December Happenings

Not much to report but I had a few minutes while Dan is out running errands with the kids. I always forget how busy and hectic the holidays can be. The time gets away so fast!

Last blog, I reported that Caitlin would be walking in our Holiday Parade. Unfortunately, that didn't happen since she wound up getting sick (first out of two times this month) right before the parade. Poor thing! She did get to help decorate the banner with her troop so at least she was able to be involved. The upside (or downside) was that we were able to watch the Army-Navy game sooner than later. It was such a TOUGH game to watch! We'll keep rooting on Brave Ol' Army and hoping that things turn around for them VERY soon.

Caitlin had her first away-from-home sleepover this month. Her friend, Keeli, invited Caitlin and their other good friend, Emma over while Keeli's brother was having his birthday sleepover party. Keeli's mother had 7 boys and 3 girls. What a saint!!! In typical form, there was some 1st grade drama but all in all the girls had a good time and said they would like to do it again.

The kids last week of school was filled with activity. Book Exchanges, Ornament Exchanges, Secret Santas, Toys for Tots, Gingerbread House Making, Holiday Music Program, Peanut Cracker, Christmas Parties, Pajama Day, on and on and on. But as of Friday, the kids are out of school until January. It's up to me to keep them engaged. They have written a list (and keep adding to it) of all the things that they would like to do while they are on break. Make a snowman, go sledding, have a snowball fight (please cooperate weather), bake cookies, the list goes on and on and on. It should be a lot of family fun once Amazon starts slowing down. (We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.)

Well, our lights are up, the house is festive (and short two stocking holders - thank you Cameron), the tree is decorated, the presents are purchased, the cards are sent (today for that matter), so now it's off to wrap, wrap, wrap! We wish you an amazing holiday week!!!

Holidays and Friends

I haven't blogged in a while mostly because I've been tormented by the fact that I lost all of our digital photos. Fortunately, I had printed out a copy of everything up until about the middle of 2007. For those of you that have sent me links and e-mails of photos that I have sent you over the last several months, THANK YOU! It'll be great to piece together a portion of the year for the kids scrapbooks!!!

We are definitely starting to feel at "home" in Nevada. It's been 8 months and we feel settled - a much smoother transition than some of our previous moves. In November, we had several of our "new" friends over to watch some football. The guys had fun drinking beer while the girls chatted and the kids put on play after play for us. The kids also made some cute turkey hats.

It's hard to believe but Christmas is just around the corner. This year, we have a new addition to our family - our Elf on the Shelf named Jon. What a great tradition!!! They should have a Cupid, Leprechaun, Easter Bunny, Uncle Sam, Ghost, Turkey ... "on a Shelf". Dan said, "We need one of these things year round!" To see more about our new friend, visit elfontheshelf.com. And no, we do not own stock in the company. :-)

Aside from the excitement of the holidays, we have childhood stepping stones to be proud of. Cameron is learning to read!!! Tonight as he was reading us his book, he would read each page and then turn the book around proudly to display the pictures (all the time making sure that Jon, The Elf, could see. Santa is watching after all.) What a big boy he is becoming!!! Does anyone know how to make it stop? :-)

Off to relax with Dan as he is home only for brief periods of time these days. (Thank you everyone for keeping Amazon busy during these economic times!) Caitlin is walking with her Brownie Troop this Saturday in our "Hometown Parade" so there's sure to be another blog with photos very soon.

Don't forget to root on Army this Saturday.  BEAT NAVY!!!

Much love,

DDCC

Back 2 School & Gettin' Chilly

Now that the kids are back in school (sometimes anyways ... we are having a lot of days off due to Election/Veteran's/Thanksgiving and even more half days due to conferences), we are getting back into our routine. Yeah!!! The teachers seem to be taking it easy on the kids (or maybe themselves) this first week with the level of homework. One of Caitlin's homework assignments was to decorate a turkey. We had a lot of fun playing with scrapbook supplies - ribbon, chalk, paint, stickles, brads, etc. to create her turkey. It was SOOO much more fun than math!!!  :-)

Along with the celebrations of Autumn come cooler temperatures and it certainly has been getting chillier here in Nevada these days.  All this means the fireplace has been seeing it's fair share of use. With the switch of a finger (ahhh, convenience) comes our cat, Motor. He loves to come and sit in front of the "fire" and take a little rest. What a life!

Enjoy the photos!  (There are two stragglers of craft pumpkins that the kids decorated for Halloween. Cam with Chicken Little and Caitlin with a mummy.)

Halloween and Sweet Dreams

Well, Halloween is over and it's on to Thanksgiving! The kids had a great time trick-or-treating with Dan while Dani stayed behind to pass out candy to about 200 children. It was a great time and so much fun to see our neighborhood in action!

Monday was back to school for the kids. Boy, was Dani ready!!! Having the kids home full-time created so much clutter. We are all glad to be getting back on a schedule.

As we all know, Tuesday was Election Day.  Dani took the kids with her to vote. The kids had never been before and were thrilled to see the action. After hearing about it at school and home, they both picked a candidate to root for. Cameron chose "Arack Obama" and Caitlin chose John McCain (although Cameron was determined to call him "Bob McCain" every chance he got). What little minds and opinions they have already!

Tonight, before going to bed, we went to check on the kids and found that these photos described their interests perfectly. Caitlin had been reading a book and Cameron had his Gameboy tucked under his leg. These rare and quiet moments bring such warm fuzzies. How lucky we are!!!

We hope this week finds you all doing fabulously!!!

Much love,

DDCC

Hannah Montana and Red Power Ranger from Jungle Fury

October is a busy month!

The kids have been off from school this month but that hasn't kept us from staying busy. Part way through October, the kids finished off their soccer seasons so we have enjoyed regaining a few Saturdays to watch some football.

We received our  first covering of snow this month. It was wild!!! We were in shorts one day and turning the heat on the next. Luckily the cold weather and all of its remnants were gone within 48 hours! However while Cameron was playing in the snow (translation: eating the snow), he managed to lose the veneer on his tooth. Off to the dentist! It turned out that the tooth had a minor infection and needed to be extracted. The poor little guy received some gas to help keep him calm but he was a real trooper. Who wouldn't be when you know the tooth fairy is coming for a visit?

Caitlin's world has been a little more exciting. She turned SEVEN this month. How is that possible??? She chose to celebrate her birthday with her friends at Pump It Up - The Inflatable Party Zone. It was a small group but they had a BIG time!

As part of Caitlin's birthday present but also to make one of Dan's dreams come true, we finally took the kids to their first Jimmy Buffett concert. We traveled to Mountain View, California (Silicon Valley) after making a few pit stops along the way. As predicted, Caitlin was asleep before 9 and Cameron was clapping and dancing the night away. They did SO great. We hope it will be the first of many for them!!!

Dani and the kids are enjoying their last school free week before getting back into the grind and Dan is holding up well during this pre-peak time.  We hope you are all doing great as well!!!

Have a Happy Halloween!!!

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