It's the End of December, as we know it...

I forgot all about November...Not really. I just have had no time between the end of October and this point before Christmas. I finally found some "time", between the transition of Winter Break and the holidays. I do not feel caught up with the demands of life, by any means, but I am grateful for a few moments of sweet reflection to update the blog.

November, as the early parts of December, have been busy! Grammy Sue flew out from Indianapolis for Thanksgiving, and she spent some quality time with Maddy. We made a weekend trip to Victoria, B.C., so Sue could enjoy Canada. It was fun walking around the city, and enjoying some of the holiday festivities they had planned. They had a light parade go through downtown, so we sat along the road and enjoyed watching the numerous floats sponsored by local businesses, aglow and decorated with holiday and Christmas decor. Some older women sat next to us and fawned over Madelynne and every chance they could, made sure those handing out candy gave Maddy some. They were very sweet and kind, and it is something we truly appreciate about our friends across the border. Maddy enjoyed the parade, especially sitting on Daddy's shoulders to get the best views.

Downtown Victoria

Waiting for the parade to start

Grammy Sue

Loves

Waiting on the ferry

Enjoying a snack

Being a ham

Seal in the harbor

Sleeping Mallard on our walk

Waiting

Daddy and Maddy

Checking out the parade

Maddy had a blast at the parade. Grammy Sue bought her a few books in Victoria, for her Christmas present, and we introduced Sue to Geo-caching, finding three caches for a fun way to end our trip. The best cache was at a local coffee shop, where we had to go in and ask the owner about the cache. He was great and gave us an interesting history lesson behind his cache, which I am not spoiling in case followers of ours make their own trip to Victoria at some point and intend to engage in a little geo-caching themselves.

The rest of Grammy Sue's time was helping us enjoy a yummy Thanksgiving, decorate our home for Christmas, and play with Maddy. I think she was beyond happy to just get time to spend with her grandbaby and relax. Plus, right before Sue arrived, Kristie, her daughter and Brad's younger sister, had a little girl, Hollie. Sue will be meeting her at Christmas time.

Helping put up lights

Teasing the dogs

Cheering them on as they do dishes from Thanksgiving dinner

Work always keeps both Brad and I busy. Brad works two jobs, but as a teacher, and going to school, I feel like I work more than two sometimes. I try my hardest to leave work at work, but lately it has overflowed a bit. Thank goodness for winter break though! I definitely will not take this time for granted to spend with Madelynne. Lucky for us, Brad has a four day weekend for Christmas, so that is a blessing! We will be spending some of our time in Port Townsend for a holiday party and seeing a friend from Wyoming, and maybe making our way up Hurricane Ridge to play in the snow, if weather permits!

Maddy has really been quite the helper and is expanding her communication skills with bits of sign language and more words. She can sort of sign "I Love You" but can definitely do "More" and "Please". She is a big helper, putting away and picking up her toys when it is time to, and helping mom and dad put things away when we come home from the grocery store and so forth. She is becoming quite the little lady.

It's hard to believe that January, let alone 2013, is just around the corner! Time sure does fly!

Here are some other fun pics of the going-ons out here! Enjoy!