By Sage family tradition, Santa doesn’t wrap (is that the smartest idea or what?).
The girls came down Christmas morning to find their presents from Santa. Jane’s 2 year old possessiveness quickly claimed Cate’s truck and ark of animals as her own, which brought dozens of explanations about sharing (as intended).
Don’t fret that there was no presents to unwrap, as family and friends provided bounty that put Santa to shame.
Jane was definitely into “helping” anyone else unwrap presents.
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Jane finding her gifts from Santa Christmas morning
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Cate finding her gifts from Santa Christmas morning
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Rhonda gets help from the Bubba, Maggie, Cate and Jane in unwrapping her Birthday
presents
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Annual Sage Clan Christmas photo (taken on New Year's Day)
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January
Lately Jane has been found of saying with great glee and pride “I did it! or “I found it!”.
Our happiness at her confidence is tempered by the fact that she when she says this, she is rarely the cause of it happening.
For example, when arriving at the zoo or her grandparents, she’ll excitedly repeat “I found it!”.
Such displays of self-esteem bode well for a career as a politician, should it last.
New Year’s Resolutions
Unbeknownst to us, it appears that Jane resolved to start using the potty on her own as she started on the 2nd day of the year.
We’ve discussed it with her for a while and have had a seat for the last half-year or so just in case but haven’t made an issue of it with her.
Unfortunately, it lasted about as long as most resolutions and within a week she was interested any more. Fortunately, there is no shortage of advice available to get her back on track, even if most of it contradicts the rest of it.
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Bethany reading Curious George to Jane with a curious Bert helping
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Not to be out done in the New Year resolution category, 9 month old Cate, decided to advance her floor movements by crawling at the beginning of January as well.
There's been no turning back, as she excitedly explores the corners of the house.
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Cate at 9 half months
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On Elvis’s 70th Birthday, Webster Groves woke up to 2 inches of snow, which excited the girls a great deal. Jane had insisted on having her boots by the door for the previous week as snow was first predicted. We sledded in the backyard with its 8 foot of elevation change but the girls thought it plenty exciting.
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Bethany and Jane sledding
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Cate and Randy in the snow
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Cate at 10 months
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February
A $330 gas bill served as the impetus to double the amount of blown in insulation in the house addition’s attic. This made a big difference ($40 the first month) but with natural gas prices twice what they were 2 years ago per energy unit and twice as much house and water heaters, it was still pretty pricey.
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Jane Bethany and Cate playing on the floor
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Cate and Jane
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Valentine's Day - Jane and Cate poise for a Valentine’s Day card for the family.
Jane “helped” in the crafting of the cards by cheerfully pounding the pasted cutout hearts onto the cardstock.
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Jane and Cate pose for Valentines Day
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Jane Nana and Cate
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Progressive Dinner - On President’s Day weekend, we had a progressive dinner with a few neighbors that allowed Bethany the chance to use the nice china and serving dishes.
The lack of children and abundance of wine made for lively conversations.
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Progressive Dinner Party with Neighbors - Tina, John, Lisa, Shelia, Steven and Charlie
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Kayak Trip - It was a very mild February. Although there was a chance of rain, Randy and neighbor Charlie decided to risk it and on Sunday the 20th drove down to Bourbon/Blue Spring. We put in on the Huzzah Creek at MDC Scotia Bridge Access at mile 22.4, entering at Meramec River a mile later at mile 65.9; pulling out at mile 78.0 at the Blue Springs resort.
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Randy on Meramec River (about mile 76.2)
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March
In early March, we finally got the trim up in both the upstairs bathrooms.
Randy’s new toy, a compound miter saw with laser cutting guide, made the task easy but using the neighbor’s finish nailer made the task a breeze.
Once it’s painted (dare we say it?), the bathrooms will be done.
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Jane brushing her teeth (note wainscoting
and trim)
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During her 2-½ year evaluation with Parents as Teachers, Jane came across with flying colors in all categories.
We’re certain that the only reason that the evaluator didn’t use the terms genius, extraordinarily gifted or prodigy was that it went without saying.
As further proof of her accelerated development, she’s already knows to lie about her age.
For the last month when ever someone asks about her age, the answer is 3 (or 4 or 5).
Only reluctantly will she say 2 when cornered (either that or she can’t really count yet but that would mean she wasn’t a prodigy, so we KNOW that can’t be true).
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Jane and Cate playing
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Along a similar tract, there is another case where Jane has learned that not telling the truth might be to her advantage.
She’s been waking up early, when the sun comes in. Adding window shades didn’t really slow it down.
The other day, while trying to convince Bethany to get up and open up her gate, she tried the following:
“Mama…Mama, I’m awake!”, loudly sung a number of times to no avail.
Finally she tired another tract: “Mama! “Mama! I’ve got Boogers.”
Still no response. “Mama, I’m eating boogers.” …OK so even if it wasn’t a lie to rile her mother, it was pretty sharp to yank her mother’s chain with the statement about the forbidden noise fruit.
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Bethany and Cate
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The play set in the backyard is proving to a daily activity as the weather warms again. Randy covertly added a floor on the ground level of the fort with a secret panel covering a sandbox for the girls, which met with glad approval by Jane.
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Cate swinging
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Bethany and Jane swinging
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Jane and Cate in artistic black and white
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The girls paid a visit to Daddy’s office on St. Patrick’s and were able to join in on one of our frequent food feasts.
The corn beef and cabbage had no allure for her but the green shamrock cupcakes were greeted enthusiastically and made instant friends of a couple of co-workers.
We’re sure she’s convinced that the reason Randy goes to work every morning is that there are cupcakes there.
RBJC Curtis Family Front Page
The Curtis Clan - Winter 2005
