Christmas

Merry Christmas! We had a very nice Christmas. Santa was good to all of us! We've been busy doing lots of Christmas-y things over the past couple weeks. Last weekend we went down to Galveston to Moody Gardens for the Festival of Lights. The lights were beautiful and we enjoyed them, although we weren't prepared for the 35+ mph gusts of wind blowing off the bay the whole time. The air temp wasn't bad (about 45 degrees) but we froze our butts off and hurried through the displays. Henry was snuggled and well-insulated, and Natalie and Owen got a kick out of the cold wind. The weather has been crazy - every week we fluctuate between 70's and 30/40's. Last week we were doing last minute shopping and preparations for the big day (Christmas) and Natalie and Owen had their holiday parties at school. As with the last ones, we ended up at Natalie's party, but at least Dad was there this time to help keep an eye on wild man Owen. We also found out last week that Dad got a promotion at work - after only 9 months!! That was very exciting news. This past weekend we enjoyed some warm evenings and went out for a walk with the wagon and Owen's car. He drove the whole way around the block. We're glad he's not driving big cars yet - he's a very impatient driver who doesn't have time for red lights or cars stopped in front of us. Whenever we're in the car stopped at a light, he yells, "Go, Mommy!!" and we have to explain to him about traffic laws. We also drove around one night to check out the Christmas lights in the neighborhood. People really go all out! Mom's boss was also in town and at her request brought over the company's lead screening equipment. Mom spent a while going through the house checking all toys for lead. Everything was negative and we all feel a lot better. We had a nice quiet Christmas Eve. Mom's boss and his wife came for dinner and we enjoyed our traditional Cajun menu. The cool weather was perfect gumbo weather. Natalie and Owen watched The Polar Express before bed, and Natalie informed Mom at tuck-in time that she would be getting on the train if it came that night. Christmas day was fun watching Natalie and Owen go through their presents. They have different approaches - Natalie tore through hers in a short time and then waited patiently by Mom to see if she could open anything else. Owen wanted to play with each and every present as he opened them. Getting him to move on and open the last five or six things was painful - Dad finally had to help. Henry slept through this whole present opening period, and we opened his gifts later in the day. We all got great stuff and wore ourselves out playing/checking things out, so we had great naps yesterday afternoon. Natalie has started a winter break dance camp today - themed the Nutcracker - so we are looking forward to that performance on Friday.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Today was Dad's birthday. The festivities started last night when he convinced Mom & Natalie that he should open some presents to spread things out. Today Mom surprised him at work and came for birthday cake with his co-workers. Tonight he had more presents to open and we celebrated with candles and a birthday cookie. Natalie and Owen were really excited and even made a play to start opening the presents under the tree. No luck though.

Hectic Week and Restful Weekend

It was a weekend for resting after the exhausting seven days we all had. We had just started getting into Christmas decorations and putting up the tree (during which time Natalie enjoyed her first taste of eggnog - Owen wanted none of it) when we got the sad news that Pa had passed away. While we will miss him, we're glad he's not suffering and that it wasn't unexpected. So last weekend Dad had a whirlwind trip to North Carolina for the funeral. His being away was compounded with fun for Mom as Natalie, Owen, and Henry all had some form of a stomach bug. Natalie kicked off the weekend by throwing up four times at the top of the stairs Friday night (and several more times over the course of the night). All three had fevers over the weekend. To make things more interesting, Mom was supposed to work that weekend to meet a big deadline for a high profile project (last week). But we dealt with it and Mom just had a few late nights after Dad got home. So this past weekend was time for catching up on sleep and working on all those decorations (and getting out the shorts again since it was in the 80's and muggy). Natalie and Owen went to the babysitting program at school and Mom and Dad (and a sleeping Henry) enjoyed a quiet dinner out. It was a nice weekend.