular demand, the Xmas list for the family. Please let me know if you get something for Hayley on this list so we can mark it off (which means that things with the strike through them are already taken). Call or email me at michelle@hillison.com.
Hayley:
— Wii Game – Guitar Hero with Guitar
— Wii Music Game
— Slippers, size 2. Something cute and funny.
— Ice Dig
— Rock House Guitar for Girls DVD – she’s getting an electric guitar so this would be great.
— Electric Guitar for kids DVD One: Getting Started – ditto
— Webkinz – Chipmunk, Deer, Seahorse, Squirrel, Sea Otter, Orca, Clownfish.
— Gift cards – iTunes – she’s getting a new ipod so these would be great.
— Gift cards – Limited Too and Abercrombie & Fitch kids for clothes
— Gift cards – Target for a new bike she wants.
— Cocoa – she loves Ghirardelli double chocolate cocoa. she’d love a cute cocoa mug I bet too.
— Breyer horse figurines – she likes the ‘traditional’ and ‘classic’ lines. (but not the plush, pony gals, wind dancers or mini-whinnies lines).
Please no other stuffed animals if possible than webkinz. We are drowning in stuffed animals.
Also no need to get any DVDs, we get them all as they come out for free. Thanks for understanding!
Michelle:
— UNC hat
— CD: Very Best of The Spinners
— UNC canvas. Etsy rocks, it is all handmade items from sellers. However you have to have a paypal account to buy from there – paypal is simple, it is just a way to pay for items online using your credit card, without having to give your credit card out to smaller vendors. Ask Jeff worst case 🙂
— Letter H typewriter key necklace – More from etsy, in notes add to change it to a 24 inch chain.
— Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
Jeff:
— Battlestar Galactica Season One (the new series)
— The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two B
Posted by Michelle on Nov 14, 2008 in Hayley, Michelle, More Family
I have always loved Halloween. When I was young, I read a Ray Bradbury book called the Halloween Tree. I read it once, twice and then again, repeating that every fall. I loved that book.
The book starts on Halloween and takes a group of children on a scary journey through cultural history and version of Halloween, as they attempt to catch up with and save a dying friend. One of the key elements is the Mexican celebration Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) which seemed fascinating to me.
Celebrated on on Nov. 1st and/or 2nd, The Day of the Dead is where gatherings of family and friends to pray and remember loved ones who have died. Some other cultures celebrate similar holidays as well and the Day of the Dead has its roots in Aztec culture. The idea is to honor the dead but also that people who have passed away are supposed to be able to hear your prayers better at this time than any other time. November 1st is traditionally to celebrate children who have died and November 2nd for adults.
Dia De Los Muertos isn’t as sad as it sounds, it is rather upbeat. Good candy, good food and good memories. The celebration can be at the graveyard or an altar/shrine in your home. You decorate with photos, food flowers, candles and items of those of who have passed away or things they’d like. You are supposed to tell funny and warm stories about those people and talk to them.
I was printing of some weekly reading assignments I thought would interest Hayley and found a great one of the Day of the Dead but it was written for 5th to 7th graders. Of course, she read it perfectly and loved it too. So we decided to make our own shrine at home to celebrate.
Interestingly last night Hayley was over at my folks and they went to the family graves this morning to tidy up. How perfect for our Day of the Dead event!
We set out to do it for my Grandpa Jim, Grandma Jeannette and Uncle Mike (my mom’s parents and her brother) but then Hayley decided we should add in our dog Sam who passed away, which was awesome. We made sugar skulls ourselves and decorated them in the style. Hayley talked to my mom and made lists of food and hobbies of our family members who passed. I got out photos, my grandmother’s engagement and wedding rings, my granddad’s prayer books and golf hat and ton of articles on my uncle’s golf championships plus Sam’s dog collar. My mom made a family recipe book that was a great addition. We added all sorts of food and snacks – doggie biscuits too. (I’m going to post a photo on flickr with all the items labeled.)
After some time talking to them, we ate the candy and food and blew out the candles. It was a great way to share about family history, learn about another culture’s history and traditions, not to mention be creative and silly! (It is so much fun it is to have a child with an inquisitive spirit.)
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Posted by Michelle on Nov 2, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle
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We had a GREAT Halloween! Hayley decided to go as something different this year and we put together her costume ourselves. She went as Danica Patrick, the first woman to win a Formula One race. I’m not really a racing fan but Formula One is more interesting to me than NASCAR and Patrick certainly made an impact culturally. We went through about 20 ideas and Danica Patrick was the only one Hayley loved – I’m sure because she is gorgeous that helped Hayley with the decision.
Turns out they sell replica jersey versions of her racing suit (just the top part). That with a hat we got from there, black soccer pants, black underarmor soccer shirt and riding gloves made for one adorable but mean race car driver.
Our friends up the street had a party beforehand so we all went up there for dinner. They did a great job with their garage! I made a green jello Frankenstein hand and encircled it with looser red jello – it was GROSS looking but tasty.
Jeff and Hayley took off to trick or treat with our next door neighbor Wes and their kids Ethan and Mason. We figured Ethan would tucker out sooner so Wes ended up taking him home and Jeff continued on with the girls. Jen and I hung out on her front porch and handed out candy. Of course if you know me, you know I love Halloween. For the 4th year, we handed out glow sticks with our candy – and this year I got Pop Rocks and Pixie Stix. Oh yeah, I rule and you know it! ha!
The kids came back with insanely filled bags, we weeded through them, traded and tossed some out over at Wes and Jen’s. We let the girls play until about 10:30 and finally took the 10 steps to our house and crashed.
**updated note –> Hello to the people who came here from the Danica Patrick fan site that link here!
Posted by Michelle on Oct 31, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle, pups & other pets
We decided to pull out all our dog Halloween costumes and dress up the dogs for a few moments the evening before Halloween. I knew they wouldn’t stay in them long so we did it just to be silly for awhile.
We dressed them up in matching polo shirts from Old Navy and then went to the more daring selections of Pirate, Zorro, grass skirt and others.
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Posted by Michelle on Oct 28, 2008 in Hayley
We attacked a pumpkin and carved it up. We used a cool pattern that Hayley picked up called the Mad Hatter and it turned out really well. She thought the inside of the pumpkin was cool, I still think it is gross.
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Posted by Michelle on Oct 9, 2008 in Hayley
To get in the Halloween spirit, Hayley and I made a Halloween wreath that we just adore. Then we set off for the pumpkin patch with our next-door neighbors where we bought many pumpkins (and pretended to eat them where I taught Ethan to fake throw up, lol).
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Posted by Michelle on Jul 7, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle
For the fourth we made red, white and blue tie-dyed shirts and then totally dorked out, with the three of us wearing them with khaki shorts. Then we went over to our friends Mike, Sara and Landon’s house for a cookout.
We finally did our tie-dye project in the days before July 4th. Our red, white and blue concoctions had some good and bad points but it was a lot of fun and not even a big mess!
The funny thing is all my hard work ended up not being on MY shirt but Jeff’s shirt. His turned out well while mine ended up looking like an abstract art canvas. Hayley called it that, which is pretty cool that she gets art forms but I digress. She decided to just speckle the heck out of hers and what we thought was Jeff’s but ended up as mine. Even messy they were fun and cute. She loved making them and we are definitely going to do it again.
And I’ll have you know the people working at a local grocery store thought we were very cool in our shirts. We had a really good time at the Rodgers, as always. Hayley loves to play with Landon and he loves to mimic her. We ate, goofed off, played the Wii and watched the kids be silly.
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Posted by Michelle on May 17, 2008 in Hayley
I love traditions and for the fourth year in a row, we’ve decorated eggs with our next door neighbors and done a big hunt in the morning across our front yards for the kids. It’s so fun to do this with them each time and watch our kids grow up together.
A few days before the big hunt, we had more friends join us for decorating so it was a lot of fun – and a lot of mess but that’s part of the fun!
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Posted by Michelle on Feb 20, 2008 in Hayley, Jeff, Michelle
I swear I’ll get around to posting the backlog of photos but here are two cute ones. Oh yeah, I went back to pink hair for awhile.
Multiplying love frog webkinz – ahhhh
Some day we’ll take a photo without someone cracking up!
Nope, still goofing
More goofing
Still more silliness…
well that’s about as close as I think we’ll get to not laughing
