Bethany has taken to wearing her coat around the house. We are pretty sure it is not from cold, but more from a desire to always be ready to go. On this day, she wanted her coat and a shawl and a bag. Whenever she sees anyone move toward the door she says hopefully, "Go?" Whenever I get my coat on, she follows me around the house while I round up last minute things and says, "Go? Go?" When I finally pick her up and step outside she says joyfully, "GO!" What a thirst for adventure, huh? Last Sunday, I picked her up and took her with me to deliver something to a neighbor -- since she already had her coat on and all. It was like negative 5 outside. We didn't get four houses away before she started looking at her hands in consternation and saying, "Owie!" Yes, Bethany, there is a very good reason that we don't "go" more often in freezing weather!! Not that she understands that though. She continues to wear her coat around the house and ask to go.

Megan had an exciting moment this week. She finished her 10-week chess club. Remember that she didn't know anything when she first attended? Well, they have been having a tournament for the last few weeks and guess what? Only one person in the whole club could beat Megan! She came in second place and got her name announced to the whole school. We think she is pretty cool.



We started basketball practices this week. Kevin is coaching Sarah and Megan's team and they have practice Monday from 7-8 and Wednesday from 8-9. I am coaching Mariah's team and we had practice M and W from 3-4. It made the week pretty busy. Kevin and I both love it, though. Oh, and so do the girls!

We still managed to make treats for teachers, etc. this week. We dipped pretzels this year. I liked it as a project because it involved everyone all at once but also was pretty simple. We delivered Saturday morning. Yeah! Merry Christmas! We had an especially good time delivering. The weather warmed up (mid 30s!) and Megan and Mariah started throwing snowballs at their dad. I could tell all that softball playing was paying off. The rest of us just sat in the car and laughed!

Also on Saturday, but in the afternoon, Sarah talked me into taking her to a local performance of the Nutcracker in which a friend of hers from school was going to be dancing. Savannah and Megan and another friend came along. It was really fun! The two princes were from professional ballet companies but the other dancers came from the different classes of this ballet academy. It was really fun to watch the little girls dance with their dolls and then up through the ranks to the toe-shoes and the soloists. My goodness! What a lot of effort. The dancing was beautiful and the music, of course, . . . well, that Tchaikovsky was a very talented fellow. I really had fun. And the girls did, too!

While we were at the ballet, Kevin made snowmen with Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne. Yay for warmer temps and a fun dad!