The holidays have come and gone and once again we have neglected to blog at all.

We had a low key Halloween with lots of trick or treaters including one dressed as a pirate who walked right in the door and chased our cat down the hall! Jace strikes again! Yearrrgh maties!

Thanksgiving was spent at Janelle's aunt Kris's house which included a nice visit from Matt's parents. We had a small celebration for Matt's birthday at California Pizza Kitchen and were able to see friends Trish, Craig, Lucas and baby on the way. We're so excited for you guys! Matt's dad took lots of great pictures (who Strode?) one of which we saw on the Fischer's Xmas card. However, we noticed that photography credits were not given...

Christmas was not white this year, which Janelle was VERY happy about. No delays in getting work visits done this year. Matt's parents were back in town and we got in lots of games including a night of Triva at Buckle's, no Buckbeaks, wait um, Barkleys. Oh yeah, Buckley's! It was tons of fun even with the less than stellar announcer. Matt even won a free beer with his knowledge of Zeppelins. We also were able to spend time with Janelle's family and even squeezed in a trip down to Port Orchard to Janelle's high school hang out the Family Pancake House to visit with an old high school buddy who was in town.

This year we again decided to just get some bigger things for the home instead of individual gifts to each other. So we now are the proud owners of Wii and the new Mario Brother's game. (Thanks for the help Steph!) Janelle was sore after one day of bowling, batting, and tennis. We also got a matching arm chair for the living room, so we finally have a little more seating!

Now here we are using the free wi-fi at Panera since we still are in the dark ages with dial up at home. Celebrating New Years day in style. (at least our style what what)

House Projects and Crazy Big Mushrooms

Janelle's dad was up again this weekend to finish the bedroom heater project and did some other little projects as well. Like remove the crazy glass plate heater in the kitchen.

Before...............................After

We have to finish that one up still, but it is so weird how this giant heater just leaves a tiny little hole in the wall to patch and then paint over the area. Its so nice to have a handy dad! While he was here he noticed some giant mushrooms that sprouted up on one of our little flower gardens. It is a little hard to tell how big they are from the pictures, but they are cool!

Crazy Cats!

When Janelle's parents were up last weekend, Janelle's mom brought a new scratching block for Tony and Missy. They LOVE it! Missy immediately began scratching on it and doing things like this:

She even drooled on it! Tony has become much more brave and actually spends time with us on the couch now, but we haven't ever been able to get any pics of it since he still will bolt if you move too much. When Janelle's parents were here, no one could find Tony anywhere. They were baffled. Janelle later discovered that Tony has ripped a hole in the box spring and was inside the bed! The joy of owning cats....

The handsome Tony

Redecorate

So we did a little redecorating last weekend. Here is our new rug!



And new couch pillows.


We also got some seat cushions for the dining room chairs. Plus, Janelle's dad came up and did some work on the second bedroom and has put in a new heater. Yea! Thanks Dad!