Happy (snowy) new year!

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's my favorite New Year baby in the New Year party hat that she made (and new Little Mermaid pajamas from Aunt Lynnette). =)

We had a (mostly) wonderful year, and look forward to another (mostly) wonderful year to come. The not-so-wonderful so far has been the 20+ inches of snow we received in December. Just backing out of my driveway is a challenge, trying to squeeze between the two imposing piles of packed snow and sludge from my driveway and what's delivered from the street by the snowplow. Of course, that's the tame part of any drive. Try inching your car out into the street, trying to find a balance between getting far enough out to be able to see oncoming traffic, yet not so far as to be hit by said oncoming traffic. We may "heat" up to the 30s this week, so some of this stuff may melt - woo-hoo! Prior to the next round of 6-8 which I've heard may be heading our way. Hey, bring it on!! (Just kidding...really, God, I was just kidding! ...and in hindsight, buying the $3 "Let It Snow" outdoor snowman thingy from Goodwill and planting it by the front steps in early December might have been a mistake.)

I was going to post our Christmas card/picture on Christmas Day, but didn't get it done. Merry Christmas to everyone who takes the time to read my blog! =)

I don't know why this pic has a weird gray vertical line on it, but I thought it was a cute pic of the gingerbread house she made at school, backed up by our Christmas tree. She did a fair job of helping me trim the tree this year, but after awhile, she said she didn't want to do it anymore, I could finish it. I don't usually want to do any of it to begin with, but I do enjoy how pretty it looks when it's done.

We had our pictures taken at Portrait Innovations, and we had to wait for the gal to get to us in one of the rooms. I'm never crazy about posing in front of a prop Christmas tree, but I took a couple of pictures of her. I didn't think they turned out that great, but they do show her pretty maroon shoes. I took some pics at home and while the lighting may not be great, it turned out to be a cuter picture, I thought.

While we waited for the pictures to be done, we walked down to see the big Christmas tree - same tree as last year's day-after-Thanksgiving tree lighting that we attended. We didn't make the tree lighting this year. I was otherwise occupied that Friday night but not in a fun way (see Thanksgiving post for the details if you missed that story).

Amanda's Sunday school Christmas program was December 13th. I mostly videotaped but did take a couple of pictures of her - she started out playing with her necklace and leaning over the rail, but straightened up after that and did a good job singing and saying her part, which was "She wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him on a bed of Hay".

The line was from a children's Bible adaptation, and was originally "She dressed Him in baby clothes and laid Him on a bed of hay." She learned it that way and then I decided to change it - I didn't like the "baby clothes" line. Too late - it was in her head. She would practice it with me and say it the changed way, but would revert back to the baby clothes line when she stood up in front of the microphone. I didn't make too big of a deal of it, because I didn't want her to start one way and change in the middle of saying it. When it came time for the program, she stepped up the the microphone...and said "cloths" instead of "baby clothes" - good job!!

December 19th was a morning party hosted by Lutheran Family Services (I'm still a foster parent on their roles). Another visit with Santa, and since we got there at the beginning of the party, there weren't many children there yet, so she got to spend a lot of time talking to Santa, much to his eventual dismay. Well, I didn't let her talk to him for that long, but she kept noticing him not busy and she'd go over and start conversing with him. He tried to divert her to other activities, but there really wasn't much else going on. After she told him she was from Russia, he said that Amanda maybe means "chatty" in Russian. I was a little bummed at his attitude (she hadn't bothered him that much, and he really had NOTHING else going on), but I did keep her away from him as well as I could. One of the foster parents had brought a puppy (long story, she needed to deliver him to his new owners out of town) and that definitely held her interest for quite awhile (and created another quandry for me - how much puppy-petting is too much?).

I found the little red holiday shrug at a secondhand store, and I thought it was really cute on her. One sad note from that day was the beautiful blueberry bagel that I topped with blueberry cream cheese (quite a treat for me) - I prepared it and wrapped it up for later (they had so many left over!). We got dressed in our grubbies and headed to Lincoln to help Aunt Barb with painting and some other house-selling prep, and I put the bagel in the bag as a later snack for me and Amanda, with games and things to keep her occupied. I must have missed the fine print of the work 'invitation', which might have said, "Any food which is not locked up in a cupboard will be found by Paco the super food-sleuth and devoured". After helping Barb paint the walls going down to the basement, I went to look in the bag, which I'd left on the bed with our coats. I noticed an empty ripped ziploc bag on the floor. What was really weird was that there was no residue ANYWHERE - no trace of cream cheese, no crumbs. Do you feed that dog, Barb? And how was the purple poop situation? *sigh* I was sad about that bagel. (I know, let it go already. Just mentioning it for the blog - I'm truly over it, Barb.) =)

Here she is working on decorating some of our Christmas card envelopes. I loved how her snowmen looked. Kids' drawings are great, don't you think? I have a pile of her drawings from school that I plan to scan (easier to keep digital pics than the whole drawing).

We hightailed it out of Omaha on Christmas Eve on the heels of an incoming snowstorm which was promising to snow us in. Rather than spend 3-4 days snowbound in our house with just the two of us, I asked my sister Cindy if we could land on them for the duration. I did bring a bunch of food, so as not to be a Christmas leach. We ate chili with Cindy's family that night, then picked up Barb and attended her church's Christmas Eve service, where I got to sing two pieces with her choir. I told him I could be soprano, alto or tenor, whatever was needed, and tenor was his choice. I always enjoy the tenor part, so that was fun. After the service we all snuggled on the couch with popcorn and enjoyed a movie. As you can see, the whole menagerie wanted in on the couch snuggling!

Probably we should have kept an eye on the snowfall - after the movie we left Amanda asleep on the couch (after telling her where I was going to be) and spent quite a bit of time scooping out my car and the driveway so Amanda & I could make it back to Cindy's.

...and that's where we were for the next two-three days. Amanda & I had our Christmas present opening on Christmas morning. She wanted to take a picture of me (sure, I look so great, why not)

We spent the time making almond bark pretzels, playing cards and watching movies. Amanda spent a lot of time playing Mancala, with anyone who would play with her or mostly with herself. It was interesting how she would totally dominate the phantom player when she was playing "by herself". On Saturday, we ventured out on their neighborhood streets to see what it looked like for travel over to visit Aunt Barb later. It was good for us to get out and get some fresh air, and we made some snow angels in front of the house, and had fun trying to walk through the deep snow.

The main streets had been plowed, so the main concern was the two blocks it would take to hook up to the main road by Cindy's house. We chanced it later, after Barb called me back to say her driveway was ready for us, and we made it fine. I don't even remember what we did - oh, I picked up Arby's for supper and Amanda played with the animals. I thought it might be nice to give Cindy's family a break from us and give Barb a bit of company. We made it back to Cindy's neighborhood ok, but I got stuck by the mailbox at the end of the driveway. No plows had been in the area at all and it was just too much snow for my car. Keith came out and helped me out. Later, Amber's friends came over (more snowbound fever) and we played some fun games. Nice that the young'uns didn't mind us old folks joining in on their games.

We finally had our family Christmas on Sunday. Patty and clan made it from Kansas, and Barb from across town, but cousin Lloyd and Mom & Dad weren't able to be there due to the snow (and we are always sad to miss seeing Lynnette & Don, and Mike & Cheryl & family at Christmas). Possibly Lloyd could have made it from Valley to Lincoln, if he could have been able to get out of his cul-de-sac. Frustrating to know the main roads might be passable and so within reach, yet just far enough away to make it a no go. I know the plows wouldn't have been through my neighborhood yet that day, so I was so thankful and grateful to have been able to be in Lincoln for the storm! Mom & Dad didn't get plowed out from the farm until the following Tuesday. I've been wanting to go up to give them their Christmas presents, but it keeps snowing so I haven't chanced the trip.

Cute cousins, older and younger:

awsome pony from Aunt Patty & Uncle Rick, presents and hugs from Aunt Barb,

She loved the wig (hair fashion fun) from Aunt Cindy (and photo album). The wig gots lots of play time that day, although I don't think it entirely suited Joshua. She kept it on most of the day, and sometimes, I'd see her from behind and think, "Who's the blonde kid?" and then realize, "Oh yeah, that's my kid!" Cute.

Snowplow paparazzi - the first sighting of a snowplow on their street was quite exciting!

My family - so funny. My wonderful (ha) brother-in-law Rick decided to give me a special gift. Something I should keep at my house for company. A dual purpose gift. The bag was labelled something like "Thanksgiving Emergency Kit" and "For Anyone Who Spends Thanksgiving At Kathy's House". Lovely drawings like skull and crossbones, and the "no" sign (like for no smoking) over a drawing of a turkey. And inside the bag, a roll of toilet paper. So the bag for throwing up, the tp for ... well, you know.

Thanks, Rick! You're so thoughtful!

Say, how did West Virginia do in the bowl game? Aw, did they lose? So sorry to hear that! =P

Another fun gift made its appearance again this year - the Christmas briefs, this time passed on to one of the younger set. Brandon did a great job matching his Dad's performance from last year:

Cindy planned some games, which were a lot of fun. One was siamese gift wrapping. Identical supplies, and each set of two had to wrap their arms around each others' waists and only use one arm each as they tried to wrap the present before the time ran out. Clearly, Brittany considers that she and Brandon beat Meagan & Amber's efforts. Hmm, might have to get a judge's ruling on that one, Britt! (Who's the blonde kid? ... oh yeah...)

And after our group picture, we did a "silly" pic, so I'll leave you with that. (Clearly, I have no creativity on being silly). I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a wonderful 2010!