SPL's Blog

We had a quiet Christmas in CA this year as Beth and her crew were in TX with our parents, Nan was in Austin with Uncle Dave and Aunt Sue, and Grandee and Nana Dana were in GA (there are hundreds of photos as you might imagine so if you can’t see all of them on Flickr, you can 1) log in and friend me (khowe) or 2) email me and I’ll send you a Flickr “guest pass.”  For SPL’s great-grandparents, you should have a “guess pass” in your email that should still work).

SPL woke up twice during the night wondering if Santa had already arrived and thankfully went back to sleep easily. He slept in until 7:15 am or so and woke very excited to see what Santa had left for him.

He found a police helicopter (which he’d asked for last Friday when Santa visited preschool) and a police car, along with some dragon knights to go with his other lion knights from his advent calendar.  Thanks Santa!

On Christmas Eve, he 0pened one present and chose (of course) the largest one :-).  This was fortuitous as it was a Playamobil pirate ship from Grandee and Nana Dana and it took 2 hours to put together :-).  SPL has been creating many play themes using the ship and pirates — I hope it goes as well when his friends come over and there’s only 1 to share (though its size will help as it’s big enough for 2 four year olds to manipulate together and separately).

Nan found an awesome Curious George stuffed animal, a pop up Mo Willems book (we *love* Mo Willems — and I do mean we — all 3 of us :-), and a that will come in handy during our winter days.  Thanks Nan!

Grandma and Grandpa added to the stuffed animal collection with an eaglet which was a new word for SPL and was a great choice as he’s frequently pretending he’s some kind of eagle (I credit his outdoor preschool teacher).  They also found an incredibly well-designed wooden top from Berea, KY, made by students from Berea College (which if you don’t know about Berea College, you should check it out!).

Uncle Dave, Aunt Sue, and cousins GCL and EAL found a great (from Toy Story movie) to add to SPL’s collection (he loves that movie! :-). Thanks guys!

Bampa and Myra found a subscription that we know SPL will enjoy — to ASK magazine.  And Gigi also found a Mo Willems book.

My favorite gift, however, was a special one that SPL and his dad made just for me: a book called “I love Mom.” SPL wrote about all the favorite things we do together: reading, going to preschool, gardening, snuggling etc and illustrated each.  What a wonderful gift!

We also had a visit from Uncle Bryan and Aunt Lisa as well as and as well as “baby Claire” (Jon and Liz’s 3 month old daughter) and Saffron (Nik and Chandre’s dog).  Bryan and Lisa live in Austin and were out here for the holidays visiting Bryan’s family in Northern California.  The others live in the Bay Area but we don’t see them often enough.  And I love this photo of SPL with Claire — and she was transfixed by him.

And most importantly, our hearts and love go out to Nan who is recovering from surgery in Austin.  We love you Nan!