December Update

Since I managed to make only one posting last month, I thought I'd better get a jump on December! Unfortunately I don't have any new photos to share, so will be featuring pictures from earlier in the year, as well as some from last Christmas. I don't think I published any of these on the blog yet, so they should be new to you! This first picture was a fun shot of me pre-pregnancy, taken near Bragg, West Virginia during our trip to see Susan and David this past summer.

Anyway... hope all of you are in good health and coping adequately with our cold, snowy winter. I know this has been a hard time for Laurie and Mark, so want to extend my sympathy to them after the recent loss of their beloved Roxy. We just received their Christmas card today, and see it was a snapshot of them with all their pets, before the accident. Laurie and Mark are both wonderful animal lovers and definitely put my impatient attitude toward pets to shame. It's too bad this had to happen...

I know Bob and John have been struggling in Madison with all the snow and ice. I talked to both on the phone a few days ago, and heard they had been dealing with long hours, equipment breakdowns, and unforgiving customers (besides the hard crusty snow). John has been assisting Bob with his winter snow removal business. Hearing their stories brought back a lot of memories of Jon's foray into winter snow removal. It was always a mix between lack of snow (and what to do for income in between) and too much snow. Everybody wanted their driveway done first, but nobody's neighbors wanted Jon out running equipment too early. Complaints came from every direction, but the pay was slow to come in! Ah yes, memories...

Jon is working in Conover right now. They're working six days a week (at least up until Christmas), so he's been coming home one night a week. The brief time home is frustrating, and since so much travel time's involved it's also not very relaxing for him, but he seems to like the new job otherwise. Now that the power line's done he's part of a crew working at a sub station. This job might last a year (if nothing else closer to home comes up in the meanwhile). But he's able to stay in a nice little two bedroom cabin that's right by a lake (it doesn't cost him much, either). So he brought his snowmobile and ice fishing gear along. He loves it up north and has commented he wouldn't mind retiring up their someday. (Photo of Jon with neice Beth Bragg).

Meanwhile the kids and I have been keeping busy with work and school. Last night Jonathan came over and babysat while I went to a Parent Advisory Council meeting. It's a two hour meeting I have once a month, and it's nice having Jonathan babysit because he knows how to handle the kids and can drive himself to and from our house. (Our teenage babysitter doesn't have a license yet, and seems to be losing her interest in babysitting now that school's started).

One more week till Mikey's ninth birthday! It falls on a Tuesday, which also happens to be a Girl Scout meeting day, so he has graciously consented to let us to have a Girl Scout Christmas party that evening. I plan to get him something extra special for his birthday, to make up for the girl-party thing. He's a trooper! (Photo of Michael in November of this year).

This past weekend Michael had a basketball game (his team is doing very well this year) on Saturday, and Emma went to two different birthday parties on Sunday. The two kids who invited her were both good friends, and their parties were at different times of the day, so it was possible for her to attend both. Jon and Mikey stayed home and watched the Packer game, and I got Mikey's birthday shopping done.

This Friday I'm meeting my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law for lunch at Olive Garden. We're having our annual Secret Pal reveal. Last year we exchanged names, and each person became someone's secret pal. The idea was to give them little surprise presents during the year, at different holidays and their birthday. It's been a fun thing to participate in-- especially finding something mysterious on the doorstep every now and then.

Here's a photo taken last year in December, at Jon's sister Sally's house. I believe the occassion was Bud's 80th birthday party. This is Jon with his brothers and sisters. From left to right: Brent, Ann, Mark, Sally, Eric, Phil and Jon (the baby brother).

Mom called last night and said that her and dad were planning a trip to Eau Claire on Saturday. Maybe we can have a little early birthday party for Michael that day. It's always tricky finding time to celebrate his birthday, since it falls so close to Christmas. But I already had told both kids: no birthday parties with friends this year (just family). They've had parties with friends all through their childhood, and we think this should be more of a special thing and not a regular occurrence.

Well, I'll sign off here. I'll try to post later this month with pictures from this Christmas. This year Jonathan will bring Susan and David over Christmas morning (as we typically do) and we'll have our present opening, then at 2 o'clock we'll head over to Phil and Jill's for a big Hurlburt family party. After Christmas (we haven't set an exact day yet) we'll head over to Rhinelander. We want to time it so that we see Don and Hope and family while they're there (even though I already gave their kids Christmas presents-- I hope they remember those and won't be waiting for more from us. At the time I gave them I didn't know we'd be seeing Don and Hope at Christmas).

Take care, and season's greetings!