Christmas Break

It has been a busy couple of weeks and we have made the most of all the time. 

Ethan had his Christmas party at school on December 18th and Nicole (Peyton's mom) and I were able to be the classroom helpers.  It was fun to see them both interact with their classmates.

Then later that same evening they had their Christmas program, which even included orchestra, bells, and a bagpiper and drummer. 

 The following afternoon Ethan began his Christmas break from school and will be off until January 3rd, so we made the most of day off on Thursday 12/20 and finished our last-minute Christmas errands and then made our way to the new Portland Aquarium in Milwaukie.  They had several different exhibits and also had a shark and stingray touch pond, which Ethan loved.

On Friday, December 21st, I finally gave in and had the plantar fascia released on my left foot.  It has been a complete opposite recovery from the surgery on my right foot, and I was even able to walk around, with crutches and in a walking boot mind you, the following day.  Jeff has been home several of the days, as his parents are here visiting us for Christmas, so I have had lots of help.  I went for my first post-op appointment this afternoon and all is looking and feeling well, and other than a few more days of anti-coagulation injections in my stomach (OUCH!) it has been a pretty good outcome. 

While taking it easy after surgery, the pain medication makes me really tired so Charlie and I had a lot of cuddle time (of course he thinks he is a lap dog). 

Ethan has also had a great time with G&G Hadley, talking their ears off as well as making a gingerbread house, paper snowflakes (need lots more practice), and felt ornaments.  We also drove through the Christmas lights at Portland International Raceway (after waiting nearly 2 hours and were really disappointing but we can at least say we have seen them), drove through Peacock Lane (much more impressive), and tomorrow will be checking out zoo lights.  We are always happy to have G&G Hadley with us every other year for Christmas and Ethan loves spending time with them. 

It was really fun to watch Ethan get so excited for Christmas and Santa this year.  He was so excited he has a really hard time getting to sleep on Christmas Eve and was wide awake just after 6 am when he crawled underneath his red-taped door and came running upstairs to tell us that Santa really did come to our house.  He received Legos, K'nex, a kindle (mommy's) in a new case, and lots of books.     

 Daddy spent many many hours putting together his K'nex rollercoaster and will probably now be a permanent fixture in the house since it took so long to put together. 

Every year Jeff's dad makes us all a beautiful hand-crafted wood ornament and this year it was an angle.  Ethan, however, thought that she needed to be dressed up and have a face so he "helped" Papa, unbeknownst to anyone including Papa, by adding his take on what the angel should look like.  Can't really blame him, and now Papa will know who to ask for art design, hahaha!