Christmas Card 2017

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Prep

Nana and Papa helped us get into the Christmas spirit this year.

I think we wore them out this week.

Nana and Papa

We love these people!

Dinner at Berns.

Ryan wore his first tie.

It was our first visit to The Dessert Room- Kenny on the piano and Bananas Foster on our bellies.

And the kitchen and wine cellar tour- pretty cool and creepy.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we got to spend Thanksgiving break with Nana and Papa! It was so nice to have them in our new guest room. 

Nana enjoyed the warm Florida sun with her books. Papa enjoyed the open kitchen, where he crafted his famous apple pie.

We got to play outside in the not-Boston weather.

And we got to eat a yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

We ate on Mawmaw's China plates, so Mom felt like she was with us, too.

And the boys won the day with their pie.

Top 3 signs that Nana and Papa are in town: the butter,

the kids' fun holiday gear,

and Red Solo cups. 

Nerd Goals

Mom and Dad were so proud of us this fall. I developed into a vocabulary nerd with new glasses and awesome hair styles. 

Dad is the vocabulary guy in our house, so he's thrilled to see me learning big words.

And we found a competitive speller with missing teeth.

The first grade spelling bee was no joke. These guys had to be brave in front of a crowd.

They learned the lesson that sometimes you work really hard for something, but you still may not win. It was awesome to see them cheer for each other, such a great group of kids.

Mom is thrilled to have a fellow speller in the house. She was the 1985 Spelling Champ of West Side Elementary. Maybe you've heard of her.    

Happy Halloween!

This year was definitely Mom's favorite for costumes.

Ryan's school Halloween book report presentation was just a fun excuse to be a dragon.

The class parade was fun, 

but we think Ryan inherited his Dad's aversion to wearing costumes.

At least this year we finally learned our lesson, and did NOT put pumpkins out.

Tooth Fairy

First tooth!

The tooth fairy left a trail of fairy glitter dust, a $2 dollar bill, and a mouse for Ryan to join the rest of the family!

He's been showing off his new smile everywhere. 

He even earned a trip to Urgent Care, finding new wounds to celebrate with his toothless smile. 

Then, a few days later, he lost a second tooth. Best week ever!

Irma Gratitude

On the Sunday that Irma churned up Florida, we were preparing for the worst, and hoping for the best, watching it all unfold on TV, Twitter, and Facebook. 

The forecasts were NOT reassuring. 

When CNN sent their silver fox Anderson Cooper, and NBC sent Lester and Al to Tampa for giddy live hurricane broadcasts, we figured we were screwed. All we could do was watch and wait.

We looked for the positive stories.

And comic relief.

We hoped Floridians would recognize which ones were fake news.

But mostly we obsessively watched our home security cameras for storm status updates, until the power was cut by wind. Somehow, we thought it would be comforting to see flood waters rise to our porch and seep into our living room, or giant grandfather oaks in the neighborhood crash down.

Luckily, at the last minute, the storm turned and weakened, sparing us the worst of its damage. I can't remember a time when we felt more grateful. We said our thankful prayers, especially one for the cozy, safe night's sleep we had in Ringgold, far away from Irma.

The next day we celebrated, and waited for the power to come back on through the entire state of Florida so that we could return home.

The power came back on in our neighborhood, and we started our trek back home. 

The drive was unsettling in a Zombie Apocalypse/War Time kind of way. This sounds overly dramatic, but it's true. When the whole state is off the power grid, there is no gas for your car and no food along the way. This puts people on edge, making them do dangerous, desperate things. It's not a good feeling to be part of the congested bumper-to-bumper highway full in all 3 lanes, creeping back down into a peninsula.   

There were some glimmers of hope, like the hundreds of power trucks coming down from the midwest to help. But, the whole experience made us feel especially compassionate for families in Puerto Rico after they were devastated by Hurricane Maria.

Once we got settled at home, we were so grateful to be spared, that we were inspired to help our neighbor who lost everything when a tree fell on her house. We've never been so happy to be able to come home and go back to school and work like normal!