Pre-Christmas

First off, Christmas cards are a HUGE deal to little kids.  Below is H holding a card from Grandpa and Nana.  Each piece of mail feels very personal to them and they carry around each card for like 3 hours.

Jackie was pumped to put Julie in her new ice skating apparel. 

Jackie drew this- It's mult-media.  Marker and water colors. She named this girl Olivia.

The Shoemaker Xmas.  The cousins are all getting older so they all played together a lot which is cool.  They were even freaked out by noises and stuff in the church, which is very Shoemaker of them.  My cousins and I ALWAYS freaked each other out.  Very fun as a kid.

Gift time.

Grandma during the gift exchange opening up "Love in the Attic" parfum. Go Gma!

A large family pic.  First one, sans Grandpa.  His absence still stings. It's tough when people talk about their deceased grandparent that they loved very much, etc... because I just don't want Grandpa do be in that category.  I want him to be here now, laughing with us.

Jackie went to yoga and to Payton's house the Sunday before xmas. Tiffany took this pic.

Abby and Sam and Payton and Hannah and their parents came over for dinner. Other than Abby getting an enormous bruise on her cheek from Jackie's head, fun times!

I love how little he is.

This is what I spent the better portion of my life doing these days- painting our basement.  Making it look less like a dungeon and more like a space that could be lived in.

Paint store antics.  Thank God for these free samples.

We met up with Betsy and crew at the mall one evening this week. 

It couldn't have been more chaotic.  Below is my little buddy.

We ate at Grub.

This looks so calm, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't.  Thank God Em was w us!

Bunny in carriage.

The steps.  Freshly painted. Jim and I pulled up this crazy old disgusting carpet, not knowing what was underneath.  Looks way better now, though.

Benny and his dog.

Benny and Maddox painting a table in the basement.  We will use this table for staging the dog room.  We are going to make it look like a breakfast room instead of a dog room/treadmill room/recycling center. 

My friend Mer building a wall/

Jackie went to Emily's Xmas show with Amy and Emily.  Words cannot express how much I love this family.

The wall, not painted or caulked, but complete.

My love.

Dancing at Grammy and Pops.

It's a win!

Hannie's position as I paint in the basement.