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Friday's quote

Antigua Guatemala, via Fotopedia Heritage

No one becomes forty without incredulity and a sense of outrage.

-Clifford Bax

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and yours, and may 2013 be your best year yet. 

Visiting Santa

Not surprisingly, William George was not as enamored of Santa as his sisters were. 

Gracie's Milestones: Fourth Tooth

When eating with a dangling tooth became more and more difficult, we finally convinced Gracie that pulling her remaining front tooth would be the best course of action.  Therefore, after breakfast (and after cutting her food into tiny pieces so that she didn't have to bite into anything), she bravely let Skip pull her tooth. 

After that, we got dressed and went to visit Santa Claus.  She avoided all of the obvious all-I-want-for-Christmas jokes, and she got to write another note to the Tooth Fairy tonight. 

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I want to know what you bring next.  It's me, again.  My elf is named Zippy.  Please give some money to my sister; I will split it with her. 

Do you live in New York City?  In the "Red Apple"?  In the taxi? 

I'm glad you came.  My brother wants some money, too, please. 

I've got a toy castle like yours.  I have princesses in it. 

I love you, Tooth Fairy!  Thank you so much, and I'll see you again soon. 

Love,
Gracie

(&Lauren, too)
(& George)

P.S.:  Do you like peppermint bark?

With two visits from the Tooth Fairy, sitting on Santa's knee and an impending visit from Santa on Christmas Eve, Gracie is having the best week ever!

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School Parties

Whenever the duo decided they didn't want to go to school this week (and that was daily, if we're counting), we reminded them that this week -- the week before Christmas vacation -- is the very best week of the school year. 

 

Yesterday they had their Polar Express party.  They wore pajamas to school, watched The Polar Express and then read the book.  They had chocolate milk and cookies for snack.  Total score!

This afternoon was the Kindergarten class party.  The class filed into the lunch room and snacked on pizza, chips and cookies.  Then they read a book and received their goody bag and book. 

Skip was off today so the party was a family affair.  The girls and their entire class had a blast!

Ballet 2012

On Thursdays we go to dance, and last night was the exhibition for parents.  First, I need to apologize for the picture quality.  This year's class is in a different studio, and I was not prepared for the larger size.  Long story short, I had attached the wrong lens, and did not have time to switch them out.  (I should have used the 85 instead of the 50.)  Next, I was not prepared for the aqua walls.  While definitely bright and cheery, they reminded me of a trip to Tijuana I took in my 20's. 

All I can say is:  Wow.  That's a lot of aqua.  And doesn't the red look great against it?

Anyrate, the girls' show was fantastic, despite my technical difficulties.  They did a great job, and we celebrated by picking up pizza for supper. 

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Friday's Quote

Modern Bethlehem

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The Apostle Luke
Luke 2:8-14

Happenings

We have had a busy final week of school.  In addition to the usual school situation, we went to the American Girl Book Club at our library Tuesday afternoon.  Last month they discussed Kit Kittredge, Gracie's favorite, and this month's focus was on Caroline Abbott, Lauren's favorite. 

Next, we had our last piano practice of the year Wednesday afternoon.  While the girls were awaiting their turn, they wrote letters to Santa.  Gracie wrote the alphabet, and then wrote "Bitty Twins, stroller," and "get this, Santa Claus"... Brief and to the point. 

Lauren was more wordy. 

Merry Christmas, Santa.  I want Bitty Twins.  I love you, Santa Claus.  I like your elfs.  I have bin so good so far.  Do you fly?  Dear Santa Claus, I wish you Merry Christmas.  I love my parents. [Ed. note: nice touch.] It the 2012 2013.  I already had a birthday.  Zippy.

Next, William George had an appointment with his allergist this morning.  Dr. L has the best play area and office in the city.  George likes the airplane, but he would have no part of the rocking boats to the left. 

Captain George getting ready for take off. 

George's first class passenger provided some fun. 

 

 

Dr. L thinks George is doing wonderfully.  He is having very few reactions, and his skin is significantly improved over this time last year.  He continues to have food restrictions and is a picky eater on top of that, but he's doing great. 

 

We are excited about the last day of school (before our brief break) tomorrow, and are ready to start all of the Christmas festivities.  

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Gracie's Milestones - Tooth #3

So our little Grace-bug has had a dangling front tooth for weeks.  This past Sunday night, while getting ready to start our night time routine, Lauren accidentally collided with Gracie, and I heard Gracie yell, "Lauren!  You knocked out my tooth!" 

Through tears -- Gracie's over having her tooth knocked out and Lauren's for having caused injury -- I gathered Gracie over to inspect.  And that's when we realized that loose tooth was still intact -- still hanging by a thread -- whereas the other front tooth was gone. 

Obviously, that tooth must have been loose, too, and that tooth was also serving to prop the extremely loose tooth in place because now the original loose tooth is truly just hanging in the middle of her mouth.  I realize all of that is hard to follow, but it will make sense if you happen to see Gracie's poor smile.  She won't let anyone pull the remaining tooth, and she is determined not to have all-I-want-for-Christmas jokes this holiday season. 

After all of the excitement, we dutifully wrote our letter to the Tooth Fairy. 

It reads: 

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Surprise!  It's me again!  I just lost another small tooth tonight! 

Do you like Alabama or Auburn?  What is your favorite treat?  I want to share money with my sister.  Where do you live? 

Love,
Gracie
(Lauren, too)

Lauren and Gracie made up, and Lauren felt much better.

The next morning we discovered that the Tooth Fairy had visited. 

More importantly, Gracie was a total rockstar at school when she shared the story of having her tooth knocked out. 

Lauren told us she smiled while Gracie told her story.  She has come a long way in not being jealous about Gracie's lost teeth. 

That's good news because Gracie has at least three more that are loose. 

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Newtown

So many people have written heartfelt, eloquent comments about the abomination that occurred Friday in Newtown, Conneticut.  Although I do not consider myself "writerly" at all, those people are clearly better writers than I am because I do not have any words for this atrocity.

We all saw the same news bulletins, and we have seen the same coverage.  We know that this very disturbed person lived with his mother, an alleged gun collector, who purchased an assault rifle and encouraged her son to learn to shoot. We know that six- and seven-year-old children - 20 of them - were sitting in their classrooms at school when this absolute coward charged into their rooms and shot them multiple times. 

My heart breaks for the children and adults who had the great misfortune of being at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday when the unthinkable occurred.  My deepest sympathies and prayers are with the families of the slain children and adults. 

Other than sympathy and heartache, my overwhelming emotion is anger.  I am outraged that these evil shootings are occurring, and I do not accept that they are unpreventable.  Yes, the causes are complex, but I cannot and will not accept that these mass shootings are statistical improbabilities that we simply have to endure... because we cannot infringe on medical privacy... and we cannot restrict our right to possess and carry military grade weaponry capable of firing hundreds of rounds.

If given the opportunity to present a fact scenario like Columbine, Aurora or Newtown to James Madison, I would bet our home that he would tighten the language in the Second Amendment.  I cannot believe that our founding fathers would have intended for automatic or semi-automatic weapons to be in the hands of the average citizen. 

We are maintaining business as usual here, of course, with the added presence of two armed police personnel at our elementary school this week.  The duo are unaware of the shooting, but we will likely have the what-to-do-if-you-see-a-gun-at-school talk after the holidays.  We will resume our lighthearted chitchat later in the week, but know that our hearts are heavy, as are yours. 

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Fab Four

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Conjunctivitis

William George has contracted conjunctivitis, more commonly known as pink eye.  The good news is that he does not really touch or scratch his eyes.  Therefore, I am clinging to the belief that I can prevent anyone else from getting it and have been engaging in liberal use of antibacterial soap, Lysol wipes, etc. 

I type with purpose.

Apparently, I type loudly. In response to an inquiry about my aggressive typing, I am reminded of Anna Kendrick's response in "Up in the Air".

I type with purpose.


 

School Christmas Program, 2012

The school Christmas program was held Monday night.  The duo have been so excited about getting to sing in the program and had been counting the days until the date.  Each time I asked them which songs they were singing, they gave different answers.  That ambiguity added to the element of surprise when they performed "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth," "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and several other classics.  They did a great job and had the best time. 

I volunteered at the school the following morning for "Santa Shop".  For those of you who may be unfamiliar, Santa Shop is a fundraiser organized by the PTA.  Gifts at various price points are in the shop, and students come purchase gifts for family members.  You would be surprised at the amount of thought and care that went into picking out gifts.  Interestingly, the children with the most modest budgets often were the most careful and judicious about their purchases.  I'm sure there's a lesson there. 

The saddest part of the day was when one of the organizers whispered to me that the little girl next in my line had lost one of her parents this year... so I wouldn't ask about her mom or prompt her to shop for her.  She had a list, and we spent a lot of time picking out gifts for her dad, sister and grandparents.  We made a big to-do about her shopping and gushed over her gifts.  We are adding that lovely young girl to our prayers this season. 

After the shop closed, the girls' class was filing into the lunch room so... I stayed for lunch.  When a student has a visitor for lunch, they get to sit at the "special" table, and they get to pick a buddy to join them.  Apparently, getting picked is a very big deal.  The duo picked V and E, and as we were all taking our seats, a third friend, P, crashed the party.  The girls politely explained that she needed to go back with the class, that she would get into trouble, but girlfriend refused to leave.  Needless to say, I couldn't ask her to leave so, after clarifying that there might be a consequence if she broke the lunch room rules, I let the matter drop.  She did not get busted, and our table was the better for it. 

The more the merrier, right? 

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Technical Difficulties

Our telephones are barely working. There is much speculation about what has happened to them. Are they simply older? Are the batteries no longer functioning properly? There is also a third possibility.

 

"Oh, look!  Are you making calls, George?"

  

"George, do not throw the phone."

"William George, don't you dare do it again."

"Bye-bye phone.  You can cry all you like.  We do not throw the phone."

 

 

"When you smash the phone on the floor, the phone might break." 

 

"Understand? The phone will break."

 

I rest my case.

Enumerated Update

Hello and happy Monday!  How was your weekend? 

Here's where we are:

1)  Procrastination:  I have three pressing items on my to-do list but cannot seem to make myself tackle them. 

2)  Crazy World of George:  George has developed a new obsession over the last few days.  He loves spoons!  He will go pull on the silverware drawer and say, "'Poon! 'Poon!  Hap! Hap 'poon!"  "Hap" means help.  The longer he has to wait (and let's face it, it took me a while to figure out what he wanted the first couple of times) the more frantic he becomes.  Also, we are finding spoons all over the house. 

3)  Tree:  Our main tree is finally up.  See above photo.  Ok.  Just kidding.  That's not really our tree.  Skip took that photo last week in Boston.

4)  Rain:  If you are local, you enjoyed tremendous rain all last night and this morning.  William George and I decided to crank up the music while we made all of the beds this morning for some rainy day fun.  I took some video of George dancing to Sexyback, and I will try to update later. 

Please forget the admission of Justin Timberlake on our iPods.  It's definitely not mine.

5)  Related:  Why is it that Chris Robinson from the Black Crows universally makes us feel like we could (in some alternate universe with perfect acoustic conditions) sing, whereas John Lennon and Paul McCartney makes us feel as if we emphatically cannot (Not even a little bit. Ever.).

6)  Building Up/Tearing Down:  A big lesson we have been working on with the girls builds on one of their Bible verses from last fall.  Whenever they speak to one another or others, we ask them to consider whether their words build the recipient of those words up, or do they serve to hurt the person?  Do they tear the person down?  We run almost everything they say through that filter.  As can be expected, a lot of the newer introductions into their language are filtered out -- for tearing down.

Extrapolating that filter to the world at large makes me want to disallow much of what I read and hear.  Radio personalities contacting hospitals for pranks?  No.  Politicians bickering endlessly?  No.  Sensationalistic stories being passed off as journalism?  No. 

No, no and no. 

7)  Christmas:  I am 80% finished with shopping, but it is crunch time, with 14 days remaining.  How are you coming along? 

That sums it up.

What is happening with you?     

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Christmas Parade 2012

We went to our city's Christmas Parade last Thursday night.  While William George watched Elmo Christmas DVD's in the car, the girls stood on the parade route and cheered all of the floats, cars, and fire trucks as they passed.  We even got to shout hello to cousin Lexy (!!) as the band marched by. 

This year was Lexy's last year in the parade.  Since Lexy has been in the parade for as long as we have been attending, we will be at a loss next year when the band marches by without her. 

Of course, we know that George will be chasing fire trucks and trying to light bottle rockets next year so that will probably provide plenty of distraction. 

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Bike Riders

Friday's Quote

Achao Church on Heritage

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

-Hebrews 13:2

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