As We Wrap Up 2009...

Well, another year is almost over, and a lot has happened. I feel like I've had a lot of ups and downs over the year. My grandpa passed away in February, which was difficult for all of us. Besides that, we also lost 3 co-workers this year, reminding us to cherish time with your loved ones now, because you never know what is in store. That sounds depressing, I know, but it really hit home when Wilson died suddenly after suffering a heart attack while at work. The Lord may call you home sooner than you think.

I work for the government, and we've been faced with unpaid furlough days and greatly increased premiums for our health insurance. Yet I still have a job, and so does Colin, and for that we are grateful.

But we had so, so many positives in 2009 as well. The girls continue to grow and learn and amaze us every day! Natalie talks more and more and always takes on new challenges. Katie tried both basketball and dance and loves both of them. Colin and his dad finished the Princess Palace in our back yard, making for a fun place for us to play without having to walk down to the park. We took fabulous vacations with family to Jacksonville and to Colorado Springs. Everyone is healthy and doing well. We truly are blessed. And we are looking forward to 2010 and all the new adventures that it will bring.

Happy New Year!!!

Additional Christmas Fun

Later on Christmas Day, we went to Colin's parents' house for dinner and additional gift opening. They got the girls each an age-appropriate dollhouse. Very thoughtful, and very fun!

Due to the weather on Christmas Day, we didn't take the bikes out for a test run until today. Here are the girls going for a spin up and down our block!

Katie was ready to go full speed ahead! Natalie is still getting the hang of pedaling, but I'm confident she'll be an old pro in no time. :)

Merry Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! Below are some photos of favorite gifts received this year. First up, bikes for the girls:


Natalie was excited to receive a Kai Lan puzzle. That's one of her favorite shows to watch!

Colin got a buffer! He can't wait to go wax the cars! The girls helped me pick it out.

Between my mom, my grandma, and Santa, Katie got 3 of the princess dolls she very much wanted:

And I got many nice shirts! I do like this one, a clever breast cancer awareness shirt from my dear friend Kelly:

What were your favorite Christmas gifts this year, either given or received???

No Highlights

Well, as requested, here is a follow-up:

Remington does NOT have highlights in her hair.

Since I rarely see her, I had a casual conversation with Ms. Sheena, one of the teachers, regarding Katie's request for highlights. Sheena laughed a bit, then said, "No, Remington doesn't have highlights. Her hair is the same pretty blonde it always has been." That was good to know. I told Katie that. She didn't buy it. So I don't know where this is coming from, but hopefully it blows over.

Remington's mom most definitely has highlights. She always looks very nice, and you can tell she puts a lot of effort (and probably cash) into her hair, make-up, and nails, more so than I ever would. Maybe Remington was talking about her mom getting highlights and Katie translated it into Remington getting highlights? Who knows.

I have natural highlights in my hair. Lisa Jo always compliments me when she cuts my hair. The girls do, too, so hopefully they are able to recognize that God-given beauty as they grow and not cover it up with hair coloring!

Highlights

We were eating supper last night, and out of nowhere, Katie asked, "Can I have highlights?"

I nearly choked on my pizza and asked, "You mean in your hair???"

That probably sounded dumb on my part, but why on earth would a 4-year-old want highlights in her hair?

Because Remington has them, I was told. I was not aware of this, nor can I picture it. Remington has gorgeous long blonde hair. Plus, although her mom seems like the type who would allow highlights at a young age, I doubt she would go as young as 4.

After a lecture by me on how her hair is beautiful the way it is, with natural highlights, and also how highlights cost a lot of money, Katie pouted a bit, but didn't bring it up again.

But today she DID convince Grandma to buy her a hair accessory packed with ribbons, butterflies, and faux hair tiny braids in varying shades of pink, and she proudly wore it all day. I guess if Mom won't let her color her hair, she'll find someone who can give it the effect she wants, at least on a temporary basis.

And still, she's 4!

They grow up too fast, don't they???

...And Exhale!

The Christmas cards are done! Many thanks to dear Colin for stuffing all those envelopes tonight as I struggled to get Natalie to go to sleep. He didn't have to, but he knew how much this was weighing on me, trying to get the cards out, and he did it. :)

The girls and I also frosted and decorated cookies tonight. Some are for my work potluck tomorrow, the rest for Natalie's class party next week.

And I'm almost done with gift wrapping!

Besides my potluck tomorrow, the girls also have a Christmas open house at school that Colin and I will attend. Each classroom has a different theme, and it is really neat to tour through each class, check out the art projects they all worked on for the holiday season, and have snacks and work on crafts with them. We enjoyed this last year and I'm looking forward to it again tomorrow.

All we have left before we're REALLY ready is to get our Christmas tree. Colin and I already have that planned for Saturday. Once that's done, it will feel like Christmas at our house. And I'll be able to move all the gifts out of my closet and under the tree, hooray! (I can hardly walk in there right now.)

I knew I'd finally get here!

Holiday Cheer Weekend, Part 2

Sunday morning I played with the orchestra for both church services, giving people a little preview of the evening's cantata. After finally getting myself back to the house, Colin left to go to the office for the afternoon. I got the girls settled into their naps and started on some holiday baking.

First off, cherry pie! We picked up some cans of pie filling while buying things for a Thanksgiving food drive, and I never made a pie since we were in Colorado. So I figured this was as good a time as any, plus, it would be a nice treat for Colin who has been working so hard in getting the office moved to their new space. So I made my crust, popped that in the oven, and set to work on my next task...

Cookie dough! I'm signed up to bring Christmas cookies for both my work potluck and Natalie's class party, so I tried to get a jump on things by making the dough while the girls slept. Once they woke up from nap, they were more than happy to help me cut Christmas shapes. It got a little out of control, though, considering I was working with people who are used to Play-Doh and the freedom to smash shapes on top of shapes and mash it up into a ball on a whim. Ugh. I was nearing the last straw as we finally got the last shapes cut and in the oven to bake. Good thing because I was just about out of patience!!! But the cookies are baked and in storage to be frosted and decorated later in the week.

In the evening, we all returned to church, along with Colin's parents, for the Christmas cantata, "Carols of Christmas". It is actually an arrangement for choir and orchestra done by our talented music director, Jeff, who set out about 6 years ago to write an hour-long medley of carols in four suites. He didn't finish it for Christmas 2003 as intended, put it on the backburner, got sidetracked, and eventually came back to it this year. I thought it sounded great, with mostly traditional music with some twists. It was certainly fun to play! Everyone seemed to enjoy it, too, and it went over very well with the packed sanctuary. Katie enjoyed the dancers we had to "The Holly and the Ivy". The girls were up late while at church watching me and the rest of the musicians, so we let them sleep in this morning.

So, I have some baking done, we're finished with the cantata, and I've made progress on the Christmas letter and gift wrapping. I knew I'd get there eventually!

Holiday Cheer Weekend, Part 1

Saturday was a busy day for us in terms of getting into the holiday spirit!

With Colin busy at the office all day, after my morning workout, the girls and I took off for the mall and Harry and David. I love going there for gifts for my family, and it was quite an adventure to take the girls with me. I prefer to go there alone. It's small. It's jam-packed with goodies that everyone wants to touch. Or taste. :) But we made it with only a small incident when Katie didn't like the taste of the free sample cookie they were passing out. I was so proud of the girls that I let them each pick out a cookie to eat in the car on the way to our next destination.

On to Target! Natalie sucked all the icing off her cookie and decided she was done. Katie thought it tasted fine but smelled funny so she gave it to me. The funny smell did not deter me from eating the whole thing. We picked up our normal shopping items and a few more gift items, including the grab bag gift for Katie's class party. That was the one that took the most time, with Katie deliberating over several small gifts before choosing the one she wanted. We ate lunch out, and the girls took good naps when we got home as I folded laundry and worked on our Christmas letter.

After nap, the girls and I went on to our friends' house for their holiday party. The boys, Charlie and Jack, are in Katie and Natalie's classes, and I've become friends with their mom Sara. We had a good time hanging out at their house, playing with friends, decorating cookies, making other Christmas crafts, and eating, eating, eating! We sure missed Colin at the party, but he was exhausted and preferred to stay home, shower, and relax after moving furniture all day.

And then, wrapping gifts after the girls went to bed. I have a few more to wrap, but I'm getting there!

Final Completion - We Made It!

Hooray! Today we issued Final Completion for my community collection center project. Finally! Only 88 days behind the initial milestone date for completion, but all time extensions were approved, and at least we got there before the end of the year.




The project itself didn't always go smoothly, and this last week or so was no different. Issuing the certificate was dependent on the final inspection and approval of their water and wastewater connections, which we had to do not 1, not 2, but 4 times for the contractor to get every detail right. It was maddening. And then, the contractor left immediately after the inspection, before he even had a chance to sign the paperwork with me. I found out later that he had a death in the family, so I called the office and made arrangements for someone else to sign off on his behalf.


But we're done!


We still need to have it certified through the state regulatory agency before we can use it, but I think that will be a cakewalk compared to what we've gone through the past 8-9 months with this thing.


Yay, us!!! Congratulations to all on our project completion. :)

Holiday Time

And right about now starts my annual panic... I don't have the Christmas cards ready! Do I have all the gifts? And when will I wrap them? We don't even have a tree!? What do you mean, I need a grab bag gift for Katie's class... by when??? How will I possibly fit this all in these boxes to send to Iowa? Stocking stuffers? What possessed me to sign up for a baked good for our office potluck!? Wait... the party for Natalie's class is *tomorrow*??? And I have to go to orchestra on how many days to get ready for the cantata?

I know, I just need to relax and take a deep breath and trust that it will all get done. It will. I know it. As I said, this is an ANNUAL panic, meaning I've been through it before and survived, and I will again this year.

Throwing a small monkey wrench into everything is that Colin's company is moving to a new office space this month, so he'll be working weekends to help with that. Any other month and it wouldn't bother me so much. But December, when I need his help with things, and need him to help entertain the girls as I wrap gifts secretly up in our bedroom... Ugh. But the Lord will help me get through.

The holidays are filled with so much joy -- the birth of Christ! But I know that for many people, not just me, there's also a lot of stress. If you're feeling the squeeze, sit here with me and take a deep breath... See, we can do it. We'll make it. And when we see our kids' faces light up, we'll know it was all worth it.