We are grateful for every day of 2014, and we look forward to much continued joy in 2015.
A look back...
We wish you much happiness in 2015.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
2014 Lindsey Slideshow
Even in the midst of a challenging year, we have had innumerable blessings.
We are grateful for every day of 2014, and we look forward to much continued joy in 2015.
A look back...
We are grateful for every day of 2014, and we look forward to much continued joy in 2015.
A look back...
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Christmas 2014
The trio spent December 23rd playing with Gran and Poppa, while Skip and I ran a few errands. Unbeknownst to us, Santa had arranged for the puppy Grace had requested to be delivered - with special assistance of our Elf, Zippy. When we arrived home, we found a 12 week old Bichon Frise puppy in a basket underneath the tree, and that's where the trio found her later when Gran and Poppa brought them home.
A quick peak at their discovery:
Christmas 2014: Pixie Lindsey from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.
We covered the 24th here. The only thing I left off was my bemusement when reading everyone's middle-of-the-night escapades on social media. I didn't dare add my own (sleeping with a puppy in a car in the basement) because that type of thing only makes sense in the middle of the night...with newborn infants and homesick puppies. Knowing that other friends were up all night helped me feel better.
Anyrate... After an eventful Christmas Eve, Skip and I got up early Christmas morning and waited patiently to wake the trio at 7:30am. Grammie joined them in coming downstairs to see if Santa had visited. When they realized he had, chaos and pandemonium ensued.
Poppa and Gran joined us later for breakfast and a second wave of chaos.
In the days since Christmas, we have been having pajama days, movie nights and have had lots of fun going through the toy store that has become out home. (Everyone was really much too generous. Again. :) As for the puppy, who has been named Pixie Lindsey, she has gotten better, increasing her comfort level and sleep each night. She finally slept last night from 11:30pm until 6:45am, and that feels like a total WIN. We had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying getting to know the newest member of our family.
I hope your holidays are going well, and we wish the best of 2015.
A quick peak at their discovery:
Christmas 2014: Pixie Lindsey from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.
We covered the 24th here. The only thing I left off was my bemusement when reading everyone's middle-of-the-night escapades on social media. I didn't dare add my own (sleeping with a puppy in a car in the basement) because that type of thing only makes sense in the middle of the night...with newborn infants and homesick puppies. Knowing that other friends were up all night helped me feel better.
Anyrate... After an eventful Christmas Eve, Skip and I got up early Christmas morning and waited patiently to wake the trio at 7:30am. Grammie joined them in coming downstairs to see if Santa had visited. When they realized he had, chaos and pandemonium ensued.
Poppa and Gran joined us later for breakfast and a second wave of chaos.
In the days since Christmas, we have been having pajama days, movie nights and have had lots of fun going through the toy store that has become out home. (Everyone was really much too generous. Again. :) As for the puppy, who has been named Pixie Lindsey, she has gotten better, increasing her comfort level and sleep each night. She finally slept last night from 11:30pm until 6:45am, and that feels like a total WIN. We had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying getting to know the newest member of our family.
I hope your holidays are going well, and we wish the best of 2015.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Christmas Parties, 2014
Hello, friends! I hope you had a wonderful holiday.
The week of Christmas was eventful at our house because Santa delivered....a PUPPY! (More on that later.)
The puppy arrived a couple of days early, and on Christmas Eve, we had two parties. First up was lunch at my mom's house. She is still recovering, but she had a nice treat of hosting Christmas Eve lunch in her own home.
Skip's parents came over that night for Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately, with the chaos of Christmas Eve and the novelty of having a puppy in the house, we did not take a single photo. However, we had a wonderful time, and greatly appreciate them joining us.
Have I mentioned discovering a recipe for turkey and dressing in a crock pot? If not, it is a total holiday game changer.
And in an effort to "keep it real" on the blog, the new puppy became REALLY homesick for the North Pole later that night. She must have missed Santa and known he was in the area because she cried all night. Because Christmas Eve is not the best night for the entire family to be awakened, I took her crate to the basement and placed her crate inside my car for some sound proofing. Before you call your favorite animal protection agency, I climbed in the back with her and stayed there from about 2:30am until 6:15am when we climbed back out to start Christmas Day. We are very committed to crate training, but we want the training to be non-traumatic so I kept her company. She calmed down within 10 minute and slept soundly. Skip volunteered, but at 6'4", attempting sleep in a car (there was none to be had, however) is easier for me. More on the puppy later, but she has definitely adjusted to her new home and gotten much better.
The puppy arrived a couple of days early, and on Christmas Eve, we had two parties. First up was lunch at my mom's house. She is still recovering, but she had a nice treat of hosting Christmas Eve lunch in her own home.
Skip's parents came over that night for Christmas Eve dinner. Unfortunately, with the chaos of Christmas Eve and the novelty of having a puppy in the house, we did not take a single photo. However, we had a wonderful time, and greatly appreciate them joining us.
Have I mentioned discovering a recipe for turkey and dressing in a crock pot? If not, it is a total holiday game changer.
And in an effort to "keep it real" on the blog, the new puppy became REALLY homesick for the North Pole later that night. She must have missed Santa and known he was in the area because she cried all night. Because Christmas Eve is not the best night for the entire family to be awakened, I took her crate to the basement and placed her crate inside my car for some sound proofing. Before you call your favorite animal protection agency, I climbed in the back with her and stayed there from about 2:30am until 6:15am when we climbed back out to start Christmas Day. We are very committed to crate training, but we want the training to be non-traumatic so I kept her company. She calmed down within 10 minute and slept soundly. Skip volunteered, but at 6'4", attempting sleep in a car (there was none to be had, however) is easier for me. More on the puppy later, but she has definitely adjusted to her new home and gotten much better.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
Santa Visit 2014
We recently had our annual visit with Santa. The trio wrote out their lists, and we went right after church to stand in line. Santa Claus soon arrived, and the trio spoke right up with their requests. Grace has a big item this year - a dog, and her request threw Santa for a minute. I'm sure he was sorting out the logistics of transporting a live animal on such a busy night. We have told Grace that we aren't sure exactly how Santa manages pets, as neither Skip nor I ever received a pet for Christmas. We aren't sure if he delivers the pet, or if he just makes all of the arrangements for us to acquire a pet at a later time. Either way, I am sure Santa has been researching and looking for the right dog for weeks and weeks and weeks. She is very excited to see how it unfolds, as are we.
Lauren and George are requesting bicycles. Lauren has outgrown the bike she received for her 5th birthday, and William George thinks he is ready to graduate from his tricycle to a bike. Importantly, we have explained that when/if Santa delivers a BIG present, such a pet, he intends for the entire family to share. Therefore, the trio may be receiving a pet, if they can pull off being "very, VERY good" as Santa wisely assigned as a pre-requisite for getting a pet and the other gifts requested.
And the very rough video of the entire experience:
Visit With Santa 2014 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.
Lauren and George are requesting bicycles. Lauren has outgrown the bike she received for her 5th birthday, and William George thinks he is ready to graduate from his tricycle to a bike. Importantly, we have explained that when/if Santa delivers a BIG present, such a pet, he intends for the entire family to share. Therefore, the trio may be receiving a pet, if they can pull off being "very, VERY good" as Santa wisely assigned as a pre-requisite for getting a pet and the other gifts requested.
 |
| William George watching Santa arrive at the mall. |
And the very rough video of the entire experience:
Visit With Santa 2014 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.
Friday, December 19, 2014
2014 School Christmas Parties (K3 and Second Grade)
Yesterday was a day of parties. William George's class celebrated in the morning with quite a spread of party food. George helped himself to ALL of the food. He had several chicken nuggets, hot dogs, chips and then devoured three or four cookies. He chased it all down with a couple of juice boxes. He and his friends exchanged books, and he gave his sweet teachers necklaces. He was very proud of his gifts, even if he did not always want to let go of them during the exchange process.
Lauren and Grace's second grade classes had a combined Christmas party yesterday afternoon. The party was very cute, but I knew it was going to be eventful when a fellow mom came toward me hurriedly asking, "Who packed the goody bags???" Another friend, Mrs. M. packed them, and she explained that her son had chosen whistles to go in the bags. So... at exactly three minutes into the party, forty-five whistles were being whistled at exactly the same time. HA! In consolation to Mrs. M, they were obviously a HUGE hit, as the children whistled as loudly as they could for the next twenty minutes until the teachers kiboshed all whistling for the rest of the party. They were saints for allowing twenty minutes. Other than the whistling, the classes also had a special request for Mr. Claus.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
William George's Choral Debut
Last Sunday at church, the preschool classes got to perform onstage during worship service. William George is on the front row, fourth from the right, in the green sweater, and he couldn't have been prouder to be on that stage.
Preschool Christmas Performance 2014 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.
Preschool Christmas Performance 2014 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Jump Rope For Heart
A few weeks ago the duo's school held their annual Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser. Our physical education teacher is a force. She can get the student body to come together and work to accomplish wonderful things. I never got around to posting an update about the school's 5K run last year, but to put it succinctly, over 98% of the student body completed a 5K that day. She is awesome at motivating and challenging the students to compete and do his or her absolute best. The jump rope initiative was no different. The students came together and jumped as high and for as long as they could. The following week, the PE classes participated in a stack-off, breaking the record for most students participating in speed stacker competition in a given day.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Shelling on Vacation
One of the reasons we selected South Florida as a destination is because of Grace's hobby of collecting seashells. She has exhausted shell collecting in the gulf, and Skip pointed to Sanibel Island as one of the premiere shelling beaches in the world. Our plan was to stay on Marco Island, enjoy its nicer amenities, and then take a day trip to Sanibel for shelling. However, the locals quickly let us know that we would have the same shelling opportunities on Marco. We went to South Marco beach, more toward the furthermost tip of Florida and were rewarded with tons of shells. We encountered hundreds of live shells that had washed ashore and had a teachable moment about the responsibility of not collecting live shells.
We saw dozens of live mussels and several really large starfish (more than twice the size of my hand!), conch shells, as well as many, many other shells that were not known to me. Gracie has added a seashell reference book to her Christmas list so we are hoping to identify several of the unusual shells we saw.
While Grace and I collected shells, Lauren and George enjoyed climbing the rocks. Every now and then they would stop to help with shelling, but then they would encounter a live shell and flee the area. Over the course of several days, Grace's shell collection grew exponentially. Although Skip kept encouraging us to curate the collection, she made it home with an impressive shell haul.
We saw dozens of live mussels and several really large starfish (more than twice the size of my hand!), conch shells, as well as many, many other shells that were not known to me. Gracie has added a seashell reference book to her Christmas list so we are hoping to identify several of the unusual shells we saw.
While Grace and I collected shells, Lauren and George enjoyed climbing the rocks. Every now and then they would stop to help with shelling, but then they would encounter a live shell and flee the area. Over the course of several days, Grace's shell collection grew exponentially. Although Skip kept encouraging us to curate the collection, she made it home with an impressive shell haul.
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