December
marked probably the first time Allison was truly excited about Christmas and
was taking part in decorating the tree, looking at lights, playing with advent
calendars and talking about Santa. It
really helped make a busy month worth it.
We enjoyed Christmas and our time together, but I now understand the
song phrase “And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again…”
Each
Friday night in December, we did something about Christmas and even though it
was unplanned that way, it was fun. The
first Friday, we went to Sullivan’s Hardware to get our tree. They have a wonderful Christmas display with
trains and trees everywhere. The second
Friday, we ate an early dinner and packed up the girls and drove to the
Reynold’s Farm store to look at their tremendous light display. The third Friday, we went to visit Santa at
the mall and then went to get some pizza.
As you can see from the pictures, Sarah wasn’t too keen on meeting
Santa, but Allison was a trooper. The
funny thing about Allison is that she though Santa was upset with her because
she didn’t get what she asked for immediately.
We
were in Indy this year for Christmas, so we started the celebration at our
house on the 24th after mass with the Vandervaarts, the Wahmans,
Uncle Kenny, Uncle Mark and my mom. Deb
had the house ready to roll and all of the kids enjoyed eating together at a
small table in the sunroom. Everyone
enjoyed some drinks and food along with watching a highlight reel of home
videos that Pete and Laura had worked on. We stayed home on Christmas morning and the gifts
that Santa brought was a Barbie Jeep and 2 small chairs for the girls to sit
and read books. We went over to
grandma’s place around 3 and opened more presents and enjoyed a chicken and
noodle dinner. Everyone was there and
gifts were everywhere, which made it extra chaotic but also a lot more
fun! Deb had to work on the 26th,
so I took the girls over to my mom’s place throughout the day and Deb met us
there after work for a spaghetti dinner.
On the 27th, several of us went bowling and Allison really
enjoyed doing that with her cousins. The
adults took turns running around and also bowling a game. Other than a few disagreements amongst kids
causing for us to be referees sometimes, it was an enjoyable holiday
weekend.
On
the Sunday after Christmas, Deb’s family was supposed to all come visit us for
a few days. However, Randy had a few
dizzy spells and they had him in the hospital for a few days to get checked
out. Everything seems to be fine, but
this caused him and Anna to not be able to head to Indy. Nevertheless, the party must go on, so Julie,
Kyle and Olivia came to visit and arrived around lunchtime. Allison woke up that morning with a fever and
Kyle arrived not feeling great. Deb
seemed to catch what Allison had and the rest of us seemed to stay pretty
healthy throughout the trip. So, minus
the trips to the “Minute Clinic” for Kyle and Deb, we enjoyed exchanging gifts
and hanging out with one another. I even
got a few naps with Olivia sleeping on my chest, which I think anyone
enjoys! And even though Kyle wasn’t
feeling well, he still managed to help me finish off a brand new bottle of Woodford
Reserve!
Sarah’s Things of the Month
As mentioned last month, Sarah had an eye appointment in regards
to her blocked tear duct. They decided
to leave her stent in for another 4 months and then re-evaluate. Sarah has been very dramatic and shown that
wonderful toddler temper that I believe we had forgot about! She has had some issues at night waking up
and screaming, so there has been some middle of the night hugs to calm her
down. She had her 20 month appointment
and I believe she is one inch shorter than Allison was at this stage and one
pound heavier.
Allison’s Things of the Month
Allison had a great appointment at the eye doctor and
the progress she has made in a year is about as good as it can be. Allison has been very stubborn and bossy at
times, which is causing Deb and I to get a little tougher with her.
A few more items from this
month:
- We went to a birthday party for Emma Anderson, who had an Elsa princess attend the party! It was quite impressive and every kid there was mesmerized for 2 hours of singing and story-telling.
- We went to the annual Bassett Christmas Party and enjoyed seeing lots of good friends.
- We went to the Foulke’s house for our annual Purdue Christmas dinner. This year all the guys had to wear bow-ties, so I borrowed one from a guy at work.
- Deb and I were both able to attend the “Breakfast with Santa” at the preschool. Allison was really excited and did very well getting on his lap without any help from us.
- Allison and I went Christmas caroling with several neighbors. She was able to stay warm and enjoyed it!
- Deb and I had a vacation day off in December to get things ready and enjoyed lunch at the District Tap.
- On the 23rd, Foulke, Watkins, Jeremy and I went over to Lawton’s for some after work beers.
- Since Deb was sick, Deb and I stayed in again on NYE. We were in bed early, but were up at midnight as the fireworks around our house woke up both girls!
