Catching Up

Daddy and Brianna on a date to Clara's Dream (dance school's version of nutcracker)

Haddley and her guineas

A lesson in creativity.  All it took was a little nudge from mom and what followed was two hours of planning and construction of a tunnel and train station for the Christmas tree train.  It was awesome.

 This was Brianna's journal of the calcuations for how many bricks it was going to take to build the tunnel.

This is how Hadley rolls to preschool.  Long sleeves is very unusual.  We usually wear a spaghetti strap sundress even on 30 degree days. 

The guinea pigs riding the train.

 Hadley sound asleep before daddy got to pray for her.  Seeing our little force asleep always helps us start the next day.  Actually, after reading an amazing book at the advice of our child psychologist we are ALL doing SO MUCH BETTER.

Our weekly ritual on Sunday.  Reading books in the church bookstore after visiting dad.

 Mia learning from Uncle Mike how to play her new "real" guitar from Butde and Papa.  Had Christmas a little early at Thanksgiving so they could see the girls open their gifts.

Hadley with her Christmas present.  It is now in the basement.  And I (mom) had to admit to Butde that it is louder than I thought it would be (even down there with the door closed.)  Should have known Butde was right.  She raised 2 drummers.

Brianna and Caroline, her Christmas present from Butde and Papa.  The two girls are the best of friends.

Thanksgiving

Dan and I feel all grown up now.  Why?

• We hosted our first thanksgiving!
• I brined and cooked my first turkey
• I made my own stuffing from scratch
• Our dining room is no longer a playroom but a dining room (I love Craigslist!!!)
• I got to set my table with my wedding china
• I got to see my girls be all excited to be eating on china at the adult table
• It was a blast

Here are just a few pics

Mia at Work

While Brianna was coloring I walked in and saw Mia playing with the crayons.  This is what I later found.

She has been doing this since she was about 16 months old with whatever she had:  bracelets, magnets, you name it.  We use to stare and think "no, that has to be a fluke".  This makes her math mama and math grandma so proud.  

An oldie, but goodie

 

Hopefully this was just an isolated desire.

Higgens Moving Out!

Bye, bye Higgens.  I am really sorry about your cut nose and bloody paws.  I know you didn't enjoy your temporary cage residence.  But I think you will like your new home better.  Lots of woods and prairies.  Maybe you will find your true love there.

And if you ever want to be a guest at our house.  Beware.  We just might make you help capture and release our creatures.

Dan and our friend and guest speaker at church this morning, John Stothers, came home from church exhausted from doing two services and still had one more service ahead of them at 5.  However, both guys didn't seem to mind the adventure of releasing an animal in the wild.  I think they got a little energy from it.  For the record, Dan got him out of the car and released him at the park.  He didn't want John to get all the glory.

Note:  the video is there.  I don't know why it loaded with the stripes.

Higgens Leaving Video from Elise Deeble on Vimeo.

Meet Higgens!

I (Elise) got him.  The critters are going to learn to not mess with this girl!!!!

Another Higgens Update

So we are dealing with a smart one.  Just ate the fresh apple but stayed away from the cage.  Let's see if a little camo works.  He also doesn't appear to care for the green beans.