January, the Silent Month

Silent in terms of my blogging.  It just gets too much when I think of all the pictures waiting to be posted and talked about and the things happening every day.  I come here almost every day because I like to check in on the blogs on my side bar - and there's always that feeling of guilt.

Maybe just a quick, non-wordy synopsis!

Elise's graduation.  This deserves more than a quick post.  It has been a long ride, one that she took on despite a lot of negatives and persevered and did better than even she expected.  Mike was not able to travel the first of December, so I flew to Lubbock for her induction and graduation.  I can't believe how (kind of) comfortable I've become with flying.  These short flights where I have a window seat are the best.

 I can't remember all we did - eating Thai the first night, going to the induction on Friday, having lunch with friends at Abuelo's (The Flavor of Mexico!)  and snuggling down and watching old Christmas movies.  I also had dinner with friends - Jo and Larry - on Saturday night and that was so nice - to finally go to their house and meet Daisy the beagle and then go to a nice restaurant, Harrigan's.   A really nice restaurant, and we had a great time talking and observing some of our fellow diners.

Most of the pictures were on FB, but here are a few more to remember.

It was a fun weekend, and it was so nice to see some of Lubbock, the Texas Tech campus, and just talk a lot.  The new job has been reported to be wonderful, so all is well in Texas.  I'll get more details this weekend.

Oh, Christmas!  What a fun, jam-packed week.  We really had no plans or places we had to be - people just came to us this time.  We had a few things planned, but if we got up and didn't want to do them - we didn't.

Elise got there on Christmas night, flying into Montgomery late.  I can't remember what we did on the 26th, but I know I was working some.  On the 27th, Mike went to Atlanta to pick up Emily and Graysen (we missed Ryan this year because of work).

Some pictures of her 3rd airplane trip.  The other 2 she was too young to enjoy it, but she was well behaved the whole trip, and she and Emily both enjoyed it - I guess as much as you can enjoy 5 or so hours in a plane with a toddler.

After looking so forward to seeing her arrive, I just can't remember it.  I do know that it didn't take her long to warm up to us this time, and she immediately saw her stocking and made a beeline for that.  She learned "o-pen" this year and got quite good at it.  We doled her gifts out over the whole week so she could enjoy things gradually.  She loved pointing out the ornaments on the tree and recognizing no-flake, neigh-neigh, sheep, Santa, and no-man.  I have a snowman and teddy bear sitting on a sled every year, but somehow she took offense to that and wouldn't go near it.  Not sure which creature spooked her.

Alan and Kathy came Sunday for lunch, and we (I) could hardly wait for lunch to be over so we could find out what the new baby was going to be.  I brought in for dessert pink and blue iced cupcakes and let everyone take one in the color they thought the sex was going to be.  I think only 2 people picked the blue!  Then Emily went and got the correct white-iced one with the colored cake.  Graysen took one bite, and everyone started laughing and exclaiming over the fact that it was pink.  She had no idea what she had done to excite everyone so much.  We're all happy with that - very much so.  New B aby already has a closet full of clothes and lots of toys and a nursery almost furnished.

So this took 3 hours to write off and on while I was doing other things, so I'm ending now and coming back later - hopefully.  I found a bunch of pictures Emily downloaded on my computer from her camera of the weeks before Christmas, and I want to be sure to save those on here.