To everything there is a season

It is the close of another year, and the close of a decade. I started looking back on the year and the decade and am amazed at where we are. At the start of the decade, I was living in Colorado working at United Airlines and Rocky was in Chattanooga, TN working for the Fox Station there. We started dating at the beginning of the decade and here we are now! 3 cities, 3 dogs and 1.5 kids later, we are enjoying the Montana life. It's been a rollercoster ride of many ups and downs. 2009 was rough. 2008 was average. 2007 was exciting. 2006 was filled with wonder. 2005 was amazing. 2004 was fun. 2003 was brilliant. 2002 was an adjustment. 2001 was simply unbelievable. And 2000 was the start of it all.

Last night at our young married group, Brian read the first 8 verses of Ecclesiastes 3:

1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I think the end of the year and the end of a decade is a good time to think about how there really is a time for everything. We talked a bit about the "negative" sides last night and how we don't embrace the "positive" sides, or remember the positive sides, as much as we do the negative. So this year, instead of the usual resolutions, my resolution is to continue blogging about the little things in our life that bring us joy: the Maggie-isms, the photos of all of us just being us. I believe 2010 will be an amazing year and I pray it is for you as well.

A Christmas Party

We hosted the Young Married's Christmas party on December 19. We had decided to make it a family party, and Brian had the great idea to invite the church babysitters to come so the adults could enjoy the party, as could the kids! Chelsei and Miles watched the kids downstairs while the adults had fun eating and drinking upstairs. We decorated cookies – and the kids ate a lot of frosting! We watched some of the Cowboys/Saints football game and played “Mad Gab” which the men won.

We are truly blessed to have found such a great group to hang out with and we all look forward to Tuesday nights. Maggie enjoys playing with Caleb, Olivia and baby Dylan (last Tuesday, Maggie and Caleb pretended they were married. Not sure what Olivia would have to say about that!)

Christmas morning at the Dailey house

Maggie must have been a very good girl, because she got bored with opening presents before they were all opened! She is blessed with some very generous grandparents, and Santa came through with a unicorn pillow pet. She was very excited for Christmas Day, and I think it shows.

Church Christmas Program

Maggie's first Church Christmas program. She is in the top row on the far left. She was one of the few kids that actually sang most of the songs. The girls were dressed as angels and the boys were shepherds. Maggie told me that only boys were shepherds, so we had a little talk, which left her upset as she thought I meant she couldn't be an angel! All I know is I was usually a shepherd when my Sunday School class did the nativity scene! Maggie did love being an angel as did her friend Olivia (top right).

You know, Jingle Bells!

Maggie's preschool Christmas program was last Thursday morning. Maggie did a great job singing and following directions. She doesn't look quite so small this year!! I think she enjoys being one of the "big kids." They sang 2 songs: "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

Sesame Street Live!

We received tickets to “Sesame Street Live!” and went on Wednesday.  Maggie LOVED it. The four year old in me loved it as well!  We had great seats and were right on the aisle, which gave Maggie the opportunity to give Abbey Cadabby a big hug!!  They had lots of songs and dances – I was very impressed with the dance moves, especially entertaining was watching Cookie Monster doing some flips.  It really was a fun show and I’m happy that we have the opportunity to take Maggie to these kinds of shows.  She loved it so much, she was very upset when it was over.

SANTA! It's SANTA!!

Santa was at the Gazette this afternoon and Maggie was very excited to meet him and ask for "A Unicorn Pillow Pet" which is her gift of choice this year. When we arrived, she waited patiently in line and there was no coaxing this year to chat with him. She ran up and gave him a hug and hopped right up on his lap to tell him what she wanted for Christmas.

The Gazette purchases gifts for the kids and Maggie received a BIG gift. She waited to open it until after the family photo. We got back to the tables with cookies & juice and she tore into it. She received a Barbie princess accessory package. Unfortunately, as it wasn't what she asked for, the first words out of her mouth were: "But I asked for a unicorn!" Daddy explained to her that this was just a party gift and Santa would be bringing more gifts at Christmas. It worked well as while I was opening the box after we got home, she told me it was "the best toy ever" several times. We tried to introduce her Animal Doctor Barbie to the princess set (it didn't come with a Barbie Princess), but Maggie was having none of it. It's not for doctors, it's for princesses. So hopefully Santa remembers to put a princess Barbie in her stocking!!

Almost ready for an announcement.

"No woman ever conceived a child, no mare a foal, without Him. But once, and for a special purpose, He dispensed with that long line which is His instrument: once His life-giving finger touched a woman without passing through the ages of interlocked events." C.S. Lewis

So, there really is a baby in there (and just one). We saw the baby on Tuesday December 9. We watched him/her wiggle around, try to suck his/her thumb, the heartbeat. The due date is holding steady around June 15. I'm just going to say "mid June" rather than a date. We had an ultrasound to complete a genetic screening. While our odds are very low that anything would be wrong with this child, we have known too many people who have had problems in pregnancy and we just want to be as prepared as we possibly can for the child God has given to us.


The baby was very cooperative for the ultrasound, and even finding the heartbeat at the OB appointment on Friday the 11th. Heartbeat was around 157. I forgot to ask what my blood pressure is, though that's not really something I'm overly concerned about until we get closer to the end. I've lost about 3 pounds since last month, but I feel almost normal again, or at least I feel like eating and not just nibbling on crackers constantly, as I have for the past 6 weeks or so. I was feeling good until we decided to go for coffee before the OB appointment on Friday. Guess I'm not quite ready for coffee yet.

Is it Christmas NOW?

Anyone who has children (or for that matter has been a child at Christmas time) probably knows well the torture that we parents can put our children through simply by putting presents under the tree prior to Christmas. Perhaps your family doesn't do this as I do know several people who wait until Christmas Eve to put packages under the tree. For me, growing up, Santa always came to our house during the Christmas Eve church service and filled our stockings at that time. Though, typically, he always left presents earlier for Mom and Dad to put under the tree. There's just something about a tree without presents under it that just doesn't feel complete to me. Even so, this year, I do feel a little sorry for Maggie.

We put the tree up last weekend, after Thanksgiving of course. As our tradition, we got a real tree (I was going to say "live" but of course, it is no longer living, but we hope to keep it green until Christmas and/or a few days after). We pulled out the decorations and Maggie really got into decorating this year. She enjoyed putting ornaments on the tree and asked a lot of questions about them.

Grandma and Grandpa Dailey left a Christmas present for Maggie when they visited in November. So naturally, Rocky put it under the tree once it was up. And naturally, Maggie asked if she could open it. We told her she needed to wait until Christmas. And of course, the next question out of her mouth was "is it Christmas now?" And pretty much every day since then, she has asked "Is it Christmas NOW?" I was going to get her an Advent Calendar this weekend to help with the countdown, but fortunately, they made one in preschool. Now, each morning, we put a sticker on and wait for Maggie to ask if she can put on more or if it is Christmas now. Only 20 more days to go . . .

All I Want For Christmas is a Rock 'n Roll Electric Drumset

Earlier this summer, "Guitar Hero World Tour" for the Wii was on sale at Toys R Us and Rocky decided we should have it (I didn't argue too much). We played it a little and Maggie enjoys jamming on occasion. A week or so ago, Rocky also decided to buy a "family" gift: Guitar Hero drums and microphone from eBay. It arrived yesterday. Maggie was very excited to try it out and drummed a bit with her hands as the eBay seller did not include drum sticks with the sale (I picked some up on the way home from choir). She was eager to jam and told me "It's going to be awesome."

It's not Grandma's Feather Bed

With 2 dogs and a little girl who loves to snuggle, it can sometimes get a little crowded in our bed. Otis is not a snuggler and on the rare occasion he will get into bed with us, he never stays long. His "spot" is on the floor by my side of the bed. Last night, however, was a different story. When Maggie and I went to bed, Otis was sprawled out on my side of the bed. Just happy he was wanted to be part of the pack, I let him stay there and Maggie and I snuggled next to him. Well, it was long after that Wiconi must have decided it was time for her to come to bed as I heard her jingling up the stairs and she jumped into bed with us. She took her typical spot at the foot of the bed. With the four of us in bed, I started thinking about John Denver's song "Grandma's Feather Bed", specifically, the Muppet Show version. One more kid and we may need a bigger bed, especially if we get another snuggler!!

Otis, in true fashion, did not spend all night. Soon after I turned off the light, I felt him stand up, and then heard him whine at the foot of the bed. I turned on the lamp and he jumped right off. Stinker was scared to jump off the bed in the dark!