Christmas Pictures

First of all, have I mentioned I hate change lately?  Well, I do.  I'm very set in my ways when it comes to storing and editing my pictures.  Mr. Mac is different and not cooperating.  I'm going to have to add a photo editing program to my birthday list because I no likey iPhoto.

Anyway, here are our christmas pictures.  No editing or cropping has been done because of the aforementioned dislike. :)

I loved playing Santa and leaving presents under OUR tree this year on CHRISTMAS EVE.  It's never happened.  Caden and Jaelyn loved their presents from Santa, but Allie a little miffed that Santa didn't bring her the huge American Girl Doll Jeep to go with the huger American Girl Doll RV.  No worries, we have alleviated the problem! 

Look at how big their hand prints have gotten.  Jaelyn organized the kids and made this for us.

Caden got a new nerf crossbow for Christmas.  Nerf messed up and didn't send us enough darts; so they double dour order on the second try (free of charge) and we ended up with about 4 times the extra darts than we planned.  Can you say happy little boy?

By far, Allie's favorite present was the tiny bottle of ketchup Jaelyn put in her stocking. It's been a month and she still hasn't opened it.  It's driving Jaelyn crazy, but Allie loves it too much to use it.  Silly girls!

I bought us Headbands for Christmas.  My parents refused to play, but they enjoyed sitting and laughing at us!

My parents were supposed to come on the 27th, but they left a day early and surprised the kids on the 26th.  Unfortunately, 2 days in the truck killed my mom's back.  She spent her time with us sitting in straight chairs and in bed.

Here's the start of my Nativity with the Grants.  LOL.  Dad is working on the Wisemen, or WiseGuys as he calls them, now.  I can't wait to see it finished!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Dad brought his carving stuff for more lessons.  He helped Jaelyn make me a spoon.  He took it home to paint and stain it.  I might get it when my Nativity gets shipped.

And I feel that I should praise Blogger and Safari and our new Mac since I started by being unhappy with it because for over a year, I haven't been able to enlarge pictures on my blog and I can magically see the tool bar now to make the pictures bigger.

Randomness

It seems like every post I write is a hodge lodge of things because I don't write on a daily basis.  I was amazed to look at my post count over the last two years.  It's plummeted.  Oh well, that just means that our lives are full.

So lets see, since the beginning of January, Caden turned 9.  I have no idea how that happened.  My little snuggle bug is growing up, but he's the same sweet, loving, tender-hearted little boy.  I hope he always stays like that.  Caden continues to take gymnastics and tae kwon do.  He's really loving gymnastics.  His cartwheels look like cartwheels these days and he lands them and finishes with his hands raised instead of in his karate stance.  His favorite part of the class is doing front flips into the foam pit.  It looks like so much fun.  I so want to get the kids a trampoline.  Maybe our next yard will be flat and I can override Dan's continued veto of a trampoline.  There's a kid that's been bullying him at school and taking his craisins at lunch.  He's talked to his teacher about it and has told me not to do anything.  He wants to handle it himself.  So far, it's stopped now that Caden stood up to him.  We'll see if it continues or if Momma-Bear has to take over.

Gracie had another vet appointment last week.  I had some concerns, but the vet explained everything and says her knee feels really good.  She was cleared to be free in our house and jump on the furniture again.  I need to take a picture of her sacked out on the couch snoring.  She's so much happier.  We are starting with slow 10 minute walks and will increase them over the next 3 weeks.  We have another appointment at the end and then hopefully, she'll be cleared for all activities including running up and down the stairs whenever she wants.  I am so tired of walking her, but the deck has tall stairs.  She can't be free in the yard yet because of them.

Homeschooling is going well.  Jaelyn is adamant that she will continue next year.  If I agree, I will also bring Allie and Caden home.  I see so much freedom and independent learning.  We are working on expository writing right now.  Jaelyn has chosen to research 3 different horse breeds.  For the last week, she's spent her afternoon free time reading and taking notes when she isn't required to.  She says next she wants to research hummingbirds.  Actually, she's already started a little.  She was spouting off facts at dinner the other night.  It's exciting to see her excited about learning.  Sure, it might not be what she would learn in science in school, but she's learning and motivated.  The biggest issue I see with homeschooling all three is losing even more of "my time."  Let's be honest, I have no friends here.  I don't have time to get involved in anything and make them.  I have also had short-timers attitude since before I unpacked the first box.  What's the point in making friends when we are temporary?  But I want to be settled at our next house.  I long for a permanent home...constants: neighbors, friends, church.  I haven't joined a homeschooling co-op here, but with all three, I see it as a necessity.

There is something I'm excited about.  I sold my first quilt and am sewing on the binding now.  I have my next one lined up to make.  I won't ever make a ton of money, but it will be nice to have a little play money.  And sewing allows me to work at home.  I would eventually like to find something quick and easy to make (bags maybe) to sell on ETSY.

We have our new computer set up.  One day soon I'll download all of my Christmas pictures. :)

Merry Belated Christmas

We have had a truly wonderful Christmas.  It's the first year since having children that we've stayed at home instead of driving the day or two to Florida.  I enjoyed every part of it from buying presents without having to think about whether or not they'd fit in the packed car to wrapping them with pretty bows (pretty bows don't travel real well packed in an over flowing car) to decorating the house to cooking.  It was great to wake up on Christmas morning and find presents left by Santa under our tree.  Honestly, I may never want to go to Florida at Christmas again (but I will, don't worry Joan).  My parents came on the 26th and spent a week and a half with us.  My mom pulled a muscle in her back so we didn't do anything, but hanging out around the house and just "being" was perfect for us.  Life is busy.  Stopping to breathe is good.

I'll work on getting pictures another day.  We've gone mac and while the process of switching computers has been relatively easy, we don't have everything set up yet.

Gracie got her stitches out last week.  She's doing really well this time around.  The healing is slower.  It took her a week to put her foot down and she's still favoring it.  It's hard though because she can't run, jump, play, climb stairs, etc.  She basically has had to sit in her play yard or with me on a leash.  The vet gave her two more weeks of the same and wished me luck.  Getting the cone off her head has helped tremendously, but the barking at 6 am (and earlier) is continuing.  Crying it out worked with the kids...I'm close to barking it out...although Dan's been getting up with her because I've been sleeping so good that I don't always hear her.

There's more to write, but Gracie is crying and I think I smell mini corn dogs burning in the oven! :)

Our First Winter Storm

We had our first winter storm a few weeks ago.  It didn't seem that bad, but we got enough freezing rain and ice to bring down some trees.  These are on the path at the corner of our lot.

 

The lake was beautiful surrounded by the ice covered trees.

 

You can see the back of our house in the center of this picture way in the background.

 

The kids had a lot of fun sledding with their friends during their two snow days.  We needed more snow!

 

Gracie - One Week Post Surgery Number 2

My sweet girl sure has had a tough time lately.  She was trying to run and chase the cat 3-4 days after her first surgery.  She felt so good.  That was the problem.  This time around, she's just now starting to lower her leg to balance when standing still.  She is still not putting weight on it to walk.  The vet ran some sort of stitch all the way around her kneecap.  We don't know it she's in extra pain or if everything is just so much tighter inside.  Her incision has weeped a lot.  It's healing from the bottom up and other than the top about 1 inch, it looks much better.  I'll be glad to have that healed and get the stitches and staples out on the 31st so we can take her cone off.  She's wearing a big plastic one this time instead of the soft blue one.  Gracie spends her days sleeping on a sea of towels in the living room where we have her leashed to the leg of the couch.  I'm not taking on chances on her sliding on the hard floor this time.  This has not been fun one little bit!

Out and About

Saturday was a beautiful day so we took the kids to DC to see the National Christmas Tree.  Honestly, I was expecting something bigger and more grandiose.  It was just a planted tree.  I'm sure there's a story behind it, but I couldn't read the placard because people were blocking it.  The actual tree wasn't even decorated.  There was a net with lights and ornaments.  I'm sure it would have been much prettier at night ;).  I will tell you that if you like trains, they did the trains right.  It was fun to inspect all the little scenes with the trains running around the tree.  It made me want to run out and buy a train to go under our tree.

 

There are 50 trees around the big tree decorated with ornaments made in each state.  Here's HOME.

 

While we were right at the visitor's center, we asked how to go about getting tickets to tour the White House.  I have to call our congressman and jump through a few secret service hoops and then in 3-6 months, they'll tell us when we can come. We only have 7-8 months left in DC so I had better get on it!

 

Next up with the Museum of American History.  I don't care how many times I see the real "Star Spangled Banner" that was flying over Ft. McHenry that morning in 1812 when Francis Scott Key could see it still waving, it gives me chills every single time.  I love Americana.

 

We enjoyed the special Golden Books exhibit too.  Dan loved the Doctor Dan book.

 

We walked through the National Sculpture Garden on our way back to the metro.  It wasn't nearly as good as the Hirschhorn's.  Too much modern art that I just don't get.  These were our favorites.

 

The thinking bunny!

 

I'm sure this wasn't supposed to be a shadow wall, but that's what we got from it :).

 

Definitely the favorite of the day.  Someone said it was a typewriter eraser???  Those must have been before my time.

 

Last but not least and the main reason we went into the city...Zoo Lights!

 

If you've ever wanted to see "Panda Claus" dancing in a giant snow globe, here's your chance!

 

Gotcha Day

I'm only 22 days late...oops.  December 1st, we celebrated our 10th Gotcha Day.  Can you believe it's been 10 years since we brought our sweet girls home?  They are growing into beautiful young ladies who I want to hug one moment and then shake the next.  We are most definitely and very quickly approaching the teen years :).

 

We gave the kids each a new Christmas Ornament (Russian Nesting Dolls for the girls and a German Nutcracker for Caden.) and of course we made our gingerbread houses. I so love the crafting and creativity that comes with Christmas time.

 

Gracie Update

So apparently. We have a crazy, active dog who literally ripped out all of her internal stitches. She had her second knee surgery this afternoon. The vet resutured and repaired the ripped tissue (ow) from the first sutures. I'll pick her up tomorrow morning. This time around instead of "confined to one floor," she will be confined to her crate or a leash with me at all times. No chasing the cat, running for the doorbell, or sneaking onto the furniture. Thankfully, the second surgery is going to be no cost to us. That's a great, big praise.

Sent from my iPhone

Surgery Fail...Frustrated

Gracie has a luxating patella which basically means her knee cap slides out of place.  Surgery is the only way to fix it.  Not fixing it means pain and arthritis when Gracie is on older girl.  After saving $2500 (ouch), she had surgery a week ago.  Things were going well and then yesterday, her knee cap slid over.  It did it twice yesterday.  I called the vet and they said to keep her crated except for pottying and to bring her in early next week.  Today, it slipped out when Dan was walking her in a straight line on carpet out of the house to potty.  It was HARD to get it back in.  It slid out again while she was outside again walking on a relatively flat surface.  I'm so discouraged.  Not only does it feel like we wasted a ton of money, but it feels like the problem is worse :(.  Would you pray? 

Joy to the World...It's Finished :)

A Joint Sewing Venture

Trying again
> As if I don't have enough to do, I decided I wanted something special to hang over the mantel for Christmas. I found my inspiration quilt and Jae and I got started earlier this week with material from our scrap bin. I'm impressed with Jaelyns sewing skills. Four or five of the joys are hers.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

Surgery for our Furry Girl

Blogger is being weird again. I can email pictures from my phone, but the email body always gets lost in translation.

> Gracie has had what is called a luxating patella since she was a puppy. That's a fancy way of saying dislocating knee-cap encase you didn't know ;). It's gotten worse since an injury in June. She had surgery on Friday. The surgery went well, but it was the easy part. She now has a six week recovery period to get through. I feel so bad watching her limp around. It's sad. She especially doesn't like limping around with the cone on her head...I warned her about the consequences of licking :).
>
> Sent from my iPhone

A Joint Sewing Venture

Surgery for our Furry Girl

The Christmas Spirit

I've never gotten excited about Christmas like I am this year.  The nativity and stockings are ready on the mantel.  The Christmas tree is decorated.  The kids and I have been busy crafting up new ornaments.  This weekend, we made adorable ornaments out of Styrofoam balls and left over material.  I sprayed them with adhesive and sprinkled glitter on them.  They are so pretty on the tree. 

Tonight we painted corn starch and baking soda ornaments. 

 

Here are the ornaments I made.  Don't laugh at my evil cat.  Dan did.  The kids ornaments didn't turn out very well. It was harder to shape them than play dough.  I'm going to make more and let them paint them because they have major fun with the painting.

Jaelyn and I have a crafting Walmart list to restock our supplies so we can make more.  It's so much fun.  I'm tempted to buy lights and "stuff" to decorate outside, but I can't make myself go there.  There's something about moving every couple of years that makes me not accumulate that sort of stuff.  I did have a box of knotted lights that I haven't used in 3-4 years, but of course now that I have a house I WANT to decorate, I got rid of them before our last move.

I think I'm done with my Christmas shopping.  I'm just waiting on UPS to bring me my goodies and then I can start wrapping.  Did I mention I'm excited?????