December 15, 2009 · filed under: Grace Evelyn by Geoff

Well, its been a heck of a December already, and the holidays aren’t even here yet! It started out with a visit from Uncle Greg, who came to spend a week with us. Along with some job searching, Greg also decided he wanted to help out with a project. Jill had already decided she wanted me to build Grace a toybox for Christmas, so we decided we’d make that our project for the week.

Then the snow came, which made our task a bit more difficult. Fortunately for us, the Sport Utility Saturn saved the day!

It was Wednesday morning, in the worst part of the storm. Greg and I decided we’d better get to Lowes to get the supplies for the toybox. So, we shoveled a path down the drive to get the Sport Utility Saturn out, and headed to Lowes. We were the 15th customer of the day, the first in a car, and the first to the lumber entrance. 8 of those before us had bought snowblowers, we were there for plywood. After making our purchase, we took extra time strapping it to the roof of the Saturn to prevent the 40 mile-an-hour winds from ripping it off on our short drive home.

Unfortunately between the time we left and the time we returned, the snow plow had been by and sealed off the hole in the snow-plow drift that we’d used to get out.  The new and much taller drift was blocking off the entire entrance to Crystal Circle, and our way home. So, Greg and I got the shovels out of the trunk and began digging. Shortly after, the neighbor who lived right there must have felt sorry for us, and brought his snowblower to the rescue.

Then we got to work.  Grace decided the two boys needed some supervision with Mom gone at work, so she kept a particularly close eye on us while we worked.

And of course we socialized. Not only did Grace get to hang out with Uncle Greg, but she also got some extra attention from family friends who came to visit:

December at the Janes household, though, means Christmas decorations–and lots of them! All of the decorations turned out to be a great tool for enticing our little girl into crawling. So close! But in the end, Grace decided she needed to play around with the Christmas tree instead…

As if that were not enough, another big milestone this month was our first puffs! Our little girl proved that she not only enjoys eating a solid food, but she also can do it all by herself!

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December 5, 2009 · filed under: Family, Grace Evelyn, Holidays by Geoff

The last month has been crazy with visits and activities for the holidays. With Mom & Dad hosting Thanksgiving, Grace was busy trying to keep up.

First came the preparations, and Grace was busy helping Dad decorate the house.

Then came the visitors. Vivi Otto decided it had been long enough, and it was time for her to visit Grace. So she brought Russ & Anna and Dawn & Kyler along with her.

And just after Vivi and company left, it was time for Thanksgiving and the arrival of family.

And following Thanksgiving dinner, Grace decided she needed to get out of the house to walk off some extra calories. So, Grace decided some geocaching was in order.

Following Thanksgiving, it was time to get our tree. It’s become a tradition to get our tree with the Thompson family, and Grace was looking forward to seeing Luke again.

And then it was time to decorate. With the Christmas music blaring, Grace got first-hand experience of what it is to decorate for Christmas in the Janes house (as crazy and over-the-top that it might be).

The holidays have reminded Jill and I about the important things in life. Family and friends have and continue to be the most important part of our lives. We’re also reminded about how blessed we are to have been given the privilege of being Grace’s parents.

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