Merry Christ's Mass

tastes of the season

Adrienne had dibs on lickin' the puppy chow bowl.

We sort of went to the Holidazzle Parade (on Nicollet Mall in downtown MPLS) last week.  'Sort of' because it was a bit too cold for the kids that night, and Zach wailed loudly & constantly so we left early.  Also, traffic wasn't stopped for the parade so the floats had to wait for the stoplights.  We didn't have that kind of patience in single degree temps.  Nate and I previously had pleasant memories of Holidazzle - the last time we were there was 13 years ago when we'd just started dating. 

This is what a school holiday party does to a kid-

Josilan Mihiret Renee

We have a new niece!  Erik & Kim waited 2 long years for a referral.  They have to make 2 trips to Ethiopia and Josilan will come home on trip #2 likely this spring.  Prayers for them all that as they wait and make arrangements, their new daughter grows well and stays healthy and safe!

snowmageddon

Another snow event going on here.  What is it now, 3 so far?  But they've been on the weekends, so as the song goes, 'since we've no place to go...' yadda yadda. 

At least the roads were fine yesterday when we needed to get up to Children's Hospital - St. Paul for Zach's outpatient surgery.  Everything went fine and he's doing great, except he won't take the yucky tylenol w/codeine.  Can't blame him, it's 7% alcohol and reeks.

And Adrienne successfully broke her back-up glasses so she's half-blind wearing her very first pair.  Had to go ahead and order a pricey replacement lens.  Oh well.  Not a biggy in the grand scheme of things.  She might be wrecking the car in 7 years.

no future olympians

Adrienne and Nicky are taking a community ed gymnastics course.  We did one of these sessions years ago when A was four.  She would face plant every time she tried to somersault down the big foam triangle wedge thingy.  Five years haven't improved her coordination much, so it's a good thing they're just taking the class for the fun of it.  And it does look like fun - for one, they have a long trampoline the kids get to bounce down.  Wheeeee.

Here's fuzzy Adrienne attempting a cartwheel-

Maybe it doesn't help that she can't wear her glasses while tumbling.  Speaking of glasses, the poor kid is wearing her old ones after losing a lens in her current glasses while at school.  Insurance won't pay for lost glasses/lens or whatever so we'll probably wait till January.

We decided to try a Menard's Christmas tree this year.  It still looked goofy after cutting off the wrap (first pic).  Took a while for it to warm up.

December 1st

New colors for Advent!

And Hanukkah begins tonight at Sundown.  If the PC police had their game together, though, we would hear more about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  "According to Jewish law, Hanukkah is one of the less important Jewish holidays. However, Hanukkah has become much more popular in modern practice because of its proximity to Christmas."

And Yay for Rosa Park's"civil disobedience" anniversary.