Merry Christmas!

It seems we've been celebrating all month, and I suppose we sort of have. This Christmas has been a wonderful one for us: full of family, friends and shared experiences. I'm very sentimental and I love traditions, but I also enjoy adding new things to our family's celebration.

First and foremost we celebrate the birth of our Savior. This nondescript birth under humble circumstances changed the world as we knew it. Amazing! That event continues to change our lives every day.

The challenge we as parents face is teaching this significance to our children as well as remembering it ourselves. I get caught up in my lists. I want everything to be perfect. I don't want any one's feelings to be hurt.

We try our very best to show our children that Christmas is not about ourselves. We make sure that they are present and with us when we, as a family, participate in several "outside ourselves" activities each year. This has usually involved gift buying for various charitable groups, but the opportunity presented itself this year to be a little less faceless and a little more hands on. We signed up to help serve breakfast with a group form our church at the local rescue mission. The guests ranged from gentlemen who sleep there at the mission to families who needed a warm breakfast and perhaps a gift to give to their children. Don't let me make this seem like we are some sort of Mother Theresa family...we were up before dawn and the kids tore into their Santa gifts with the reckless abandon that I imagine sums up the middle-class American life...but we are trying to make small steps toward looking beyond ourselves to the needs right next to us. I suppose the next step would be for the kids (ok, and the adults too) to actually give up some of our own material treasures to give to others. Right now we're still in the "give to others while still enjoying our own treasures" stage. Baby steps.

Anyway, we were so proud of the kids and their willingness to go to the rescue mission from 6:30 - 8:30am on Christmas morning. Nicholas, especially, "got it" and really did a fine job of delivering the true Christmas spirit to his fellow man with dignity and kindness. I think we're going to try to find opportunities to do similar things throughout the year so it's not just a Christmas thing.

I took way too many pictures (on my new fancy camera, I admit sheepishly) to possibly post here, so let's try this supposedly public "share" link to my Facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47489&id=1217846859&l=27f8c115dd

Merry Christmas, family & friends!

Megan is 6!!!

I know everyone will roll their eyes because this is always said, but really can't believe my baby is six...honestly!

Megan is our feisty little firecracker. She's smart and funny and beautiful. This girl is going places...we just hope not to jail. Just kidding! She tries really hard to be a good girl, but she knows what she wants, when she wants it and usually has a plan as to how to get it.

I have more Mommy Guilt than is necessary over the fact that her birthday is four days before Christmas. She's a champ about it, though. She's never complained. She HAS complained that her birthday parties are frequently snowed out, but any child born between Thanksgiving and Easter in New England could complain about that. We have purposefully planned her "friend" party for January to avoid the clogged schedules most families have this time of year.

Here are some pictures of her festivities so far:

Treading Water

You know how you're supposed to float on your back or tread water to conserve energy if you're tossed overboard in the raging ocean? Well, I've never really been great at treading water. Perhaps I have bad technique or something. Anyway, I feel like I actually expend more energy flailing about trying to keep my head above water, the type of energy you use to swim upstream. You are swimming like crazy, but not going very far!

That pretty much gives a picture of our November and December so far as a family!

I'm sorry for not updating since Halloween. When I wrote that last post Dave had already taken off for Orlando and Ektron's user conference at the Grand Floridian in Walt Disney World. Well, the opportunity was was too tempting to not pin a family vacation onto the end of the conference. The kids and I flew down after school on that Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We crammed a week's worth of vacation (including celebrating Dave's birthday) into three and a half days. What an adventure! I took over 200 pictures and if you'd like to see them I can send you a link. I wouldn't be able to do the trip justice here.After Florida we were right back into school, church, karate, gymnastics, work, etc. Rehearsals for the annual church Christmas musical started up and we got ready for Thanksgiving. Dave and I got great reports from both the kids' teachers at conferences. Apparently we have happy, smart, well adjusted children. Good to know because I don't always see that side of them!
Right after Thanksgiving we had an early birthday/Christmas celebration with my grandparents before they headed south for the winter.

This past weekend the kids and I were in three performances of our church's Christmas musical. They were angels and I was in the "king's court". I think I was a queen, but I'm not sure. Maybe I was just part of an entourage, but I called myself the queen! Even with the crazy time commitments, it was such a fun thing to do with the kids. My parents came out of retirement and sang in the choir. The kids loved having them involved, too.So that's where we are now. I know this was a very abridged catch up post, but I'm considering it a fresh start. I'll try to be more consistent with posting over Megan's birthday and Christmas. I know I have family members that look here for pictures and stories...you know who you are!

Happy Halloween

Sadly, Nicholas came down with something on Friday. It's the flu or a bad cold, but not pneumonia. The doctor sent us to the hospital for a chest x-ray to be safe, but that came back just perfect. Whatever it is, we're treating the symptoms and not letting him in public until he's better.

He was absolutely and completely devastated that he could not participate in the karate party/demo that he'd been practicing for for weeks. So, we did our very best to still make it a happy Halloween for him.

We carved pumpkins. Megan's is a kitty and Nick's is a Star Wars fighter thingy.We went trick-or-treating with our friend Sierra Fringer, the adorable bumble bee. We didn't know if Yoda would want to come at all, but he did a few houses...with his mask on...not touching anything. When he wanted to go back home, Dave went with him. Megan and I continued on with Nick's bag in hand. I was so proud of Megan. She picked as many Kit Kats as she could for her brother. Even more surprising was when neighbors said she could take more than one candy she replied, "No, I only want one, thank you." Hahaha!
Then we came home to start the bidding wars for the spoils. That's the most fun for them, I think.

A Graduation and a Reunion

On the very day (at the very same time) of Nicholas' Black Belt Graduation, my 10 year college reunion was scheduled at ENC. Clearly we chose to attend Nick's big day, but as soon as it was over we drove down to Quincy to try to catch up with some friends from yesteryear. I would have been a lot more disappointed about missing my reunion had Facebook not already gotten me in touch with a ton of college friends!

Here are some pictures from our busy but very fun day...

Nick's Master Instructor tying on his belt.

A nice pose with Sir.

A very proud family portrait.

All the students participating in the October graduation.

Nick with Grandma Way and Grandma White. (His two greats!)

**Off to ENC**

Cheering for the new mascot at a very chilly soccer game. Go Lions!

Brrrrrrr! We didn't stay very long.

Nick's Big Weekend

I really don't think there's any anxiety that matches a mother's anxiety for her child as they grow up and step out on their own. It's that first time with a child care provider, first boo-boo, first day of school, first camp drop-off...BLACK BELT TESTING...anxiety.

We signed Nicholas up for karate lessons a week or so before his 5th birthday. We hoped he would get some exercise, make some friends and perhaps gain some coordination. From that moment on he has never ceased to amaze us with both his skill and his heart for the sport. He has always been the youngest in his belt class, yet he has not only kept up with the physically bigger kids but we have seen that these older kids truly value and respect Nick's friendship. That means more to me than if he can break boards or do a split (both of which he can also do)! Our Anctil's Martial Arts friends have become like family. Over the past nearly 4 years he has memorized countless "kicking combo," "pad work" and "forms" routines. He has memorized "home rules," "Dojang rules" and "outside awareness" rules. He knows what each colored belt symbolizes. In the last 5 months he has documented over 50 acts of kindness, completed 100 push-ups and crunches daily, earned three trophies at a tournament, participated in a day of empathy entailing a day in a wheelchair and written several essays. All that with one goal in mind: Black Belt Testing. They have a great sign in the Dojang that says, "A black belt is a white belt that never gave up."

I spent most of this week on the verge of vomiting. I just wanted him to feel secure and prepared. We were both very nervous for this HUGE milestone. Tuesday night we had a mutual melt-down. There we sat on the couch. Just the two of us. Bawling. The stress had overtaken us. But...we picked ourselves up, prayed about it together and agreed that we were going to make it through this! It's a really hard thing to realize that your child is you in another body. Nick and I are two peas in a pod. We freak out about the same things, in much the same way. I figure the two of us will probably have a few more of these moments in the future. Oh say, some big term paper, SAT's, graduation, college....

Friday night arrived. I'd dropped a fortune on Power Bars and Gatorade in anxious over-preparedness. His bag was packed and double checked. We arrived at the Dojang around 4:30 and at 5pm the families had to leave. Aaakk!! At 10pm I went back to retrieve him. He was exhausted, but enthusiastic.

Saturday was open to the public, so we got to be there with him. Testing went from 10am - 4pm. We were SO proud of him. In all the pictures you can clearly see that he is still the smallest in the class. He did amazing, though! He had confidence and his skills were sharp. He won't officially find out his results for a week or so. BUT....the Graduation Ceremony is Saturday, October 17th 10am - noon and all are invited!

Just as a little PS: Here is Nick, beaming after his very first belt test (white to orange) in June of 2006.

Fall is coming

I'm a summer gal. It's my favorite season. I can deal with a few days of oppressive heat and humidity far better than I can deal with the weeks on end of oppressive wind chills that define winter in New England. I can't imagine living anywhere else, but I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'll be in a foul mood from mid-January straight through Easter. Anyway, in this whole seasonal affect issue I have, poor fall gets lost in the shuffle. I do like fall. I enjoy the crisp mornings and the sweet smell of apple baked goods. I like cocoa and fuzzy socks. BUT...I can never truly appreciate fall in New England because I know what it's ushering in. Poor fall.

This week the kids had their first early release day from school. We joined some friends and headed to Parlee Farm to celebrate fall. We fed the animals, played on the hay maze, picked apples and rode tiny tractors. It was a great day to try to slow down and enjoy the season for what it is. Here are some pictures of our fun afternoon.