Pre-Christmas December

School is out and bad weather has arrived....must be almost Christmas in Kentucky!  I've had time to have lunch with friends, including Lisa (Eddy) and Juilee (who is GC's art historian and department chair).  My family had dinner with Lisa another night, but the photos are unusable - apparently one needs to use a flash inside a dimly-lit restaurant when it's dark outside in order to avoid demon eyes on all people in the photo.  

Can you find Elizabeth in the chorus picture?  Sorry, Peyton is not in chorus.  This year's Christmas concert was combined with a Christmas play, so we were doubly entertained.

Steven damaged his finger at work, and we are waiting to find out if there is ligament damage.  Six stitches.  Yet still, he never complains and continues to be such a workhorse around the house.  I am loving all of our Christmas decorations.

Michael clearly inherited Steven's ability to quickly and accurately build furniture, as he helped Steven put together E's Christmas gift from us.  She convinced us it was time for her to choose her own furniture and no longer be subjected to our 20+ years, "old-person" furniture.  She selected quite modern pieces and they really look beautiful.

Elizabeth and I continued our yearly tradition of attending The Nutcracker together.  She noticed how different this year's performance was compared to all previous years' performances.  I had no idea she paid so much attention, thinking she went each year just to make me happy and proceeded to zone out once the lights went out.  But maybe she is so super-happy to spend time with me she absorbs every moment of our togetherness with an uncanny memory.  Yes, I'm laughing to myself as I type that.  I know better.

We hope your holidays are beautiful and wonderful.

Thanksgiving

Please note I misspelled Peyton's name in my previous entry.  Because he is still in Elizabeth's life and she has pointed out my error twice now, I feel the need to publicly correct myself.  I will never misspell his last name, however, because I am always staring at it when looking at Elizabeth's back.  She wears his RSMS sweatshirt every (repeat: every) day.

This week Christmas break begins for Elizabeth, Michael, and myself, yet I'm reflecting back on Thanksgiving.  Every year, each of us looks forward to spending the day at the Huffs' home, where we know there will be delicious food and plenty of kindness.  Zoe and Niki actually wag their tails and make happy sounds once we hit the Shelbyville exit, because they figure out where we are going.  

 

Much of the remainder of the weekend was spent focused on Christmas - decorating the tree (oh, how I love seeing those glass hummingbird ornaments; and I love seeing the frame ornaments that have my children's faces on them even more - there is one ornament for each year of their lives), figuring out our photocard, and even braving the crowds and cold to go shopping.  We found a lot of shoes!  Elizabeth and I went to Kohl's on Black Thursday.  We were like the three men in that we were so wise: We stayed in our warm vehicle until the line that wrapped around the store's four corners dissipated, and we just walked right in.  Overall, it was relaxing, peaceful, and wonderful.  The kids had friends (no surprises here: Stephen and Emily were the overnight guests) spend the night, and life was happy.

Elizabeth and the dance

Oh, Elizabeth looked so very beautiful for her first formal dance.  She looked exactly like herself, of course, but with the added excitement of going to a dance with a guy!

Her friend Anderson came home with her to get ready.  They ate pizza in between straightening their hair and getting their fancy earrings in place.

Niki was mesmerized by Elizabeth's long flowy dress.  I think Steven's heart broke just a little bit as he watched her run toward the dance doors, so happy to meet Peyton and spend the evening with him.  I know you would like to know more about Peyton - wouldn't we all.  Elizabeth is mostly mum on the subject, although just mentioning his name does cause her to smile.  As I learn more about him, I'll let you know.  I do know where he lives, sort of.  Elizabeth promised to let me drive by his home, but suspiciously couldn't quite remember where he lives once we were in the neighborhood.  I don't know if she honestly forgot or if she didn't want her mother to engage in stalking behaviors.   

Unlike many people (including myself) at middle school dances, Elizabeth actually DID dance.  Afteward, Emily and Anderson spent the night but did not quite have a sleepover, as that would imply sleeping.  Talk about giddy all night long! 

Michael and the Titans

Michael made the middle school basketball team, the Royal Spring Titans.  Today was their first away game.  I had already committed to giving a mock lecture at the college, so I didn't get to go.  I knew Michael would be negatively affected by my absence, because I know I am always his inspiration for all things good and positive.  Well, go ahead, call me a  LIAR!  Steven texted me updates during the game, like "18-15, michael has 8", "we up 24-22, michael 12", and "we up, michael taken out of game", quickly followed by "we now down", then "m back in, we up".  Twenty-five texts later: "M hit 3 pointer in over time to get lead back" and the final text: "45-39, Michael 26".  (There are 15 people on our team, by the way.) 

THEN, when I was in Lexington with Elizabeth and Emily, shopping for dresses and jewelry for the Winter Formal next Friday evening, I receive additional texts.  Same scenario as Paragraph One above, long story short: This time Michael scored 20 and the team won the tournament championship.  Again Michael scored more than half the team's total points.

Oh, how I wish I were there.  Not just to BIRG, but to be there to celebrate the team's success. And to see my son, to give him a hug in person.  So proud of him.  Such a good little athlete.

BUT, I would not have missed being with Elizabeth at Fayette Mall.  And just wait until you see Elizabeth in her elegant dress next weekend.  Soo gorgeous.  Elizabeth, that is, not just her dress.

Fall highlights

Of course Elizabeth and Michael's fall highlight was going back to school.  Ha ha ha ha ha!  But admit it, they do look happy and wonderful on their first day back in August and continue to do remarkably well.  We are always so proud of them.

Elizabeth is featured in this year's Scott County calendar!  Who recognizes her friends Emily, Pallie, and Shelby?  I was in the newspaper for Opening Convocation holding the faculty mace, which should not be confused (although it often is) with a bedpost.  Our interim president is next to me, followed by our new president, who begins 10/21. 

September's highlights included celebrating two birthdays: Niki's 2nd at Bruster's ice cream and Rosemary's more-than-2nd in Shelbyville.  Austin's girlfriend Ally is the female next to Elizabeth. 

We recently had two very special dinners: One with Lisa Eddy and one with Granna Banana.  They are both so, so, so, so, so special to each of us.  So even though we're back to school and work, it's been goooood. 

Never Better

One Direction has a new hit out, The Best Song Ever. 




Reflecting on our Summer of 2014, I'd sum it up with the phrase The Best Summer Ever. 

So many times during the past weeks one of us has said, "Oh, do you remember when..." or "That is what ____ would say" or "You remind me of ____ when you do that."  We have laughed and laughed when looking at photos and recalling stories. 

Once again, the photos will say it best, so I'll leave it to them to express the joy, happiness, love, and peace we felt when all of my siblings and their families came in (we missed Nick and Patrick, of course). 

I am always struck by the genuine joy in the faces of my children, husband, and myself in our collection of photos, starting during our trip to St. Louis in June.

Thank you for the best summer ever. 

California

It had been four long years since we had been able to travel to California.  Happily, it was well worth the wait.  Oh, there are so many memories about which I could write. 

Here's just a brief list of topics:

• watching my children and their cousins splash in the Pacific
• laughing at the funny things 4 and 7 year olds say
• hearing about my siblings' and their spouses' daily lives
• spending 2 full days with Regina, my beloved college roommate
• celebrating Aaron's birthday with so many relatives
• feeling relaxed
• playing tennis
• getting to know Micki and Ken better
• touring Google and Tesla (and proudly wearing my Tesla shirt on walks since then)
• cognitively taking a break from the routines of Kentucky life

The pictures say it best.

   

 

In the spirit of St. Louis

Elizabeth mentioned how much she wanted to go to St. Louis and see Uncle Al and Charlotte many times during the past year.  Michael also wanted to see them again.  I have wanted to travel to their home for years; however, I didn't think my back/neck would let me.  But you never know unless you try … so off the three of us went, while Steven stayed behind to work and take care of Zoe and Niki.  As rare as this comment probably is after a trip, everything was amazing on this trip.  Even the car ride was significantly (p<.01) better than I expected.   

In one day, we made it all the way to the beautiful Crowne Plaza Hotel, which was recommended by Charlotte and is 1.1 miles from their home (unless I am driving and misunderstanding GPS, as happened every morning, so it ended up being a multi-mile trek for us).

If you ever travel to St. Louis, stay in that hotel.  Pool, fitness room, fabulous breakfast reminiscent of The Seasons with its omelet and waffle station, large hotel rooms, etc.  We loved it.  I got to play Frogger for the first time in probably 30 years at their arcade!  It cheered me up after Michael would soundly beat me at fuse ball every game.  

We saw Uncle Al and Charlotte the next morning and headed to the zoo.  The hundred degree (literally, it was 100 degrees) weather did not deter us from touring the majority of the zoo (with multiple stops at the misters to cool down) and loving the sea lion show!

We then cooled down further at the science museum, where Michael loved working with the construction demonstration and Elizabeth loved figuring out the Killer Ball activity, which involved sparing Gumby's life by figuring out how to use random supplies (i.e. paper clip, straw piece) to divert a fast-moving ball from plowing into him (Gumby is male, right?).   

We had a fantastic home-cooked dinner made by Charlotte and just enjoyed being in her and Al's presence and sharing our lives with one another.  None of us wanted to leave their home.   

 

 The next morning we picked up Uncle Al, who took us to the Arch.  The gods and goddesses were shining down on us as there were no lines for tickets or the ride up to the top.  You can ask him why we weren't able to purchase the souvenir photo, but we fortunately had plenty of photos of our own.  We spent time in the beautifully-created exploration museum and ate taffy, which apparently is food popular a few centuries ago.

Uncle Al then took us on a tour of St. Louis and Washington University, where we ate in one of the dining halls.  Uncle Al was quite the popular person, as we saw very few people during our campus visit, yet Uncle Al knew three of them.  We were surprised.  Only because he is retired, not because he is not an extravert.  Then we had my favorite … frozen yogurt!  That evening, we went for Chinese food at their favorite restaurant and wow, we knew quickly why it was their favorite.  Back at their house, we had dessert and a big coin spill all over the kitchen floor.  I won't tell you the name of whose fault it was, but he wears glasses and longish hair and is my mom's brother.

 The next morning we headed back to Kentucky and arrived in one piece.  We knew seeing the sights of St. Louis would make the trip worth it, but to spend time with Uncle Al and Charlotte, well, nothing compares to that.  As I said last time we saw them in Kentucky, the world needs more Uncle Al and Charlottes.