Early Wake Up Call

This is the 14th fairway at Indian Springs, we live on 16. Based on where the plane is located and where he was headed (Bowman Field), he missed our house by about 15 houses.

The pilot was the only person on board and was killed. He was young (25) and flying in from Chicago, Midway. There is no obvious cause for the crash, but he transmitted a distress signal and disappeared from radar around 5:00am.

The 5 buzzing news helicopters woke my Mom up, who called to see if we had heard anything.

The Trooper

Dev gets the Trooper of the year award, today. We had our final visit to the dentist to fix her front 2 teeth at 8:00 am sharp. (Add plenty of sleet, just to make it interesting)

She was not thrilled to hear about going to the dentist again & was silent during the drive. We were the first people in the waiting room, which a pleasant contrast to the usual insanity. Dr. Yang hustled past us at 7:58 am...right on time! We went back immediately and still no tears.

After a few minutes of NO2, poor Dev burst into tears. BIG tears. The Dr. explained what was going to happen and got her calm enough to begin. Once she started, Devin did amazing. The dentist says she's never seen a child this age tolerate what went on. They heaped on the praise and Devin was very proud. She crowed to the entire office, "I'm so proud of you going to the Dentist." She also said, "THANK YOU DENTIST." (unprompted of course, which cracked her up completely)

We completed the experience by raiding their treasure chest of a sparkle ball, ring, princess sticker, new toothbrush, Spongebob toothpaste and a pencil. Dev knows to strike while the iron's hot.

It was 8:45 when we walked out to the car. I (we) witnessed my first public spanking of a mother to her (younger/smaller than Devin) daughter. Yuck. She yelled in her face for, "not putting books back." Devin asked me all day what happened.

After all that, Devin chose to go to preschool. I gave her the choice to come home with me or go to preschool and work on her surprise present for Mama & Dada. We were only 5 minutes late and her favorite friends (twins AJ & Mya) had a Birthday party.

Finally, we had lunch with Dada & Gramma at Shiraz.

A 3.5 hour nap filled her afternoon schedule.

Christmas Past

Our original Mac is all but obsolete. So, Matt's been working on duplicating the hard drive contents. It's easy to duplicate, but hard to organize.

I ran across some really old pictures my Dad must have scanned in at some point.

Notice the Pooh Bear (bottom left). Ol' Pooh is currently in Devin's collection.



I only WISH we could get some snow like this!




I'm not sure who the woman is?


It's Christmas year-round in Holland, MI. I would guess I'm 3-4 here.


Wow. Now that's a flocked tree.


Dad had this picture dated 1964. I noticed no wedding rings yet....

MamaLou...Hubba Hubba!


I'm older here, but a cool Xmas picture. I remember those barrettes.

A Visit With Santa

One of the best purchases we've made for Devin is this Kitchen Helper stand. It allows her to work at the counter and be (relatively) safe from falling. It has 4 rails and is solid on 2 sides. She learned how to climb in and out of it easily. She's used it for about 6 months already and it lasts until 75 lbs I think.

Well worth the $.

She loves to help cook, especially pizza with da-da.





We decided to visit Santa this morning, we got there around 9:45 am & Santa was due to arrive at 10:00. The line was already about 5 deep, so we took our spot.

1st Christmas she was about 9 months old and seeing Santa was not a pleasant experience. But, she sure was cute!


2nd Christmas was even worse. We never even attempted Santa at 18 months.


Her favorite present during this Xmas, was the Gymbo the Clown Puppet.



(The first people in line were 18 month old twins. Who promptly screamed for mercy the entire time)

Dev was all smiles in line and was excited to see Santa. Just as we were leaving the house she was clingy and said she didn't want to see Santa. I told her that Christmas was all about having fun and if she didn't want to see Santa that was ok. I suggested that we get to the Mall and see how she feels...


We were behind a 2 year old and in front of a 2 and 4 year old (sisters), so there was plenty of action!

Dev kept asking when was it, "her turn?"




The moment of truth came and she was very willing to climb on up and discuss Christmas wishes with Santa. We had no tears and even a small conversation with the guy in red.

Obviously, this is serious matter...so the smiles were hard to come by.

When asked what she wanted for Xmas, Dev knew just what she wanted.

"Presents."

"What kind of present do you want?"

"Green."


Santa said he could look into some "green" presents. Could it be that my 2.5 yr old is already concerned about global climate change?

Or does she just want cash?


Here's my first Christmas (1972)

More sickness

Dev had a week of relative health, still runny nose and cough.

Now, we have another full-blown nasty cold. It's tiring for everyone....

O' Christmas Tree

the past week

Wow! Last week was super busy and downright exhausting. Dev and I are still recovering from our colds, but finally feeling almost back to normal.

On Thanksgiving, "Pa-Pa and Gramma" arrived!

Dev was really excited to see them again!


Ray plays with the doll-baby.



We decided to make the trip to Loretto, Ky to see the Maker's Mark Distillery.

Ray and Ann also got to pick up some Bourbon from their own barrell!


Our tour guide.


Devin wasn't sure what was going on, but enjoyed herself by collecting rocks, a stick and a pinecone. (Those items are still in the back of the minivan)






Tasting the yeast/alcohol.


At least she tasted it...I'm not a bourbon drinker & I've tasted it enough to know I don't need to taste it any more.