2011 Highlights

As the year comes to a close, it's time to take a moment to recap the highlights of 2011.  In no particular order, of course.


BEACH WEEK
I refuse to call any trip with young children a vacation because it's actually more work than being at home.  Nevertheless, the week-long change of scenery in April was by far a top highlight of the year.

UPWARD CHEER
Cassidy and I successfully completed another great cheer season in March.  Let's go, Upward!

DADDY-DAUGHTER DANCE
Cassidy and Sergeant Sexy attended the Daddy-Daughter Dance in May.  Cassidy still talks about it!

LITTLE MISS BIG GIRL SCHOOL
Cassidy was crowned Little Miss Big Girl School in March.  Our evil plot to inject a healthy dose of negative reinforcement to her pageant phase was a FAIL.  Cassidy was chosen as the winner and her love of pageants was exponentially reinforced.

ANSWERED PRAYERS
Our prayers were answered in a big way this year.  Gramma Kathy got a clean bill of health!

 Both Pop and Papa spent time in the hospital this year, and thankfully they both came back home.

POTTY TRAINING / BIG GIRL SCHOOL
Campbell worked hard on her potty skillz so she could go to Big Girl School with Cassidy in the fall.  She figured it out and in late August, Cassidy started First Grade and Campbell started K3.  It's a huge relief (and wonderful convenience) to have them together during the day again!

HARVEST FESTIVAL QUEEN
Cassidy was crowned 2011 Harvest Festival Queen in October, but she acts like it just happened yesterday.

SOCCER MONSTER
Cassidy decided to give Fall Soccer a try this year.  It became clear right away that she had a comical fear of the ball.  She had a great time, but it's a good thing our league is a Christ-based program.  I'm certain Jesus thinks Cassidy duck-and-cover strategy is cute.  The cut-throats in the competition league down the road wouldn't have been too impressed.

DANCE!
Campbell started her first year of dance and Cassidy's in her fourth year.  Cassidy joined the Dance Team and Campbell was in her very first dance recital!

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:


* The girlz Godfather came home from Iraq, for good this time!


* 2011 was my Year of Evil Air Travel.  I logged more time in airports and airplanes than I ever thought I would.  I now have a playlist on my iPod named "Airplane Music" and I suspect the first song in that list will conjure up mental images of the earth from 30,000 feet for the rest of my life.  Yippee.


* Sergeant Sexy kicked azz on the promotion exam earlier this year.  We're praying 2012 will be the year he moves to the next level of Crime Fighting Awesomeness. 


We've certainly been blessed this year and we're deeply thankful for our family, friends, health and jobs.  And of course we're unspeakably grateful for our two princesses.


Goodbye, 2011 ~ Hello, 2012!

Mandatory Fun, Part II

Today was the last installment of Mandatory Fun.  The girlz have been wanting to see where Sergeant Sexy works, so we parked in my Evil Parking Spot and walked everywhere we wanted to go.  We brought Aunt Poopy a big box full of maternity clothes, took a quick spin though Sergeant Sexy's office, ate lunch together, walked around the mall, rode the light rail train, and checked out my office.

We're Daddy!

Waving goodbye to Daddy from the lobby

For the third day in a row, Campbell conked out on the way home!

We've had a great time, but we're all exhausted.  After four full days of Mandatory Fun, going back to work will be a vacation!

Mandatory Fun

We typically have three designated Mandatory Fun sessions during the year - the days just before school starts, the days right after school ends, and a handful of days during Christmas Break.  The purpose of Mandatory Fun is to p pack in as much fun as possible.


Guess what?!?  We're in the middle of Mandatory Fun right now!


So far, we...


* Went to Girlz R Us and made our own Body Spray.


* Picked up our picture with Santa from the local grocery store and took a spin through the Dollar Tree for more Glow Sticks.


* Went to the Bounce House, and wonder of wonders - Campbell actually climbed and jumped and slid down the slides of the biggest inflatables!  Go, Campbell!

* Checked out the new play area at the mall (and got a nice dose of retail therapy at Gymboree).

* Tried to schedule dinner with Snow White, but the dinner had been cancelled - boo!


* Jumped on the Power Jumper and rode the Food Court rides!

* Put glow sticks in the bathtub every night! (Note to other parents of young children: I got this idea from a friend and it's fantastic!  Turn on a few glow sticks, drop them in the bathtub during the bath and turn off the bathroom light.  It's magical and they LOVE it!)


* Posed for the Sketch Machine!

* Went to Build-A-Bear!

* Ate Italian Ice!

* Bought a year's supply of antibacterial hand soap at Bath and Body Works!


* Got our nails painted!

And the fun's not over yet.  We have one more day of Mandatory Fun planned and then we'll have to start prodding the girlz back into our normal routine.  It'll be super-ugly, but we're going to ignore that reality for right now.  This is Mandatory Fun, and we're going to have fun!!

Darby's Final Farewell

Darby went back to the North Pole with Santa last night.  We're going to miss her terribly!!

Friday morning, we found her zip lining across the entry way with Campbell's stuffed reindeer.  She must really love that zip lining!

And yesterday morning, she brought one last gift for the girlz - a small notebook and a package of crayons.

We we got up this morning, she had left a letter for the girlz right next to Santa's cookies:

Dear Cassidy and Campbell,

My time with you this Christmas has come to an end.
It's been fun making magic and seeing you again!
You've taken such good care of me, I hate to say goodbye.
Santa needs me back at the North Pole, and now I'll tell you why.

 Today we're having a party to celebrate Jesus' birth.
You see, this Christmas giving started with Him first.
God gave us the greatest gift that first Christmas Day;
When He gave the world His son to show us the way.

So while I've had fun playing and making mischief the whole night through,
the true purpose of my visit is to remind you that JESUS LOVES YOU!  

Merry Christmas!!  I’ll be back next year!

I love you,

Darby

In the interest of full disclosure, "Darby" did not write that letter by herself.  I copied it off a Mommy Board several years ago and made a few minor changes.  The talented mother who wrote the letter gave her permission for anyone on the board to reuse it.  I happily obliged, since this letter is a great way to tie Santa and the Elf on the Shelf back to Jesus.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning looked like a blur of giggles and wrapping paper and Christmas lights, topped off with a scrumptious breakfast casserole and butterscotch sticky buns.

Hello Kitty Megablocks house

Matching Christmas pajamas!

Barbie Mix-It-Up Turntables

Lucky Ducks game

 Pink Fijit

Dora Puppy

Cassidy got the coolest game ever - Kerplunk.  We used to play it when I was little!

The girlz and their cousins

And yes, Cassidy got her iPod Touch.  She hasn't put it down since she opened it!

Christmas Eve

There aren't many nights during the year as exciting and delicious as Christmas Eve.  The excitement mounts as we enjoy all of our favorite traditions - attending the children's church service, hanging Santa's key from the door handle, tossing the reindeer food in the front yard, and carefully placing the cookies and milk right where Santa will see them.

Pretty girlz in pretty dresses

Cookies and milk, ready to go!

Operation Sleigh Ride: Complete

Christmas is definitely the most wonderful time of the year.  I wonder what time we'll be woken up tomorrow?

Christmas Town

We went to Christmas Town today, and it was just as wonderful as it was last year.  We made sure we rode the train several times - the Christmas Train is by far one of the girlz most favorite parts of Christmas Town.

We also made a special effort to walk across the Peace on Earth bridge.  This was one of my favorites last year, and Cassidy said she loved it too.


There's really not much of anything we don't like about Christmas Town!!

We made sure to stop in an see Santa one last time before Christmas

We bought the special Christmas Town cups this year.  Cassidy got her own cup, which made her exceptionally happy. 

Aunt Harley pulled some strings and got us backstage at the Penguin exhibit.  The girlz got to sit on a bench and pet a real penguin while everybody else walked by and watched.  We were VIPs!

The penguin tried to bite Cassidy, which she thought was HILARIOUS.  And Campbell actually touched the penguin, which was a shock.

The weather was mild and gorgeous this year and the decorations were beautifully done.  It couldn't have been a better night!

Couch Potato Elf

We found Darby lounging on the bean bag chair, waiting for us to put A Charlie Brown Christmas in the Blu Ray player for her.

I can't believe tomorrow is the eve of Christmas Eve eve.  Darby only has three mornings left with us, and then she'll fly back to the North Pole with Santa.


I'm gonna miss that little Elf!

Fast Forward

The clock seems to be speeding up the closer to Christmas we get.  Most of the heavy lifting is done, and now we're just tying up a few loose ends.


Here's what Darby has been up to...


Sunday: Darby took a dip in the bow bucket.  The girlz said she looked like she was in a hot tub!

Monday: Darby put the nativity back together after someone (read: Campbell) took it apart for the six hundredth time.

Today: Darby decorated the kitchen with candy canes.  Candy canes are one of the Elves main food groups!

We joined Mama and Papa for church on Sunday.  Papa took us out for breakfast after church, and who was there?  Santa and Mrs. Claus!  They gave each of the girlz a Winnie the Pooh coloring sheet and teddy bear, and made sure to spend lots and lots of time talking with them.  I admire their selfless efforts to make the holidays magical for the county children and pray that God blesses them over and over.  They are two very special people.


We went to the local grocery store's holiday celebration last night.  The girlz had their picture taken with Santa, the high school band was playing holiday music, and Starbucks was passing around little cups of hot chocolate.  The store gave the girlz a chicken dinner - a super-generous thing to do.  We certainly never expected anything like that!


I love making Christmas memories!