Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas morning with Jason's family.

 Christmas morning belly picture. I have popped and I have started to get a tummy in the last week or so and it is starting to grow quickly.

 Flash is tuckered out already, thanks to Dakota.

More fun baby things.

 Jim and Debbie's sign that says Mimi and Pop's Beach House.

 Redskins gear....I figured it was a good year to get Jim and Jason some gear since the skins are making a name for themselves this season.

 Earrings from Jason

 Elf on the Shelf from Danny and Erin.

 Baby clothes...

 Boys and their toys...Wes got an iPad mini and Jason got a Sony sound system.

 Lauren's coach bag and Jason's snazzy new suit.

Christmas Eve

Jason and I were so lucky this year that we got to stay at home for Christmas. We had my parents come for a few nights and then Jim, Debbie, Wes, and Lauren came for a week. Flash even had Lauren's dog Dakota to play with for the week. Luckily, they tired each other out for the most part. We also got a white Christmas on our first Christmas at home. 

For Christmas Even dinner we had a standing rib roast and our plan was to go to church. However, the roads were terrible, so we ended up having to stream Christmas Eve service on the TV. The dogs got to play out in the snow and we went to church in our PJ's. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.

The start to our white Christmas.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Lauren and Wes and Jim and Debbie

Fun Pictures in the snow....

 

White Christmas

 Chasing snowflakes:)

Lauren and Dakota

Arehart Christmas

A few days before Christmas, my parents came up to visit and do their Christmas with us. It was really great because they stayed until Jim and Debbie got to our house and we got to have a big family dinner with both sets of parents in our own house, which was awesome. Our parents hadn't seen each other since we got married, so we figured we needed to get everyone together since it had been 3 and a half years. This year Flash got to open his own presents too. We got some great gifts and so did Baby T, but best of all we got some great time with family.

 Mom and Dad opening gifts and some JMU baby socks for Baby T.

 Yes....that is our child's first set of golf clubs. I guess he or she won't get to decide whether they would like to play golf, apparently it is expected.

 More JMU gear.

The 18 week yuck!

After my concerts, like clockwork, I came down with the yuck. Apparently, my body was not happy with me after dress rehearsals, getting sick Tuesday and working a 13 hour day, and the putting on more concerts on Wednesday. By Thursday night I was done! I got sent home from work on Friday and found out that I have Bronchitis. When you get pregnant everyone tells you how awful you will feel, morning sickness, being uncomfortable, headaches, swelling. None of this has been an issue. So far things have been pretty easy and uneventful. What the doctors don't prepare you for is when you get a virus and you can't take anything to feel better. That is the pits! Eventually, my cough got so bad that they put me on an antibiotic, but they said it may not help since it could be viral bronchitis. So I am taking lots of naps and trying to feel better before everyone comes for Christmas. Jason had been wonderful and he has been taking care of a lot of the house stuff while I have been down and out. Hopefully, I will be back to my old self soon.

Concert Videos

The concerts went very well this year, and no one (including myself) threw up on stage this year, which was a definite plus. In addition to everything else that went wrong with concerts, my accompanist backed out on me the week before the concert. Luckily, I have a very talented 5th grader who worked so incredibly hard and learned the pieces in less than 2 weeks and played for me. What a talented kiddo, to be able to step in like that and also, in one concert she had to follow me, the chorus, and also play with another 5th grader who played a flute part. It is a little nerve racking to put all of your trust in a 5th grader at the last minute. I am very lucky that I had such a talented kid I could, otherwise, I'm not sure what we would have done. The kids did an awesome job with all of their setbacks, missed rehearsals, and only getting to rehearse with the accompanist twice before the concert.

 Sing We All Noel: Chorus

Bleak Midwinter: Chorus



 Good King Wenceslas: Handbells

 Carol of the Bells: Handbells

Concert Time

This year was the concert season that couldn't end fast enough. Every time I got one thing under control, something else went wrong. We had scheduling issues, cancelled rehearsals, I had 2 kids in handbells hospitalized with pneumonia, we had a $1000 handbell break right before our concert and had to have parts overnighted so we could play (luckily the part that broke was only $10), a student in handbells who needed emergency tonsil surgery right before the concert, (so I was going to play her part and the kids wouldn't have had a director) the day before the concert her surgery got cancelled and we were back to normal....and that's just the start of it. To top it all off, the only time I have gotten sick during my pregnancy of course was all night the night before my 13 hour day filled with 2 concerts. UGH! My poor handbells kiddos only had one rehearsal with all 11 of them between October 1st and the concert. All things considered, I though they did a pretty amazing job considering they only had 7, 40 minute rehearsals all year. We pulled everything off and no one in the audience knew of everything that had gone wrong and I was so proud of my kids. Most of all though, I was happy to get a nap and some rest after all the madness was over!

 Howard County Children's Chorus Concert at the High School.

Regular School concert at night.

 I just can't say enough about my awesome art teacher at school. She did another backdrop for me and it was beautiful! She is so talented and so giving of her time. Just recently this week she won the Howie Award for MD Art Teacher of the Year. She is wonderful and we are lucky to have her!