Merry Christmas

We hope that you and your family have a joyful Christmas.

Love, Heather, Kyle and Olive

Our Monkey at a Birthday Party.

Last weekend we celebrated our friend Ava's second birthday.  Her birthday party was held at The Little Gym.  Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Olive tested out the balance beam.

Olive and the Birthday Girl rode the 'waves.'

Olive climbed the parallel bars, and posed for photos.

:)

Christmas Program.

For the first time this year, Olive participated in her school's Christmas program.  (I'm sure there was a program last year, but the 'little kids' weren't invited to crawl around in all of the madness.)

This year there were reindeer antlers and Christmas tree necklaces,

 jingle bells,

a book exchange, and

lots of singing.

We had a great time.  I will admit to tearing-up once.  Or twice.

Our time.

In my attempts to calm down and enjoy the Christmas part of this holiday season, I have neglected this little blog (yawn, once again ... I know!!).  Still, we have had some fun times recently.

Earlier this month, Kyle participated (with his new firm) in the local AIA chapter's annual gingerbread house building competition.  Olive and I tagged along for some of the fun.

So the pro's came up with all sorts of cool things.  They (and several architects including Kyle's boss) were featured in this local news short:

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8468802

Kyle's firm did an upside-down version of the Rothko Chapel.  A lovely local spot situated on the grounds of the Menil Collection.

Olive and I, well, we opted for non-professional and candy-laden. 

She and I checked out the competition, while Kyle and his friends worked away diligently, but the Little Miss and I headed out before the offerings started to look like much of anything.  (Drat nap time!)

Still.  It was a gorgeous day, and we really enjoyed the time outside.

Christmas Cards!

OK.

I know that mailing a whole bunch of Christmas cards is neither the most budget friendly nor the most enviro-friendly activity in which we could engage this season.

BUT.

I love. Love. LOVE. receiving Christmas cards.  Getting real mail (not flyers or bills).  Seeing how everyone has changed over the year.  Leafing through last year's cards.  Yup.  I love it all.

SO.

We took some family photos.  We found some cards we liked.  We ordered the boogers.  And we waited for them to arrive. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. 

Then, in a flurry, we licked and sticked, stuffed and addressed, and rushed to the post office this morning.

They should be appearing in mailboxes near you very soon!

Trains!!

I couldn't resist posting just a few more photos from our trip to KC.  We took in the train exhibit at Crowne Center.  So. Fun.

The little ones loved a ride on this little train.

And then we all enjoyed the model train exhibit.

Belated Thanksgiving Photos.

Blowing off steam after a tasty Thanksgiving dinner ...

Being crazy people (young and old) at an indoor inflatable play place.

Taking in lovely lights and tasty warm cider at the Arboretum.

We traveled to Kansas City to enjoy Thanksgiving with Kyle's side of the family.  The weather was gorgeous--good enough to spend a ton of time outside.  It was a weekend full of great Grandparent time, cousin time, and family time in general.  We ran, and ran, and ran, BUT ... we loved it.

Thoughts on the Rush.

Today is the first day of December.  The rush to the end of the year has begun.

As always, there is too much I want to do and not enough time to do it in.  And, I would really love to slow down and enjoy where we are right now.

How do I balance these two pulls?  I know that finding time in the wonderful madness that back-to-back holidays can become is all about choices.  But, choices can be hard, and they don't seem to get easier as time goes on.

Still.  I am trying to take baby steps to create and enjoy balance.  Removing clutter from one room, or one surface in one room, of my home.  Thinking twice about that object at Target calling my name.  Accepting invitations and finding activities that will build relationships.  Considering seriously our existing commitments.  Declining, politely, some invitations.  Learning to say no.  Enjoying the process of finding great gifts for the people I love.  Finding other ways to express love and gratitude when the right objects are hard to find - or out of our price range.

Enjoying where we are right now.  If only for a few moments in our crazy, twirling life.