It's Begining to Look Alot Like Christmas Around the Schacher's

Yay, For Flying Southwest For the Winter

I absolutely love it when the birds fly south for the winter...ok this is not really about the birds, it's about my husband coming home. He officially gets to work from home for the first time in 7 months. He has been working in northern Idaho and eastern Washington with his company (10 out of the 16 months they have been in operation) and finally the work is done over there for the winter. We are not sure what next winter will bring (actually we are never sure what even next month will bring with directional drilling), but are soooo excited to be together each night and sleep in the same bed EVERY night of the week. Dan is more than looking forward to putting his daughter down to bed each night and giving her a kiss on the forehead. He has been gone during the week for 7 of the 8 1/2 months she has been alive and cannot wait to be home with her.

Alright, alright I am sure you can tell how excited we are...I'll stop writing about it.

Christmas Things

Dan and I decided before we traveled to California that we were going to decorate and get our Christmas lights up before we left on vacation. I got the inside decorated last Sunday and Dan was able to put up almost all the lights. He had a slight problem when the roof got slick...a near tumble off the roof (good thing he caught onto the gutters, I always knew there was a reason for them). After the near "falling off the roof" experience we both decided he needed to finish the lights later. Once Dan got HOME on Wednesday night (yes I said "Dan got home" on a Wednesday night) he was able to finish up the lights without breaking anything.

On Sunday, we were able to get our Christmas tree with Ryan and Tara. We headed up to Reinharts Tree Farm and took the normal hour looking for the right tree. Dan ended up cutting down the first tree that he spotted and it looks great in our living room. This year he didn't choose one that took up the entire room, I guess his taste in trees has shrunk. Dan and I always enjoy the Bennett Family of 5 and were glad we could go as a group to find the perfect tree.

Marissa and I walking through the forest of trees.

Dan and Ryan showing off their trees.

Bennett and Schacher clan after picking out their trees.

Look at that sunset in the pickup...and the two greatest things in the world standing next to it.

Winter Means Colds and Flu Bugs

On Tuesday Marissa woke up in a great mood. I would have never known there was anything wrong with her...until I fed her the usual morning bottle. About 5 minutes after eating, everything came right back up. That is when I knew that my plans for the day were about to change. Instead of going to Bible Study Fellowship and then getting together with my group for "Fellowship", I was going to be home all day with a puking little girl. We did many loads of laundry and didn't do too much throughout the day. I must say, Marissa is a pretty good sick baby. Besides the throwing up it would have been hard to tell she was not feeling well...she has such a happy demeanor.

Christmas Shopping

Shopping this year is going to be pretty easy. We get the Schacher family the same thing every year and it has to be ordered online, and so the only thing left is the extended Schmidgall gift exchange. I was able to get almost all my shopping done on Thursday afternoon. I even got Dan's gift...he has no clue what it is I am so excited about...I CAN'T WAIT!

Dancing

Marissa has started doing a little dance this week. It is so funny...what a character. You can't tell at all who her dad is. She has this little "radio" that we bought for the plane and it plays various alphabet songs. There is this one song called "Annie-oooo" that was playing the other day and Marissa started bobbing up and down while it was playing. I only slightly noticed it but didn't pay much attention. Then while shopping the other day, there was Christmas music playing in the store (as always) and Marissa started doing the same thing. I eventually realized that she was rockin' out to the music. It is so funny because now whenever there is music on the TV or when her toys play music she starts to "dance". Must have been those times when she was younger that Dan and I would turn music up, act like goofballs, and dance around the room. She's only 9 months and has so much character. :)

Marissa dancing to the tunes on her radio.

Tree Lighting

Every year at about this time, Silverton hosts a tree lighting ceremony with hot chocolate and various activities. Dan and I are always driving through (of course the traffic is terrible) and comment on how we would like to actually attend at some point. This year a friend reminded me on Thursday night and so talked Dan into getting off work before 6:30pm. He actually made it home by 5:15 for the first time in a long time and well, like one of my paragraphs before said "Winter means colds and flu bugs", I bet you can guess where he was all night. Poor guy. I ended up bundling up Marissa and I and walking down to the tree lighting to meet a friend. It was pretty crazy down there and almost impossible to find anyone. Marissa loved the lights...mostly just the fire truck lights...and enjoyed watching all the kids. Finally after the tree was lit I found Summer, her husband, and baby boy and we all walked down to the coffee shop. We sat there and talked for a little while (until Marissa got too antsy) and then stopped at the new chocolate shop where they were handing out free samples.

Marissa and I bundled up to go to the tree lighting. It was sure cold.

You can even see the "dust" that Santa sprinkled on the tree in order for it to light.

Once I got home I found a very sick man and acted as his nurse the rest of the night. I tried my hardest, but don't think I would make the best nurse. Dan ended up sleeping most of the Saturday away, but feeling better later in the evening.

Deck the Tree...Finally

We were finally able to decorate our Christmas tree (after having it almost a week), and finish with the lights on Sunday (they have been half up for 2 weeks). Now our tree is decorated with presents under it (only 2 more presents left to buy). I have NEVER shopped this early, but have enjoyed seeing presents under the tree for more than a few days before they are opened. We had a relaxing day on Sunday with Dan still recovering from his sick day on Saturday.