Woah! Whole in One . . .

Scratch that last post! Forget the five days of blogging. Who has time to blog when it's Christmastime???

Let's just do the whole thing in one post, eh???

One picture from our Thanksgiving break to Idaho. We got to spend it with Andrew, Maria, Inara, and baby Alba. We had a great time. We sure miss them!
(The only two pictures I have are these: The girls with Inara, and a screen shot from Robyn's Facebook page.)

Claire's Number Four Birthday:
Instead of making cake/cupcakes this year, I took Claire to a cupcake shop and she picked out this plate of goodies.

Then we played a cupcake walk and whoever won each time got to pick their goodie. After that, we sang to her, she blew her candles out, and we chowed down, sampling everyone's.

Then she opened gifts. (Back up here: in Disneyland, she tossed a coin into some water and wished for "a real live unicorn." And a few nights ago, she saw a star and wished for "unicorns all over the world and even in outer space.") So when I found this life-size, stretchy unicorn, I knew it was perfect. And she loved it! When she got it unwrapped, she launched off the couch, slid face-first onto the floor, and then rolled and rolled and rolled around with it in her arms. She laughed and laughed. And then she put the elastic on her hands and feet and ran around with it strapped to her. It was hilarious. We all laughed so hard.

The final part of her party was that the girls got to take a bath with glow in the dark rings, bracelets, and wands. It was so fun! We turned the lights on and snapped the toys, then put them in the tub with the girls. They had a lot of fun.

We also made another trip back to Idaho for Rhett's grandfather's funeral. Rhett was privileged to get to share the life sketch during, and I was able to play a piano solo. There was also a table display of some of the things of his life. I thought the keepsakes and pictures from the Korean War that he served in were really neat.

His purple heart medal:

The burial was an exceptional experience. There was a 21-gun salute from these veterans standing a ways away from the burial spot.

And then there was this group of veterans standing during the ceremony. The veteran on the right was the one who folded the flag and presented it to Grandma Vance, thanking her, on behalf of the President of the United States and all its citizens, for her husband's service.