Merry Christmas!

...Christmas love and hugs from our clan to yours!

McKee Tannenbaum 2009

As we typically do, we got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  David couldn't understand why we didn't just take the first tree we touched...it had needles and a trunk, and that was good enough for him, so he didn't get why we dragged out the process! :)  But we persevered until we found "the one".

Then we got to the part David was excited about...pulling it on the cart!

Then we went to Starbucks for our annual treat...

...and now the tree is trimmed, the stockings are hung, and we're just waiting (not-so-) patiently for our company to start arriving!

 

School news

I am delinquent in posting about it, but on December 11th we completed our halfway-day in school!  Due to schedule restraints, we didn't have the chance to have our typical halfway-day celebration, but we did pick up donuts while we were out and about, and the kids were very happy with that. :)

This past Friday, we completed our work and celebrated the commencement of two weeks' of Christmas break by enjoying some hot chocolate and butter cookies.  We're thrilled to be on vacation!!!

By the time we got our work done and started our break, Mindy was all tuckered out from "helping" the kids do their work...she is the official schooltime pencil-attacker, paper-skidder, ankle-biter, and overall (very cute) distraction!

Happy birthday to my mom

Happy birthday, Mom (Grandma)!

We love you!

 

A four-legged Christmas elf

...who says "meow"!  I'd forgotten the joys of having a kitten helping with Christmas activities!  We continue to thoroughly enjoy Mindy.  She is a very sweet kitten and full of the energy and mischief that any kitten should be.

Here she is helping with Christmas sewing...

...helping with Christmas decorations...

...and she especially loves helping with gift-wrapping!

Brave girl

Abigail recently had to undergo a spine and brain MRI to check for complications stemming from an anomaly in her spine.  We are VERY thankful to report that she is clear -- no complications!

She was super-brave for the whole thing.  It was a very long MRI but she did the whole thing without sedation...the nurses were amazed and I was so pleased.  She has been learning about letting Jesus' love show through her behavior, and at some point after we were done, she asked, "Mommy, did I let my light shine?"  ...oh, my sweet baby girl!

Ice skating debut

Yesterday I took the kids ice skating for their very first time...and they LOVED it!  We stayed for the whole 1 hour and 45 minute public skate and I couldn't believe how much they progressed from first step on the ice to last lap before leaving.  Abigail was very brave about trying it (and what a lot of work it was for her -- talk about physical therapy!) and she even figured out how to glide a little; David worked tenaciously to figure out how to do it on his own...and how to go fast, of course. :)  He fell a LOT -- including some full-body wipeouts -- but he got back up every time and tried again!

 Before we took to the ice

If at first you don't succeed...

He certainly did an amazing amount of 'trying again'!  I was so proud of him.

Abigail wanted to hold my hand the whole time she was on the ice (which was perfectly acceptable), but here she is being brave for a picture.  She was much more comfortable than I had expected her to be and did great!

Abigail was tired out by the end -- we all were, but it was extra-hard work for her due to her CP -- and she asked to spend the last fifteen minutes of the session resting.  I took off her skates, tucked her in under David's extra coat, and she zoned out!

One of the highlights of the trip for them was watching the Zamboni do its thing.

They also got to watch a few minutes of a hockey game happening in the other rink.

Another family and I exchanged picture-taking so we could each have pictures of us with our kids...a nice treat!

So that was our grand ice skating debut.  We enjoyed it so very much that I joined the frequent skater program so that we can go several more times over this next year.  At bedtime last night, the kids were already clamoring for me to set a date for our next skating trip -- so it was definitely a successful activity!

And just for the record, after twelve or so years off the ice, I did pretty well considering. :)  I was not anywhere near as graceful about it as I used to be, but I managed to not fall even once (phew!), and on my solo laps, when the kids wanted to sit and rest a minute, I even re-figured out a few of my simple skills from the olden days.  And also just for the record, yes, I have also re-discovered some muscles that I had forgotten I even had...boy, do I feel old and out of shape!!!

Happy birthday, Krystle

Happy birthday, Krystle!

We love you...

^Jared & Krystle in the Grand Canyon earlier this year

Everyone's in the Christmas spirit

A pile of catnip and a piece of tissue paper puts dignified Molly in a downright jolly mood!

Our version of Christmas elf

David loves mornings.  I love mornings, too, but I love them for their peace and quiet.  David, however, hits the ground with lips flapping and feet running!  This morning he woke up waaaayyy too early and got busy 'mowing' the carpet with the mower he built recently...and even wearing his 'Christmas' hat.  Mindy is interested in the early-morning fun...but note Molly's rather disgusted look (while she is sitting on the heater vent)...

Happy birthday Caleb!

Belated (on the blog) happy birthday, Caleb! (I did remember to call him on his actual birthday, which was December 4th!)

Caleb and his girlfriend Kristen came for a visit in November and so we celebrated his birthday with him a couple of weeks early...

 

A magical night

Last night we took the kids to the Nutcracker Ballet for their very first time.  It was wonderful!  It was magical for them...and perhaps even more magical for us just to watch the kids' faces and see it all through their eyes.

Here are our beauties in front of our tree before we left...

...and at the show...

 

 

December snow

Today we experienced something we haven't had since we moved south...snow in December!!!  We loved every minute of it!

 

 

Laugh for the day

Mindy is determined to catch herself a fish or two...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Making a comeback

...when I am this far behind on the blog, it's hard to get going again...but rather than trying to catch it all up in one shot, I will just try to jump back into daily life and catch up on the past month in bits and pieces as time allows.

November was, indeed, an insanely busy month.  December, so far, is crazy, too...not to mention that I am the only healthy one in the household (and I am very thankful to be healthy enough to care for my sick family!).  We have several lovely variations of the current viruses going around...fevers, stomach bug, pink eye, cold/cough, sinus infection...I am tending to runny noses, soothing fevered brows, and washing my hands obsessively!!!  :)

Here are a couple of pictures of my darlings a couple of weeks ago in the huge leaf pile they made with their daddy...

 

A note to my northern family and friends...see the snow shovel in the bottom left corner of the picture?  This -- and not snow -- is what we use them for here in the South! :)