Clifton was out of town for work and this may have been what I made for dinner one night... In my defense, I got home at 7 from work. I mean, there's protein. And a vegetable. Ish. I added more after the shaming occurred.
Annika was super excited to have to see the GI specialist to sort through her celiac diagnosis. She was even more happy to talk about her poop in detail, per the chart on the wall behind her.
We had so much fun seeing our friend Atticus as Young Scrooge in the production Defining Scrooge!
December means making lots of lots of cinnamon rolls for friends and neighbors! I love that this is something we do together as a family.
Nutcracker portraits! Naomi's primary role is Snow Queen this year.
Sarah added jazz band to her schedule this year.
Sarah (#5) back at intramural basketball.
Holiday concert for Annika and the Longmont High Symphonic Orchestra.
Nutcracker dress rehearsals -- I can't remember if the fact that Clifton was in Nutrcracker came up in a previous blog. Naomi asked him if he would be her partner in party scene. There were a million reasons to say no, but Clifton looked past all of those and saw this as a chance to spend extra time with Naomi doing the thing that she loves most during her final performances. And it was perfect.
Last weekend perfecting Snow in studio before moving to the theater.
Everyone else had plans, so Sarah and I went to Longmont Lights without the rest of the fam.
Roosevelt park
This year's Christmas photo.
JCPenney alternate photo.
Carols and Campfires at church
This was the view on my drive one random December morning. I hope I never lose my sense of wonder looking at the mountains.
Naomi had a poster presentation for her senior internship which she was lucky to do with her Uncle Dave. She used her time with an ENT as a jumping off point to study antibiotic resistance.
Luna turned 7 this month!
Like always, I'll do a separate Nutcracker blog, but here are just a couple pics.
I took this from the backstage rafters -- Naomi was lovely as Snow Queen and it was beautiful and there was a tear or two.
Her other roles were Marzipan solist
And Flower demi-soloist
Also, Clifton nailed it!
Oma and Opa were in town, and we had dinner with the Colorado Harteminks before the evening show.
They were in the historic Longmont Theater for the show this year which was a big change, but it all worked out, and they sold out four shows!
Clifton had a date night with the girls watching a Nuggets game in the Medtronic box.
Amelia was home from college for winter break, and we loved celebrating her birthday with her!!
Christmas Eve church service
We always make homemade pizzas for dinner on Christmas Eve.
Oma and Opa got in on the stockings this year.
They were flying home Christmas morning so we did a few presents Christmas Eve.
Naomi got a foam mattress topper that was supposed to be for college but I'm betting we're never getting that thing back into a reasonable size for transport.
Sister love... "Shutting up is gluten free... Have you tried shutting up?"
I made us go for a walk on Christmas day because how often do you get to walk in shorts on Christmas day in Colorado?? This turned out to be an example of where my expectations for sweet Christmas family time together enjoying nature intersected with kid perceptions of a death march. It wasn't our best hour.
Christmas White Elephant party with our life group at church.
Celebrating Christmas with the Parsons!
Love these kids so much!
Luna's favorite new toy.
Annnika was reluctantly a part of a celiac research study where she had to swallow a string that went down into her small intestine, keep in there for a couple hours, and then have it pulled out. The hope is that they can find different proteins in the small intestine of someone with celiac, making endoscopy unnecessary someday. Yay science!
She got as far as getting an IV before she passed out.
After the procedure -- she was disappointed that she didn't say anything ridiculous coming out of anesthesia 😂
Date with Aunt Val (and T-money) to see Wicked and then out for froyo!
We closed out 2025 with food and games and laughter...
...and gluten free olie bolen...
...and some of our favorite people! See you in 2026!
1 comment:
Great pictures! Naomi is a beautiful girl - love the ballet pix. Annika is really taking everything well. Tell Sarah that her grandfather was a great trumpet player in the Phillips High School stage band, the Music Makers. Her grand uncles (Tom and Jan) also played in the stage band (trombones).
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