Fa la la la la, la la la la!

'Tis the season to be busy, Fa la la la la, la la la la!

This is the longest absence from the blog this whole year. Ugh! I am going to try to play catch-up, so scroll past this post to see a couple more! At some point, I might even cheat a bit and backdate my posts! Let's see if I can do a "nutshell" update... with pics to follow later.
(I'm never brief... who am I kidding?!)

- John had his first real vacation since April of 2008. Two full weeks - - with the way his schedule fell, he had 17 days off (though he did have court a few times and worked some overtime shifts). It was so very nice to have him around! Of course, he was off for 17 days and on day 18 (last Thursday afternoon), Gracie got the stomach flu (for the first time ever... and it was bad... poor baby. Preston had a head cold (no fever and acting fine, with the exception of taking a voluntary nap during the day!), so I had two kids at home who had to be separated. Poor Gracie was miserable beyond miserable and because I had to tend to her nearly constantly, Preston watched an obscene amount of TV. I'm happy to report that everyone is feeling much better. Preston, however, was not so happy about the sudden reduction in TV time!

- During John's vacation, we all (Sophie, too!) traveled north to Nana and Papa's for Thanksgiving. It was great fun... we got to spend time with them, had quick visits with friends, had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner and took the kids to the snow. Preston was really out of sorts without all of his own stuff and his "routine" at home, but as long as he was busy, he did okay... not great, though. Miss Gracie, on the other hand, was right at home at Nana and Papa's and didn't even bat an eye about taking off her clothes (even in the cold!) and settling in as if she were at home! In six days, we put 1544 miles on our vehicle.

- We went to the San Diego Zoo with our friends. It was cold (um... for San Diego... not by most people's standards of "cold"!). Despite the chill in the air and the pending rain, we had a great time. It wasn't crowded and a lot of the animals were active. Both kids loved it. Preston's favorites were the monkeys (shocker!) and the tigers (a mother and son who were playfully wrestling and running all around the multi-level quarters). Gracie's favorite was, without question, the hippos. We sat at the window below the water and watched them swim by. The first time one passed her, her eyes got very wide and she had this look like, "What the heck was that?!" After that, she sat mouth agape, still wide-eyed and signed for "more hippo" as the two huge hippos came by time and time again.

- We've been "decking the halls" - - Christmas tree up, mantle adorned, lights on the house, Christmas music on all the time (much to John's dismay, sometimes!), shopping (though not much mostly for the three toy drives and four food drives in which we participated!), wrapping presents... and more wrapping to come! I am happy to report that Miss Gracie has been loving the tree, spending hours under it going around and around to look at lights and ornaments. She has not attempted to eat a light bulb like last year! Preston walks around making-up his own Christmas carols by combining words from all the songs he's constantly hearing... too funny!

We've seen Santa several times around town at various parties and outings. We've not done the "formal" Santa pictures this year... jury is still out on that. I am having a hard time justifying waiting in the long line, not to mention the expense!

- "Big Red" our KitchenAid mixer has been getting a full workout, as has our oven! Preston and I baked cookies for the troops with the MOMS Club the first week in December and that was just the start. Since then, the mixer and oven have seen seven different cookie varieties and I can't even begin to tell you how many dozens of batches have been baked! I can tell you that I have had way to much of it myself... way too much, just ask my jeans!

- Gracie's DHOH program had a Christmas Performance on Thursday. It was so wonderful and heartwarming to see all the kids perform. The DHOH team, including administration, works tirelessly and with great passion to see that the kids in their program reach their fullest potential. They are an amazing group of people.

Sadly, my camera did not work well that day and, while I have pictures from after the show, most of the pictures taken during did not turn out because my flash wasn't working at a distance. The pictures are all black. I do have video footage and will try to put some of that together soon. I'm hoping that other parents and teachers will share what they took.

What I can tell you is that her team (and others who aren't "officially" part of her team) worked so hard to make sure she was a part of the show. They decorated her classroom seat with red fabric and built a bell around the back of it... and it had lights! It was amazing... and I cried when I saw it. She looked so stinkin' cute sitting up there! More than that, though, I was blown away by their efforts to include her and do something special. In true Gracie style, she decided it was not the time to cooperate, so she did not do any of the practiced signs or bell ringing during the show. Ha... not a shocker! And, while it would have been fun to see her at her "best" up there, we were just so grateful that she was there! It was a huge milestone.
Such amazing progress... in school full-time, five days a week. Who would have ever thought?!

- On Friday evening, Preston's preschool had their Christmas Performance. Oh. My. Goodness! So adorable! His class is 2-3 year-olds. They sang "Jingle Bells" as a class, the Bible Study participants sang (and signed!) "Let it Shine" and the Spanish Students sang, "Como te Llamas". Some of the kids were completely overwhelmed by all the families and cameras in their faces. Others, like our son, were totally unphased and just did their thing! Preston had so much fun and I don't even think he could hear half of the class sobbing (which was really cute, too!).

Thankfully, Gracie wasn't too stressed by the whole thing and John was able to get off work early and see the show. I got some cute, though partially obstructed, video. At one point Preston spotted John standing in the back holding Gracie and shouted, "Hi, Daddy!" He signed "I love you" to him, too! At the end, he bowed a couple of times while saying, "Thank you, thank you!" and then looked up at John, gave a thumbs-up and said, "I did it!"
Soooo cute and that's not because I am biased! It was just so cute!

I am hoping that some of the other parents (taller ones :-) with better location in the room) got better pictures/footage! Again, our camera is not flashing properly from a distance, so turning the flash off meant that the pics are pretty grainy.

After the show, the kids were invited on the playground where there was a petting zoo set-up. So sweet of the directors of the school to put that together for the kids! They all loved it!

- It's now Christmas vacation for Gracie (She only missed three days of school this trimester. One was because of a long appointment. Considering her health and history, that is nothing short of amazing!) Preston is off school starting the 23rd. And I am left wondering how I will entertain them both, especially once Christmas has passed, Nana & Papa go home and John is at work... ugh! It's only day one... and already I can hear the lyrics from "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas."
You know the ones...
"... And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again!"

So... there's the "nutshell"... pics to follow... hopefully!