Merry Christmas!

Wow! It's almost Christmas. I can't believe it. We've had a wild month here. D had an emergency appendectomy early in the month. He really wasn't really hurting that bad, but by the time he got in, his appendix was on the verge of rupturing. They took him into emergency surgery at 5:00 am, and at 5:45 am, the doctor came out and said everything was fine! I think it's so amazing what modern medicine can do these days.

As some of you know, we are finishing our basement. As it turns out, it's taking a little longer than it should. One night, we had really high winds, and our fence blew down, hitting the outside hose hookup, breaking the line, causing a flood in our basement. The water was 2 - 3 inches before we realized it. We were all asleep, and oblivious to the fact that our basement was turning into a giant swimming pool. Luckily, our amazing basement guy did the framing in steel, and we weren't to the drywall point yet, so there was no damage! Amazing!

So, we had a temporary little fence thingy put up, because the ground is too frozen to put the real fence back up properly, and apparently some misguided deer tripped into it, knocking it down. When we let the dog out in the morning, not knowing that, she was gone. She really doesn't run away, she just saw some people walking down the street with their two dogs, and decided, hey, that looks fun, maybe I'll go. When we realized she was gone, I jumped in the car, and just then a neighbor drove up with Brandee in the back seat. I was nearly in tears, and I apologized repeatedly for being so emotional, but come on, that's my dog! So, another amazing moment! She said her husband said, hey, when I was out running, it looked like our neighbor's dog was following a couple with two dogs taking a walk. So, she went out to get her for us! If she wouldn't have, I'm just not sure what would have happened!

The boys had their orchestra and band concerts this week, and I was so proud! Theron plays the voilin, and Shane plays the guitar in orchestra. It's funny, because when people find out they're brothers, they're shocked, since they look nothing alike. Then, the next two nights we had Theron playing percussion in band, and Shane playing the trombone. I was such a proud mom!

Now, they're off school, and we're going to make our traditional cut out cookies tomorrow. Maybe I'll take some pictures and post them.

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and a safe and Happy New Year!