Outside my window: I woke up and put running clothes on, but it’s cold. Really cold, and the snow on the ground doesn’t make for good footing. Maybe my run will be inside today.
In the kitchen: not much. We’re meeting friends for dinner tonight. But we might be able to make the peppermint bark today.
In the schoolroom: It’s vacation! Hooray! Of course, there are still four children to corral and keep entertained. We have been missing our late-afternoon play times with friends coming home from school– there are none of those around here. It makes the 4-6 p.m. crazies even worse. One more thing to look forward to in our move…
We hit Mythbusters exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Denver Art Museum (including Passport to Paris) and the Gates Planetarium during the past two weeks, before they would be crowded with vacationing children. For the record, the Mythbusters mechanical shark is on display.
Yes, that’s me behind all that Plexiglas. No, I was not fast enough to dodge the paintball. And yes, I needed all that PPE.
Building a house of straw, sticks and bricks with Papa. Will it hold when the big bag wolf blows?
About that move: thanks for asking. Yes, we finally have a closing date: February 6. That’s right. Sandwiched between two overnight hospital calls, the Super Bowl (Go Broncos!) and the Winter Olympics, we have date for our move. Someone forgot to order cabinets for the entire block, so when the contractor called to ask when the cupboards would be delivered, the cabinet company asked, “What cabinets?” Today is 45 days, so we’re hoping to lock in a loan before the vagaries of the US economy play any more havoc with our hypothetical mortgage payment.
Handmade: There’s no sewing or knitting happening, but I have been busy. Six-and-a half years ago (when I was pregnant with SweetP) my friends Eva and Dean were married, and I traveled to Seattle to celebrate with them. Apparently I gabbled so much about my children (as I am wont to do) that Eva decided to give my daughters her doll house, which is a gorgeous handmade gingerbread affair with antique furniture like my great-grandmother’s crank phone and a pedal-foot sewing machine table and a piano. I have been waiting for the right time to give it to her, and this is it, so I have been repairing it. I can’t wait to see SweetP’s face. Thanks, Eva!!
In my shoes: As soon as I announced my proposed running streak, I fell off the wagon. I have nine days to run the ten miles left to go (to get to 1000 lifetime miles), so hopefully today will be include three… although that feels much longer on the inside track than on the road. I did ski Thursday, with all four children, which is a post in itself if I ever recover enough to write about it.
What I’m reading: Isaiah. Song in the Night by Bob Massie. Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Grateful for: Mandy’s arrival home from the hospital. My health insurance and my new doctor. Advent, even if waiting is harder this year than before (you’d think all this practice would have made me good at it). Fifteen children at children’s church yesterday (and all the adults who came to help me).
Friday night’s church worship concert.
Praying for: Mandy. My back. Lisa. Anne. Jerusha. Refugees and those who minister among them. For patience in our home…
Learning As We Go 
You are such a nice family! Merry Christmas!
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