DeebleDaughter Christmas Greeting

Merry Christmas From the Deeble Girls from Elise Deeble on Vimeo.

Notable Ommissions and Other Reflections from 2009

Call us cheap - or, if you're kind, extremely busy. But welcome to the Deeble's full color, high resolution, unlimited edition family Christmas letter. 2009 was a year of many milestones and achievements. Perhaps, though, the most notable achievements were the ones that actually did not happen. Thus, we begin this annual memoir with our list of "Notable Ommissions."

we did not...
1. ...have any overnight stays in a hospital.
2. ...reach our family deductable.
3. ...ski even a single day (though we were in Winter Park for five).
4. ...contract H1N1 (yet).
5. ...add on to our house.
6. ...invest in any toxic assets.
7. ...take the dogs for a single walk.
8. ...visit one movie theatre together.
9. ...have any more babies.
10. ...hang Christmas tree lights on our house.

In so doing (or in not so doing), we made a very important observation: you really can't see your own lights. You can only see the neighbor's lights. So in order to get into the Christmas spirit, one only needs festive neighbors such as ours (thanks B, E, and G!):

favorite quotes of 2009...
1. "Bye Bye Poopie. See you tomorrow!" - Mia
2. "What About Me!?!" - Brianna
3. "Milp" - Hadley

We're a bit concerned that when a child can verbally ask to be nursed that maybe it's time to switch over to the cow....

most adorable moments: (click to watch any of the below)
1. When Mia first learned to pray.
2. Hadley singing Frank Sinatra with her Papa.
3. Brianna on a talking spree.

most heroic moment: Dad catching Hadley with one hand while still filming (see video#2) .

best vacation: lake trip and worstell wedding
worst drive: lake trip and worstell wedding

worst day of the year: family photo day
best day of the year: when we got our photos back

meanwhile, on the latest episode of "So You Think You Can Dance..."

most difficult challenge of our lives: pottytraining
greatest feat: hadley takes her first steps!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a purposeful and rewarding 2010.

Spring Fever

It's only December 17th. We've only had one snowfall. The calendar hasn't even turned yet. And we - Mia, Bri, Hads, and I - all have spring fever. Long nights, cold days, and...us. Just us.

dinner table discussions

One night last week, I announced that I wanted to go around the table and tell each girl why I thought they were so special. So I turned to Bri, then to Mia, then to Elise, and finally to Hadley and shared with each of them. It went over well and the girls seemed to listen intently to my praise.

But then Bri announced that she too wanted to tell each of us why we are special. Here's what we heard:

"Mia, you booduful cause...cause....cause... you gwew up China. {insert garble, garble}. And you adopted. You born Mommy's heart I born in Mommy tummy. Mommy, you booduful cause...cause...cause... you fix dings. Had-lay, you booduful cause...cause...you dance.

Daddy, you so booduful cause...cause...{garble garble}...watch football."

About Foxes...

Untitled from Elise Deeble on Vimeo.

Final Score

Team Deeble, after a last minute surge by Team Meltdown and some rancorous debate among the home team, was able to hold on to close out the game.

Team Deeble: 3
Meltdown: 1

Game Analysis:

1st Quarter: a strong showing out of the gate. The deebledaughters slept til 7:30 (Dude!), our dear friend "Miss Sharon" came over and watched our two youngest so that Elise and I could spend some 2 on 1 time with Mia. Incredibly special time. Then, I took Brianna shopping - we went to the library, the grocery store, and she helped me pick out some new boots.

2nd Quarter: also a strong quarter of play but with a major setback at the end. A small mutiny occurred on the way to NAP time that caused TeamDeeble 3 penalties, a personal foul, and a stiff fine for inappropriate conduct.

3rd Quarter: starting out extremely strong. All 3 have been asleep for 2 hours. After their waking, we attempted to bake cookies for our neighbors. This was a disaster and required a quick audible by Elise (our QB). Coloring books and crayons kept us in the game.

4th Quarter: some bickering among the star QB and the back-up QB (dan) got the 4th quarter off to a rocky start, resulting in Dan coming in and pulling off some late heroics to finish off Team Meltdown.


All in all, a fairly solid effort by the good guys and, it seems, the win has lifted the spirits in the locker room as well. After his post-game interviews, Dan was seen heading to the showers. He and Elise crossed paths in the tunnel where he reportedly gave her a slap on the butt and said, "good game."

Karaoke Night at Butde and Pappa's

unforgettable from Elise Deeble on Vimeo.