Backlogged

It's getting to the point that if I don't just jump in and type, I may never. As I've said before, I am a therapeutic journaler....I don't really move past situations until I have thoroughly debriefed. And I must admit that I am seriously backlogged at the moment! So you will have to bear with me as I start with December and move forward from there....

I simply have to share about my ingenious "doubleheader party plan." Clean the house once and have TWO parties in one day (though it didn't seem so ingenious when we were madly cleaning the house that morning!).

At 1 p.m. on a Saturday, we held my students' piano recital:





All of the kids did so well, and I was so proud of all of them! We cleaned up that reception, and then at 6 p.m., we had our annual Christmas party for our group of friends from high school! So fun!



The next week, we went with some friends to the White Fence Farm for dinner. Ryley had never wanted to meet Santa before, but when she saw that Mrs. Claus was with him, she finally agreed to go meet him! We have waited six and a half years for the customary "Santa picture." :-)



That weekend, Ryley participated in our church's Christmas children's production! Were we ever glad to be done listening to those songs. Ha! :-)



In the next several days after that, my family began arriving for Korell Christmas Extravaganza Denver 2009. My aunt Coleen and I had decided several months ago to invite the extended family to Denver for Christmas. It even ended up being a white one, which was perfect!!!!

Justin and Aly brought Betsy, their Cocker Spaniel, so Juliet got to meet her cousin. :-)







I absolutely love this picture...a quiet Christmas Eve morning, with a little girl and her daddy...



We went ice skating as a family on Christmas Eve...so special and fun!!!













That night we had a talent show and sing-along. Yes, my family is goofy and wonderful. :-) Don't ask what my brother and I are doing there...





And then, the long-awaited Christmas morning! Santa brought Ryley a writing desk and chair, which is exactly what she had asked him for when she saw him a week earlier!









It was a wonderful Christmas morning, and then the family began arriving again for the noon meal! Over the four days, we had between 15 and 21 people in our house at any given time. It was so much fun! Lots of work, but lots of fun. I have new appreciation for what my grandma has done twice a year for generations! :-)









We were able to take some pictures of my immediate family, which was really nice....













Our ongoing joke all weekend was how those of us with I-Phones were constantly on them. So we had some fun with it!







That brings us through December 26, and yet more fun awaits! However, as it is nigh midnight, the debriefing will have to wait until another day. :-) Thanks for bearing with me through this leg of the journey!

Good night!

Dear Blog,

I really, really, really want to post. There's nothing I want more than to just sit with my laptop in front of the fire and have a cozy eve of web logging about my life. But alas, there is no time for such things. What with Christmas and a wedding and work and now a funeral....and company in various shapes and sizes since the beginning of November...and now, more company to come...........I feel like I've been in recovery mode and have never fully re-gained control after all the fun! After all, my bridemaid bag still lies in the middle of our bedroom floor, eighteen full days after the wedding.

Dearest blog, I promise to return someday soon. With many pictures. With stories of my favorite girl and the life my favorite guy and I have built together these last 11 years.

But for now, this week, I have some more life to get through. :-)

Love,

Joy

Ryley Stories

1. Ryley's first grade class is studying the basics of major world religions, specifically Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This week they are doing the segment on Christianity, and Ryley came home really excited. She said that she wanted to bring her Bible to school so that the kids who aren't Christians can see what a Bible looks like. So I let her. We stuck it in her backpack, and I sent her off to school -- not knowing what the reaction would be, but trusting God to take care of it and to honor my little girl's boldness.

This is what Ryley relayed to me when she got home:

Ryley to her teacher: "Guess what? I brought my Bible since we're talking about Christianity!"

Ryley's teacher: "Guess what? That can stay in your backpack! We aren't allowed to share books that haven't been seen by the principal."

It sounded snotty to me, but Ryley insists the teacher was super nice about it. :-) Either way, I told Ryley that I was really proud of her for wanting to bring her Bible and share it with her classmates.




2. This morning on the way to school, Ryley said, "I have a good question."

Me: "Sure. What is it?"

Ryley: "Do army people come home for Christmas?"

Me: "No, not always. There are a lot of families whose daddies are still at the war, and the mommies and kids are here alone for Christmas."

Ryley: "It's good that those daddies stay at the war so that it's not the worst Christmas ever."

Me: "What do you mean? What would be the worst Christmas ever?"

Ryley: "Like if the bad people came on Christmas.... That would be the worst Christmas ever. So it's good that those daddies stay there and protect their states."

Then she sighed, "I am so glad Daddy is too old to be in the army!"

Me: "Oh, he's not too old. He's just not in the army."

Ryley: "I'm glad."


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"The Mother of All Updates" or "A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words"

It was the most lovely day today. I am in love with the Christmasy transformation of our home this year...the tree next to the fireplace for the first time...an actual fire in the fireplace for the first time, too...sofas pushed back to make this beautiful room even bigger....

It snowed all day -- big, fat, chunky snowflakes. And we sat on the carpet next to our hearth tonight, drinking hot chocolate by the light of the fire and of the Christmas tree. It was oh so "Currier and Ives" of us.

I don't want this day to end. This day where I somehow never got around to taking off my little black dress, worn to church for my magazine release party...this day where our football team actually won big...this day where the house is as close to clean as it gets....

I have writer's block. I finally sit down to do this after a month's absence, and it is taking way more effort than I care to admit.

There's so much I want to talk about:

...like how Ryley gets confused and calls "Hanukkah" by the name of "Jessica"
...like how this guy at work said he would have guessed I was 37 or 38 because of my level of professionalism. (Ha. Thanks.)
...like how I am completely and utterly engrossed in reading the "Twilight" series. And so is Ryan.
...like how our puppy Juliet turned one year old today.
...like how our new traditions of the season are mistletoe and the fireplace. Ryley loves both!
...like how we decided to go to Chick Fil A for lunch yesterday and just happened to arrive at the same time a helicopter was dropping stuffed cows with parachutes.
...like how the fourth edition of my magazine was released today, and it looks so amazing. I dare anyone to find a mistake in it. :-)

And there are more interesting things, too, like the fact that Christie and I did our dutiful bridesmaid duty and threw Kendra the lingerie party of the century a few weeks ago....





We went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful weekend with my parents!

Pappaw taught Ryley how to peel potatoes! She was so proud of herself!!





We practiced riding a bike without the training wheels:





Ryley practically bounced on this thing wherever she went:





We visited the Rhema Lights on Thanksgiving night! Ryley is at the age that she is just simply awed and overwhelmed by lights of this quantity. :-)









The next night my parents took us to the Dry Gulch Christmas Train. It took us using the map applications on three separate I-Phones to get us there, but it was absolutely wonderful!! The last time we went, I was pregnant with Ryley. Unfortunately, my pictures of the train itself didn't turn out as well as I had hoped they would. But there were plenty of other western-themed activities:











We got back home to Denver, and this week was certainly a busy one!

I took Ryley to our church's royalty-themed Christmas Tea on Thursday night. Our church does everything top-notch; it was an absolutely overwhelmingly amazing evening! How is that for adjectives? There really weren't words to express it. Ryley participated in a princess parade, so she got to dress up extra pretty. :-)





















Ryley had gotten it in her head that we were going to have "crumpets" with our tea. Not exactly sure what a crumpet is, I decided to tell her that the scones were crumpets. :-) She was satisfied.

The very next night, we had tickets to "Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy"...Yes, as if we had not already given our daughter enough visual stimulation in the previous seven days. But we had had these tickets for over a month, and the show starred Ariel and Tinkerbell, Ryley's absolute favorite Disney characters!

So here we go:



Ryley's reaction to seeing Mickey and Minnie was utter joy!!!!



The cast of "Cars" made an appearance:



And, of course, "The Little Mermaid":





Then we were reunited with "The Lion King." Simba's costume wasn't exactly family-friendly. If you only knew how long it took me to get this shot. Ryan and I were laughing so hard; I'm sure the people around us thought we were crazy!





And, finally, Tinker Bell and her fairy friends! Do you see anything mildly disturbing about the picture below?



Yes, that's right. Man with eye patch. We were sitting behind a pirate!













At the end, Ryley turned to both of us with a big, shy smile and said, "Thank you, Mommy and Daddy, for taking me here!" It was so worth it just for that.

And now that it is after midnight and I have successfully recorded our month of November and half of December for all of posterity, I am going to go to bed.

Have a wonderful week!!! :-)