Christmas

Christmas Eve we held our 2nd annual Gingerbread decorating contest.  Again the teams were girls vs. boys but after the walloping the girls delivered to the boys for the 2nd year in a row, I think we'll need to even out the teams next year.

Then we packed a ridiculous amount of people in our living room to exchange gifts with those we don't get to see Christmas Day.  Not pictured is a most lovely spread of food that I look forward to every year.

Christmas morning started at 5:30am!!!  AThe first time it's been so early.  We made them go back to bed for a while but really, how well do you think that worked?  Luckily Adalyn slept until 10!  So at least one of us was well rested for our marathon that is Christmas Day.  The girls were delighted by their gifts and I was proud that they really took time to look at each gift before moving on to the next.

 Even Possum got some special treats.  Which did not last long.

 Then to the Kelly Christmas, of which I have shamefully few photos.  But was delightful anyhow.  We always play the White Elephant Gift game with the adults We almost got to take home the bun and weiner toaster.  Ahh, maybe next year:)

 Then we finish up the evening at my Aunts house for dinner(a really delicious smoked turkey!) and more gift giving. The girls hand made ornaments for each person this year and they turned out great and they really loved giving them.

 Santa and the Reindeer left these cutie towels for the girls and although we couldn't possibly squeeze a bath into Christmas Day, if Santa happens onto this blog, I want him to see the girls enjoying one of his gifts.

Merry Christmas to all!  

May your days ahead not include little feet in the ribs.

Or barf on any sheets,

But only the loveliness of family

And the tangible presence of God.

Alone..With Confectioners Sugar

I just had to step away for a moment.  Something to do with the morning rush to the school bus.  But this is what I get for leaving a not-quite-2yr.-old alone with a  pancake, some utensils, and a shaker full of confectioner sugar.

Note that only about half the pancake was eaten.  But the sugar was delicious:)

Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus

 Someone got bit by the silly bug!

Snow!

While I am not terribly excited about the frigid white stuff that accumulates and makes driving and just about anything outdoors hard, these 3 little snow angels are delighted.


Today we even bundled up Adalyn to play for the 1st time since she was too young last year.  She got around pretty well despite the snow pants, puffy coat and mittens she wouldn't keep on.  She didn't last too long but enjoyed it all the same.

The older two have been out all week in the stuff.  Creating imaginary kingdoms and making angels.  I swear they beg to go out half the time so they can come in desperate for Hot Cocoa!

So what are three girls to do when there's snow on the ground and no hills in sight?  

Make Daddy pull them around in a sled of course!

Fun In a Box

Kids are awesome in the fact that it really doesn't take much for them to have fun.  We do get them some expensive toys but they can have just as much fun in a box.  I love that about them.  They must have spent a good half hour pushing each other around in that silly beat up box.

Where Does the Time Go?

Busy.   Busy with the everyday life that is 3 girls, 1 dog, 2 cats, and not enough hours in the day.  Busy with Christmas preparations so I'm not waiting until the last minute to get those Christmas cards(so far 1 delivered, 99 to go) out the door.  Busy with decorations, which are up.  Although our Christmas card holder that encircles a doorway looks very sad without any cards on it.   Busy shopping, online and in person.  Busy trying very hard not to let life slip by so dang fast.

I haven't even posted about the birthday party the girls went to in a pink limo!!!  No really!

Or about the parent teacher conferences that went so very well.  Both girls excelling beyond their grade.  Both model students.  Will I ever get tired of hearing good things about my kids from other people?  Probably not.

Or about hosting Thanksgiving for the Kelly family.  During which I did not take one single photo.   32 people for dinner and I can't remember to take one picture??  Oi.

Work is going well, just really busy.  Especially for Wayne who is working 60+ hours a week to try and fill back orders.  I would love to post video of the new machines at work but I'm fairly certain my boss would object on proprietary principles.  Good help is hard to find and we know that better than most.  We still have a hard time finding new, committed, and conscientious employees.  So if you like manufacturing(b/c it does take a certain kind of person), don't mind getting dirty, and have an interest in glass, please apply.  You may not get rich but at the end of the day you get a certain satisfaction from actually making an object.

I would not have thought that the extra hours for him would be all that harder for us, but it does change the chemistry of a day.  Now we aren't sitting down to eat until 6:15 at the earliest.  By then, Willa is wiped out and thinking more about sucking on her fingers than actually eating a meal.  Denver, who is my type A, has held it together all day but will then melt down over something seemingly insignificant.  Ady?  Well she's still a crap shoot.  Sometimes she eats dinner, sometimes not.  Something she loved last time isn't touched the next.  Some nights she spends more time running around the table than eating at it.

sigh.

Still I love this time of year.  We took the older 2 to see Tangled, their very first movie at a theatre.  They were enthralled.  Eyes big, greasy fingers from popcorn, completely drawn in.  When Denver was 4 1/2 we went to Disneyworld and she freaked at all the dramatic performances and stuff.  Just too much stimulation for her.  So I was very happy to see her just enjoy the experience.  And the movie was really cute too.

I have a few more posts, all half written in my head.  For now though I am enjoying a quiet Sunday morning with my coffee and my poor neglected blog.  On to the Sunday ads, cleaning, possibly church if we can get out the door, volleyball clinic, dinner with friends, and home to start another week.   If I can, I will squeeze in some wrapping, doubtful, but a girl can dream.

Where to Start First...

Here I thought life would settle down after volleyball.  It's been 5 days and I can't seem to catch my breath!

So where to start first...

Well, I will apologize since this will be short.  We have some really great things coming up but they require a lot of my time and I am really stealing time from them to do this.  But cool thing #1...

Willa got her Library Card!  This is a very exciting time for our Kelly Girls.  She's been asking but I made her wait until I felt she had really worked 'hard' at printing her name.  Poor thing though, as soon as we got home from the library she accidentally ripped a page clear out of a book she had borrowed.  The poor thing cried for 10 minutes!  But hopefully that will not be the memory that stays imprinted in her brain about the day she got her library card.

Cool thing #2...My new tree was planted this week.  A London Plane Tree, which has a cool camouflage look to its' bark.  Well, maybe it isn't SO cool, but it is to me.  Especially b/c it was 'free.'  well, I'm sure our town taxes paid for it but the Town of Greece DPW came and planted it for us after taking down the old Norway Maple that looked more like a modern piece of art than a tree.

And Cool thing #3...we had lovely weather last week.  Course, as I write this it's raining and has been for days(good for my tree though).  And Adalyn got a chance to play in the leaves.  That girls gets cuter every day I swear.

Now, onto prepping our basement to be filled with 22 people on Sunday then 36 people next Saturday.  Not an easy task, especially if you knew what it looked like right now.  Yikes, I think our junk cavorted when we weren't looking and has multiplied by 10!

Cracking Under the Pressure of Thankfulness

Sigh.

 It was an unrealistic goal.  I should have known better than to try and force myself to do it.  Like a child being forced to eat something unpleasant, I dug my heels in and spontaneously found myself 'not in a blogging mood.'  And why not?  All I had set before me was the  challenge of being thankful everyday.  The problem was that by 'making' myself do it, it made me not want to do it.  It made it a chore.  Chores inherently, do not make filled with thankfulness.

Ahh, the human condition.

I still have lots to be thankful for but maybe I won't hold myself to posting about it every day.  Too much pressure.

Saturday our volleyball season ended when we played the #1 ranked Eden in the State quarter-finals.  Ranked #1 in the State, regardless of class.

Sigh.

We've played them before at this same quarter-final match.  5 times in fact.  All with the same outcome.   They weren't perfect, they were just better than us that day.  Our girls played well, maybe at about 85% of their abilities.  We really could have used another 10%.  But they felt good about their accomplishments this season.

We sat for quite some time as a team after it was over.  Tears, of course, but when no one had anything else to say, we all continued to sit.  Not wanting to leave.  Once we left that huddle, it was done.  Goodbyes inevitably follow and one by one they trickle out of the gym, home to be cheered by loving friends and family.  But as we sat, postponing the goodbyes, the feeling of...having been part of something bigger than even the sum of its' parts was tangible.

So now I go to work and come home.  And it feels strange that there's nothing else to my day besides boring old laundry and diapers and dishes.  I know from experience this feeling lasts for a couple weeks and then my time gets filled up with other things.  If it doesn't, bad things happen(like 33 vending machines).  This year I've decided to coach for a travel volleyball team.  So very soon I expect, I will be feeling sufficiently busy.  And I suppose now I have no real excuse for not getting my house chores done.

Sigh.

Day 9

Volleyball again!!!  I am thankful for another W that puts us into the State Championship.  There are only 8 teams still playing in Class B in the whole state, and we are one of them!

Day 8

Today I'm thankful for...timing.  And for knowing that even though I had just finished telling Adalyn NOT to do this very thing, she went ahead and did it anyhow.  And instead of preventing it, which I could have done, I picked up the camera instead and waited.  For just the right moment to...click.  With Denver and Willa I for sure would have prevented it, at least I'm pretty sure.

 Something about that 3rd one.  She keeps us hopping.  She has a slew of broken things in her wake.  Among them;  the keyboard to our new computer(taken in and exchanged for a new keyboard.  Thank God it was under warranty!), the TV remote(that of course belongs to the cable company not actually the one that came with the tv), the same computer's mouse(awaiting its' turn to be taken in and exchanged while still under warranty).  I must say I find it hard not to bust out laughing when I catch her in the act of naughtiness and ask her what she is doing.  She looks at the mess in front of her and gasps as if to say, "Oh my gosh, how did that get here?"

Day 7

Today, I am thankful for a few things.  Small things.  Like a chance to visit with girlfriends at church.  And watching football with my soul mate, even if it was interrupted often by some enthusiastic pretend games involving the kitchen play-set, newly rotated into the living room.  And what a relief to have Wayne home for good. Like a deep sigh after a nap, I can feel the whole house relax into normalness again.

Day 5 & 6

 Section V NYS Class B Champions!
The first time ever for Aquinas, and the 4th year in a row for Mike(Varsity Coach) and me.

It didn't quite go as planned.  It wasn't our best game to be sure.  We dropped the 3rd(playing best 3 of 5) and had to play a 4th, but in the end, we get the trophy so yeah for us:)

All of our kids worked hard this season so they deserve every accolade they get.  And I try not to single kids out since this is such a team sport.  Even if you took our top 8 kids, what would they be without the other 8 that challenge them daily at practice?  

 But...there are always exceptions.  These three are what I have called my favorite trifecta.  And this really has little to do with this year or this win.  It has more to do with 5 years ago when I had them with me as 8th graders.  It was one of my most enjoyable years due in large part to them and their friendships with each other, their work ethic(even as 8th graders!), their leadership, and their general good humor(a character trait highly underrated!).   There's a coach in each of them, should they ever pursue that.

The thing is, when they were in 8th grade, when I put on our coaching glasses(the ones that allows you to see the development of a player in the future), I knew, or hoped, it would be like this.

So today and yesterday I am thankful for our Sectional Title, for the great trifecta, and the coming together of two schools, to make one beautiful season.