Welcome December

Big jump from Halloween to December...I'm sure November happened, but it certainly flew by. We had a wonderful week-long trip to Utah for Thanksgiving this year. Armed with vitamins, Airborne, and disinfectant wipes, we even managed to survive our travels without getting sick (big cheer from us--last year's bugs were no fun).
It was nice to be with family and to be able to finally introduce SCC to a few more aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandparents. TE would add his pleasure in finally being able to see the Utes play--football and basketball--though the outcomes of the games were not too desirable. Snow fell just in time for us to leave, and just enough to convince us Texans that it really is winter somewhere out there:)










One special treat while we were in Salt Lake was being able to join the Cundick family in celebrating the 80th birthday of TE's grandfather, Robert Cundick (or Boba, to us). We attended a special "all Cundick" broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir which honored Boba's music as well as his years of service as the Tabernacle organist. What an honor it was for us to be there.

SCC turned 4 months old on Nov 28th. Still smiling, "talking" in cute little sighs, and stuffing fingers in her mouth, she is growing fast and brightening our days.

Speaking of growing, we are undergoing the bed-time shuffle. TLC started sleeping in a "big boy bed" this week. He has done very well and seems to be quite proud of himself, although I'm finding that come nap time, I have to do more to settle him down to sleep than I did when he was in a crib. We still need to move the crib out of TL's and RV's room and into SC's (i.e. the computer room), but since it won't fit through the door, the complete transition will have to wait for a night that we remember to pull out the tools before bedtime. For now, SCC sleeps in the portable crib.

Our house is looking pretty festive--we've enjoyed some weekend Christmas decorating. It's fun to pull out the tree ornaments--mostly homemade ones that we've added to each year. Almost spent are the wreath and reindeer ornaments that TE and I made by gluing painted puzzle pieces together for our first Christmas in Williamsburg--most have broken, but we still have a few up on the tree this year. The felt advent calendar that I made just a few months after we were married is up as well. It looks like RVC will be managing that one this year; first thing this morning, she asked, "Mom, did you move Mary and Joseph to the 2? Because today is December 2."

Decorating the tree (we've got the nice row of ornaments at the kids' eye level)

First leaf pile of the year!

Meanwhile, outside we have everything from bare branches to full (even green!) trees. Leaf raking is a huge undertaking here; TE enlisted the kids' help today on the front yard and so far, with maybe half of the leaves down, the count is up to 7 bags (39 gallon size). Stay tuned, because we've decided to keep track this year.