Festivus 2012 Photos

We celebrated Festivus on February 4th this year.  It coincided with Ron Paul visiting our great state for his presidential campaign.  Jonathan and I received "Invitation Only" invitations to a "private lunch" with Ron Paul, so we were torn.  Ron Paul and Festivus on one day?  How could we balance the glory of all the fun we could potentially have?  I can honestly say that I don't know if we reached any sort of balance, but we did make it all happen.

Jonathan and the big kids spent the morning hauling wood for Nana and Papa.  She made us all waffles for breakfast, and then we all trucked over to USM to hear Ron Paul speak.  Unfortunately, since we weren't there at 8 in the morning, we had to go to the overflow room, which was filling up fast.  There, we decided to move on with our day rather than watch the good doctor on a giant screen.  Following USM, we drove to our house and started in on the present opening...

Here we are on our way to see Dr. Ron Paul.

We ended up waiting outside to see them enter through the back.  Here is Carol Paul exiting her vehicle.

Dr. Paul, in relaxed casual attire, perfect for Vactionland.

After opening the first round of Festivus presents, (the kids opened the gifts they got for each other) Jonathan and I headed up to Freeport to hear Ron Paul address a huge crowd outside of L.L. Bean.

The view of the crowd coming up from the free parking garage (I love L.L. Bean).

Ron Paul spoke to the crowd from the balcony of the Linda Bean Maine Kitchen.

Having been a part of the "Invitation Only" Party, we got to stand on the balcony with him.

View of the crowd once I got to the balcony.

Ron Paul being interviewed.

Jonathan finally getting our books signed.

Meeting Carol Paul.

Finally, we got back home, full of Festivus dinner and Maine lobster rolls, clam chowder and chicken salad sandwiches from Linda Bean's Maine Kitchen.  We got back to the present opening.

Papa helps Zoey.

Everybody ready?

Calico Critters bring smiles to little girls' faces.

Jonathan thinking I punked him with a Pictionary box.   The joke was, I really got him Pictionary.

Olivia is thrilled about new Beannie Babies.

Zoey's like, "I thought these were all my presents?"

The kids aren't sure what to make of this stack of cds.  

Owen, not sure about this gift either...

Olivia, confused.  Is this supposed to be a fun gift?

Nana opens her gift.

Papa opens his gift.

Oli Ballet

Saveia and Summer both took Intro to Ballet classes, and Olivia joined her sisters for the new session.  She and Saveia are in the same ballet class.

She loves it.

January Randoms

Zoey pilfering other kids' snack cups. 

Saveia and Owen play Mexican Train dominoes while Summer looks on.

Saveia wanted to knit, but could only find yarn... She's like her Lolo; necessity is the mother of her ingenuity.

Maine Caucuses

We had a busy beginning to our February, no doubt.  We were ramping up for the Maine caucuses and then participating in them.  Jonathan's parents and sister and brother-in-law all went to their caucuses and became delegates.  Jonathan took Olivia, Owen and Saveia to the Gorham caucus to greet people and help out in any way they could.

On Saturday the 11th, we went to our own caucus.  If you'd like a more in-depth look at what we did, you can check out this blog post from the Washington Post that quotes Jonathan.  We were there bright and early helping the Portland Republican City Committee set up.  Later, I helped the Ron Paul campaign set up and I greeted people at the doors, identified supporters, and generally directed people to the caucus registration tables.

Later that evening, Jonathan and I went to the Ron Paul rally, where we commiserated with fellow patriots.  There was a delicious spread, but I think most of us were too upset to enjoy it.

Jonathan and I got front row seats, though we were off to the side.

In the background, to the left, is the staff we worked with during the heavy campaigning.

Dr. Paul's words encouraged us all.

We may have had the straw poll stolen from us, but we are pressing on!

Donuts!

So Owen said to me, "Mom, why can't we buy some donuts?"  Well, I had lots of reasons why we should not buy donuts, not the least of which is the how terribly unhealthy they are for you.  However, I couldn't pass up such a great opportunity to spend time with Owen, and try something new, as well as create tasty treats for all of us...even if it's terribly unhealthy.

We made the dough from scratch and waited all day for it to rise twice.  And I realized that we didn't have donut cutters and our circle cookie cutters were too big for the holes and too small for the donut, so we improvised.  The donuts did end up bigger than I wanted but that just meant happier kids.

Yeah, we kinda did use a shot glass to cut out the holes.

Owen used a tupperware to cut out the donuts.

I fried them in a quart of vegetable oil. 

They cooked up real fast.  And one should probably use something as a splatter guard when doing this...

Glazed without flash...

Oh wow, they were delicious!

I think we made about a dozen donuts and I guess about a dozen donut holes.  The recipe said it would make 24 donuts...