Pre-Christmas Round Up

Our first Christmas celebration with some of our family begins tomorrow, so it seems like a good time to wrap up what's been going on around here.

The pattern lately is that we have a decent amount of activities in the evenings and some on the weekends, but the kids and I are home during the day most of the time. Especially Luke and Anna, of course. I can't believe how quickly Anna's birthday is approaching! She crawls like a madwoman, cruises, stands without support, and puts every loving thing she can find in her mouth. She's been cutting several teeth and wants to be held most of her waking hours. She's starting to wave and say something that sounds like bye-bye. She's completely precious and keeps me busy.

Until the middle of the month, we weren't sure if we were going to see Santa. His status seems to vary in this house from day to day. I think Katy knows the truth but wants to keep pretending so she doesn't ask any questions (very unusual for her - she is constant questions). David straight out asked me before Thanksgiving and I have always said that I wouldn't lie if they asked. So I answered his question truthfully and asked what he thought really happened and he guessed correctly. Add to that that Luke is terrified of Santa and Anna won't even let grandparents hold her and I figured there was no point. But then I remembered the line up of annual Santa photos that my mom has in my baby book, and decided that I did want a photo. So we went. And now David is talking like he believes? Also...it's not super convenient to take kids to see Santa after you've finished shopping for them.

The line was so long. We felt limited in our choice because we wanted to go on a certain night. So we ended up at the mall and it was not a good experience. We waited 40 minutes, they said taking your own photos was discouraged, but then looked at me like I was crazy that I wanted all 4 of my kids in the same photo. The picture they took was awful (we didn't buy it). But I can't really complain when this is the best that I got...

We couldn't get Luke to go near him so eventually they coaxed him into a rocking chair. And I don't think Anna realized that a person was holding her, it was almost like a chair I was putting her in. But once she figured it out, we were done.

Daddy and David Selfie

We took our Girl Scout troop to see the ballet The Nutcracker.   This was our biggest outing of the year, taking them downtown and attending a workshop before the show that explained the ballet and allowed them to see costumes up close. Lots of parents went along, which was great, but it was still a lot of work to coordinate. And of course it ended up being bad weather and roads, too.

The show was really neat - I had only ever seen it on TV, and I didn't realize that every ballet company has it's own rendition, so the one we saw is original to our city. Pretty cool! 

Katy and I before the show.

(posting this one because it's dark and you can't really make out faces)  Our troop has grown this year - there are even 2 girls missing from this photo!

We went to see the trains at the big library with Beth and Kate and crew.  This group has grown, too!

Other happenings from this month:

- Katy and David are going to do cheerleading and basketball, respectively, this winter through a program called Upward. David, especially, needs something physical to do in the winter to burn energy, and I've heard good things about the program. They've each had a couple of practices and so far they love it. The nice thing is that their games will be at the same time and place.

- Katy had a headache/fever virus that kept her home the last 2 days of school before break. We can't catch a break on winter school parties - 2 years ago I was supposed to help but I was home with food poisoning, last year I walked into Katy's classroom just in time to see her throw up on the floor, and this year she didn't even make it to school. At least David got to enjoy his and Katy's teacher sent home a really nice bag full of fun stuff that she missed. So now she's better and I'm hoping that no one else gets sick as we approach Christmas. Ugh.