wicked good

In honor of their upcoming birthdays, Mary and I took the girls to see their first real theater production today at the Cadillac Palace. Wicked was amazing and totally worth the wait to see. The girls were enthralled from begining to end and moved tears at times, just like their mommy. We had a great lunch at Petterino's beforehand and lots of fun with the whole experience. It's so nice to know that they are old enough to really appreciate stuff like this - can't wait to take them to see something else!

In case you're wondering, "No one can bring me down!" was out of this world!

egg nog fog

6 Christmas celebrations

2 puking incidents

1 round of antibiotics

too many late nights

6 days of wonderful house guests

3 tired kids

1 vow to take Christmas Day off next year!

Happy Holidays were had by all, but if I didn't learn my lesson to simplify this year, I don't think I ever will. I have already promised my kids, who begged for it on the way home Christmas night, that we would spend next year in jammies, lounging, eating, assembling and playing. I think we need to enjoy a Christmas at home with toys and no responsibilities at least once before they grow out of this whole toy thing!

finn

and we spend money on toys.....

pineapple classic

This week marked a first for us, a first of something I doubt we ever thought we'd do. We took Riley out of school for a gymnastics meet at the age of SIX! Some years, in order to serve all the gymnasts in the state of Illinois, meets must be scheduled on weekdays. We woke at 4:30 AM, shipped Logan off to a super helpful and understanding neighbor's home so she wouldn't miss the last day before Christmas break and headed north to Schaumburg with a two-days post antibiotics strep-recovering Riley.

While it wasn't her best meet, it was a good one. She placed 6th on vault, 8th on floor and 12th all around. The medals around her neck at the meet's end were quite impressive!

As soon as we arrived home, she broke out in hives, which continued throughout the weekend. Apparently, her strep was made of a super strong bacteria that was fighting through the meds every time she was due to have them. All we want is for her to have fun and try her best, and she continues to do that, strep and all!

and the angels sang.....

Sunday, December 12th marked Logan's 3rd official concert with the Young Fox Valley Singers. It was an amazing show. The kids are so talented and the vocal teachers second-to-none. As a special treat, world renouned soloist Tamara Wilson, who spent her own vocal formative years with the group, returned to perform alongside the children. She moved me to tears with her rendition of "O Holy Night." This was such a treat for the audience, but more for the kids, who had the opportunity to rehearse and perform with her, ask her questions and imagine their own vocal futures through her successes.

We were so proud of Logan who learned that the show must go on when the day's blizzard ripped her headband, made for "The March of the Wooden Soldiers", from her hands never to be seen again. Her disappointment was palpable and I thought her initial frustration might prevent her from having a good time, but it didn't. When I picked her up in the warm up room after the show she said, "I have the best choir. They told me I was as cute as a doll without my headband!" And, of course, she was.

can you say "Grizzwald?"

I'm not trying to be a scrooge, but this holiday season is sputtering to start. It came out of nowhere and it seems as if everything is just a little, well, off. With a schedule boardering on - for real - unimaginable, I finally determined that tomorrow between 8 AM and noon is the only window of opportunity between now and Christmas that all of us Andersons can go get our tree. (I still haven't found a decorating timeslot.) This is earlier than I'd hoped; but probably just what the mischievous puppy, a.k.a. Dempsey Doodle, wishes for. That should be interesting.

When I say things are off, here's what I mean: plans to simplify Christmas events have already gone awry, early shopping has led to too much shopping, our house looks ridiculous with half of our garland lights out, a baby deer that won't light up and crooked and crumpled outside entry trees. What's more, each year I buy an expensive poinsettia from a neighbor as a sport's fundraiser. These plants are the most gorgeous I've seen and they last and last. I was so relieved to see it immediately change the mood to a festive one around here when it arrived last night.

After bedtime, I enjoyed my most favorite part of the day (not really), when my butt hits the corner cushion of the couch to watch some DVR'd episode of a show I love. (Last night, it was the Sons of Anarchy season finale!) After literally thirty seconds on the couch, just as I was really starting to exhale, Mike and I heard the strangest creaking noise and turned quickly toward it. In one full swoop, five of the seven huge branches of my gorgeous red poinsettia fell and dropped from the table.

All we can do is laugh! There's money well-spent! Merry Days!