Merry Christmas

Christmas with Nathan was fun this year. We enjoyed Christmas Eve at Brian's parents house. The night included lots of yummy snacks, fondue dinner, plenty o'drinks and of course opening presents. Nathan enjoyed opening his gifts, but was a bit overwhelmed by the process, but still enjoyed it. On Christmas morning we opened gifts/stockings from Santa and then lounged around gorging on bacon, fruit and Krispy Creme doughnuts and watching Grease. After a nap and a dip in the jacuzzi, we headed up to Brian's aunt and uncle's house in Poway for more food and gifts. Today, Grandma Lois, Grandpa Larry and Annemarie are coming for the weekend. We are glad to see the sun shining and hope to enjoy a beautiful sunny weekend. Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped to make this an enjoyable Christmas for us.

Holiday Fun

We are gearing up for Christmas 2008. To prepare we have had a pretty busy weekend of parties, meeting Santa in several different locations, seeing Christmas lights with friends and breakfasts with Shamu and Santa at Seaworld (which doubled as a birthday brunch for Julie).

Refreshing

This school year has been by far the most stressful and disgruntling that I have faced. Couple that with the continued hate that we have seen in our state this year and my outlook on humanity has been lessened. However, yesterday on the last day of school before a three-week break, my faith in humanity was restored. Do you know who it was who restored that faith? A group of fifth graders. Our district has moved toward including children with disabilities into general education environments, as the law states that we do. Some teachers have been skeptical about this and some have been more open. Two teachers this year have stepped up the plate and run with it, while most have run the other direction. Fear of what we don't know, often breeds hate. Well, we have a student with severe Cerebral Palsy who is bound to a wheel chair and has been out for 6 weeks having surgery. Her mother decided to bring her to the Christmas party at the end of the day. Well, I happened to be in the classroom when she came. Every single one of those students was surprised, happy and genuine when she wheeled into the room. It was the most endearing thing I have seen all year. So while adults around continue to spread fear and judgement, we can step back and learn sincerity and caring from a group of 10 and 11 year olds.

Beach Camping in December

We spent last weekend camping at San Elijo state beach. It was a warm sunny weekend. Brian surfed a couple of times a day and we mostly just hung out with friends and family. Nathan met a new friend Ella and the two shared their first kiss. So cute. We attempted to take our Christmas card photo, but Nathan was having none of it. I guess we overlooked the fact that the poor kid was starving...oops. Other than our botched photo shoot and Milo contracting a nasty case of the runs, we had a great weekend. Where else but Southern California can you wear shorts on the beach in December?