December

I know I haven't written in a long time and I like to blame it on the fact that I can't post pictures. I realized this morning, if I don't write something I am going to forget what we have been doing this crazy month. So here goes. The kids are finally out of school. We have survived the couple of weeks of parties and school concerts and are now in the clear, sort of.

Morgan is now in the performing violin group at school. She has been very excited about this advancement. I was too until I saw the concert schedule for December. She is also in a beginning chorus group from school so on top of the violin concerts, she also had the chorus concerts. To make a long week, short, she had 6 concerts in one week. That doesn't count the night that I had enrichment and had to play my violin for it or the morning that Morgan was in the 3rd grade spelling bee. She did great by the way. She came in fourth. Not bad for her first go around. She wasn't at all happy with her preformance which isn't surprising if any of you have ever met Morgan. She got out on "humidity" of all words and kept saying to me "but I know that word. It wasn't even a hard word." There is always next year. Once I get my computer fixed I will post pictures.

Ian is walking. I don't know how it happens so fast. One day he was cruising along anything that would hold still. The next day he was pushing anything that would move. Now he is leaping fearlessly off anything that will help him stand up and goes for the run across the room. Okay, he doesn't run yet but he has just about made it across the whole living room. That is a long way. He also loves the stairs. If we leave them unblocked for any amount of time, he is there. Then I get my little warning from Emmy screaming, "Mergancy! Mergancy! Ian is on the stairs." He then looks back with sparkles in his eyes of utter delight and goes as fast as he can. The giggling kind of slows him down. We are so lucky to have two kids with the "stinker" gene. His other favorite past time is trying to get into the pantry and eat the dog food. I have tried leaving the dog food outside but the fire ants always seem to find it, even if there was never a mound in the first place. He loves to get in the pantry when no one seems to be watching, and heads straight for the dog food bowl. Then, again, I get my alarm. "Mergancy! Mergancy! Ian's in the pantry." by the time I make it in there, he usually has his mouth full and some in each hand. He screams at me when I take his prize away. When I manage to get his jaws unlocked and the bone shaped food out of his mouth, he quickly puts whatever was in his hand in his mouth as if to say, "That isn't going to stop me, lady." You have to love his determined spirit.

Other than that we are trying to stay sane for the big day that is just around the corner. I am amazed at how quickly children loose their minds this time of year. It is like the excitement of the season makes their little brains short circuit. I'm pretty sure I can figure out now why we try to instill in their brains that "Santa's watching" and "He knows if you've been bad or good." We need all the help we can get.