So my parents stayed with us since arriving to see Bryn in Band Revue last Sunday (21st).

Monday and Tuesday, Jeff, Paige, Bryn and I all had our regular work/school schedules which left Abby with Grandma and Grandpa. Monday Abby took them along on her marathon Christmas shopping! She really wore them out. Grandma was impressed that Abby had put a lot of thought into her shopping list. Tuesday Abby ran by herself and my parents shoveled 3 times that day! Pretty much, they shoveled everyday they were here. I felt guilty, but they do like it.

Finally Wednesday we were all off and got to stay home. We finished up wrapping presents, tidied the house up and got all the food ready for Christmas Eve. Kristin, Carlo, Lucy and Bella arrived by 4:30pm and were very patient waiting to open gift while we all sampled all the fixins. Bella loved handing out the presents and helping everyone unwrap. She didn't care that it wasn't for her! Kristin made Lucy and Bella ballerina too-toos. Lucy was fascinated with just having Grandma put it on her and take it off. Again. And again... Kristin had purchased a Shark steam mop on Black Friday and wrapped it up for herself from Carlo. Obviously she was not too excited when she opened it. But Carlo prodded her to take it out. Kristin didn't see the sense in taking it out of the box, but when she did, she found Carlo had replaced the mop with a new winter coat! Pretty clever, Carlo! Because this was a rare time when my entire family did not get all together, we Skyped Meg after we finished opening presents! Skype is software that allows you to have a video phone call if you have a webcam on your computer. It was a lot of fun!

Christmas Day, after checking out what Santa had brought, we went to church nearby our house. Mom and Dad spilled the offertory basket as they passed it to each other. Then Mom and Dad went to Kristin and Carlo's for the day while we headed to Jeff's Dad & Judy's in Appleton. When we got back, we all went to see Marley and Me. Good movie, but if you have a dog, bring a lot of Kleenex!

Friday was my Dad's birthday. Abby worked hard today, very busy with half off all that Hallmark Christmas stuff! We met Kristin, Carlo, Bella and Lucy for breakfast at McDonald's. Then Mom went with me to exchange Abby's new cell phone for a different color and amazingly they were not busy! That afternoon we took Mom and Dad to the Domes for their Christmas present. We went later in the day because we wanted it to get dark so we could see the new lights. It was really pretty. We came back home for dinner.

Saturday my parents headed back home. And it was a good thing because the rest of us - minus Abby - got sick. I had all intentions of heading for the Y to work off all those Christmas goodies, but my body had another, more violent, way of shedding those extra pounds. I still don't feel 100%. Bryn's is the same boat I'm in. Paige actually felt OK and went shopping with a friend, only to throw up in McDonalds. Jeff's seems to be all in his head: major headache and chills. We're all feeling a little weak.

Abby's been avoiding us as much as possible. She leaves today for a conference in the Minneapolis for CRU. She'll then get dropped off in the Dells where we're headed this Thursday.

I'm so impressed with how connected Abby is with her rides back and forth from LaCrosse. That helps us out so much! Abby was back from UWL Tuesday before any of us got home from work or school. But Paige only figured out she was home when she noticed Abby was on Facebook telling everyone she was back! Abby was up in her room on her laptop. So Abby came along with me to drive Paige to TaeKwonDo and do a little Christmas shopping.

Bryn's UWAY Concerto Competition rescheduled for this past Tuesday did go on. Bryn, Jeff and accompanist Dr. Puchner were all taken aback when the only comments made upon completion of her piece was "Thank You." No suggestions for improvement, no compliments, nothing! They stopped at Qdoba for a bite to eat before heading back home and Bryn back to Band Revue practice. Again.

Wednesday Abby worked a little bit. Later, Paige got a really cute bang makeover before her band concert Wednesday night. I think her hair will behave much better with not so much to keep back all the time.

School was cancelled Friday (so glad I don't work Fridays!) due to our 11 inches of snow! Jeff and I went out to shovel at 8:30am so we could get Abby's car out since she had to be to work at 9am. I went in to yell at her for the 3rd time at 9:05, when she told me that she didn't have to go in. Thanks. She was on call for the remainder of the morning and did have to work at noon. The snow tapered off by then. I had all intentions of running to the mall for more last minute Christmas shopping and had not intentions of some silly snow storm stopping me. I headed out by 1:30pm and to my surprise, the mall was NOT crowded! Paige, Jeff and I went to Band Revue Friday night and loved it. Abby went also, but with a group of kids from her graduating class. Bryn's ensemble that played in Act II was awesome!!!! Our James Bond raffle basket put all the others to shame with all its creative prizes and the just the sheer size of it.

Saturday we headed north to Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Tom's to celebrate Christmas. The snow just doesn't stop! We watched it come down and blow on the way there and back. We couldn't make the family Christmas set for Sunday due to another Band Revue performance, but really liked having the time alone with Jeff's Mom and Tom. That night, Jeff and I went out for a few small items and I dropped my cell phone. And not just any cell phone, my iPhone!!! When we got back in the car after Walgreen's I couldn't find my phone anywhere. Jeff immediately turned around and we searched the crevices of the car and the ground where we had parked. Suddenly the lady in the car next to us rolled down her window and asked if we had lost a cell phone! She had just found one and asked a guy coming back to his car from the store if it was his. I guess he was grateful she had found HIS phone. I was not so grateful. Jeff called my phone from his and of course, no answer. I urged Jeff to text the guy and let him know we'd be at Walgreen's waiting for his return. Luckily, he did but we did not offer a reward to a wanna-be-iPhone-thief.

Back from last performance of Band Revue; we went with Kristin, Paige, Abby and my parents. Just as impressed as the Friday night. Really good this year. The high school outsourced the script which I was against, and I hate to admit it, but it was a good storyline. I guess I just prefer that the students do it "all." Band Revue is such a great high school memory for those kids.

A blast from our past paid us a visit Monday. Dr. Puchner, the girls' piano teacher, came over to practice with Bryn for her Concerto Competition piece for UWAY. Bryn hired Dr. Puchner to accompany her on the piano. Dr. Puchner is always happy to oblige and is very good working with Bryn through the tempo changes. The Competition was scheduled for Tuesday night, but Milwaukee got dumped on again with snow, so it's now postponed until this coming Tuesday.

Bryn began nightly Band Revue rehearsals Wednesday and they'll continue until the first performance this coming Thursday afternoon. Many students have complained that the show is not as far along as it should be by now. Not sure if that's jitters or for real. Bryn has made a theme suggestion for next year and maybe having more student involvement early on will help the kids feel more in control for next year.

I went to Zumba class at the Y for the first time in over a month. I like the class, but it was tough not doing those moves for so long! I was hoping to be ready to go with Abby when she comes home from college this week.

Friday my 3 good Falls friends and I scheduled a lunch date. Through the years, we'd have lunch maybe 4-5 times during the schoolyear. That has sadly dwindled down to once a year mostly because of job changes. But we had 3 hours of chit-chatting and it was great!

Jeff's not feeling too well. He came home early from work on both Thursday and Friday and slept. We had a commitment to work the concession stand at the high school basketball game Friday night, and Jeff reluctantly stayed home. He wanted to get out and socialize, but his sniffling and sneezing weren't a good combination with serving food. There were still 4 of us altogether working the stand, and it was fun. Jeff's still going through the kleenex! Not to worry, I made him chicken & dumplings for dinner tonight and we've been running the cure-all steamer at night.

I got both Paige and Bryn out Christmas shopping this weekend and that is nice to have done. Jeff took over Christmas card duty and got those all signed and sealed and in the mailbox. And I finally finished up decorating the tree that's been naked in our living room for over a week.

Last night our neighbor across the street invited us to a surprise 50th birthday party for his wife. We had a great time mingling with the neighbors and their family. Meanwhile, Bryn went to mass with her confirmation class which concluded with a pizza party and Paige played Rummy Royal at a friend's.

The Band Revue basket that I've organized is coming together! Remember, the theme is James Bond... I picked up the donated tux rental on Friday, donated aviator sunglasses and Bond Girl perfume on Saturday. Other items were all purchased by families and donated to our basket including: James Bond Monopoly game, 3 James Bond movie DVDs, ice bucket, martini glasses and martini shaker, Sharper Image gift card, The Safe House restaurant gift card and Marcus Cinemas gift card. Nice, huh?

It snowed like crazy last Sunday night and Paige and Bryn were convinced that school was cancelled Monday. Jeff and I were out shoveling at 6am. The snow was so wet that the snowblower couldn't hack it. Paige and Bryn did get up and get all ready for school, but swore they saw "Menomonee Falls Public Schools" scroll across the bottom of the TV screen with all the other closings. They went back to bed, but I wasn't so sure. I never saw our schools named. I visited all the local TV websites and scanned the closings. Nope. So I had to wake them up again, and send along tardy excuses!

My step-brother-in-law and his daughter visited my work on Tuesday. Yep, Jeff (Mayer) drove down from Appleton and picked up Kayleigh from Marquette U. They set up a meeting with Norman Design to discuss a website project. It sounded really exciting so I hope it works out!

The girls had early release from school on Thursday and they enjoyed their time off. Paige went to see Twilight AGAIN and Bryn hung out at a friend's for the afternoon.

Friday night was Jeff's company Christmas party at a new hotel right by his work, the Crowne Plaza. Nice place. We were treated to 3 different food stations and lots of hors d'oeuvres. The entertainment was really different and enjoyable: they were called Piano Fondue. Two grand pianos were set up facing each other and the audience was encouraged to request songs. The songs were played until another "bidder" came up with a better tune to replace it. The pianists were really entertaining and it was amazing they knew every single song requested from Metallica to Neil Diamond. We came home to only remember that St Nick was to visit that same evening. The reminder came when we saw Bryn and Paige's innovative stocking display above the fireplace. Way to be creative!

All week Paige went to Cho's with more preparation and pre-testing than usual for her deputy black belt. Thursday it was announced that she was only 1 of 4 able to test for deputy and Friday she was able to pick up her necessary papers. So Saturday morning Jeff and I watched as she broke her board, performed her form, demonstrated her sparring, kicks and punches. She'll find out if she passed later this week at class when they award belts, but she looked really good even though she was a bit nervous.

After testing, we stopped at our usual tree farm and Paige picked out the chubbiest Christmas tree she could find! She laughed as Jeff and I dragged it to the checkout as it seemed Jeff was just dragging me with it. We were able to warm up with some hot chocolate and cider while they shook the tree out, bagged it and tied it to our cartop.

I have a bit more to add, but I have to leave for Bryn's concert!