Tragedy

In the past 4 yrs that I've been doing this blog, I've taken moments to journal my thoughts about things in my life that have been hard to blog about.  I blogged about my remembrances of 9-11.  I've posted about the loss of my nephew Lincoln.  I've even blogged about some of the darkest times dealing with my mom's health.  I'll admit I don't post things like that often, because I try and use this space more as a light-hearted romp through our lives.  But, there are times when our lives aren't so rosy or when something happens that hurts and needs to be voiced and this is my forum to do that.  I'm sure many, if not all of you have heard about the school shooting in CT.  I've been so deeply saddened by this, because it hits so close to home.  I'm from a small town.  I have children in elementary school.  Friends' children, students, nieces and nephews all at the age of those precious children lost today.  I was teaching at the preschool this morning when this happened, so the gravity and magnitude of the loss was hard to deny.  There are those that are making this a political thing, bringing up issues of gun control, partisanship, etc... but to me this is not the time to quibble over such things.  Now is the time to pray.  Pray for these devastated families that lost beautiful, amazing, treasured children.  Pray for the loss of 6 adults whose families are also grieving tonight.  Pray for the healing of their community, so confused and hurt and reeling from the events of the day.  One of the news articles I read said that some of the 1st graders huddled in a bathroom, hiding, were saying, "We just want to have Christmas.  We just want Christmas."  These precious children left behind were exposed to an evil so perverse that even we adults can't understand it, so how can they?  My heart is hurting for them.  We both hugged our kids a little closer tonight.  Looked at them through different eyes.  More than ever, thankful for the gift of them.  Please join me, Pete, and this nation as we pray for healing and peace and strength for this little town of Newtown as they try and process their grief and loss.  Especially for the parents who lost their beloved children and also the children exposed to the horrors of this day.  They have such a long road of recovery and healing ahead of them.  Here is the prayer I saw today and it what I will be praying for the days and weeks to come...

Winter Program



Today was the K-5th graders Christmas Program.  Madie was able to be there too, because she was participating as a band member to help the kindergarteners. :-)  She had to wear her band uniform though, so she didn't get to dress up.

Here are my 3 beautiful kids though!  Noah and Livie were all dressed up for their special afternoon.

These are the boys I babysit.  They were looking all handsome today too, so I had to take a picture. :-)

I was able to take a quick picture of Madie and her friend Michael before all the kids came in.  They had to stand behind the kindergarteners and hold up signs as they sang their song.

Noah's class started shuffling in, so I ran over and took a quick picture of him.  He did SUCH a great job during his performance.  I videoed it, but there was no sound for some reason. :-(  Made me so sad!

Noah's group sat on the bleachers, but Livie's group stood on the gym floor.  Doesn't she look like a princess today?!



Noah's there in the second row from the back, kind of close to Mickey.  It was a really fun afternoon program and it was a lot of fun watching them sing and dance their hearts out!  Great job, kiddos!

The Finger

No.  That is not Pete giving you the finger.  Well, he is.  But, there is a reason WHY he is.  He broke it!  While I was at the lovely Session Christmas Party last night, he was falling down the basement stairs and breaking/spraining his fingers.  The kids were so freaked out when they saw him laying at the bottom of the stairs that they were telling him they were going to call 9-1-1 and take care of him and all that, but he reassured him, despite the pain he was in, that he would be fine.  They then decided to make their own dinner, draw him pictures, and make him feel lots better.  Madie even sent me a text to tell me of the catastrophe, which I never got, because my phone was tucked away in my coat pocket while I partied the night away ... until 7:30. ;-)  We're all thankful he didn't get hurt more seriously.  Our basement stairs are nothing to laugh at!  The bad thing is that he hurt his left hand.  Those who know him know he's left-handed, so that's making for an interesting time at work for him, but he's managing. Guess if I make him mad in the next couple weeks, I'll never know if he's actually giving me the finger or just using the splint. ;-)  Happy healing, honey!

Coming To An End

Sadly, Madie's cheerleading season is coming to an end.  She has 3 games left, but we won't be able to go to any of them, because they are either an away game or on a Tuesday, when I have meetings and Livie has dance.  So, we went tonight and cheered on our team!  Our 6th grade boys team has really rocked it this year!  I think they've only lost a couple times all season.  Pretty awesome stuff!

The last time I posted about Madie's cheerleading, she was cheering in the multi-purpose room.  She's been cheering a lot, since then, in the big gym.  It's really roomy there and really a fun place to watch her!  She's at the very end, in the front, on the left side.

My little cheerleader taking a quick break during halftime!

After the games, they all line up and do a cheer - "We are proud of you, yes, we are proud of you! (clap, clap)".  Livie and Noah, as well as several other kids in the stands, joined them.  So cute!

Madie was trying to teach Livie and her friend, Ryleigh, how to do a cheer.  They are ready to join the squad! :-)

Session Party



I was a member of session for 3 yrs (2009, 2010, and 2011) and was just reelected to the board for 2013, 2014, and 2015!  Eeek!  While I was on the session board, I was invited to join all the session christmas parties, but was never able to make it for whatever reason.  THIS year, however, I was and it was a fun time!

It was at a couple's house who have been elders for the past 3-yr term.  They live here in town, so it was a quick drive over.  We got to stand around and chat and laugh for a while, before heading out and eating the yummy food everyone brought.

Apparently people really like meat, because there were TONS of meat selections - meatballs, sausages, sausage/bacon wraps, etc...  Next year, I think we'd better make a sign-up sheet, so we can spread the meat love around a little. ;-)  At least it was all super-good!!

We all brought presents, so we could have a white elephant gift exchange.  I've only been to one white elephant party before and we bought kind of crazy presents.  All the presents in this one were really nice gifts, the white elephant part of it was that you could steal from someone else.  Made for a fun game and we all laughed a lot.  Bruce and Mary Lou (our hosts) had this great space on their finished front porch for all of us to gather.  I stole a really awesome flashlight combo thingy for the car.  Noah, of course, loved it.  It fit in the catagory of "multi-tool". ;-)

We all laughed when John opened up his own wife's gift and didn't even realize it until after he took it out of the gift bag!  So funny!



We shared some fun and sweet moments about Christmas together and then John shared some kind words about everyone that is leaving the session board this year.  Mary Lou is on my committee and has been for 5 long years.  I will miss her a lot, because it's been so wonderful getting to know her over these years and build such a great friendship  Hopefully she'll stick around and still come to meetings with us!  Bruce and James got on guitar and we all sang christmas carols, before praying and having some more time to chat together.  I am truly blessed to be a part of this church and have such great connections and relationships with the people there.  So, here's to another 3 yrs on session for me and more christmas parties to come!

Adagio Recital

After a fun day at the Ice Odyssey, the girls and I headed back to town to see the Adagio dance recital!  We have lots and lots of friends that are a part of this dance troupe, so we were very excited to go.  We saw them all perform back in August for the first time and just didn't want to miss their Christmas performance.

I'll be honest and say that I thought having a recital at Christmas was a lot to ask of both the kids and the parents.  December is such a busy month without all the practices and performances that come with a recital, but after seeing what they did tonight, I was totally WRONG!  Yes, it's a lot more work to add this to your calendar during the holidays, but it was so worth it for everyone, because it was fun and absolutely beautiful!!  Livie wanted to get "fancy" for her friends, so she picked out her fanciest dress, put a little lip gloss on, and was ready to see them perform!

Madie was excited, but not excited enough to break out the make-up and get into a prom dress or anything. ;-)  She couldn't wait to see everyone she knew.  We circled all the names of our friends in the program, so we knew who to look for and when.

Our friend Laura's daughter, Tessa, was in 4 routines.  She is just fabulous up there!  Such a natural talent and so stinkin' sassy!  We love it!

My friend and co-teacher, Katie, had her youngest in this group.  All the costumes were Christmasy and gorgeous!  Even the stage and all its decorations were perfect.  Absolutely loved every bit of it!

Katie's oldest daughter and my friend Lisa's daughter were in this one.  So, so cute!  They too did a great job!

We were waiting to see Tessa when we saw Jenna!  Had to tell her what a great job she did and get a quick picture of her and Livie, since they are such great friends. :-)

Tessa came out right at the same time as Jenna, so I took another quick picture of her with her sister, Emma, and Madie.  Such great friends, those 3.  Just a really fun night with my girls, getting to see all our friends' little girls perform.