catch-up

I love Lucy’s face in this picture:
But on to my “catch-up” post…

Aside from the “I Love Lucy Project” hoopla (which could be a full-time job in and of itself) and all the Christmas gear-up, there’s been other stuff swirling on around here that I haven’t had a chance to write about.

And I know that if I don’t write about it before Christmas, it’s not gonna happen.

And then it’ll all seep out of my brain and the richness of it all will be gone…all faded into the blur of the passing of time.

So here’s some major catch-up:

First off, Dave had a birthday:
He looks SO very excited about it, don’t you think?

My favorite thing about it was Grace’s “card” she got up early in the morning to put together:
I especially love the last line. That’s Grace in a nutshell…butter people up and then go for the punch.

But, sadly, despite all her efforts, we’re still dog-less.

Lucy was tuckered enough to actually fall asleep on the couch. First time ever.

Dave took the kids to run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.

…while I stayed home with this rash and the girl who was harboring it.

My Mom and Dad came for a visit:
We soaked them in with all our might.
My Mom and I did our little “Motherhood Secrets” schpeal at a couple boutiques…which was good practice since we get to speak at “Time Out for Women” in February and March 2010.
I wish we had more pictures, but here are a few of the lovely ladies who showed up.

My Mother-in-Law was among them. She’s the greatest.

My parents loved getting to see Lu board her bus. Seriously, I don’t blame them because it’s the cutest thing ever. She has to give anyone hanging around kisses and hugs. Then she gets on there in her spot where she can see us, and waves and blows kisses ’til she’s out of sight.

Max was pretty happy to have another male around.

And Grace was pretty happy to have someone help her finish her A.R. goal.

Out with the old Thanksgiving Tree…

…and in with the new. Elle was a serious help this year bless her little heart. Man alive, Christmas decorations are no small feat I tell you!

Dave wrecked his car…we are so glad no one got hurt. (He was on his way to the airport when it happened…luckily he was still able to make his flight. This pic. is when he got home after a big storm. Dave is not one to have a dirty car.)

After pestering me for an entire year, Grace finally got her wish and started her own Mother/Daughter book club. (No, she shouldn’t have to pester, but she’s child #3 and sometimes, she has learned, it takes some persistence to get what you want. Luckily persistence is not in short supply when it comes to Grace.) We had fun doing the same Ida B. thing we did when we hosted Elle’s book club the month before. Gotta LOVE that Ida B.

Elle had her Christmas orchestra concert.

The kids had their piano recital. They all played solos and Elle played duets with both Max and Grace.The recital was in a retirement home with the sweetest residents watching and cheering the kids on.
Josh and my Mother-in-Law came. We were all pretty happy about that…

Dave has been out of town a few times. He missed out on some great Christmas card stuffing and stamping action, wrestling Lucy on the bleachers during the orchestra concert, cleaning up 49 milk and juice spills back at home, Claire accidentally pooping in her pants on the way to gymnastics…you get the picture…we missed him.

Lucy “helped” me stamp some of the Christmas cards and got some stamp sticker souvenirs. This is how she follows me around on our errands. I love that she loves sunglasses. It’s actually exactly what she needs to help protect her eyes for future problems.

Speaking of eyesight and Bardet-Biedl, our dear friend we met through this blog who also has a child with the same syndrome came to town for business. We had such a great evening with him. He and his wife have been SO proactive with this whole deal and we could never thank him enough for all his research and ideas. I hope so much that we can follow in his footsteps as we help Lucy along the way. I think Lu and Claire had a little crush on him…they adored him.

One of my very favorite “moments” this month was happening to be in the vicinity of the temple one evening while coming home from some errands and serendipitously stopping to soak them in. I just had Claire and Lucy with me and I LOVED seeing their delight with SO many lights blinking around them. It was fifteen minutes I’ll treasure in my heart for a long time.

Claire got to make this in school of all things. And for some reason it just made me so happy. Obviously it had the same effect on her…

In other news:

–Max, Elle, and Grace all got some serious teeth pulled in preparation for more orthodontia work,

–I found out I have love handles (they introduced themselves to me in the Target dressing room last week),

–we’re still working on endless little pieces of our house “spruce-up” project (pictures after Christmas). I use the word “we” very liberally…mostly it’s me not being able to make up my mind and Dave being frustrated with me

–we are in love with snuggling by our fire in the early morning and at night,

–it’s orange season here and it makes my mouth water just thinking about it,

–we had a family bike ride around the neighborhood to check out all the Christmas lights last night.

Phew. Now I’m heading to bed. Sleep tight!