Christmas day addendum

Update: Adam would just like to add that he didn't just go "on a hike" on Christmas Day, but was actually skiing with Tycho up on the bench above the house. Pretty idyllic place to live . . . see:

Peaks above Taylor's Canyon.

Tycho bounding through the snow on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Of course, the same snow that provided the skiing also had to be shoveled.

The snowbank from shoveling is now burying our little tree in the front!

Merry Christmas!

Here's hoping everyone had a wonderful day! We had a great, great day.  Yesterday, it started snowing at about 3:30pm--and didn't stop all night.  We already had a lot of snow on the ground, but we woke up to at least eight more inches (I think).  It was a gloriously beautiful day: fresh snow and bright blue skies.  It was one of the prettiest days ever.  Adam went on a hike with the pup, and my mom and I went on a nice walk in the afternoon.  The girls stayed in their jams most of the day (well, I'll be honest: Grace was in her jams ALL day!), so they didn't ever play in the snow.  But, we're supposed to get even more over the next few days, so they'll have more opportunities, I'm sure.  

The girls were officially spoiled by Santa and by all of our wonderful family and friends.  Thank you everyone!!!  We got lots and lots of games this year, so that kept us busy most of the rest of the day.  It was a really wonderful day all together finished off by a yummy ham dinner. :-)

Sadly, my mom leaves tomorrow morning.  We've had a wonderful visit with her: lots of baking cookies and Linzer Torte, playing games, the girls got to go to a movie with her, sledding, movies in the basement, and reading "Little House."  We will all miss you!!

On Thursday afternoon, Adam's parents come for a visit for Christmas #2.  Should be another wonderful day--but this time topped off with a Bowl Game (to watch Poppy's favorite team: the OSU Beavers!).  

Christmas Eve was also terrific, beginning with dropping off Christmas presents to a family our block sponsored for Christmas.  It's amazing to me how generous people are.  My neighbor and I ended up dropping off two carloads worth of presents and food (including the fixings for a whole Christmas dinner) to a single mom with five kids.  This is an annual tradition on my street, and I was thrilled and honored to be such a big part of it this year.  It truly helped me--and my whole family, I'm sure--recognize and appreciate how very lucky we are.

Christmas Eve ended with the girls' pageant at our church: Anna was an acolyte and a reader, and Grace was an angel.  They were adorable, the church was beautiful, the music wonderful, the service just right.  Again: very, very lucky.  

Again, I hope everyone had a very happy day.  

Merry Christmas!!

Santa & Sledding

Yesterday we took advantage of the storm of new snow that came through the night before. Here's our trip (3 blocks away from the house) up the trail on snowshoes and then down the hills at the golf course, including lots of action shots.

A happy 10-year-old puppy.

Some sloppy telemark turns!

When did this become no longer fun?

Oma after an exciting ride down the hill.

And here's the apres sledding activities:




Then, last night the girls (along with Mom & Dad and Oma) waited outside in the cold (20 degrees) to visit Santa. It all paid off:

Santa asking Anna if her room is clean.

Here's Grace telling Santa she'd like "a doll".

Right now, light snow is falling, John Denver and the Muppets are playing (over and over and over) and another round of baking is, well, baking.

Whew

FINALLY took our Christmas Card pictures yesterday (pink eye is gone, it wasn't snowing, we were all home at the same time)--right before heading out to do a shoot for our friends with a dog and two horses!  I must say, the scale of horses changes EVERYTHING.  They are BIG.  Very fun, though.  

Here are some other pictures of the girls from yesterday:

Girl Scout Camp

Just got back from Girl Scout Camp and even though I'm exhausted from hardly getting any sleep--between the snorers, the girl who kept turning her flashlight on and off, and the poor girl who kept sleep talking (who was obviously having a bad, bad dream), there was very little chance to get any real sleep--I had to write to all you with girls out there:  join Girl Scouts.  It's awesome.

*#@# Martha Stewart....

OK, so I'm sure it's not Martha's fault, but EVERY time I try to bake this chocolate cake of hers, I screw it up.  It's gotta be me, I know, but it seems to only be a problem when I bake THIS cake.  When Anna was turning six, I was baking her snow princess cake in the special bowl that when inverted turns into a dress that you can stick half of a Barbie into.  Well, I overfilled the bowl and cake batter was POURING out onto the floor of my oven.  Complete mess.  That time, though, I had time to go to the store to get more cocoa powder and buttermilk and make a new one in time for the party.  This time, well, no such luck.  I only had time to make the cake ON Anna's birthday (last Sunday), couldn't find the cake testers my Aunt Joan gave me years ago, figured I'd baked the cakes the designated times so they must be done, only to check on them twenty minutes later to find they had totally fallen in.  Ever the optimist, Anna declared that it was fine, we could just fill the holes in with frosting, so I turned one over on the rack, only to have half the cake fall through, producing a huge, irreparable hole.  Worried that I was ruining Anna's birthday and the memories she would have of her big 8th birthday, I start to cry--assuring this to be a birthday memory she'll never forget.  Nice.  We ended up laughing, and putting together a new plan to go get a cheesecake from Costco. We totally didn't need to get the cheesecake, though, since we still had cupcakes I made from the extra batter, ice cream, and gingerbread cookies we made the night before.  So, we had a birthday feast.   I have vowed to never again make this cursed cake.  Too bad it is SOOO good...  

Besides that hullabaloo, Anna had a great birthday.  No party this year, because we have started an every-other-year friend's birthday party plan (which I HIGHLY recommend to all you over-achiever moms out there--I'm a recovering one, so I know how hard it is to imagine.  But trust me on this.  It's a great thing.).  So, we had a day of Anna opening presents, a blueberry pancake breakfast, Anna talking to grandparents on the phone, we went and saw "Enchanted", went on the obligatory trip to Costco to pick up the cheesecake, met Jenn, Matt, and Peter at Anna's favorite restaurant for lots of shrimp and noodles, and then came to our house for our dessert feast.  Anna had a great day and didn't seem to mind not having a party At ALL.  Whew.  

That's probably because it's been one party after another around here lately.  We had a big gingerbread and ornament making Brownie meeting on Tuesday, I helped in Anna's class yesterday making 23 gingerbread houses, and she got to bring doughnuts to class on Monday.  We also finally got our tree last Saturday and had a blast baking gingerbread, listening to John Denver and the Muppets, and putting ornaments on the tree.  

Anna also had her big violin concert on Monday--and it was GREAT.  I never thought I'd say that about 32 new violinists playing together, but they really sounded good--especially considering Anna's class of six and the other class of 25 had never played together until they were on stage in front of an audience.  And, they even playing "Are You Sleeping" in a round.  Wow.  I know it sounded much better through these mother's ears than any ol' Joe, but hearing Anna declare once we got in the car after it was all over that "that was the funnest thing I've EVER done!!" was absolute music to this mother's ears.  

With all this all this happy chaos surrounding Anna, we can't forget about poor little Grace.  She is doing better now, but has had pink eye that wouldn't go away (on the weekend I was FINALLY going to take my xmas card pictures--I've been so busy taking everyone else's.... And they're still not done!!!).  When I took her to the doctor, we found out that she has also had a throat infection and a sinus infection.  I had NO idea.  When I asked her if her throat hurt, she said "only when I swallow."  I tell you, she has been a total trooper and has been very, very good considering how awful she must have felt.  We've also recently been to the dentist to check out her two front teeth that got knocked when she fell down a few weeks ago.  They are turning grey (eie yie yie!) and an xray confirmed they are dead.  Now we just wait and see.  Hopefully, she'll lose these normally in the next year or so and her new ones come in just fine.  That's the best case scenario.  I don't even want to think of the other options.  

This afternoon, Jenn and I are taking my two girls to an overnight Girl Scout Holiday Minicamp.  It should be a lot of fun.  I'm already behind getting ready for Christmas and can't seem to catch up anyway, so we'll go make some good memories together (and hopefully I won't cry!).  :-) 

Grace, with pink eye, rolling out gingerbread cookies:

A little TOO thick...
I don't even remember what they were being so goofy about, but it was funny at the time:
The sunken cake (she doesn't look too traumatized):
The cheesecake and the cute 8 year old:

The beasts of my shame:

Anna's Award!

Every month at Anna and Grace's school, each teacher chooses a student who represents a quality (like "caring" or "responsibility") and those students are then presented "Community of Caring" awards.  This month's topic was "respect"--and Anna was chosen from her class!  Anna stood in front of the whole school looking both proudly happy and shy as her principal read what her teacher wrote about her:

"Anna has been nominated for this Community of Caring Award because she always displays and models the quality of respect.  She shows respect towards her peers and adults alike.  On a daily basis she shows respect wherever she goes, be it in the lunchroom, library, computer room, hallways and especially our classroom.  She displays the same gentle, quiet respectful manner in all different situations by listening attentively, raising her hand, and treating others with genuine kindness.  She is a valuable member of our class.  Congratulations, Anna!"

Yeay, Anna!!

IT'S HERE!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew. I can't tell you how excited I am to be at the beginning of a five-day break from school/activities/etc.! Things have been hopping around here, culminating in a big "Native American Celebration" in Anna's class this afternoon and learning ji jitsu (a form of martial arts) at Brownies. And, alas, I had no camera.... 

Anna's class was absolutely fantastic. I know I've mentioned it before how amazing Anna's teacher is; well, she still is. My only complaint is that I have NO IDEA what to do with all the projects she keeps bringing home--and it's all three dimensional! Today, Anna made a Native American shoulder bag, a beaded necklace, the Mayflower, a teepee, a totem pole, a pictograph writing (really cool), and a papoose that is at least 16" long. So, you see, really cool stuff, but what to do with it all?? I've got Rubbermaids from previous years going, but I'm starting to realize how insane it's going to get to have a Rubbermaid from each year for each girl! :-) It makes me laugh to think of handing the girls their Rubbermaids as they move into their own homes someday... Yet, I'm just not ready to get rid of any of it, even if I do take a picture of everything first. Anyway, the celebration was such fun; I got to be at the tasting table (where the kids got to eat corn bread, fry bread, popcorn, pumpkin bread, jam and honey that Mrs. Blair made at home the night before. See, incredible!).

Brownies was equally awesome. Nothing beats watching ten seven-year-olds learn how to hit and kick from a big black man with dreadlocks and tattoos (it was Lilly's dad). He was great with the girls. I just hope I don't get any calls from moms telling me their daughter knocked out her younger brother... :-) Unfortunately, no pictures. I cannot tell you how bummed I am... Lilly's mom was there taking some, though, so someday I think I will have pics to share.

In other news, Anna is getting GOOD at the ol' violin! I don't mean to sound shocked, but she really has turned a corner and is much less squeaky. Quite honestly, I thought it would take longer, so this just feels like a huge bonus. Her concert is Dec. 10th. I will definitely remember my camera then!

Grace seems to have finally kicked the awful cough she's had for weeks.  Here's hoping she (and I!) stay well for a good long time now!  No other huge news with Grace.  She's just doing really, really well: loving school, loving dance, loving Sesame Street and seems to be at the beginning stages of learning to read:  she tries to sound out everything now--and often gets it right!  Driving around doing errands is so much more exciting now with "s.t.o.p--STOP", "o.p.e.n--OPEN" coming from the back seat.  She is in such a great stage right now: relatively agreeable, super creative, easily excited for things, and pretty flexible.  I think 5 may be my favorite age.  So far!

 

For Thanksgiving, we are having Jenn, Matt and Peter over for dinner--and possibly a neighbor and a couple of friends for dessert. I'm really looking forward to it. Tomorrow, we're going to play with Emma and her sis and mom, who we don't see nearly often enough anymore now that we're all so busy and go to different schools. On Friday night we're going to the Nutcracker (yeay!). On Saturday morning I have a large family photo shoot, which should be fun--although the weather just turned cold today. Besides that, we're looking forward to laying low and enjoying the time together. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all my wonderful friends and family!

Some recent pics (of other kids):

My favorites

So, I just had to share a few of MY favorite shots from the Billy Collins interview.  What a thrill that was!  Both Adam and I just absolutely love his poetry; it was such a thrill to meet him, talk with him, photograph him, eat dinner with him, and then listen to him read his poetry.  Adam was such a cool cat through it all and gave a wonderful introduction at the banquet.  I can honestly say I felt very, very proud of him.  And, I should admit that I'm very proud of my pictures, too.  :-)

Moab

Two weekends ago, we headed down to Moab for some family-time.  As you can tell, the girls loved it...

No, we all had a really great time.  :-)  We got to go on lots of hikes, play at the girls' favorite arch, Sand Dune Arch, hang out at our favorite bookstore, eat out, go see the "Bee Movie," and swim at the Hotel swimming pool.  We almost didn't go, since Grace and I still had our colds, but getting out of town was exactly what we all needed--especially since we've been going non-stop since we got back.  Here are a few pictures of our trip: