A Christmas Wish

All I want for
Christmas is
homefield
advantage!

Christmas Time

On my way home from Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas music was playing on the radio...Love It!  Bring on a month of Christmas!!  Now if the temperatures drop and we get some decent snow, it'll be perfect.  Love this time of year!

Snowman!

Our first snow is a good one this year!

Yes, We're Still Here

I looked back at how little I've posted this last year...WOW, not much there.  It's been busy with a baby around again!

In the past couple weeks Van turned 1 year old, Rae started Kindergarten, and Jo turned 4!  It has been a good transition into a more structured schedule at home.  We had so much fun this summer...although Jen and I are working opposite (her M-F, me weekends) so it was usually one of us taking the kids.  Cottages, Fairs, Bay Beach, maintenance at home and cottage, parties, play-dates...I don't think we could have fit much more in!  And, Jen and I just got 9 new karate students this week...over the next month we'll see if any are keepers.

Pictures coming soon!

Rae's Birthday Party

Rae had her first birthday party with friends from school.  It was a Fancy Nancy theme, so all the girls dressed up in fancy ensambles and celebrated with tea parties, dress-up, photo shoots, manicures, makeup, storytime, pinata and more!  The girls were waited on by Mom, Dad, Grandma Pauline, and Auntie Erin.  Auntie Zoe made the custom pinata.  Jo spent the day with Grandpa Roy, and Van was with Grandma Jean and Grandma Karen.

 

The Kids

It's been quite a while since I've put anything up here, so I thought I'd give a quick update on how the kids are doing. 

Rae is doing great in 4K.  We've been hosting a lot of play-dates with her friends from school, and that seems to be helping her socially.  Now she has all sorts of friends that she plays with at school, rides the bus with, shares snacks with, makes art for...very, very neat to see!  She is inviting 5 friends from school to her birthday party next month.  It is going to be a Fancy Nancy themed party with stations for hairdos, nail polish, dress-up, photo shoot...about as girly-girl as it gets!!

Jo, as usual, is only a half step behind Rae with all the academic stuff.  She can now write all her uppercase letters, and some lowercase.  She spends a good part of each day having me spell words out loud so she can write little notes/phrases.  Her personality has really started to shine lately too.  She loves to be silly and make people laugh.  Fun and joy just emanate from her when she is happy...but if she is over-tired and crabby watch out...she definitely has a balance.

Van is 7 months old now!  He sits up, rolls over, and scoots around the tile & hardwood floors in his walker.  He's eating solid foods...cereal, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, pears, apples, carrots, mango, beets, cantaloupe, and honeydew.  He has also started drinking a little of his milk from a regular cup.  He is getting to be so much fun to play with...he can play with his little toys and has the greatest smile and laugh.  He keeps us all pretty exhausted though as he is definitely not the greatest sleeper.

Late Cottage Plumbing

Since starting my new job, I haven't had a half-day in the past two months to run up to the cottage.  Well, I finally got up to there last night to take care of the fall plumbing for winterizing.  Good news: the cottage wasn't flooded; bad news: the waterlines are frozen and broken.  More good news though: the pump and water tank were still thawed and I could drain those, and I think I saved the toilets and shower drain before they cracked.  More bad news: the water heaters were frozen and I was unable to drain them...I've got a plan to save them though...I just need to find and coordinate a little bit of time and a little bit of help.  All this means - we may be roughing it a little more at the cabin next year.

Other note: the lake has a thin sheet of ice on it.  Yes, I tested it, and no, it does not hold my weight!

Gratitude ~ I am grateful for the challenges and fun that comes with being almost too busy.