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Good bye 2008, Hello 2009.
I promised to bring everything up to speed today and catch up on all the pictures and events since the middle of October. This post got so big…I had to break it up into a few shorter posts.
There were a number of things setting up to make things fun for this last quarter of the year.
Let’s start with Halloween! Each year the development we live in puts on a Halloween fun day for the kids. Danny enjoyed playing all of the games. Daddy enjoyed them as well. Here they are getting ready for a sack race.
And they are off!!!
We have a Winner!!!
Daddy attempted to dive across the finish line for a dramatic win. But unfortunately, he was out bounced by the Monkey. Speaking of bouncing, there was plenty of that to be had there as well!
The monkey had a real time deciding which of his favorite Super Heros would be his choice for a costume. But it didn’t take too long before he decided on Bat Man. I believe he thought that we really would get a Bat mobile if that was the one he chose, but ultimately this costume had the best accessories. A cool utility belt with bat-a-rangs and a flash light. Mom also found some cool Halloween jammies!
Mr. Scary Skeletor!!! And…yes, you guessed it!
Bat Man!
Halloween was a pretty fun day. Mom and Dad took off work, Aunt Terri, Uncle David and cousin Sarah drove in from Houston and Daddy played golf…and got his first hole-in-one! It was pretty great! Here’s the costume pics. Seems we have a bit of a “fitting” issue with the mask piece of the costume. Not an exact fit but he wore it the entire evening!
Everything seems like a bit of a blur following Halloween.
A spa/salon not far from my office decided that they would like to carry some of my jewelry pieces on consignment and they were in the process of re-modeling the salon. I needed to have inventory by Thanksgiving to go on display after the remodel that weekend. I had three weeks to get the beads and jewelry made. In addition, my best bud – also designs jewelry and makes beads asked me to participate with her in a Christmas bazaar in December. Oh, why not?
I didn’t realize how much work it was to do all of this…oh and work full time, too. Yikes. Somewhere in the middle of all this fun Monkey graduated to yellow belt in Kung Fu. You were probably wondering what all the posing was about in the PJ’s. He’s been taking Kung Fu since August. He’s a bit of a ham and likes to show off. Kung Fu requires him to have focus and pay strict attention which seems to be a nice balance for him.
Kung Fu seems to be a highlight of his week. He was able to learn what he needed to know in order to pass the test and now he’s a yellow belt.
Little Kung Fu Kid!
Good Job Little Monkey!!!
It seems like every extra minute between Halloween and Thanksgiving was spent either making beads or designing and constructing jewelry. We also spent some time putting together the feast for Thanksgiving. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I took my pieces to the Spa/Salon and to my amazement they accepted all of it! I was excited and somewhat panicked. I was back to square one on the inventory for the Christmas bazaar. Another couple of weeks making beads and jewelry. It went by so fast and to my own amazement, I was able to get it done.
The Christmas Bazaar was also lots of fun. Rose also provided some built in helpers. Her son’s were very helpful getting things in and out of the cars and helping everyone with stuff. We even let them have a break now and then.
It was our first official show. Too cool!!
We didn’t sell a great deal but all in all it was a good experience to participate in. Thank you, Rose!
With all this fun behind us, there was nothing left to be focused on except Christmas. Now, with a four year old waiting on Santa, that can be quite entertaining on it’s own.
It was fun watching Daddy put all the lights up outside. He also put up the tree and did most of that decorating. I finally pitched in getting the rest of the indoor decorations set out and the house was lit and decorated. We finished all the shopping and even found time to send out Christmas cards and make treats for all of our wonderful neighbors!
The monkey has a new buddy across the street. They moved in a couple of weeks before Halloween and it seems that we may as well paint a crosswalk on the street between the houses! These two are inseparable. They love to drive the power wheels Lightning McQueen and play Ninja Turtles. They also get a real kick out of playing on their bikes and watching the Ninja Turtles movie.
Christmas really is fun when you have a four year old. A few days ahead of Christmas Monkey got to visit with his favorite SpiderGirl…my friend Christine. She came over and they made Christmas cookies.
He was also extremely excited to open a gift from her…Hot Wheels. He loved them.
It was a fun morning and somehow…those cookies just disappeared. Santa, I hope you enjoyed them!!!
He was so excited for Christmas and worked very hard to be on Santa’s good list. I went hunting for the obligatory pictures and turns out all we took that day were video. So…I guess that means that the highlights for toys and fun will have to wait a few days as I take the cute pics of the monkey playing with the gifts.
Hope you had a great Christmas! We sure did!!!
Wow…here we are in the last week of the year. How did THAT happen?
We have had a lot of things going on since my last post. I apologize for not being better at keeping things humming here. Perhaps I may have to give myself a New Year’s challenge. New Year’s resolutions don’t work for me…but a challenge might just be the ticket! Hmmm. Now that is something to think about. Come back in a couple of days and we can revisit that idea. I am working on a ‘what’s been going on’ post to bring things up to speed for the New Year and will post either late New Year’s Eve or first thing New Year’s Morning. Speaking of New Year, can you believe that 2009 is right there…just around the corner??? Yikes!
Hold that thought for a day or so. Stop in and visit again for a fun picture filled post on New Year’s Day!
A few weeks ago I mentioned that the Monkey was taking swimming lessons. Tonight completed week five and I am completely amazed at the progress! Only one lesson per week and he’s moving steadily through the program. I think the most fun thing about is that he LOVES every single minute.
In the first class everyone starts out as “Puffer Fish”. Little puffy cheeks, holding their breath then blowing bubbles while holding their heads underwater for count of five. Seems easy enough but imagine this with 3 and 4 year olds and their ‘dynamic’ attention span. 
It was giggle fest for the parents watching from the bleachers. Unfortunately you may also remember that I had a slight planning issue and failed to charge the camera batteries. I have no photos of the little Puffer Fishies. Ever have one of those days?
On to lesson number two: floating and gliding. This time we did have the camera WITH batteries charged. I had Daddy take the photos and for some strange reason they are a bit on the blurry side. They are still quite cute! I haven’t taken the camera since week two but I will put it in the swim bag to bring next week to take more pictures.
He’s in the “freestyle” section this week and working on learning the fundamentals of the freestyle stroke. He’s excited about this section because he’s learning to move faster through the water. This seems to be the main focus for him right now. “I am gonna swim faaast, Mommy!”
I think he will be in this section for a couple more weeks. What he really wants is to be moving on to the “racing pool”.
He thinks he’s ready for that gold medal…
