Holiday Season

This has been a great (but busy) holiday season for all of us. We have managed to check off all of the standard "to-do's" - taking the girls downtown to see the lights and decorations, taking them to see Santa, baking cookies, etc.

There were also some unusual activities this year. For one, Uncle Greg and Aunt Elizabeth paid us a visit in early December and kept the girls entertained with shopping, and a trip to the zoo. This gave Mom and Dad some much needed time to wrap gifts, etc.!

As for the trip to see Santa, Abbie announced that she wanted world peace for Christmas. Santa took it pretty well and said, "Well, we've been working on that one for a long time!" He has a good sense of humor, though, because Abbie received a "Whirled Peas" t-shirt for Christmas. :)

Speaking of unusual activities, the weather was so warm that the girls were actually swimming in the pool on Christmas Eve. In fact, they spent a few days in the pool that week. The weather was just incredible.

As is often the case in Texas, however, the weather tends to go from one extreme to the other pretty quickly. The kids were pretty happy about the changes, though, because they went from swimming on the 24th to sledding on the 28th!

The girls were thrilled with the dusting that we received. Their snow clothes were soaked, but they were outside playing for hours. Of course, there was so little snow that they came back wet and covered in grass.

As we head into the last few days of winter break, the girls are looking forward to staying up late tonight. Making a giant bed on the floor of the living room and watching a movie together has become our New Year's Eve tradition. We may have to take it easy this weekend, though. My guess that the transition back to the school routine next Tuesday is going to be a bit rocky for all of us!

School Photo

We just got a copy of Abbie's annual school photo, and you can tell that her face is continuing to mature. Also a few weeks ago was the fall parent-teacher conference. Not surprisingly, Abbie is doing great in Upper Elementary. She seems to be attentive and enthusiastic, and is making good progress in all subjects. That being said, she was grateful for a week off at Thanksgiving, and is now looking forward to her two weeks off at Christmas.

She continues to do tennis, and fitness class after school. For the three weeks before Christmas break, she also signed up for a running class, which isn't exactly what she expected. Rather than running, the teacher has had them doing all sorts of squats and lunges to strengthen their leg muscles. More than anything, it just makes her legs sore for days afterwards. She also continues to take violin lessons, and she is very close to finishing Suzuki Book One, at which point she will do a recital and move on to Book Two.

If anybody is thinking of getting Abbie anything for Christmas, her list is pretty short. As long as you can deliver world peace, she'll be happy - that's all she wants. I told her that it was unlikely that she would get her wish anytime soon. :)