Let there be curls.

Having some fun with
Lorelai's Nutcracker wig...

Before:


After:




p.s. Don't you just love the candy cane socks that my friend Michelle sent to fit over Elisabeth's casts?!

p.p.s Only 10 more days until her casts come off!!

p.p.p.s Only 7 more days until my back brace comes off!!! (assuming my x-ray looks good - fingers crossed)

Snowflakes

***Deck the Halls Week***
**Day 5**

This year I decided to take the green and white snowflakes that I had in Elisabeth's nursery last year and reuse them in the kitchen. I hung them from under the cabinets and I think they add just the right amount of whimsy, don't you?







In other news...

My brother, Michael, flew in to town yesterday - just in time for opening night of Nutcracker (tonight!!!). I pulled Lex and Lor out of school early to go pick him up from the airport and you have never seen two girls so excited. Around here Uncle Michael is somewhat of a celebrity...



Have a fun weekend!
Go see Nutcracker!!
Ciao!!!

A Story About a Tree-Topper

***Deck the Halls Week***
**Day 4**

When we were unpacking our Christmas decorations I pulled out our tree topper (A gorgeous glittery star made from old sheet music) and randomly stood it behind our nativity. Well, later that night when we had finished trimming our tree the time came to put the star on top. But when I looked over to where it sat behind the nativity I just couldn't bring myself to do it; it made the perfect backdrop - symbolic of the star that shined bright some 2000+ years ago. So I left it. And for several days our tree was without a star.


[Our tree-topper star sitting behind the nativity.]

So two days ago I said to Jennifer, "I suppose I need to get a tree topper for our tree. I'm thinking of getting a huge fat bow and sticking it up there. I mean, who says it has to be a star or an angel."

That's when Jennifer had the best idea ever: To put a sock monkey up on top!

So it was done...





And thus a new tradition is born.

It's Nutcracker Time!

***Deck the Halls Week***
**Day 3**

The stockings have been hung (with care)...

In other Christmas related news...

Alexandra and Lorelai will be performing in Nutcracker this weekend! They are excited beyond belief. Excited I tell you. (And so am I).


Presenting...

Lorelai the Angel



and...

Alexandra the Arabian


For ticket information click here.

Let's Sing Chrismtas Carols...

***Deck the Halls Week***
**Day 2**

The Music Parlor


[Atop the piano.]






[We've pulled out all of our favorite old records.]


[That little girl angel reminds me of Elisabeth.]

[Atop the organ.]

And since the focus today is on my music parlor, how about if I list off my top 5 favorite Christmas songs?

5. I'll Be Home for Christmas
4. Silent Night
3. Pat-a-pan
2. The Little Drummer Boy
1. Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella

Oh, Christmas Tree!

***Deck the Halls Week***
**Day 1**

Picking out the tree...

[My family.]


[Lorelai Leigh.]


[This picture cracks me up...for the obvious reason.]


[Elisabeth is wondering why she is out in the cold and not at home next to the warm fire...]


[We plopped the winning tree right on top of our van (and tied it down tight)...]


[...and I kept an eye on it through the sunroof to make sure it didn't try rolling away.]


Later that night...

[The annual decorating of the tree.]


[Elisabeth's collection of sock monkey ornaments.]


[And that's how you create some magic.]

Pincer Grasp!

By golly, she's done it! Elisabeth used a pincer grasp to play with her toy radio. This is big - no, this is huge!! To be perfectly honest, I never expected Elisabeth to hit this milestone. So I say hip hip hooray!!

Want to see her pincer grasp in action? Just push play:





**And don't forget to pop on over to claudecoats.com and enter the giveaway! Click here.

Welcome December!

May the
Christmas Season
begin!!

And what better way to start the holiday festivities than with a giveaway! That's right - a giveaway!!

My grandfather, Claude Coats, was a Disney imagineer for 50+ years and - as you can imagine - our family has some pretty whimsical art floating around. Like this for example:



Don't you just love it!?

Well good, then hop on over to claudecoats.com and enter to win your very own gicleé print.

The contest ends December 5th and the winner, selected at random, will be notified by email on December 6th. The gicleé print will ship immediately.

Good Luck!

Click here to go enter.

A Thanksgiving Review

I figure if I'm going to say anything about our Thanksgiving holiday I had better say it now - it is the last day of November after all.

So I'll say this: Thanksgiving was delightful. I enjoyed delicious food with my favorite company. And then we played Apples to Apples Disney Edition and ate pumpkin pie - oh yes we did.

But my favorite part of the holiday was decorating the table with my grandmother's fine china. I love it dearly.








The next morning when I went into the kitchen I found a little surprise waiting for me:



Donald took our two place cards and connected them with a heart.
He can be romantic like that.

Blank Canvas

If there's one thing a cast shouldn't be,
it's blank.













There, that's better.

Surgery Day: A review in pictures and words

Elisabeth's leg, pre-surgery. Notice how her leg and foot formed one long line? They were stuck like that and her foot couldn't move.


Elisabeth: Why did they wake me up and bring me to the hospital at 6:00 am??? Something fishy is going on...


Fresh out of surgery and still snoozing.



...and then she woke up.


Her brand spankin' new, 'L'-shaped feet.


...dozing off again.


Right hand. Left hand. And a sock monkey for comfort.


Her magical g-tube. You may recall that this little beauty made my
Top-10 Thanksgiving-Thankfuls list.


Coming back to.
"Is this really happening or is it all a nightmare??..."



This little piggy.


Elisabeth had an extremely rough time recovering from surgery. She slept for the better part of the 3 days following the operation and when she did wake up she would moan, groan, and cry in pain (and have a seizure or two...or ten).

But last night she started returning to her old self again. She played with her toys and even smiled! Oh happy day, oh happy day!



p.s. Yesterday I celebrated 2 months since my spinal fusion! And I'm proud to report that I'm feeling better than ever. (But I wonder if the feeling is ever going to return around the incision site? My stomach is still all numb...)