2007: A Year in Review

Instead of doing a newsletter, I thought I'd do a blog entry on our year. The year went by so fast, being busy and fun. There were new additions to our family, celebrations, and little accidents too. All in all, it was a good and memorable year. Enjoy!

January:
Happy seventh birthday, Anna! We celebrated by going to the Olive Garden and building Scotty at Build-a-Bear (in this case, dog) Workshop.

March:


We went to the Oklahoma Aquarium for Spring Break. The girls loved seeing all of the fish and touching the starfish!

April:
Allen and I went with Anna's first grade class to the Oklahoma City Zoo. We saw Oklahoma Trails, the exhibit showing off Oklahoma's animal life.

Some friends and I gave my sister Alison a baby shower. It was fun to see old friends and enjoy seeing all of the baby things.

May:


Lauren turned four on the 26th. We celebrated by eating out and taking her to Build-a-Bear (cat) so she could make Pinkie, our newest member of the family. Then Uncle Stan, Aunt Shannon, Chandler, Josh, and Logan came over for cake and ice cream.

June:Candace moved to a new home in Moore called Santa Fe Place. She loves it, and what's even better is that we see her on a regular basis!

July:
Lauren broke her leg dancing in the kitchen. She didn't let that stop her! She scooted all over until she could walk on it, and then was back to dancing, cast and all. She got it off at the end of the month.

Baby Joscelyn was born on July 9th. She is a beautiful baby with a sweet disposition. No one is prouder than Auntie Shell!

Anna is a whiz at catching butterflies. I think she caught three or four that month. It was really neat to watch her catch them and observe them in her little cage. She never kept them longer than an hour, but it was long enough to enjoy a little bit of nature.

August:

School starts! Anna began the second grade at Santa Fe and Lauren is a Fabulous Frog in preschool.
One Sunday morning we decided to visit Mount Scott with the dogs. We all had a good time climbing around the mountain and looking at the landscape below.

September:
Michelle's Birthday was on the 30th and we spent the night at the Arcadian Inn Bed and Breakfast. It was a wonderful time.

October:
We went to Puggerfest and played with about 70 pugs wandering around.

Anna and Lauren were Gryffindors for Halloween. They wanted to be Hermione and be the most clever witch of their age!

November:

Larry and Stacy came from Alabama for Thanksgiving this year. We had a progressive dinner, where we ate the feast at Stan and Shannon's and dessert at our house. We had a wonderful time!

December:

December is a busy month. We spent most of our time at church, celebrating the upcoming birth of our Savior, and rehearsing music for the Christmas season. We attended Ballet Oklahoma's the Nutcracker as one of the girls' gifts. They loved watching the dancers and having the experience of having music come to life.

We spent Christmas with Ali, Brandon and Joscelyn. It was great fun! They had snow on the ground, so the girls and Brandon made snowmen and angels. We all loved being with them and playing with Joscelyn.

Allen's birthday was on the 28th and we did fun things all day. We went to Borders, ate at the Macaroni Grill, played at the Apple store, and went to Pole Position to watch Allen race. It was a good day.

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful year and the next one is even better. Love to everyone!

Ice Storm!

On December 9th (right after the Nutcracker) Oklahoma had a major ice storm. We had about an inch to an inch and a half of ice everywhere. We were out of school for two days while the roads became passable. Half a million people were without power and hundreds of trees were destroyed by the weight of the ice. We were blessed that we didn't lose power at all during that time. The lights flickered once or twice, but nothing happened. We stayed home in front of a roaring fire and enjoyed each other's company. Our bradford pear tree in the back did break. We lost about half of it. We were sitting in the living room and heard a loud "pop!" We went out back thinking that it was our tree, but it didn't look like it. The next day we went out to inspect it, and the fence was holding up the largest branch on the tree that held the bulk of it up. The trunk was not damaged, so the tree is safe. Now we have lots and lots of wood for our fireplace. Our front yard tree had no damage, mostly because Allen had just trimmed it the week before.

The Nutcracker

As one of the girls' presents this year, we took them to see Ballet Oklahoma's version of the Nutcracker. What a fun afternoon that was! After Christmas Program practice at church, we rushed home and got our Christmas best on and went Downtown. There were lots of people at the Civic Center, and you could feel the excitement in the air. It was Lauren's first time to see the ballet, and I loved watching her reaction. She was mesmerized by the dancers, the music, and the sets. It was so neat to see them put the dancing with the music they know so well. We have been listening to Tchaikovsky all season, and they recognize the suites when they come on every time. They loved the part in the first act when they danced while the snow was falling. I loved it too! It was magical. As a special treat, we let them pick out their own nutcrackers. Lauren has one that looks like Clara, and Anna chose a traditional one decked out in emerald green sequins. I think they slept with them every night for a week!