December Daily - Day 3

Olivia has informed me that there are only 21 more days till Christmas Eve. Why does she do this to me??? Oi.

A thought I had today: One of the best "sounds" of Christmas? The crackling of record player as it cranks out Perry Como, Julie Andrews, Johnny Mathis, and Bing Crosby. Better than a CD or iPod any day.


Today we went Christmas tree shopping. Fun. Sort of.
We went to a local Christmas tree farm, but Mike and I were seriously unimpressed after walking the entire field. As we headed back to the van, sans tree, Olivia was in tears because I was being "too picky" and wasn't being nice to the poor trees and Sadie-Rose was in tears because a. we didn't have a tree to take home and b. she really wanted a "sister tree" which happened to be any tiny 2-4 year old scraggly tree that was shorter than she is with only 3-5 branches. (Think "Charlie Brown Christmas tree" and you'll know exactly want I'm talking about.) So, tears all around. I'd call that a success, wouldn't you? ;) Thankfully I had several lollipops stashed in my purse for crisis moments on the plane, but since we had none I was still well stocked. Thankfully, lollipop licking lasted most of us to the nearest Christmas tree lot where we've had good success several times before and where we should have gone in the 1st place. They had the most lovely trees, we had a really hard time deciding because there were several "perfect" ones but eventually we picked one and they got it all loaded up for us and away we went. Happy children and happy parents. Our fragrant tannenbaum is now gracing our living room, unadorned at the moment, and Mike says it's the biggest and heaviest tree we've even had. I can't wait to see it all lit up and decorated. But that will be for tomorrow. Maybe. Or Monday. We'll see.

And we were wished a "Merry Christmas" not once, but twice today! It's the 1st time we've heard it this season and definitely helped with the Christmas spirit.

December Daily - Day 2

We spent the evening with our Awana leaders. It was our 2nd Christmas party and we're only on Dec. 2nd, but what a way to start the holiday month! :) We had lots of fun, the food was yummy, we were all kid-free (except for Samuel), and I seriously laughed until my cheeks hurt. I have to say that Tammy is pretty darn funny. And between her and Brady, I think Lindsey and I were giggling most of the night. We told silly stories, felt like we were breathing fire from all the jalapenos in the chicken wraps, and stole each others gifts without mercy in the white elephant gift exchange. Poor Mike, he got an aromatherapy, lavender and chamomile sinus and stress relief eye mask. Some day, he'll get something awesome. Obviously, it won't be this year. ;)
Some much fun and silliness, we really should do it more often. At least once a quarter, instead of once or twice a year. We have too much fun not to.
But in all seriousness, I'm thankful for the team that we have and all the hard work that each person puts in on a weekly biases to make AWANA work. God has really been stretching and growing Mike and I through this time and I pray that we come out victorious on the other side. Thankfully we have a good group of team mates to turn to for help and encouragement.

December Daily - Day 1

Today was a day, let me tell you. My comment to Mike? "Today's goat rodeo could definitely be called a 'fail." (Don't know what a "goat rodeo" is? Here ya go! #1 & #3 make my point.) But, we made it through even with all the craziness. But, what I want to remember most about today is this:

Today was Olivia's last violin lesson with her teacher, who is moving to the Florida Keys at the end of December. We are terribly sad, even though we've only been taking lessons since September. We love Ms. Melissa and lessons are the highlight of our week. Tonight was our monthly "Fiddlesticks" class, which is the assembly of almost all of Melissa's students and they all practice playing together,  followed by "rhythm wars" (of which Olivia won out of the 4 girls in her class and just narrowly missed winning when challenged against the winner of the next higher level. We were and she was quite proud.) and that was all followed by a small Christmas party. It was fun to see Olivia and the little girls in her class stand up and play with all the big kids for their 4 songs and see them all try so hard to get the rhythms right so they would win. And we treasure every moment we can get to spend with Melissa and learn more from her. Olivia has grown and learned so much from her and the experience has been such a positive one, I hate to see it come to an end.

 Olivia with her classmates (Amanda Joy, Addie, and Karigan)

and her lovely teacher, Melissa