December 2007 Happenings

Let's see. December 2007 began with temps that were above average into the 80's! Who wants to put up a Christmas tree in THAT weather! Not me! We forced ourselves to do just that. Before December 7th rolled around my husband put the lights up outside as well. It was a good thing he did because the night after the lights went up, the rain came down. We had rain, or some trace of it, on & off for the next 2 weeks.

On the parcel of land we call hom that means a few things. It means we can only exit from the front door of our home, we must wear plastic bags on our feet to & from the van, we hope the van can make it off the parially finished gravel drive way without getting stuck & that our home is surrounded by many mini "lakes". That is what happens on our unlandscaped parcel if it rain much at all.

We went to our first "family night" at school. We had to have our "passport" filled with stcikers before we could take part in the free activity. We were herded into a classroom to listen to a story. Next we were herded into a 2nd classroom to hear a 2nd story. Next we were escorted into & stood in line waiting entrance into the gymnasium. The line went directy to a Santa wearing sunglasses. Most likely it was to disguise his true identity to the students...the school took the students name & a photo of them ^ their siblings with "Santa". Finally we got to make a "gingerbread" house. The "gingerbread" was actually graham crackers. They gave us a large plastic bag flled with graham crackers, misc candies, pretzel sticks & am emply milk carton along with a cup of frosting & a popscicle stick. Here is the result of my 5 year olds creative efforts.



I didn't help her much at all. About the only thing did was add more frosting to hold things like the licorice in place. She also had a problematic gumdrop of the roof that required my attention. Other than that, it was all her!



A bit later in the month she had her first choir concert. They sang 5 songs & one was introduced by my little girl. The little one was bored & tempermental. Therefore I missed most of her concert & got no photos of her on stage. Instead I got to listen from the hallway! Her Daddy was taping it for the Grandparents. We will watch it together on Christmas Day. When the entire school sang together I got right down in front & snapped a few great shots of her singing & dancing. At the end of the concert the teachers selected my daughter to present the music teacher with some Christmas roses.



After the final day of school before the Christmas break we headed to the library & the adjacent park for some playtime. The gilrs were being silly & having a great time. This was the first time the little one really, REALLY had a blast here. Towrd the end of it both my kids were sliding doown the spiral slide on their bellies & even backwards!





Tomorrow is going to be crazy busy. We have gifts to finish making, more to wrap, cookies to ice & even more to bake. This is all before we make the 2 hour drive to go to the Christmas party of very good friends. Only with sleep deprevation & tehe magic of Christmas will everything get done.