Nutcracker and Decorating

Emerald made it into the 21st Annual Homer Nutcracker Ballet this year. She began practicing in October and they had six shows the first two weeks of December. She was a little mouse, did a Maypole dance, and stood on stage the entire second act as a Castle Guard for the queen. She loved it and did very well in spite of not having any dance experience. We didn't get many pictures but we all got to see the show, even me. Here she is backstage getting makeup done.
We took the week of Thanksgiving off from school since I wasn't up to doing much. But we started the next week and have been going ever since. We will keep on this week and next just so we can catch up from our late start this fall. We'll take a few days off for play dates with our friends that are off from school. We brought all the kids books over to the house and I teach from the couch. Here Alectra and Alexis are reading to me.The week before Christmas the kids brought all the decorations in and found a tree. They had a great time doing it all by themselves. Our house it too small for a tree but since we don't have a front step and don't use the front door we decided to stick it in that nook. It made decorating a little tough but we can still use the living room which is important!
The wild decorator! By the way that is Jayce's hand not Emerald's.The best part of decorating is getting the tree skirt out. It spends at least a week as a dance skirt before I can convince the girls to put it under the tree. My mom made it and it twirls so nicely. Here is Alectra dancing and twirling.Mom and Wenge sat on the couch directing traffic and getting ornaments ready to hang. The finished product in the dining room, with my new Christmas table cloth.

Here is the family picture under the tree. Warren always said he would never take a Chrismas picture with the family pet but he was shouted down this year. Have a Merry Christmas!

Skating!

We spent some time skating this winter. Someone gave us skates and I picked up a pair at the Salvation Army. We went to the Veldstra's once to play on their pond too. Thanks Kathy for the pictures.

The Hockey team! It was the first skate of the year and the blisters were forming fast, so Jayce played with his boots for a little while. The girls playing on the ice. Look at all those smiles!We had a skating party on our pond with our small group. Warren built a fire by the ice to keep us warm.
Alexis and Alectra had fun with Hunter eating cookies.
What a fun bunch of kids.
This was the party that I fell and broke my ankle. I was carrying a pot of soup up to eat and slipped and fell. I slipped, felt my ankle snap and then hit the ice, very nicely setting the pot of soup on the ice without spilling a drop. This is the x-ray taken at the ER, notice the shattered fibula and the two pieces off the tibia. It was also dislocated, no surprise! They sent me home with a splint and lots of pain medicine.
I went to Soldotna to an orthopedic surgeon on Wed before Thanksgiving, and he operated that day. Office visit at 10 am, check into the hospital at 1 pm, surgery from 3-6 pm and I was on the way home by 7 pm. Thanks to Stacey and Niki,who kept the kids for the day. This is how it looked when I left.Eleven screws, a plate and a stabilizer through the two bones. Those are the two little round things on the side of the leg bones. My staples are all out and the incisions are healing well. Jan. 5, Jayce's birthday, I have to go back to the Dr so he can tell me if I can start putting weight on my leg. It still swells and hurts if I'm up much, but for the most part it feels o.k. I'll be glad to get off the couch one of these days, it is getting a hole in it from my bottom. Keep praying for healing and that I would have no lasting effects. Pray for the rest of the family too, they have a lot of stuff to take care of without me.

Pumpkins, cats and birthdays.

I made it to the computer all by myself, it only took me 1/2 hour to get all the pillows, ice and phone here with me. I thought I would start where I left off and update in chronological order.

We had great fun decorating pumpkins but they froze and melted before we got pictures so you don't get to see the final masterpiece. The kid's did a great job with their chosen designs. Here are the "in progress" pictures. Emerald scratch carved a fairy on a unicorn, Jayce did a window cutout with a cat on one side and a spider on the other. Alexis did modern art flowers with paint and Alectra painted a black cat in swirls.We have the best kitty! She is amazingly patient. And she loves to be petted and loved any way it comes.
The next big event was my birthday! Wow! Warren took me to dinner with some friends and we had a great time eating great food without any interruptions. I'm blessed with such wonderful friends that love the Lord. Thanks Guys. When we got home Jayce and Emerald had made me a carrott cake and decorated it. They decided that 40 candles were too many, thank goodness. It was delicious!
Jayce, Emerald and Warren cut, hauled and stacked this load of wood all alone. They were pretty proud of all their hard work. This was our third load of wood and Warren says it won't be enough to last the winter. We will see, the house doesn't take much but the shop will take lots.