Where did you go, December?

My head is still spinning.  It was fun, but definitely fast.

Here's what we've been up to:
1.  Thanksgiving in North Carolina was awesome.  We even got to sneak up to Boone for a day. 

2.  The incredibly talented and oh-so-kind Braj installed my curbside-treasure cast iron sink for the kids to play in.  HOURS and HOURS of fun already... and it's not even summer.  Everyone with small children should have an outdoor kid-sized sink.  Everyone.

3.  Acacia is totally into Leap, Lily, and Tad... the Leapfrog characters because of two movies, The Letter Factory and The Word Factory.  She has been writing up a storm and pointing out short words she sees around.  Here's a shot of her chalkboard after teaching herself how to write "pop".

4.  I finally finished the Florida room (also the dining room, or the grey room).  It's so cozy and functional and we spend a very good part of every day here.  Again, a big thanks to Braj for installing shelves and Ikea rods into our concrete wall.  Total cost for all shelving:  less than $15.  Used cans hold crayons, colored pencils, markers, plant clippings, and the like.  Wood for shelves is scrap, everything else is Ikea, baby!  Oh, not the authentic antique Peruvian textile.  That's from the market in Lima.

 

5.  Then there were the big events:  Braj turned 32.  We celebrated our 9th anniversary with a date; thanks to our incredible baby sitters.  Company Christmas party in Orlando.  Married Couple's Fellowship dinner.  Party for a friend's new baby.  Guest speaker for the teenage girls in our youth group.  Live Nativity at a local church, with camels.  Cookie swap (mmmm... espresso & cardamom dark chocolate truffles).  Yes, all of those were in mid-December.  See why I didn't have time to write?!

6.  Christmas Eve service had the kid's choir; Acacia was so darling.  Here's "Feliz Navidad", she starts getting into it about halfway through.


7.  Christmas day was lovely; the vivacious and hospitable June had us over for a yummy dinner and we enjoyed a nice stroll around the neighborhood.  That's what you do in Miami on Christmas evening.  Walk around outside without freezing your tail off.  It's great.

8.  My parents came down for several days.  We had such a great time together.  They have most of the pictures, the only one I made it out with is this shot of my mom and I sporting our 3D glasses for the movie Avatar.  We got our awesome sitter to come over so we could hang together for some grown up time.  Thanks for coming down guys, I had so much fun with you.  I love you very much.