Peek into Christmas Morning

I still need to download and sort through our Christmas pictures, so until then, here are two videos from Christmas morning. The only things Spencer asked Santa to bring were some Magic Treehouse books and Clarabel the train. Santa must've thought Spencer had been a really good boy this year, because he threw in another neat gift called Magna-Tiles. Spencer thought it was odd that Santa didn't wrap his gifts. (Warning: I don't have the ability to edit videos, so the first one of these is loooong and only for diehard fans.)

School Christmas Party

Tuesday night was Spencer's Christmas Party at Roz-Mina. First everyone listened intently as a former student (or someone's big brother?) played his violin.

Then the students and teachers sang some songs for us that they rehearsed all month. The video below is dark but will give you the flavor. Spencer was such a precise bell jingler.

 

And then, guess who showed up? Santa! Though after careful inspection, Spencer determined that he was not the real Santa, but just one of his helpers. I think he was right about that. But he did have a toy in his sack just for Spence.

After that we ate dinner outside. The kids had so much fun running around outside in the dark. It was a sweet and simple little celebration.

Flying Foxes

December catch-up continued... Two weeks ago we went to the Waldorf School's Winter Fair. We were excited to finally check out the school because we want to explore the possibility of Spencer going there (if we win the lottery!). Anyway, it's a magical place and the Winter Fair was neat. You could go from classroom to classroom and do little crafts. Spencer made a pretty, glittery spinning top and two ornaments - one foil and one felt.

But the highlight was the Flying Fox - a zipline that Spencer and Daddy rode. This video does not do it justice - I wasn't in a good spot to film it. But they had fun and went so fast! We were proud of Spencer for being brave and wanting to try out this ride. He wanted to do it again but the line was miles long and we were starving.

Later that day, Spencer started running a fever and it got up to 104.5. That was the second weekend in a row he had fever, so Daddy took him to see Dr. Bayer first thing Monday morning. Turns out he had strep. Ugh! But luckily the little guy didn't really feel all that bad. He enjoyed having a few days of TV and couch rest. Unfortunately it meant he couldn't go to Piper and Beckett's birthday party or my Christmas concert. We were all so disappointed to miss those events!

And speaking of sickness, we found out our little Olive has hyperthyroidism and a bout of pancreatitis. Unfortunately, hyperthyroidism is treatable but not curable - she'll be on twice daily meds her whole life. She's feeling so much better and is back to her old spry self again!

Christmas Magic

Oh my! It's practically mid-December and I haven't done a single blog entry this month. To kick-start my efforts, here's a picture that feels so magical to me. We lit Grandma Rives' angel chimes last night. The quiet ding-ding of the bells is so peaceful (and captivating to a 4-year-old).