How can you miss me if I don't go away?

Well, you all must miss me like crazy because I've been away for so long.

I know that, as far as communication goes, blogs have pretty much gone the way of MySpace, actually speaking to a person on the phone, and hand-written letters.  I know that for a quick, easy update and record of the minutiae of everyday life, Facebook is where it's at.

But I also know that there are stories behind the one-liners and statuses and filter-laden snapshots.  I know that my children have referred to an old post from the blog and periodically browse through and laugh at how goofy they think they looked three years ago.  We've used the old girl as a point of reference for when things have happened in our family, as all the days and years tend to run together in a blur.  And I realized that, as time-intensive as blogging may be compared to the instant gratification of the most current social media, I've got to keep up with it.  Our family has stories to tell.  They are insignificant to most, but they are a record of our life together, and they deserve more than a notification in somebody's newsfeed.


Now...how to get caught up after almost an entire school year has gone by?  Well, we will do our best to finish up 2012.

Let's start with our little Munchkins!  Westlake High School put on "The Wizard of Oz" for their fall production.  They opened up the roles of the Munchkins to the elementary through middle school-aged kids.  Brooke (of course) was going to try out, no question.  Andrew tagged along, and while we were in line waiting for Brooke's turn to audition, Andrew's old swim teacher (who just happened to be Glinda) saw him there and started bugging him to try out as well.  He acted like he was super annoyed but you could also tell he was loving the attention.  And as the line inched closer, he had decided to give it a shot.

And what do you know--both Brooke and Andrew were cast!  And to top it all off, Macey was too!  There were two casts of Munchkins, and the cousins all made it into the same cast.  The kids had a great time, and I'm so glad that the director made the decision to open it up to the littles in the community.  I'm also glad she listened to our issue with the Sunday performance.  She allowed our kids to perform with the other cast so as to still have our three performances but avoid Sunday.  I thought that was nice of her.

 

The next big thing was Thanksgiving.  We had beautiful weather, delicious food, and lots and lots of family.  Grandma Brooks had the little kids make cute table decorations.  It was one of those perfect days, as Thanksgiving usually is.

 

So, um, Facebook also tells me that we went to a Cavs game in November.  So, uh, yeah, I guess we did that.

One thing I do remember for sure is seeing Sydney dance in "The Nutcracker" with the Joffrey Ballet.  She was cast as a party girl and had a lot of great stage time.  She is such a brilliant dancer and we are so proud of her hard work.  It was a perfect way to kick off the holiday season.

We decided we needed a new family picture for the Christmas card.  So my self-timer and I got to work and got us a good one.

Andrew turned 11 and wanted to have a real basketball game for his birthday.  He invited his friends to the church, where we used the scoreboard and Tyler served as referee.  The boys had a great time.

 

For the family party, Andrew decided to have a nacho bar, as nachos are his all-time favorite food.  Many others (i.e. Jake) were also happy with this choice.

Then it was time for Christmas!  It was great to have Stephen here for the holiday.

This year we gave the kids a trip to New York City.  They got to open a City Pass and maps and travel books.

We also made gingerbread houses and visited the Kirtland nativity display.  We also went caroling at a nursing home and it was so fun to see how the residents loved our singing.

 

We took a little break from all the festivities and made some snowflakes for Sandy Hook Elementary School.  There was a horrible, tragic school shooting there right before Christmas.  The school district knew that a lot of people would want to show support somehow, so they asked that people send snowflakes for them to decorate the new school building with once it reopened after the new year.  It was a simple project, but we had fun doing something small to show we care.

 

Real snowflakes were falling as well, so when Stephen was here we took the kids sledding,  We started at a little hill in Bradley Woods, but that just didn't cut it, so we tackled the big Rec Center hill.  It was crowded and crazy, but the kids had a great time.

 

We had big New Year's Eve bash with the whole family at our house. 

The kids had a great time with our little photo booth and props that we set up in the family room.  We also had yummy appetizers (as per tradition) and the chocolate fountain.  Everyone made it to midnight to see the ball drop.

Thus concludes the year 2012.  It was busy and challenging and filled with changes for our kids.  But we saw them adjust and grow and become even stronger.  Their talents grew as they met challenges head on.  My family is together in a way I never would have thought possible.  Due to my blogging lapse, many of the details have been forgotten, but we see the results of living the Gospel, making good choices, and putting family first.