Merry Christmas!

It's a sunny, non-snowy day here in Colorado, and we're so happy to be celebrating Christmas! The girls were up at 6, and we're now all busy admiring and playing with our new gifts. By far the best present of the day was the Pillow Pet each girl received. We bought these ages ago and, as I'm sure is true in your neck of the woods, these things are *everywhere*, and every single time we've passed a display the girls have gone bananas over them. Nothing like knowing you hit the nail on the head with a gift! It was the second-to-last one they opened, and there was much jumping and rejoicing.



Later this morning we'll head to my parents' place for the traditional cinnamon roll breakfast (I made gluten-free ones for Abby and I--we'll see how they are) and gift-opening, followed by the traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding lunch, which I think will be eaten in front of the Lakers game at lunch. (That part isn't so traditional, but our big celebratory meal was last night at Dolce Vida, our new favorite restaurant, so it's not as big a deal if everyone scatters today at lunch. Heck, most likely the girls will be sleep through it, given how early they were up!)

We pray this holiday is one of warmth and love and peace in our Lord, Jesus Christ. May He bless you and, more importantly, draw you ever nearer to Him (the best blessing of all!) this coming year. Merry Christmas to all!!

The Little Dancer That Could (and did!!)

First off, major apologies for how long it's taken me to get a new post up. Between rewriting a book in less than 6 weeks and desperately trying to finish two handmade Christmas gifts in time for the holiday, I haven't had any free time in forever. I've got a couple other posts to write, but they probably won't go up until the new year. Keep an eye out, though!

So today was Abby's last dance class. Oh my heavens, how she loves dance class! We signed her (and PJ) up for classes starting in January, and this time she'll be taking ballet *and* tap.

At today's class, though, they put on a show at the end to demonstrate all the stuff they've learned over the 8 week session. They'd put butcher paper over the windows so we couldn't see in, and when Miss Joy came to get us 10 minutes before class was done, we walked in to find the girls in "picture pose" and in costume! (I didn't have my phone, can you believe it?! But a friend took pictures and promised to send them, so as soon as I get them I'll add them to this post.) They all--even Abby--sat nice and still for the cameras; Abby was even smiling! After the parents had satisfied their need for pictures, Miss Joy started them off on the first of two performances.

They were all adorable, of course. But Abby was one of maybe 2 or 3 kids that actually stayed with the teacher the whole time. (Miss Joy stood in the corner and did the moves with them.) They twirled, they tapped their toes, they did cute little beginner ballet moves, and when the song was over and the applause began, Abby burst into tears and ran to my lap.

This set off a chain reaction, and soon the performers 'on stage' numbered half of what they had. Miss Joy gave everyone a minute to compose themselves, then asked if they'd like to do it again. The 3 that had remained up front wanted to dance again, but none of the girls that had retreated to their parents wanted to. Miss Joy (who is awesome, awesome, awesome with the kids) said they was okay, they could sit and watch their classmates and see what it looked like when they danced in front of others.

The music started again. They danced in their circle, then formed a line to show off all their moves...

and then...

are you sitting down?...

Abby went back up.

Yes. You read that right. With tears still on her cheeks and her little mouth in a serious frown, without a single word from me or anyone else, Abby ran back up and finished out the dance with her classmates. And this time, she was the only one who followed the dance all the way though.

'Course, when it was all over, she started crying again and didn't stop for about half an hour. "I don't like people watching me dance in my dance class" was the only explanation I got out of her, about 20 minutes later. But contrary to that, LIttle Miss Spunky sure showed everyone what she was made of!

Braver and braver, this one. She pet a snake and a giant millipede last week at a zoo party, she pet a lobster and held an empty lobster shell at Red Lobster last night, and now, in front of a dozen (or two dozen, once you add in all the siblings that were there) strangers, she not only danced, but she was willing to dance again even though everyone had seen her run off stage in tears.

Way to go, Little Dancer!!!

Updates by Dan

It's been a good week for me.

* I am down from 245+ to 228 as of yesterday morning. That makes 17+ pounds lost since September 24th, or about five and a half weeks. What is even more encouraging is that the weight has been lost despite the fact that I have not done nearly as well as I could have health-wise during this time. Right now, the weight loss is due primarily to lower calorie intake - which is no bad thing - and knowing this, I am even more excited about the results to come as I work in a more regular exercise routine, and some better foods. I'll keep you posted.

* We tweaked out daily schedule just a bit and it has been great for me. Long story short, by adding an hour a day, four days a week, to Ali's "official" schedule, I am able to take Wednesdays and do what I like with them. This is our first week and I have already accomplished more than I usually do, and have a much better attitude to boot, which is good for everyone around me.

* Silver Wheaton (SLW) - you know, the one I started telling you all about nearly two years ago when it was $3.60, has jumped another $2.12 today and is at $31.73. Silvercorp (SVM) is up $1.11 to $11.13 (bought it around $5). Hecla Mining (HL)is up .46 today to $7.42 (bought at $6.10), and Kinross (KGC) is up .60 to $18.41 (bought around $16 or so). Flawed economies - not just unstable, but flawed - combined with elections will do this.

* And perhaps most wonderful of all, as most of you already know, Abby had her first dance class this week and she did marvelous! We were all on pins and needles waiting to see how it would turn out. She really struggles with shyness, being put on the spot, and all that stuff. We were fully prepared for her to simply turn around and walk out when she got there. But she didn't! She jump right in and danced with the other girls. She is really starting to come out of her shell more and more each day. Like most dads, I know, but I can't begin to express how much I love those girls.

I think there will be some more pictures coming - I think. We'll see.

Halloween!

We've never done Halloween with the girls before. Abby has dressed up in the past, but we've never trick-or-treated. We decided this year to give it a shot because the girls were actually asking to and really wanted to. I had my doubts about how it would go once we were actually at a stranger's door, but they both stunned me by actually saying "Trick or treat!" and "Thank you!"--AND by actually posing nicely for a photo, which is a serious rarity.



When we got home we let them pig out a tiny bit. They're not used to such sugary stuff, though, so what usually happened is they'd open something, take a bite or two, then throw it out and try something else. PJ, as you can see, has a real affinity for suckers:



(Not that she finished a single one.) Whoppers, candy corn, Smartees, Nerds, and Pixie Stix were also samples and pitched. (Well, *I* ate the candy corn, and I think Abby ate all the Whoppers, which is a bummer because I was totally banking on finishing them for her.) And in between taste tests they helped pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to the door. We bought 4 bags of candy and went through them all!!

But the BEST part of today happened this morning at 7:40 AM when Kyle and Kelli welcomed their first baby, a daughter named Brighton Angelina, into the world!! Happy birthday, little Brighton! We can't wait to snuggle you!

Garden of the Gods

Despite the fact that the forecast predicted rain, we decided to go down to Colorado Springs and at least check out a couple stores we wanted to see.

Pike's Peak on the drive down to Colorado Springs:


After we got there, though, the clouds cleared (never did see any rain) and we thought we might as well check out Garden of the Gods. Sooooo glad we did!

From the Visitor's Center:


First off, the Visitor's Center isn't that fantastic--unless you're a shopaholic. Then it's nirvana. Especially if you like tumbled rocks. I've never seen colors like these before, and if it weren't for the fact that they had slices of these geodes in these same colors I wouldn't have believed they were all naturally-occurring.



After we pried ourselves away from the gift shop, we drove around the road that loops through the park.

Some out-the-window shots...










...and one out-the-sunroof one:


We found the Trading Post somewhere along there, a building that was first constructed in 1929 and has been added onto multiple times since then to now house even more shopping heaven, as well as a cafe. Stopped there (of course), grabbed some fresh popcorn for the ride home, and then headed back so our very exhausted children (no nap at that point yet for PJ = not a happy camper, though the popcorn helped) didn't totally and completely melt down.

We're super excited to go back with the stroller and better shoes so we can walk the trails and do a little hiking. I'm also looking forward to going back in the snow--the red of the rocks (which these pictures do not do justice) with the white of the snow will be amazing!

Updates with Dan

Dan here. Today was the first day of my new diet thingy. It went....interestingly. I'm not going to get into this too much, but suffice it to say that a couple of shakes and a good meal are the cornerstone of the diet part. Well, the shake part of the cornerstone tasted like crap. That was very disappointing. All hope is not lost though. The shake itself is really just a vehicle for some coconut oil and especially a huge dose of egg whites (the most usable form of protein around). Since Ali has come up with some amazing green shakes, I am going to tweak her recipe a bit and get myself all set up. The good news is that in addition to getting what I need, I will also be getting more servings of green vegetables in about two days than I have had combined in 38 years. Woo Hoo! I will probably write more later on Voxdan.

Went out to grab some books at the library today only to discover halfway there that something is wrong with our battery - and, dare I say it (I dare, I dare), our alternator. This is on top of bad brakes, bad power steering, tires seriously in need of rotation, and a few other smaller things. When it rains it pours. I was just getting ready to take it in for those other things. I suppose it's a good thing that the battery exposed itself before I did though - now I can give them all my money....er....have it all taken care of at once. Yay! So, instead of risking the 30+ minute drive to the nearest Honda dealer in a car that could stall at any moment, we are going to call AAA early in the morning and have them take it down for us. I'll deal with Honda over the phone (a conversation I have already initiated), and find my way down there - hopefully the same day - with either my first born or my right arm and leg, in a borrowed car, maybe??? We'll see. I'll let you know how it goes, if I remember.

So, that is what' happening right now, at 10:44pm, as I wait for the melatonin to kick in. Yup, Dan is actually trying to go to bed earlier. It's all part of the new Dan. I decided that I want to either lose my weight or most of it by my 38th birthday in January (or at least be well on my way) and spend the next two years preemptively kickin forty in the ass. Lord willing, we will be an ATV'ing, camping, hiking, kayaking, exploring, shooting, Colorado good-time having family by then, which is another way of saying, I will not have died of fatness. Hey, I have lost 11.5 pounds in the last 6 weeks just thinking about beginning my diet. That's a good start.

A couple funny kids quotes...

File under "Short Attention Span:"

Lately Abby has been writing songs for God. The last one was to the tune of "Frere Jacques." "I love you, God; I love you, God, I love you! I love you! Thanks for making Jesus, thanks for making Jesus..." Then she petered out to ask PJ if she wanted to watch her flush the toilet.

***

The girls and I were playing camping this evening. This always involves "fishing"--we typically use a bunch of beanbags as our fish and usually I'll name them according to the kind of cloth they are (the pinkish ones are salmon, the ones with stars are starfish, etc.). Tonight, however, we all named our own...

Me: "Oh! I caught something! Look, a rainbow trout!"

Abby: "I got something! It's a beanbag silka fish!"

Penny Jane: "I got something too! It's...it's...it's Robert! That a good name?"