Christmas Images, and the Longest Christmas Break Ever

As of today, Andrew and Sam have been out of school for Two Entire Weeks. This is thanks to 3 snow days, and a generous scheduled break. We (mostly me) are getting a little stir crazy with crummy weather and too many video games, but we'll try to enjoy the next few days anyway.

Alan is thankful to have Pennsylvania teams to root for this year. We're looking forward to the Penn St. Rose Bowl game, the Eagles being in the NFL playoffs, and still savoring the Phillies WS win in October. The boys and I had these newspaper images framed for him for Christmas.

It's looking like a White Christmas

We're snowed in, and have been for several days! Sam may never have such a snowy birthday again. We're trying to avoid going stir-crazy with sledding, snow football, and Christmas preparations. Shannon ventured out to play 4 performances of "Messiah" over the weekend, but otherwise we were stuck home. The symphony did cancel one performance, the Sat. night, and it was the first concert they had canceled since the 80's.

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All I Want for Christmas is One of My Front Teeth

Sam had what he called "a little drama" last night, as his lose tooth twisted out of position while he was brushing his teeth. But that must have done the trick, because when he woke up, the tooth was gone! Mom found it in the bedding and Sam has put it in a bag with a note for the Tooth Fairy asking if he can keep the tooth. You may be able to read Sam's note if you double click on the picture.

We have also been visited by the Snow Fairy this week. Andrew and Sam had two hour delays on Monday and Tuesday, then snow days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...and now, two weeks of Winter Vacation! Dad got to play principal for a day at his old school in case students showed up, since the real principal was snowed in. But as the empty parking lot attests, the kids went sledding instead - they're no dummies! Andrew and Sam have been enjoying their new sleds, too, and they are learning to go fast!

P.S. More snow is expected on Sunday.

The Patient

Bailey is acting more like her usual self each day. She successfully licked the dirty dishes in the dishwasher this afternoon, and seemed to have no trouble balancing to do so. We took her to the vet for a check-up and to have her pain patch removed this morning. Everything is healing like it's supposed to. She'll get her stitches taken out on Christmas Eve.

Weekend Update

We've had a busy few days, and most of our outings and events have been about Sam!

Sam and I listened to a Seattle Symphony dress rehearsal on Thursday morning. My friend and colleague Ben Hausmann is performing a Vivaldi oboe concerto this week, so we went mostly to hear him. He sounded amazing, and I think Sam had fun at Benaroya Hall, especially picking out a snack at Starbucks.

Later on Thursday, Sam had his first basketball practice. He liked that too, and was looking pretty stylish with the new basketball shoes.

And, we celebrated Sam's birthday with some of his school friends at our house tonight. We had pizza, cake, and some games. The kids were mostly interested in playing with Sam's new stuff, and with our normal stuff. It's amazing how kids love playing with anyone else's toys.

After the party, it started to snow! It's very pretty with the lights....we'll see if it lasts.

Bailey is doing pretty well. She's a real trooper. She rests a lot, and gets around okay with some help. I just took her out in the snow, and I think she liked it.

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December update

We're still here......

Last weekend, Andrew and Sam played at "Festival of Trees" in Tacoma. It was tough to get photos at the performance, but here they are next to the Rainiers tree.

They also worked on this Lego ship over the weekend. It's not as huge as some of their creations, but it has plenty of details.

We've been preoccupied with Bailey since just before Thanksgiving. We found a bump on her foot, and it turned out to be cancerous. Fortunately, her vets determined that it is localized, but in order to remove the entire tumor (and be sure that they get all of it), they will amputate part of her leg. We are all very sad about this, but have been assured by several vets and other dog people that she should adapt pretty easily. She'll have the surgery on Thursday, come home Friday, then we will run a dog rehab center here for a while. She should get her stitches out just before Christmas, and hopefully she'll be feeling pretty good by then.