We did just a little bike riding today. Katy did some roller skating. Sam rode many different things. It was good to get out and play. Margaret is getting very fast on her really cool bike. On a slightly different note, Bruce sent us these pictures of our house in the snow.
Sam had his first ski lesson. It went VERY well. Margaret had a lesson as well. After her lesson, she was skiing much better. (I think a little encouragement from having Sam do well was a good thing). They are both riding the lift now. Katy and I skied most of the day, then Elizabeth and Katy skied for a while. While they were skiing, Sam, Margaret, and I played in the snow near the Ice Bar. They showed off their new skiing abilities and I watched. Katy is now faster than Elizabeth (but that is not saying a whole lot).
We went to Tahoe again for the week between Christmas and New Years. It was an interesting week. We were able to see our house without scaffolding up around it. We went to a lighting store. I was able to get all of the communications wire run in the house. We had a flood. It rained a lot. We spent a lot of time in the dark.
We spent most of the week there with the Schwartz’s. As always, it was mostly good fun. However, I woke up early Saturday morning and stepped in a big puddle of water on the way to the bathroom. The bottom floor of Bruce’s house flooded because of all of the rain and the fact that the culvert up the street was not working. Then about 11am that day, we lost power. There was lots of rain, lots of roads were closed including I-80. The next morning we woke up and still had no power, so we left. Only to get back to Los Gatos and not have power for a little over another day. Somehow, all of this was my fault. [Now, after 60 hours without power, we have electricity again, and Rusty is not in trouble.]
The most amazing thing about the house not having scaffolding up around it anymore, was not how it looked from the outside, but how it looked from the inside. Now you can actually see how nice it will be inside once we get it done. In the great room, it seems like you are pretty much standing outside because of all of the big windows.
Well another Christmas morning has come and gone. Of course there were too many presents. Sam’s favorite was the truck full of cars, Margaret liked everything, and Katy got an iPod shuffle. Katy just took a quick trip with to Palo Alto with her Grandmother so she could listen to her music in the car. The Groom’s came down for brunch this morning as well. Now it is time for all to nap. Also, while I was in Japan, I got all of the kids kimonos.
We had a Christmas Eve pageant at church today. Sam started off being a shepard, but then decided not to join in. Margaret and Izzy were angels.
Here are Sam’s school pictures. We got them on CD this year instead of actual prints.
Today we all went to church to see Katy become an acolyte. This was the first time that she did this at church. She has been training for a while. Click on the picture above for a few more pictures.
This was the day for Katy and Margaret’s winter concert. Lots of movies. Elizabeth helped Katy’s class make the Winter Concert banner that ended up being used for the kindergarten as well. Here are the pictures. I don’t know why, but the title picture doesn’t show up for me.
With Rusty in Japan, I have no way to get post pictures on the site. Sorry. But it has been a big week, so check back for photos next week. By then we should have audio and video up from Margaret and Katy’s piano recital (both did very well, and I am especially proud of Margaret who stayed perfectly calm and was most poised, even though she admitted afterwards that she had been nervouse before her first recital). Also, there will be a new batch of house pictures from Tahoe taken during my quick trip up there to meet with the electricians on Monday. Tomorrow and Friday bring concerts at both schools, so we should have some photos and video from those performances as well. And hopefully, Rusty will have some more photos of interesting things from Japan.
Katy got new shoes. Lately, I have had “Blue Suede shoes”, and “angels want to wear my” Red shoes. Katy has made fun of my shoes and she goes out and buys these. Elizabeth won’t tell me how much they cost. I am just wondering where I can get me a pair.