If At First You Don't Succeed...

I have failed in my quest to update the blog daily. I blame my mother. She ended up in the hospital for some tests and procedures--all unexpected--and the rest of life just had to get put on hold. Including ye ol' blog. I have a good excuse, and while I don't blame my parents for too many of my failures in life, this one can definitely be chalked up to them!

(Of course, I am kidding--we are so fortunate that Mom is back home, resting and on the mend.)

Today, in addition to Mom's recovery, I am grateful for out-of-town family members who are currently in town. My sister Meredith arrived from Massachusetts (where she is in school to be a nurse practitioner, mostly, I think, because I am so cool and she wants to be just like me) for a three-week hiatus. Nana and Pa flew in from the great state of Oregon to hang with 6 of the 7 grand-daughters around Christmas time.

We all drove through Starry Nights again tonight--I think I liked it more the second time--so they could see it. The line tonight was a scene from "Field of Dreams" with car lights for days down Walnut Grove. Fortunately, we came in from the Whitten Rd side and somehow managed to bypass a good portion of the line. Still, what took 20 minutes last week took an hour tonight. Worth it. We also got Gridley's barbecue, a throw-back to my youth, because Gridley's was our barbecue of choice back then. Those buttery loaf-style rolls, the peppery sauce, hmmmmm. We were quite a sight--grandparents, aunt, parents, our kids and one sweet cousin Annsley, all spilling drinks, dropping forks, and playing with the old-school boxing games they had on display. Molly kept Annsley and Amelia entertained with a silly rhyme from Dora's Christmas Carol. A fabulous, Christmasy night, that ended with hot chocolate for the only kid still awake (Molly) when we rolled home.

Some pictures from Gridley's:

Other exciting events for today, which was the last day of school in 2009: Molly's and Rebecca's classes both had Christmas parties to which parents were invited. Meredith and I went to both soirees. Some pictures: