January so far...

(The line up on Christmas morning.)
So far the new year is treating us just fine. Christmas was wonderful, the kids enjoyed it and we were able to have a bunch of the young soldiers from Tom’s clinic over for dinner. I managed to be slightly less busy this year than last year which gives me hope that maybe next year I’ll do even better and actually have time to enjoy the holiday season! We also decided, as we do every year, that the kids get way too many presents and we won’t buy as much next year. (Alyssa got a white kitten to replace the one we rescued and had for a few weeks.)
(Danica got this Arial doll that is all tall as Alyssa. I often find her wearing the girls clothes and we regularly get spooked by her when we walk into the girls room at night.)(This is Hayden's expression the moment he realized he got a Lego set!)

On New Year’s Eve we had our friends over for a party. We let the kids stay up and cheer at 8:30, we had them all in bed by nine. There were 13 kids sleeping in the bedrooms of our small house, quite remarkable. We enjoyed the evening playing games and then at midnight we grabbed Hayden out of his sleeping bag and took him outside to see the fireworks because we promised we would wake him at midnight. He lasted 1 minute and asked to go back to bed! Maybe next year we will let him actually stay up.
Hayden started third grade and is loving it so far. He still complains about homework like always but loves the class work especially learning cursive. His best friend, who lives next door to us, is in his third grade class so that is great. I asked if he’s made any other new friends and he said “well, I have an acquaintance named Pete, I think eventually he’ll be a friend.” He continues to plow through Percy Jackson and is on the 4th one now. I’m still trying to teach him to play the piano and hope that I’m not doing irreparable damage. I plan to get him a real teacher once we move. Here he is admiring the rain on the hike we did the other day.

Danica got new teachers at church, the parents of one of the really unruly kids in the class. On the first day the dad, a marine, was explaining what will happen if you’re bad in class. That night Danica dreamed that she was being bad at church (something that has never happened.) In her dream she was talking to her friend so she got put in the “green chair” and then kicked out of class. She woke up very upset and for the rest of the week she would, at random times, say things about not liking her class. Apparently her teacher really got his point across. I should have given him the heads up that with Danica all you have to do is imply that you might frown at her and she will do anything you say! (I have since then talked to the teachers and they talked to Danica and assured she won’t go in the green chair. She’s fine now!)
Alyssa has sadly lost a tooth. She hit it really hard a year or so ago and we worried she’d lose it then but it seemed fine. Since then she’s hit it a few times but been okay. Then last week Tom was brushing her teeth and realized it was VERY loose! After he spent the whole night unable to sleep because of nightmares about her tooth he took her to work with him and did some x-rays which revealed that she had no root and the tooth was on the verge of falling out. Within a few days it was wiggling so much it was hurting her and she should wouldn’t eat so Tom just pulled it out. The x-ray revealed that the other front tooth has a very short root as well and will fall out soon. So lucky for her she’s in the right family and will be fitted with some little prosthetic teeth once they arrive on island. Once we realized it was loose Tom took her out for one last photo shoot... here are the before and after shots. We’ve got her convinced her lost tooth is adorable so she loves to show it off! Plus, the tooth fairy brought her a lollipop so she thinks this is the best!

Tom had the prosthodontist that he works with do a soft tissue graft on his front tooth (#9 for those who care.) It’s been a bit sore but he’s been downing the percocet so he’s been happy. A few weeks ago I went on a tour of a shrine that is all decked out for the ongoing New Year’s celebration. I learned a lot of cool things about how the holiday is celebrated here. We passed this idol that is supposed to bring good fortune with having children. I was really tempted to leave an offering. Then we all got our own written oracle (fortune) and after reading it had to tie it to the tree.

We are getting excited for our visit from Dave and Adina and our trip up to the mainland. We’ve nearly worked out all the little details. It’s going to be an awesome trip. I’ve been working on convincing the girls they are really lucky to have a babysitter sleep over for a week... so far they like the idea! We enjoyed a long holiday weekend and realized this was the last time he’ll get two days off for Martin Luther King day.... there are some perks to being in the military!! On Monday we hiked up Mt. Nago. It was a little too cold and rainy but we made it. We went with a few other families and Hayden had a great time running up and down the mountain with his friends. It was all perfect until Tom slipped in the mud on the way back down and took a hard fall! Too bad I don't have pictures of that!
(You'll notice Tom can't smile due to his surgery.)