Asher was in the 2nd Grade "A Holiday Moosical" on December 7th, about a moose that wants to be a reindeer. It was very cute, and Asher was Toy Soldier #3, with several speaking lines, solo and with the other two soldiers. He and Allie still walk around singing the main song from the musical.
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| Asher on the left. |
On December 10th Allie and I had our good friends Melinda and Cece over for a special playdate. We haven't been able to get the girls together one on one since before school started back in August. We had breakfast, baked & decorated sugar cookies, made reindeer food, and the girls exchanged ornaments. A very special day to remember!
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| Friends helping friends. |
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| Time to decorate! |
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| My sweet girl, growing up too fast! |
On Saturday the 11th, Asher got to attend a friend's Lego birthday party and had an incredible time. He is really into building and creating!
The week of December 13th we had 4 snow days, and the one day they went (Wednesday) was the usual Early Dismissal (2pm). On that Wednesday morning we took in all of the teacher gifts and goodie bags, and I made reindeer food with Asher's class. We all had a feeling there wouldn't be school the rest of the week, and we were right. I think we got 6 or 8 inches of snow, and it was just snow on snow on snow. We didn't get above freezing for over 2 weeks!! The snow lasted well into Christmas Morning, and we actually woke up to a true white Christmas with more snow falling. It was beautiful. I LOVE snow, but it's lingering around made it a pain for many people, including my husband! He had to wake up early to scrape the driveway with the tractor blade, and at least once had to walk down the hill to the Jeep that he had left parked down there.
Monday, December 20th, I took the children over to the Newport Aquarium near Cincinnati. Scuba Santa was there, and we enjoyed his show as well as all of the exhibits at the aquarium. Especially the SHARKS! Asher purchased a shark tooth necklace and a box of shark teeth in the gift shop. Allie got a stuffed "Allie-Gator". My children do NOT visit Santa, although love him and anything about him, they don't venture within 50 feet of him. So to even get them to pose with Santa, EVEN THROUGH THICK AQUARIUM GLASS, took sternness from me. I was determined to get a picture of them with Santa this year!
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| There's Scuba Santa! |
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| Don't they look so jolly? | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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On December 21st John and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. He brought me home the most beautiful floral arrangement! The picture doesn't do it justice.
That evening we went to our favorite restaurant in town, children in tow - who were on their best behavior - they knew we were celebrating a very special day. After a delicious meal, we drove the hour to Lexington to the Kentucky Horse Park, to see the Southern Lights Festival. It is a driving tour of lights that is absolutely spectacular. After seeing the lights, we went into the park to have pony rides, see the petting zoo, Asher had a camel ride, I ate a funnel cake, we had hot chocolate, toured the miniature train & dollhouse displays, and finally, went through the gift shop where we discovered and brought home my Christmas present: a 5 foot Santa holding a bag of toys and a gorgeous lit tree. I collect Santas, but this is my first big one! He is incredible. He's a numbered edition, one out of 1500. I am very, very happy with him! The first night he was with us, Allie wanted to leave out a snack for him. She said, "Santa might get hungry. He needs a snack. He likes cookies and chocolate milk." And no, he doesn't scare or startle any of us! It's like he belongs there.
Before Christmas Break, Asher's class did a movie review of "It's a Wonderful Life". Here's his review. Note the misspelled middle and last names (although if you ask him to spell them out loud, he can do it just fine). Too cute! Also, he misspelled many other words including the title, but that's part of the adorable-ness of a second grader. Remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge!
We also got our beef back from the butcher, on the 23rd, and it is AMAZING! All that hard work and stringent feed schedule worked out. We also got a higher than expected price at the auction on the 6 cattle that went there, so we were extremely pleased with our cattle venture for 2010. Having the waterers, which gave us the ability to hang on to the cattle until the best time to sell, instead of being forced to sell when freezing weather sets in, made a huge difference. We were able to track the auction prices and sell at an optimum time.
Well, I think that about sums up most of December! There were also a few car repairs on our Expedition, and an abscessed tooth/root canal for me, but that's not fun to go over more than I have to. Haha. :)
