Finn McCool and His Fearless Wife

After a few months of rehearsals, the junior high Fall play finally arrived.  The play was based on an Irish folktale called "Finn McCool and His Fearless Wife."  It involved Leprachauns, fairies, and lots of Irish accents.  Ashley was the town washer woman, Mrs. Rafferty.

It was fun to watch and the kids all did a great job.  Ashley was a great little actress.  It was a big time committment but she really seemed to enjoy herself, so hopefully she will audition again next year.

Primary Christmas Party

At Church there was a Christmas party for all the Primary children.  The theme was "I'll Play My Best For Him" based on the story of the Li'l Drummer Boy.  Seriously, the whole thing was so sweet and cute.  I can't tell you how impressed I am by the Primary leaders in our ward.

The party was held in the morning and all the families were served a very yummy breakfast.  Then the kids made a darling Drummer Boy ornament.

There was also a short program depicting the nativity and the little drummer boy offering his gift.  The program concluded with all the children singing the song "Li'l Drummer Boy" accompanying with their very own homemade drums.  The centerpiece on each of the tables was a collection of drums and so each of the kids got to choose one and then play on their drums while they sang.  How cute is that?!

After the program, a special visitor arrived and each of the kids got to visit Santa!

Paige is always a little shy, but her request this year was the 2011 Holiday Barbie or the Christmas Barbie set--she can't decide.  (Maybe she'll get both...)

I had to include these pictures.  This is Paige and her friend Zach.  I don't know how she feels about this, but Zach is planning to marry Paige when they grow up! On Sundays, as we leave church, Zach has often yelled out to Paige in the parking lot, "Bye Paige, I love you!"  It's so cute, he is such a loving boy without guile, I'm glad that he and Paige are friends.  Zach is the only boy in his Primary class, so he and Paige hang out a lot.  Zach is also the child that cried and was really worried when Paige fainted in class last year.  Paige had to call and tell him she was okay afterwards because he was so worried about her.  Zach came and sat with us during breakfast at the party and he and Paige were up to all kinds of fun.

Paige - Student of the Week

Paige was Student of the Week.  She was so excited.  She had to make a poster and she did it all her self.  She was so excited to work on it.  She had to paste a picture of herself on the poster.  She decided to pose and make a silly cross-eyed face for her picture.  I love that she was brave enough to do something different.  She loved all the activities and attention that come along with being Student of the Week.  She got to eat lunch with her teacher, read a story to the class, and share some of her favorite things.  

Crazy Hair Day!

Ashley Piano Recital

Ashley had her first piano recital this month.  She has been taking piano from a neighbor for about 2 1/2 years and this was the first time we had a recital.  Ashley has done so well with the piano.  I am very happy with her teacher and with Ashley's effort to learn.  She is reading music and improving all the time.  It really is a blessing to have music in your home.  I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear both my girls playing the piano.  It is even better at this time of year, when they are playing Christmas songs.

For her recital, Ashley played "Carol of the Bells."  As always she worked very hard because she wanted to do a great job and not make any mistakes.  She is also her own worst critic, so she may not agree, but I thought she did awesome!



Miss Leslie and her piano students



Miss Leslie showing the girls how to play Rachmaninoff

Our whole family went to the recital and we had a very good time.  Ashley's teacher has just 4 students, but they are all from the neighborhood so it was a great opportunity to socialize with friends/neighbors.

The Worst Birthday

Well it is now almost mid-December and we still owe Dave a birthday celebration.  His birthday is so close to Thanksgiving that it often gets swallowed up in that holiday, but we always try to find a way to make his day special.

This year his birthday was two days after Thanksgiving.  The plan was to drive back from Galena in the morning, he and I would go out for a birthday dinner date and then come back and have birthday cake with the girls.

Well, the day of his birthday, he and Paige were hit with the flu.  There was no eating or celebrating that day.  Paige was sick the whole day.  As for Dave, we decided to order his favorite pizza for dinner and skip going out so we could take care of Paige.  Well, the pizza was good but it was around this time that his own flu symptoms started.  Let's just say, he couldn't keep it down.  Happy Barfday!

Two days later when everyone was feeling better, I told Dave let's try again.  Ashley made some brownies and we topped them with peppermint ice cream and hot fudge sauce.  However, this birthday just seemed to be cursed because about 2 minutes before we sat down to sing and eat the next infectious disease hit our home and the mood was lost.

So now my dilemma is: do we try again for a belated celebration?  There is a part of me that just says let it go.  It just wasn't meant to be this year.  Don't ask for trouble.

Thanksgiving Getaway

So this year, Thanksgiving snuck up on me.  Before I knew it, we were less than a week from Thanksgiving with no plans and hardly a thought about it.  At first, I figured I would just cook a small dinner for our family, but then I started feeling like it was going to be a lot of work and not really be "special" for Thanksgiving.  It's times like this it would be nice to just hop on over to your parents house for Thanksgiving dinner and find that someone else did all the work and planning :)

Well, if you can't go to your parents house, you can go to their condo, which is exactly what we did.  We were able to book a last minute 2 night stay in Galena.  Dave's parents have a timeshare there and we are so grateful that we can have access it.  I had to sacrifice "Black Friday" shopping but it was so worth it.

On Thanksgiving Day, we ate an early dinner at home, packed all the leftovers into a cooler and then drove up to Galena. 

When then spent the next two days, eating pie for breakfast, swimming, playing ping-pong, watching movies, reading books and playing cards.  It was a lovely little get-away. 

On the Friday after Thanksgiving the girls and I ventured into historic Galena to visit all the shops.  We didn't really do any serious Christmas shopping, but we bought some games, ice cream, and gourmet popcorn.  Then we worked off our holiday gluttony, by walking up and down the 181 steps that lead to the neighborhoods overlooking the downtown area.

We had a very fun time.  In fact, it was almost perfect.  The only glitch was when Paige got the flu the last night we were there.  She woke Dave and I up in the middle of the night because she had to throw-up.  Fortunately, we were planning to leave the next morning and it was only about a 2 1/2 hour drive home.  Unfortunately, Paige threw up about 20 minutes after we left and was sick 2 more times after that, but we made it home and then just spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and recovering.

Grandpa and Grandma Smith

We were so grateful to have Grandpa and Grandma Smith come for Paige's baptism.  They really are two of our favorite people and it was so much fun to have them come stay with us for a week.

Paige's new scriptures from Gpa/Gma

Fortunately, their visit also coincided with parent/teacher conferences, so the girls had a few days off from school which gave us some time to play.

On their first day here, we took the grandparents to Cantigny to see the tank park and visit the First Division Museum.  This place is a real gem and I don't think it disappointed Grandma and Grandpa either.  We were all dazzled by Grandpa's extensive knowledge about military history, weaponry, etc.

It was a beautiful Fall day and the trees on the grounds were a brilliant gold, it was a great time to visit.  Afterwards, we had some tasty Chicago-style pizza from Giordano's--you can't come to Chicago and skip eating pizza!

Later that evening we went to see the movie Puss N Boots.  After this full day, we came home to relax a little and play some card games.  The girls LOVE to play cards with Grandpa and Grandma!

The next day, Saturday, was the day of Paige's baptism but we started with a morning service project at Feed My Starving Children.  We packed lots of food for needy children around the world.  It was fun to get to work alongside Grandpa and Grandma.


Feed My Starving Children - work crew.
This is not a very clear or good picture,
but it's hard to look flattering in a hair net!

 We also spent one day in downtown Chicago.  We went to the Field Museum and had a great time.

After spending all day at the museum and a stop at the Bears' Pro Shop, we went to Big Bowl for dinner.  We ate a huge family style Asian dinner of Chinese and Thai dishes...yummy.

The next day the girls went to school so Dave, his parents and I went shopping.  Grandpa and Grandma bought all our Christmas presents and then we had a big finale dinner at an Irish Pub with the girls that evening.

What a nice little vacation in the middle of our busy lives.  Of course, the best part was having Grandpa and Grandma come visit us.  Because we live so far away from each other, the time that we do get to spend together is precious, especially for our girls.  But no matter the distance, we always feel their love and are so grateful for all that they do for us.