To continue the stove saga from last month - We pulled the oven out to replace the melted element and found that some wires had melted together on the back and had burned through the insulation. Time for a new stove. You would think it would be easy to find what we need, but it was not. I had a smooth-top range when we first moved into the house and we all hated it so we traded it out for the old-fashioned coil-top range. Well, most people prefer the smooth-top which makes it incredibly difficult to find one with coils. We persevered and found one and are back in business.
December 3rd was the middle school band concert. The 8th grade band is the biggest it has been in several years and the talent is amazing. They sounded great.
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| Naomi got to announce one of the pieces they performed. |
December 4th I had a rare Jeremy sighting. He is so busy with school and work that we rarely see him. Since it was finals week, his schedule was a little more open and we had some time to sit and talk. It is good to have him home. Once he had talked himself out and decided he needed to study more for his next final I finished up a few things and then went to lunch with Sandra. We are trying some of the local restaurants and First Watch was the choice of the day. It was amazing! Their breakfast skillets and burritos are amazing - give them a try!!!
December 5th I spent the morning as Mrs. Justice and the afternoon as Mrs. Rogowski. I love subbing at the school. There is always so much going on and I love to help.
That night was the annual BSA awards night. It is kind of like the Oscars or Emmys of the scouting world. Steve got to introduce me to all the people he has been working with the last several years that I had yet to meet. We sat at tables with the 12 Day of Christmas themes and at one point in the program we were part of a tradition that the Hornets Nest scouts have been doing for years. We sang the 12 Days of Christmas and each table had to stand and sing their part of the songs. We were two turtle doves. One of the gentleman at our matching table came up with a fun way to sing each verse so we wouldn't get bored (since we had to sing our part quite a few times). Our plan was as follows: rap, cheerleader, robot, opera, baratone, whisper, underwater, yoda (turtle doves two), spanish, and Elvis (those are the ones I can remember). It made the song some much more fun.
We also got to meet Thelancy Price. She was so much fun to share a table with. She is so full of the spirit of scouting. I love this program and what it does for the youth.
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| Thelancy, Steve and Me. |
Steve knew something was up because both Dennis Tucker and Bob Coughlin had called and HIGHLY suggested that we attend. In fact, Bob called and made sure I knew that I should be there are well. The list of awards was long and started with the smaller awards and worked its way up to the bigger awards. Steve was sure he was there for the Boy Scout Leader of the Year, but that award came and went. He was absolutely floored when they announced that he was one of two scout masters awarded the District Award of Merit - the highest award given that night. Dennis gave an amazing tribute to Steve listing all the things Steve has done over his 11 years as scout master. I was so happy to see Steve get some recognition for all that he has done for the scouting world while serving as Scout Master. He truly has given his all for eleven years!
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| Steve and Dennis Tucker |
December 6th while subbing I lost my Christmas wreath pin that my sister made for me. I was so sad and put out a HELP! LOST! with the teachers. I was so sad about not having it that I went online and found a pattern that was close and decided to make me another one. That night was a girl's night out at my house to watch "The Knight Before Christmas." One of the ladies in the group was related to the person who wrote the script and we were all ready to show out support. It was a typical, wonderful, Hallmarky Christmas movie and we loved it.
That night, Jeremy got to dress up as the conductor of the Polar Express and read to the kids. I would have loved to see that. Too bad nobody took any pictures.
December 7th Nick was up bright and early for the SAT. We decided it would be better to take it and not need it than to not take it and need it. He hates taking these kinds of tests, but he was a trooper.
The Knight Riders were marching in the Davidson Christmas Parade that day as well. Steve and I went to show our support and it was a good thing. We were the only parents that stayed at the school to help with transport of the instruments. Several parents met up with us at the starting point of the parade to help out with the various other things that needed to get done though. We loaded up the Xterra and followed the bus to the starting point. After emptying out the students and instruments, I stayed with the kids while Steve followed Mr. Scaringelli to the end of the parade where they parked the bus and Steve drove Mr. Scaringelli back up to the start. I then went with Steve to park the Xterra near the bus and find a place to watch the parade. We were just starting our walk back up the parade route when we got a panicked text from Scari saying he needed some parents to carry the banner We booked it back up the parade route to help out. Someone had gotten there just before us to carry the banner so we followed the band back down during the parade taking pictures. We were exhausted by the end, but it was a fun day.
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| Mr. Scaringelli all decked out with his beard ornaments. |
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| At the start of the parade waiting to line up. |
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| All lined up and ready to go. |
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| It was a gorgeous, sunny day for a parade. |
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| Love this picture. |
That night, Nick and I went to sing with the ward choir at the Stake Musical Fireside. The very next night was a performance at the South Stake. It was a busy weekend.
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| Naomi did the drawing for this book cover painting as part of the art club. It is now hanging in the media center. |
My 50th birthday was definitely busy! I started with seminary. The kids all signed a card for me and Rendee made my favorite white chocolate cake. I felt so loved. After the kids were off to school I drove with Jeremy to drop his car off at the shop to get the transmission done. On the way back we stopped at the craft store to get some things for Christmas crafts. The Krispy Kreme store was across the parking lot and their HOT donuts sign was on. We couldn't resist. I came home and watched another Hallmark Christmas movie while eating donuts and then went to help out in the library at school (one of my favorite places to be). On the way home we got pizza from Papa Murphys and picked up Naomi's new glasses (which were FINALLY in - she was so excited). We had dinner and ate white chocolate, caramel, macadamia nut cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and then went to Kohls to find black pants for Nick for his chorus performance the following night. It was a good day.
December 10th was the high school winter concert. We stopped and picked up Sandra on our way to the school. She wanted to come and support the kids before heading out for her Christmas vacation. The Knight Riders performed at the very beginning and I always sit way too close to get a good picture as they march in and stand right in front of the crowd while performing. I will tell you they did an amazing job. Mr. McSwain always puts on a good show. He mixes traditional with fun and silly. The result is a show that pleases everyone. Nick LOVES being in choir.
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The boys performing "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!"
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December 12th - My lost wreath has been found!!! One of the kids found it and gave it to Mrs. Pandya telling her it belonged to me. She texted me that she had it and I stopped by to get it after dropping off the cookies for the teacher cookie walk. We are reunited and it feels so good. The best part is that I now know how to make them so I won't ever have to be wreathless again.
The rest of the day I was super productive (wreath power!). I got the laundry done, went to the grocery store, planned my lesson, got Jeremy to work, made a skirt for Naomi, drove to youth group at the church, helped Nick edit a paper, fit the skirt to Naomi and fell into bed.
December 13th was a fun day in seminary. We were talking about Jesus telling his disciples to "Feed My Sheep" and that He was asking them to go teach the gospel. Nick perked up and said, "That is what that really means? Jesus wasn't really a shepherd?" It was a good discussion that followed. Nick summed it up with this gem, "Cool! But that is still weird. That is like you telling me to go fix the sink when you mean to get my homework done." I just smiled and said, "Aren't you glad your mom doesn't speak in metaphors!" Several of the kids went home and told their parents it was the best lesson of the year.
That night we dropped Naomi off at LNC for the Winter Formal. She was meeting up with her friends and they were all excited to get to spend the night together.
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| All ready for the dance in her new skirt and sweater. |
After dropping her off, we headed up to Birkdale to cheer Nick on in the Huntersville Holiday 5K.
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| At the starting line |
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| He ran with his good friend, Thomas. Nick placed 2nd overall and finished in 19:49. |
During all of this excitement, Jeremy was at a training session for his 2nd job - a waiter at Fresh Chef in Cornelius. He was finally able to drive himself again as his car now had a new transmission. We picked it up earlier that day. He is a happy camper.
December 14th Steve had a scouting meeting he had to attend first thing in the morning. I got up early and went to Birkadale to cheer Nick on in his first half-marathon. He has been training for this pretty hard since cross country season ended.
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| Nick and Thomas at the starting line. |
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| Warming up and getting psyched. |
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| There he goes! |
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| I ran down to the main road to catch the group as they came along Highway 73 before disappearing into the smaller roads. Nick had to jump over the cone to keep his place in line. He is looking good. |
Once the pack disappeared into the side roads, I meandered my way through Birkdale to the finish line so I could be there to cheer Nick on.
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| Birkdale is all decorated for Christmas. |
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| His official time was 1:38:44. He averaged a 7.32 minute mile. Not bad for his first half marathon. |
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| Showing off their bling! |
Nick's first words to me after finishing the race - "Mom, I want to eat a whole pizza, take a shower and then die!" He did say it was totally worth it and planned on doing more half-marathons in the future.
I left the race and hurried home to get Naomi and Steve so we could head to Repticon. Naomi had been wanting to attend this event for months and she wasn't going to let us forget.
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| At Repticon at last!! |
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| She is in heaven holding an adult ball python. I think we are in trouble. |
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She managed to convince us that this would be the perfect Christmas present..
Welcome to the family, Faust! |
We mailed the Christmas packages on the way home from Repticon. Naomi got everything set up for Faust. Jeremy left for Wilmington to spend the weekend with Justin. We had a few hours to chill before heading out the next activity.
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| Nick with all his bling from the previous 24 hours. Since he did both the 5k and the half-marathon he got an extra medal. He is officially hooked on running. |
That evening we helped transport the drums to the Kannapolis night parade. It was so much fun. All the instruments were lit up and the kids were really excited. We had a long walk to get to our starting point, but got rest a bit before marching the parade route. The good thing was that the bus was at the end of the parade route so the kids didn't have to walk that far to get to the bus at the end when they were really tired.
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| In place and waiting to march. |
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| It was COLD! Trying to keep our hands warm. |
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| Look who we found! Their school band was only a couple bands behind us in the line up. |
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| Here we go! It was so much fun to see all the lights. |
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| Mr. Scaringelli went full out for this parade - beard baubbles AND a cool suit! |
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| With their instrument lights on. |
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| Steve even got in on the action. |
I loved this parade. It was so much fun to see all the excited faces of the kids who were loving all the lights. We were the smallest band in the line-up and we held our own against the big boys. All the kid agreed that this was their favorite parade of the year. Hopefully we get to do it again next year!
December 18th was the half-way there lunch for the seniors. The year is going really fast.
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| That is Nick in the center of the picture, under the green and blue balloons. |
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| My "twin", Lynne, sent this to me. She was shopping at the bookstore in Birkdale and found Jeremy. |
December 21st Nick ran in the Santa 8K in uptown Charlotte. This was a fun race to watch.
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| Posing with The Firebird in front of the Bechtler Museum. |
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| Nick found an old cross country buddy at the start line. |
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| Ready to go! |
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| Coming down the last stretch! |
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| Not bad at all. He said the course was hillier than he thought it would be, but it was a good course. |
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| He placed 5th overall and 1st in his age bracket. |
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| Naomi heading out to go ice skating with the Young Women group. |
We are not quite done with all the activities for the day. We ended with an ugly sweater party at the Licastris. It was a relaxing way to end the day. I spent some time sitting around the firepit on the backyard deck talking to some friends of the Licastris. It was the perfect end to a hectic, but fun, weekend.
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| Naomi and Bella posing for the camera. |
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| They finally agreed to do a picture where we could see their smiling faces. |
With all the excitement of the first part of the month we decided to keep it low-key for Christmas. Nick and I sang in church on 12/22. We had a quiet Christmas Eve at home with our traditional dinner. Christmas morning we woke up when we woke up, opened presents at our own pace and had some breakfast. The afternoon was spent playing a new game Jeremy got the family - BANG! He learned how to play it on his mission and it was really fun. You play an assigned character - only you know who you are. Your job is to kill the Sherriff and the deputy before they kill you. It was fun.
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| Opening presents. |
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| Chilling. |
That evening we made some spinach puffs and went to the Mullers to play games. Jeremy had some interactive games on his computer. Everyone logged in and played. We had so much fun.
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| Hanging with the Mullers |
December 26th was project day. Steve helped Nick mount his hang board in the garage. Nick is determined to increase his hand strength with this hang board. It is designed for people who want to get into mountain climbing. The holes are different sizes and simulate the different types of holds you would find while climbing. Nick loves it!
Steve also got the window sill cut and put in the bathroom!! I got the bathrooms cleaned and the caulk put around the new window sill as well as around the sink where the old caulk was starting to break down. Nick and Naomi helped me so they could learn how to do it.. The bathroom is finally coming together. .
December 27th Jeremy and I figured out the train and bus route to get him to his class at WTVI. He hates driving in uptown traffic and this is a great way to get where he needs to go without all the stress. The bus drops him off and picks him up right in front of the station. He will just need to figure out the timing to make sure he gets there on time. That will be the tricky part.
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| The site of Jeremy's last class at CPCC. |
December 28th Nick, Kaylee and Ravyn were finally able to coordinate their schedules to get together and learn to make spinach puffs. The girls have wanted to learn how to make them for a couple of months now. It was a fun and eventful afternoon. I was upstairs painting around the window and the window sill and missed the excitement of Nick almost cutting the tip of his finger off. Naomi came to the rescue and gave excellent first aid, stopped the bleeding, cleaned it out and bandaged it up.
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| Ravyn, Kaylee and Nick making spinach puffs. |
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| Nick and all the medals he won during the month of December. |
December 29th Steve was finally released as Scoutmaster after almost 11 years in the calling. He had the biggest smile on his face when it was officially announced. He has been waiting for this day for several months now. On to the next exciting thing.
That night Faust (who was still refusing to eat anything for us) got caught in some duct tape that Naomi had used to secure some dark plastic over a hidey for him. We got him cut loose and rushed him to the emergency vet. They were able to get the duct tape loose, but he had torn a good amount of scales from his neck area. We had to put antibiotic ointment on the wound three times a day and hope that it healed. Naomi was really upset.
New Year's Eve we fixed Chinese food. Jeremy worked a shift at the bookstore. Steve and Nick went to the gym. Parks came and checked the heaters - they passed!!! WHEW! We sold the big weight rack. The Mullers and Cuillards came over and we ate Chinese food and played games until they all had to leave at 10:30. After they left I went upstairs to check on Faust and he was laying belly-up. Not a good sign. He was still alive but cold, so I moved him over to the heated side of the enclosure. We are still keeping our fingers crossed.
WOW! We packed a lot into one month.
