Another (Year) Bites the Dust

Since soccer ended about three months ago, an update on the rest of our 2010 may be needed. It's not that anything earth shattering happened, but I feel a little incomplete until this tiny corner of my mind's "to-do" clutter is cleaned out. It really was a great year (and yes, I realize we're almost 1/12 finished with the next one already) filled with a lot of fun memories. I figured today would be a good day to catch up since it's a snowday and I don't see us going anywhere in the immediate future.

I'll hit the highlights.

1. Halloween. Yes, I am that pathetically behind.

Lucas and Elena got into the tattoos and decorated his face. This wasn't part of his Halloween costume, but I thought it was cute. He is wearing skeleton pajamas if that helps it count.

My little Superhero. He looks intimidating, right? After Halloween we found Spiderman for 75% off. He's been having an identity crisis ever since.

I don't think Elena fully understood what she was for Halloween. She liked the costume Grandma sent her, and that was enough. She told everyone she was a poodle girl.

2. Pre-winter fun. Winter in West Virginia is ugly. Ugly. Until the snow comes. Then you can't get out for days because they plow the roads at a snail's pace. The greyness becomes a little depressing, so we try to get outside as much as possible. This is the middle of December and we got out to enjoy a little warming spell. Although, we go in our snow boots and winter clothes when it's colder too.

3. Jump ahead to the end of December. Elena's first toothfairy experience.

I can't handle loose teeth. Even my own grossed me out. Elena's wasn't much of an exception. The poor thing was so scared until the big moment when that little tooth, hanging by a little thread, finally surrendered to her wiggling and tugging. That night we found a little velvet pocket and tucked the tooth safely underneath her pillow. The tooth was safe, but the loot wasn't as lucky. The tooth fairy left Elena a shiny gold dollar coin. Lucas was a little too tempted by the treasure and stole it from her. That didn't go over well with Elena and it really didn't go over well with Lucas when I took the coin back and returned it to its rightful owner.


4. Christmas. This year we really didn't want to travel. We just wanted a quiet Christmas with as little activity as humanly possible. So we extended the invitation to family - If you want to see us, you need to come to us. Only Drew's parents took us up the offer. Drew had to work Christmas Day and the rest of the weekend, but he was able to come home here and there to get in some presents and food (He had 5 days off over New Year's instead). The kids were able to open presents in three shifts, so they were in Heaven. I made a meal sufficient to feed us for the next week. Drew caught up on rest and his Lost episodes during his break. All in all it was a great holiday.

Lucas can't take a picture without sticking his tongue out. It is physically impossible for him.

Drew was really excited about his Christmas present for me. I will admit that it is the most comfortable t-shirt ever. I might consider living in it.

We always buy live Christmas trees. While living here we have always gone to a tree farm and cut down our own fresh tree. This year we didn't have any time, sadly, and got our tree at a local store. I know lots of people who had good luck buying from this same place, but we started sweeping up daily piles similar to this one starting a couple days after we brought it home. It was a gorgeous tree, and it had needles to spare because it still looked good at Christmas, but I just loved it's quirky tendency to shed needles every time someone looked at it funny.

Love her!

Joining in the tongue fun.

Reading the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve.

Elena was in the sweetest little Christmas production ever. Her school put on this amazing show and the Pre-schoolers were the first act. Lucas was in it too, but I didn't get a good picture of him.

5. The doctor is in. One of the benefits of being married to a surgeon is that he is getting really good at cutting things off our bodies. Elena had a little (well, getting bigger) wart ("bump") on her finger. Drew can't handle seeing growths without wanting to chop them off. So we went into the clinic one day, and after bribing Elena with some ice cream and lunch at her favorite spot (the hospital cafeteria) she was bump free. She was left with a cigarette sized burn on her finger where Drew had cauterized the place where the bump had been. I don't know why I felt like I had to explain this to everyone. I guess I was scared they would call CPS and accuse me of abusing her or something. A month later, the patient is all healed up.