This was probably the busiest holiday break of my life... as I had to leave one job, graduate from college, prepare for Christmas and had a houseful of friends and family at our house on Christmas day, and a New Year's/graduation party at our house on New Year's Eve... and now I will begin my new job tomorrow, as a 3rd/4th grade teacher. The past few weeks have been busy, but I must say that the reasons for the business were all blessings. I am thankful for this eventful break because it was full of many great times and memories. I am also anticipating what life holds in store for me, even within the next week... It's a huge leap going from teaching toddlers to "big kids". I will keep ya'll posted on that.
Well, we are all doing very well. It was so interesting to see how Shelby reacted to Christmas this year, as opposed to last year. She was enthralled with the lights on the houses and really got into the present thing this year... sadly, she also got into the "I want/need that" phase with all of the toy advertisements/hype... But at the same time, she does well when you explain to her that she does not actually need any of those things. It was funny to observe her thought process as she would open a present, then think that the next present was going to be the same thing that was in the previous box... and then she changed her mind and predicted that it would be a snowman, since the box was wrapped in snowman wrapping paper... It was hilarious. She never quite figured that out. We have a neat nativity set that a friend gave her last year, that she was able to really use this year. It is an interactive manger scene with plastic figurines and a book that we could read to her each night. Shelby can place the characters wherever she wants to in the scene. She loved it and really got into talking about baby Jesus. We also baked him a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday Baby Jesus this year. She sings it almost every day since then, and has made a cake out of sand at the park and sang the song, as well as out of one of those wooden peg games and pretended the pegs were candles. So I think she at least somewhat understood the true meaning of Christmas, in her own way. It is so much fun. This morning, on the way to church, she said "Mommy, baby Jesus no a baby anymore. He a man!" How cool is that?
Well, we had a great time visiting with all of Don's family from California and Chicago. I was able to take Jackie and Micah with Shelby to a Gymboree (little play Gym) party on one of the days... The kids loved that. We also got to go to the Children's Museum and Museum of Natural Science with them while in Houston, and then went with them to San Antonio and did the River Walk boat tour and the San Antonio Zoo. I'll attach photos from those events.
Shelby made great friends with her cousin Micah (Don's cousin Jackie's son). Micah is only 4 months older than Shelby. Amazingly, they played peacefully the entire time and never even argued over a toy or anything... Very rare for toddlers indeed! I wish they lived closer... They are all the way near Sacramento so it might be awhile before we can hang out again. We are hoping to maybe see them this summer... We'll see.
We wrapped up 2008 by having a graduation/New Year's Eve party at our house. That was really great and nice to see our close friends and catch up on each other's lives. Overall I must say that the Lord has blessed us so much... and that is what I want to reflect on the most from this Christmas.
(* the graduation party photos are still on my camera so I'll have to attach those later)
I'll finish this note up by adding that today marks the 6th year of our marriage! I cannot believe how the time has flown. We went to see the movie Yes Man with Jim Carrey tonight and then went to the Macaroni Grill, which was really nice. We needed a good laugh so it was a perfect movie. Sue babysat Shelby for us so we were thankful for a much needed date! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband who loves Shelby and I so much. He literally would hang the moon for us if he could.
I love you with all of my heart.
I am so glad we have spent so many wonderful years together
and am excited about spending the rest of my life together with you!
Love Always, Me
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