The Blizzard

Our Blizzard they called for ended up being about an inch of snow. I was not surprised. But the kids were excited none the less. Getting the kids ready to go swimming is a real pain in the butt but it's still easier than getting them ready for the snow. Millie has a snow suit and she can mostly get herself dressed once I lay out all the layers and tell her what order to put them on in. Reed doesn't have snow clothes so its a matter of digging through drawers and finding what can go over what. He ended up with 4 pairs of pants on, 2 shirts, and a jacket. I just kept thinking "I can't put my arms down!"



I went out in the morning and shoveled part of the driveway and made the kids a fort.

That afternoon Rick went out with them and they had way more fun. They got out the big ball they got from Vince and Holly for Christmas. It slid really well in the snow.

They then decided to build a snowman on the back deck for Dobby to see from his condo. Dobby hopped out there and enjoyed watching them.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning finally arrived in our 18 days of Christmas celebration. For the past 3 years we have stayed at our house on Christmas Day. It's just so much better for the kids. We started this when we lived in Knoxville because all we did for 3 days it seemed was drive. Drive, drive, drive. We are closer now but have stuck with the tradition of staying at our house on Christmas Day. Anyone is welcome and we invited mine and Rick's parents along with a few of my aunts. Mom and Dad were the only ones that took us up on the offer but that was fine. Everyone is busy and we, as much as anyone, understand that.

Breakfast was a yummy Santa pancake that oddly, the kids didn't like. I guess they just like their pancakes straight up. Oh well. Next year I'll have to go back to doughnut snowmen. Everyone likes a good doughnut snowman.

Mom and dad came over later for lunch. Reed and my dad were having a serious talk over a bowl of pistachios.

After lunch it was time for some lego building of course.

I asked the kids what their favorite things were they have gotten.

Millie - Dobby, getting her nails done, the big play house to color and a maze ball.

Reed - Dobby, Fluffy (a build-a-bear dog) a drumset, rocket launcher and his semi lego set.

Meet Dobby - Our House Elf Kitten

Christmas seems to have lasted forever this year. We had our first Christmas celebration with Rick's family on December 9th in Evansville at Jeff and Lyndsie's house. We will have our final one on the 27th with my family at Laura and Joe's house so my kids have had 18 days of Christmas.

Sandwiched between all of that was a surprise gift from my Aunt Mary Jude. She offered to pay the adoption fees for us to get the kids a kitten. Rick and I had been kicking around the idea because we wanted the kids to have a pet. My kids have been begging for a kitten so we finally agreed. I picked him out at the New Albany Animal Shelter on the 18th and then paid for him to stay until the 23rd when we could pick him up and give it to them on Christmas morning. But, after I got home, I felt bad leaving him in there so I went back the next day and rescued him.

Prior to picking him up, Rick built a cool kitty condo on our deck off of our sunroom so the cat's litter box and food can stay out there. There is a little pet door in the window for him to have access. It now has carpet in the bottom, a nice tree log for claw sharpening and a few shelves for him to climb on and lounge up high and watch the wildlife in the back yard. This cat has it made!

The kids saw the kitten when they got home from school and were very excited. It had several names in the first few hours but by the end of the evening everyone had settled on Dobby. Dobby is a character from the second Harry Potter book that Millie has just finished reading. In the book, Dobby is a house elf and he slams his head on things to punish himself for doing bad things. Our Dobby kept sliding around on the slick floor chasing a ping pong ball and smacking his head on the walls, floors and chairs so it seemed fitting.

After a week, our little bag of bones has made himself quite at home at our house. He loves to be where the people are and will find any available lap to snuggle on. We still keep him in the sunroom at night and when we are not home but I'm sure he will get more freedom when he gets bigger and learns to stay off the couch.

Reed's Christmas Program

I'll be honest here, I love Reed but his Christmas Program was brutal to sit through. There, I said it. It started 15 minutes late then the principal (who I'm not real impressed with anyway) made about 10 minutes of announcements about carpool procedure. Not the time or place for all those details with a packed gym of aunts, uncles and grandparents who could care less about carpool lines and PTO announcements.

Anyway, it finally started and Reed looked like he was going to be sick. Not sure what was going on. He kept squatting down and had a look of pain to him. He sang but his showmanship was lacking.

He did his speaking part great, though, so I was a proud mommy. Then when the PreK group was done, they left the stage and we had to sit though Kindergarten and then through First Grade.

Maybe my heart wasn't in it that night but I was ready to leave. Maybe it's because I could tell something was off with Reed but who knows? Just call me the Grinch.

Piano Recital

Millie had been practicing extremely hard for her piano recital. She started piano in kindergarten but then we moved and never found an instructor in Westfield but she got back in it once we got to Floyd Knobs. She had only had less than 2 semesters of lessons at the time of this recital. She wanted to play Carol of the Bells and We Three Kings. Carol of the Bells was very difficult and she nailed it at the recital. There was an older resident of the nursing home sitting next to me and he looked pretty bored until Millie played and he turned to his wife/friend and said "that little one is really good!" Made me a little proud!

Practicing before the recital.

Millie has lots of special folks come see her play. Her Great Aunt Mary Jude, her Aunt Laura and her Grandpa.

Her teacher's aide, Mrs. Cotner and her husband, came to listen.

Aunt Holly and Uncle Vince drove straight from Colorado to see her. Vince had no sleep in 2 days and was falling asleep but we really couldn't blame him.

There was plenty of time for some Meunier bonding before it started.

Reed waited patiently for it to be over so we could eat.

All of Millie's beautiful flowers she got afterward from Mary Jude and Vince and Holly.

And now for the video. This is her practicing at home before the recital because I figured I would not be able to get it there.

We Three Kings


Carol of the Bells

Halloween

The kids sure had a different kind of Halloween this year. In years past, we have always lived in a neighborhood where we would walk to a few neighbor's houses then the kids would come back to our house and hand out candy, lots of it. Living in the country is a bit of a downer when it comes to Halloween. We didn't even go trick-or-treating because we would have only had about 5 houses to drive to and the kid's costumes had to be taken on and off to get in the car. Too much trouble. So we went to several church parties where they could play games and wear their costumes. On Halloween we stayed home to hand out candy...to our 2 trick-or-treaters. One was my nephew and one was my mom. I called both of them to make sure they came.

My mom made Millie as awesome dragon costume. Millie wanted to be a purple dragon and she was the prettiest and coolest purple dragon I ever saw. Reed wanted to be a knight so they pretended Millie was Reed's dragon and he controlled her. Mom made his costume too including a custom shield that said Sir Reed. She rocks.

Soccer

Reed's soccer season finished up in October. He had a great time but he said he is more excited about football, baseball and basketball. That was music to my ears, I'm not a big soccer fan.

Cross Country Finals

This blog has gotten all out of order. I have not finished Cross Country yet so we are going to hop back to October and catch up on what's happened since then.

Millie finished in 14th over all place in her preliminary race. This meant that even if her team had not qualified to race in the final race, she would have qualified as an individual to race. Her team did qualify to race (first place again) so she was in for sure, no worries.

It is funny that she finished so well considering she started way in the back. Well, she was supposed to start in the front as one of her team's top runners. And she was on the front line. Until just before they blew the whistle to start the race and she turned around and ran back to her coaches. Rick and I looked at each other and wondered what was going on. She was talking to her coaches as the whistle blew. She finally took off about 20 seconds behind everyone else and started running. I couldn't believe it. She had worked so hard to get back in the top 7 to start up front and now she took off behind everyone else. I asked her coaches what happened and they said she told them she needed to potty. They told her to just run and pee later. Well, I guess it made her run pretty fast because she passed nearly everyone and finished 14th. Then kept running past the finish line and right to the bathroom.

14 must be her standard number because she finished in 14th place for the championship as well and her team finished first place, boys and girls. They did great and I was so proud of Millie's first ever cross country experience. Next year she said she was going to start training before the season starts so she will be in better shape. And she's pretty excited because this year she was a second grader running with grades 2-4. The only girl on her team she never beat was a 4th grader so she has already figured out that she stands a good chance to be her team's top runner next year as a third grader. I guess we shall see.

Coaches

Mrs. Murphy - Principal

Hard Day

Reed had a rough afternoon helping Rick cut and load firewood. He came in with me to read and snuggle a little. Well, just like me, reading must make him sleepy. He fell asleep on me while reading Buttercups Big Day. He did keep his place though so at least he won't need to start over when he wakes up.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm way behind on blogging but wanted to post these photos. We are on our way to Santa Claus for Thanksgiving and both the kids are doing what they do best while on a car trip.