Christmas is in the books!

Christmas is in the books...but I'm not quiet ready to take down the decorations yet, so they'll stay a little longer. We had a great Christmas week. We were in Omaha for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, then we headed home to get ready for the Westerfield Christmas sleepover.  

Maggie commented yesterday that she can't believe Santa knew she wanted a bike for her doll, even though she didn't tell him. Gracie quickly replied "that's because Santa knows everything, just like me and Lillian." So apparently Santa has been welcomed to the 'know it all' club.

This morning Maggie had to visit the hand doctor. Her thumb is still pretty different looking, but he decided it's healing and there is no reason to put her through surgery and pins. The hope is that as she grows it will look less crooked and he thinks she will have all the mobility and use back in it either way. She was thrilled to get a new (purple again) cast, and this time her thumb nail sticks out, so she's pretty sure we should paint it.

Annual Christmas Eve lunch at Danny's. It just wouldn't be Christmas without greasy burgers!

Pretty girls are ready for Christmas Eve.

Waiting to see if Santa came. When I went into the girls room to see if they were awake, Gracie asked me if
Santa come, I told her yes. She was visibly relieved and said she was going to rest a little more before she got up. I guess
as long as he came, she didn't think she needed to rush out of bed.

Santa brought Gracie a school desk and a scooter for her doll.

Santa brought Maggie a new bike (with HAND BREAKS), a bike for her doll and Oakley sunglasses.

Listening to Great-Grandma read the Christmas story at Aunt Joyce's.

Uncle Mike made Maggie her very own button box. She started sorting the big bag of buttons right away. There have
been lots of hard decisions about how to sort them...by size, by color....decisions, decisions :)

Uncle Deem helped Gracie with some new legos.

Saturday morning we woke up to a few new inches of snow, so when the Westerfield's arrived for Christmas we did some extreme sledding :)

 

Yesterday the girls went to the office to judge the annual Christmas ornament contest. Maggie takes great pride in her judging and delivering of the prizes....as you can see, Gracie is a little less committed :)

The girls had a swimming Birthday party to go to last night. We found this waterproof cast cover on Amazon, and since we knew she was getting a new cast today, we decided to give it a go. The cast cover worked great....until we took it off so she could use the restroom and she forgot all about it and jumped right in the pool! ooooppps! She caught it quickly and once she was reassured that it wasn't going to hurt her thumb, it was just going to be a little uncomfortable, she covered it and headed back in the water. Between the hairdryer and the vacuum it was pretty dry by the time she went to bed (but it sure did stink!)

This morning she got a new cast. It had to be purple again so it could match Jude's halter. We had to wait a little longer in the doctors building for it to dry all the way. It's so COLD out today it would have frozen if it was still damp.

We've are blessed to get to spend the holidays with so much great family and friends. I can't believe how fast it all goes. We have another week of Christmas break, so there will be lots of time to play with all our new toys! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Catch up to Christmas...

Christmas Eve is here! I thought I'd better share a few pictures and catch up to this point, so I can wrap up the year next week.

Maggie is still being a super trooper about her thumb. Almost no complaints. We go back to the Doctor on Tuesday morning and they will cut the cast off, get some new xrays and make a decision about next steps. We are all praying those steps are just putting the cast back on and giving it a few more weeks.

Last weekend we took the girls to the Breakfast with Santa at the Country Club. Gracie talked a big game....until we got there, then she mostly hid behind her sister. She didn't cry, but she wasn't going to talk to Santa. She asked me to tell him what she wanted and mumbled something about telling him we'd write a letter :)  Maggie told Santa she wanted a new bike and that he could take her old one if someone else needed it. Gracie wanted to tell Santa that she wanted a 4-wheeler (we've made it clear Santa doesn't bring dangerous presents if Mommy & Daddy say no), a desk and a doll suitcase.

She seemed to be less scared of the big guy at school later in the week, but she still wasn't going to sit on his lap.

Lillian, one of Gracie's school best friends is the little girl just to the left of Gracie. The other day Gracie told me "Lillian thinks she knows everything!" I said, "that's funny, so do you." She quickly responded with, "I know, that's why we are BFF's."

Sunday night before Dick and Betti headed for Arizona, we had a Hanukkah dinner and the girls got to open a few presents. One of Maggie's friends at school went home and told his mom (who happens to be a good friend of mine), that he felt bad for Maggie because she didn't get to celebrate Christmas...Sarah asked him if Maggie said she didn't celebrate Christmas, Josh said, no but she said they celebrated Hanukkah this weekend. Sarah explained that Maggie gets to have both...by the end of the conversation Josh was in total awwwww and asked his Mom how he could get his dad to be "a Hanukkah" :)

Gracie was wrapping a Christmas gift for Maggie. I told her I'd help her with the tag. She took the tags and informed me that she did not need my help. This is what she brought back! I was stunned! I knew she could write her name, but I had no idea she could write and spell Maggie's.

Maggie's been hard at work finishing up some Christmas gifts. It's hard to stain with one hand (in a cast) behind your back!

Gracie's been fighting the gunk for 5 or 6 days now. I think she is finally mostly over it, but it's been rough. She had to miss the last day of school before Christmas and has been mostly home bound...she's getting a bit of cabin fever!

Last Thursday Arnie took Maggie to drop off her donation to the Northeast Nebraska Animal Shelter. The Shelter just purchased a building and it is being remodeled, so Maggie got a tour of the progress and gave the Director cash (because the check I tried to have her take wasn't HER money, try explaining that to a 6 year old). Her final donation was $691 and 4 collars. She took the extra collars incase any dogs got homes before Christmas, she thought they should go with a collar :) She was very proud of all of her hard work.

Still smiling even though she was sick!

Some Hanukkah fun, even when we're sick!

One other member of our family has been a bit under the weather! Jude had a lump on her belly, likely from being kicked by one of her friends, but just to be safe the vet had her on stall rest for a week. She was SO tired of being locked in. She got the all clear just in time for a little snow on Tuesday.....and boy was she HAPPY!

Maggie's been having a few Grandma and Grandpa days by herself this week, so it's been all about Gracie around here :)

 Happy Christmas Eve everyone!!!!

Darn it!

Saturday morning I was headed for Grandma's house when Arnie called and diverted me to the Emergency room at Children's Hospital. Maggie and Gracie were playing 'barrel racer' in the basement at Mom and Dads and somehow they both landed on Maggie's thumb.

You could tell at first glance it was pretty bad. Xrays confirmed her thumb was broken. The doctor gave her a local anesthetic, straightened it back out and put on a bright purple cast. Maggie was so tough and brave through the whole thing. I was pretty sure I was going to faint a couple of different times, but I'm happy to say, I didn't!

She and Arnie watched a lot of YouTube videos of the National Rodeo Finals while we waited.

That middle bone is supposed to be straight.....OUCH!!!!

Daddy helped hold her fingers up while the doctor put her cast on.

Thumbs up!! She wasn't real thrilled that they cut off the sleeve of her shirt, she was even
less happy when I told her there was no way to sew it back on.

She went back and had a couple more xrays after they were all done. She was pretty
drugged by then.

Since Saturday she's done awesome! The only thing she's figured out she can't do is tie her shoes and button her pants. BUT armed with sweatpants, Velcro shoes, some modified tshirts, a reengineered coat and one bright cast mitten she's off and running!

 ....getting on Jude was tough the first time, but once she was up, she was good to go.

She had barely exited the hospital when she was ready to have people sign her cast (it's pretty full now). Sunday she had a special signer....she saved him a big spot in the middle.

After school today we will visit the hand doctor just to confirm that everything is staying still and that the cast is doing it's job. Hopefully after that we'll know a little more about how long she'll be putting up with this.

Mya.com

Gracie has 2 very good friends at school, Mya and Lilian. We hear about them all the time! Several times a week Gracie asks if we can have a playdate with Mya and Lilian...She always gets the same answer. "Maybe sometime I will be able to meet Mya and Lilian's parents and then we'll see". I don't know their last names, who their parents are, where they live...you know, really anything about them.....The other day Gracie's response to my putting her off again was "can't you just find them at Mya.com and send them a note?" She sure does crack me up....so far our email to Mya.com has gone unanswered :)

CLARENCE CAME!!!! (and a few other pictures)

Last Wednesday night while the girls and I were at church....CLARENCE CAME!!! The girls had been speculating whether or not he'd make his annual appearance....and he sure did. I wish I had recorded the drive down the driveway, the were squealing and giggling all the way.

Clarence put up all the inflatables from years past and added a new Olaf! The girls love him. He also left his signature life savers in the mailbox :) It was an awesome surprise!

And a few other pictures and notes....

Gracie's been pulling her socks up like Grandpa....and delivering lots of mail....not always at the same time.

Maggie's been working hard at making her own eggs for breakfast. She got the hang of it pretty quick.

The other night Maggie and I watched a movie with a typewriter in it, true to her nature she had a
million questions about the typewriter. So we Youtubed videos on typewriters so she could see how it worked. :)

I love having the Christmas lights on when we come home in the evenings. It makes the house look so warm
and cozy!