December 23, 2009

It's the day that's the title of one of Grace's favorite Christmas books, "The Day Before the Night Before Christmas." Michelle and Grace are out doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, trying to beat the coming snowstorm. Grace has managed to maintain some sense of sanity despite her excitement over Santa's upcoming visit to our house.

We will have a pretty low-key Christmas, not having to travel too much. We'll head to my parents on Christmas Eve, then go to Michelle's family in Carroll this weekend. Santa will probably come to my parents house, as we're planning on staying overnight there that night (if we can get there in this supposed blizzard that's coming).

We've been fairly healthy in our house so far this winter, especially Grace. Claire is just getting over a cold, and right now Michelle and I are both battling colds. But nothing serious, and hopefully that continues.

We look forward to the new year, and remember that it's usually sometime in January or February that they announce the RAGBRAI route. We're counting on a return to northwest Iowa this year, because it's started in southwest Iowa the last two years. I have predicted that the ride will start somewhere between Sioux City and Sioux Center, which would be great for our northwest Iowa family and friends! If my prediction comes true, we hope to make this the best year yet for our now annual Race 4 Grace event.

December 11, 2009

Two weeks until Christmas, and this morning Grace repeated her laundry list of things she wants from Santa Claus. It's a pretty exhaustive list that's actually stayed pretty consistent the past couple months. She also asked me this morning if I think she'll get any presents this year, which allowed me to slide in the typical "as long as you're a good girl at preschool" until Christmas.

Both Grace and Claire are battling small colds right now, but neither appears serious. Claire has started to smile a lot lately, and in the last week or so Grace has really taken a liking to talking to her. The other day Claire was crying and Grace was singing to her to try to calm her down--it was hilarious.