Santa 2015

When I asked if the kids were ready to visit Santa this year, they couldn't wait to go.  As luck would have it we arrived to find a short line and got to do a little Santa prep while we waited.  

Last years picture was classic, Leo's mouth wide open mid scream, Georgia sitting nicely and smiling.  I wasn't sure if Leo would cry this year or not but he'd said he wanted to go.  

When it was our turn Georgia walked right over and started chatting with Santa, Leo totally clammed up and wouldn't make eye contact with the big man.  Luckily, the photographer jumped in and tried to make the best of the situation.  He attempted to distract Leo and brought a rocking horse over as it was becoming clear there was no way Leo was going to sit on Santa's lap.   

There were many attempts to make him crack a smile but nothing.  In my mind this picture is a win, he wasn't tortured enough to cry but his sentiment clearly comes through.

After we paid and made our way through the store we started to head outside and Leo said in a concerned voice, "I no tell Santa what I want."  I asked if he wanted to go back and he said yes.  With only one person in front of us we didn't have to wait long.  Santa remembered Leo by name and invited him back over.  Leo cautiously walked over, I told Santa why we were back and we waited.. Leo finally said, I want.... I want... I want a toy.  Santa suggested a stuffed lion but then Leo said, no, I want a Blaze toy, (a big red truck) and Santa agreed that this was a good choice.  We again thanked Santa and said, Merry Christmas and started toward the car.  Leo turned to me, a bit confused and said, Where's my toy?  To his credit I hadn't explained that the toy wouldn't be immediately delivered to him.

Apparently Leo has a much better phone relationship with Santa...

It's Out!

Georgia has been excited to lose her first tooth since preschool and it finally happened!  She has been wiggling one for a few weeks and two days ago it came out!  The look on her face was priceless, she started jumping up and down with excitement.  The first thing she wanted to do was send a picture to her cousins.  

I said, Well, I guess you're going to get a visit from the tooth fairy tonight!  She said that she didn't want to put it under her pillow, she wanted to take it to school with her to get a tiny tooth treasure box.  Apparently her teacher trumps the tooth fairy.  We left a note for the tooth fairy asking her not to take the tooth and she was thrilled to come home with her treasure box yesterday.  

Last night Georgia wrote a note and left her tooth on her bedside table and the tooth fairy delivered a tooth pillow for future teeth and a sparkly note and dollar bill.

Ready to Ride

Georgia had a big weekend, not only does she have three loose teeth, in the last two days she has learned to ride her bike without training wheels!  Thanks to daddy for his patience and persistence, I think Georgia finally believes that it is as fun as you said it would be!

Thanksgiving 2015

We enjoyed a great Handsaker Thanksgiving at Nana and Bawdy's house.  It was a beautiful day and if you're Georgia and Leo, nothing is better than playing with your cousins and ending the day with pie!

  Georgia, Leo, Landon & Holden

The Handsaker Gang

Strong Against Cancer

This summer Georgia was invited to participate in a Strong Against Cancer video, thanking donors for their support which has raised money to fund ground breaking clinical trials.

A few weeks ago I got a sneak peek of the video and the day before Thanksgiving it was shared on social media.

Thank you Strong Against Cancer, you are moving mountains!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKCxYGtLMXA

Kicking Off Christmas

The day after Georgia's party we headed to Seattle to check out the beautifully decorated Christmas trees in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel with Grammy, Grandpa and the Pittmans.  Each tree is elaborately decorated and sold, the money benefits a few charities, one of them being Children's Hospital.  We couldn't afford a $4,000 tree but enjoyed hot coco and french fries and a surprise appearance by Santa!  There was a tree lighting in the main part of the lobby and a teddy bear suite decorated like a child's dream.  It was a great way to kick off the Christmas season.

The Unxepected

I spent a lot of Georgia's birthday racing around, making sure her birthday breakfast and presents were done in time to get to the bus, running Leo to school, then picking him up and racing to pick up the cupcakes that I would deliver to Georgia's class.  Dropping off Leo then getting over to Georgia's school and passing out cupcakes before the kids came back from recess.  I wanted to make sure her day was special, turning six is a really big deal.

After I'd dropped the cupcakes and watched her class sing to her I walked out of her school feeling so happy for her, that she was enjoying her day without a care in the world.

I got in my car, ready to race off to the next thing, then glanced at my phone, my screen had just lit up telling me that Manuel Essig had posted something on my Facebook page.  I opened it, read the message and looked at the photo, I immediately welled up with tears, good tears.

In the photo Manuel was holding two signs, wishing Georgia happy birthday in both German and English.  The message read, 

I was overwhelmed with gratitude and amazement, how lucky we are that he is who he is.  If you know anything about Facebook then you know you can comment or "like" a post.  I commented on the post but not before a few friends did. By the end of the evening, 115 people "liked" the post and all in all there were 21 comments, saying things like, Heros are among us, God Bless you, Thank you Manuel, we love you.. and more.  Hopefully he knows how highly he is regarded, truly an incredible human being.