Our Birthday Girl!

This beautiful, smart, funny, creative, strong gal turned 7!  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into or how our lives would change when these photos were taken seven years ago:

But this gal has brought so much sunshine and love into our lives.  She makes us think, she makes us laugh and she makes us proud all the time.  I count my lucky stars every day.  I couldn't ask for a better kid!

Cal's birthday was on the last day of school before break.  We opened presents in the morning:

John and Hazey delivered fruit kabob's to her class for a celebration with her classmates:

And then we jumped in the car and drove through a rainstorm after school.  It was a miserable drive, but we arrived to Nana and Grandpa's for a very special birthday dinner with Lynn, Mark, Chris, and the grandparents.

Nana made a great dinner and Cally's favorite carrot cake cupcakes.  More gifts were opened and we even got to exchange Christmas gifts early.

Holiday Lead Up

 Since we had the matching sweaters, we thought we'd go crazy and do the matching Christmas jammies.  What will be next?  A matching family set (even for the dog and cat)?

We went to our last solstice sing at Poker Hill School.  We packed ourselves into the school like sardines and sang some songs and shared friendship fruit salad with Hazey's classmates.

Even with all that seemed to be going on around the holidays, John and I managed to get out for a date night and a ski date. The skiing wasn't remarkable, but we were skiing and that always makes us happy!

Tommy, Cara, and Scott, the godparents, all came by for an early X-mas brunch.  They spoiled the kids with thoughtful gifts (electric toothbrushes and a donut making kid).

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas........

December hasn't felt much like Christmas!  There is no snow to speak of and it's been hard to get into the spirit of Christmas.  This year we chopped down a tree at the Schneider's "tree farm" in Pleasant Valley, Underhill.  The trees were large and a little "Charlie Brownesque", but we had a beautiful view and it was a fun adventure!

Stunt decorating!

Reaching for the high places

Oh, Christmas Tree!  Oh, Christmas Tree!

The kid's nordic ski program, Friday Foxes, started even though there wasn't any snow.  Here they are dry land training (run/walking hill repeats)

Hazey got his skis out!  Looks like he's grown a little from last year!

We did manage to get out on the snow, even if it was all gun blown (notice that there is no snow other than the patch next to the magic carpet). 

Fortunately, Santa was able to get down to the Jericho Country Store to ask the kids what they wanted for Christmas this year.  Hazen asked for a marble run and Cally asked for snow.  Apparently, Santa was a little hard of hearing and didn't really get the snow thing, he thought she said "no".

We went to the Richmond Round Barn Holiday sing:

Meanwhile,the nice weather has allowed John to finish siding the garage!  Finally, our house is sided, seven years after we started this renovation!

And the best part was that John found a new helper with the demo:

Our Little Thespians

Cally loves to sing.  John and I  are clueless as to how to nurture this talent of hers.  Neither of us have musical genes nor the understanding of a musicians life.  Poker Hill, her preschool, was wonderful because music was a part of every single day.  In elementary school, Cally only gets 30 minutes of music once a week.  So, when John ran into a colleague in the Davis Center at UVM and found out she was the music director of the Essex Community Theater's Holiday production and told her about Cally and her "talents", she quickly offered her a spot in the cast of the play.

Cally and Carol, the Music Director of "Holiday Presents"

We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!  Not only was their a pretty intense rehearsal schedule, but there were lines to memorize and songs to learn.  Because she entered the production a few weeks in, her time frame for getting up to speed was short.  And John and I really didn't know how to help her.

It was certainly an eye opening experience and a required a commitment from the whole family.  However, Cal loved it.  She met lots of great people.  It was cool to see the whole cast bond and take part in every aspect of the production (from stage set up to tear down).
 

Uncle Scotty supporting his god daughter

In the end there were 5 performances over the course of 4 days.  I'm not sure we could handle her being a part of something like this every year, but it was really fun to see her be a part of such a cool event.  It also did a lot to put us all in the holiday spirit (with all the songs).

The kids took a break between Cally's Saturday performances to put together gingerbread house kits that my dear friend, Maris, gave to them.  

And Hazey didn't miss singing during the holidays.  The annual Poker Hill Senior Sing was at the beginning of the month.  He loved being able to belt out some of his favorite songs from school.  And I loved being able to see him in what will be our last Senior sing.