A squad of snow soldiers keep silent vigil over the entrance to our house.
These guys claim the foyer for the USA.
LTC Freeze’s battalion has seized the high ground in defense against the children that are rumored to be in the area. Freeze is the 3rd guy from the right, with the red hat and green scarf.
(hmm, next time I’ll close the cabinet door for a better picture)
Snowman Army all present, sir!
Pumpkin Girl finally started piano lessons again. After searching long and hard (or really just avoiding the issue), I found a very nice homeschool graduate working his way through college. Unfortunately, our music room now looks like this:
We had our very last household goods shipment arrive last week and we’re slowly working our way through it.
I was in the shower when the household goods arrived and saw them for the first time as I came downstairs. I was happily distracted by all our long awaited storage stuff and, well…I stepped into air. I did something to my ankle, not a sprain and probably not broken since I could walk on it, but it was definitely painful. I had to stop wearing my favorite Dansko shoes and be extra careful picking my way through all the snow, lest I reinjure myself. My ankle hurt for so long that I was starting to wonder if I should go have it x-rayed in my spare time (ha!), and then I caught a cold.
Not just any cold, but a breathe-through-your-mouth, cough-up-phlegm, and update-your-will, kind of cold. At the end of the last two days I was completely. wiped. out. I went to bed hours early. And lo and behold, I woke up this morning with my ankle feeling almost completely better. Full range of motion, no more stabbing pains. I guess it just needed a rest.
So feeling able to walk again, we went to the mall and I got my hair cut. I came home and immediately had Philip take a picture.  It doesn’t really show off the cut, but pretend it does and tell me it’s cute.
In review:
Music room full of boxes
I fell down the stairs
I caught the mother of all colds and took to my bed
Rest made my ankle feel better
Better ankle meant a trip to the mall
I got a haircut
Comments are required requested optional but encouraged on how cute I look.
Thus, my story of seemingly unrelated events comes to an end.
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In with the new…
When we first moved in we knew that the side-by-side refrigerator that came with the house was going to be too small. It wasn’t a pressing issue, but we did research and figured out which fridge we wanted when the time came. Then Thanksgiving week we found an ad from Home Depot and we were able to save $700 on a new fridge! We’re loving the extra room, especially in the freezer. There was a brief moment of panic when I realized that we forgot to measure the space between the kitchen island and the counter. I made Philip get up (we were already in bed) and come with me to confirm that the new fridge would actually be able to be maneuvered in. No worries, it had a couple of inches to spare.
The rest of the appliances in the kitchen are black, but we decided to go with the stainless for the fridge. I’m glad we did, since we’ll be getting a gas range in the next few years and so will slowly go completely stainless.
How are your holiday preparations going? I don’t mind saying “holidays” instead of “Christmas” because there are many celebrations at this time of year, which include the Feast of St. Nicholas, St. Lucia Day, the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe and continue through New Year’s Day and Epiphany.
This time of year can be so wonderful, the beauty of the decorations, the thrill of impending presents and the love and joy that abounds everywhere.  But all that happiness and love and togetherness can be very difficult for those of us who have lost a child.
The phrase, “at least we’re all together” rings hollow when a child is missing from the gathering. All that merriness can be a bunch of bah humbug when your heart is broken. And all that talk of a child being born – ack, can it get any worse?
This coming Sunday, December 13 is the annual Worldwide Candle Lighting to remember the children who have died.
I would like to invite you all to participate. At 7 PM local time on December 13, just light a candle and keep it burning for one hour. In this way, we can create a wave of light for 24 hours to remember the children.
I ask you to do this for me, to remember our Rebecca. When you do, please say a prayer, not just for me, but for all the families who have been left behind. Please remember especially, those families who have lost a child this year. Please also pray for those who do not have a faith to rely on, or who have turned away from God in their grief. But lastly, please thank the Lord for those children who, though they stayed with us too briefly, brought us immense joy.
Ah…so we survived Nutcracker Weekend.
Actually, it wasn’t bad at all and was very enjoyable. Philip ended up taking Pumpkin to Wednesday’s fitting/rehearsal marathon, so I was able to get some preholiday baking done. The pie, by the way, was delicious.
Friday, Pumpkin Girl and I went out to lunch and then attended the one and only dress rehearsal together. Funny thing, this particular production of The Nutcracker. The professional company is from out of state and they provide the grown-up dancers, props and costumes. All the child dancers are all local. The children are split into two casts and rehearse sans professionals for weeks before the performance. On the day of the costume fittings, they rehearse with the professionals when possible, or at the very least they review their blocking on the stage. The afternoon before the first performance, the orchestra, professional dancers and one cast do one dress rehearsal. The other cast is invited to watch with one parent.
We had a grand time watching the rehearsal. It was fascinating to watch the whole process – the ballet mistress stood there making minor adjustments, the dancers didn’t always do all the lifts in each dance, the dancers chatted with each other and occasionally the orchestra needed to make changes to accommodate the dancers.
I’m not sure how the whole thing manages to come together with only one cast doing the full dress rehearsal, but it did. We took the boys to see Pumpkin’s first performance which was Saturday night (and was also our 17th wedding anniversary). Pumpkin’s part was brief but sooo cute. You really have not lived until you see a chorus line of dancing sheep. Trust me on this, since I don’t have pictures or video. They probably got the biggest laugh and “ahh”s of the whole ballet. The boys really enjoyed the whole show and Boo even wanted me to find another Nutcracker performance so we could see it again. I assured him that this was not our last Nutcracker.
Pumpkin tells me that the professional dancers were very nice and some of them helped backstage. “Herr Drosselmeyer” helped herd the sheep and line them up for the finale. I saw several of the adults helping the children during the rehearsal. The sheep were so well behaved on the first night that they were allowed to watch Act II from the wings.
At the cast party, several of the professional dancers showed up and were very gracious in signing t-shirts and posing for pictures. The Snow Queen was very nice and asked Pumpkin if she’d had a good time. We caught Herr Drosselmeyer just as he was leaving and he was very nice, too. We managed to catch up with the Clara from Pumpkin’s cast and she was just as sweet as could be.
Pumpkin came home from each performance with stars in her eyes and plans to someday play Odette in Swan Lake.
But for now, it’s back to reality.
I have to say that I think my favorite thing of all on Thanksgiving is when it’s time for Philip to wash and prep the turkey. Of course he just doesn’t wash, salt, oil and season it. Oh no…he makes it dance.
Imagine if you will, Philip humming can-can music.
The children thought it was hysterical.
My plans for today are:
prepare jello salad. Why this qualifies as a salad, I have no idea, but my mom’s recipe clearly states that it is a Thanksgiving Jello Salad. And it’s green, so I guess it qualifies as a salad. Don’t let it be said that I don’t prepare well rounded meals.
Make pumpkin pie with the children. Boo, while under the pretense of finding appropriate preschool programing on On Demand for his brother, found a clip for making the Best Pumpkin Pie Ever. He then told me all about it and requested, nay -demanded that I make this pie. So we searched for it online and I dutifully wrote down the recipe. It is suspiciously similar to the recipe I use, but that’s ok.  Let me tell you, baking with 3 children is not for the weak of heart. Even if it is something as simple as pumpkin pie. The pie is happily baking in the oven as we speak and Boo is lurking around the corner to supervise the turning down of the oven temp to 350. Just in case I couldn’t manage.
Sit for hours while Pumpkin Girl gets fitted for her Nutcracker Costume, learns the blocking for her part and rehearses with the orchestra. She’s a sheep. No, I didn’t know there were sheep in the Nutcracker, either. They are part of the Shepherd’s Dance, duh. Apparently, many of the parts are cast with little eye toward actual dance ability, but rather which costume you’ll fit in to. Short kids are sheep. Ba-a-a-h humbug, as it were. So from 4 PM til, oh, I don’t know…whenever they’re done, I’ll sit and wait while she’s fitted and blocked. Then we’ll head out for dinner and return for her 8:45 rehearsal. I’m bringing along some knitting, but really, how long can I keep that up for.
Charge my iPhone. Sitting for hours will give me a chance to improve my gaming skills with the cools aps I’ve got loaded up. I can also text all my friends.
Go to the library. When the knitting and iPhone games get old, I can always read. Old school, I know, but you’ve got to go with what you’ve got.
Really there isn’t. Our busy lives are pretty uneventful at the moment, just busy.
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Pumpkin Girl is in the dance studio 4 hours a week, but fortunately this weekend is The Nutcracker and if we survive, she’ll be back to only 3 hours. Of course, this week involves a 6 hour rehearsal, costume fitting and blocking session, dress rehearsal, two performances and a cast party. And Thanksgiving. Can’t forget about that!
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Boo observed that it isn’t too hard to turn the other cheek if you’re getting a kiss.
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Listening to Bip pray is a sweet look into what goes on in his head. He has long, rambling conversations with God while the rest of wait as patiently as we can. A couple of nights ago he came with this gem, “Bless Lord Mama, who is shorter than Daddy but still a grown up. ”
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This is what we saw at church on Sunday, as we were buckling up in the car. I took the picture through the window.
Better than seeing a mountain lion!
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We bought a new refrigerator! More details to follow.
We got 6 inches of snow over the weekend.
Here’s a view from our church parking lot.
As we walked in the door, we were greeted by this sign:
Hmmm.
As we arrived home, the sledding hill was calling Boo, Pumpkin Girl and Bip.
They headed out for a little sledding before lunch and returned home pink cheeked and ready for some hot chocolate.
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