Christmas Concert

Ms. Dixon does a great job with the middle school band. They really sound pretty good. Connor played a solo on his trumpet that night, "The First Noel." And if I can brag for just a minute...he was excellent. Before he stood up we could hear some moans and groans in the audience. They had just listened to a couple of violin trios. Violins in the hands of beginners aren't necessarily very soothing. When Connor started to play it was silent. And when he was done I couldn't help being proud as I listened to the buzz in the audience. Words like Wow! Man! Whoa! Needless to say he got a lot of hand shakes following the concert. He's standing here at the end of the concert with his friend Logan, a fellow trumpet player, and they share the same birthday.

merry christmas

There was quite a pile of presents under our tree. But there are 8 people in our family after all. We managed to keep the unwrapping going all morning. Our kids have never been early risers on Christmas morning. We let them check their stockings once everyone is all up and then we have to eat breakfast before any gifts are opened. At first we were doing one gift at a time and making the next kid wait until the previous present was removed from all packaging! That can take hours with all the twist ties and plastic bars, rubber bands etc. Fortunately only a very few toys were in horrible packages. It was a pretty good morning. Happy sounds and voices.





































































































































The happy sounds didn't last all day. At one point Alaina even declared it the worst Christmas ever! But we're never surprised to hear Alaina make that kind of declaration. Connor and Caitlin got pogo sticks and Brenna and Alaina got Zoingo Boingo pogo balls. Alaina couldn't just hop on and make hers work. She decided that a pogo stick would have been better and sobbed into her bedroom. There was also some bickering over the Wii and who was going to play what, first. But they quickly settled down and we listened to the thump of pogo sticks and the engines revving on Mario Kart.

frosting with a cookie

Fienna couldn't wait to get her hands on a sugar cookie. After a bite or two she decided that she was only interested in the frosting.

birthday girls

The girls celebrated their 8th birthday on Dec. 13. Amazing how time flies.