The Curtis Clan - Winter 2009

Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox

Christmas

Cate Bethany Randy and Jane pose for a Christmas Eve portrait

Santa brought Jane and Cate each an American Girl doll as their big present, along with some books and other smaller items. We opted for the best friends character that appeared to look most like them: 1904 Nellie for Cate and 1944 Emily for Jane. They were quite pleased. Santa also finished off their collection of Happy Meals Wizard of Oz dolls courtesy of Ebay to go along with their 100th Anniversary edition of the book.

Cate and Nellie	Jane and Emily

They were also quite pleased with some cheap fleece scarves in their stockings.

Cate and Jane sporting their stocking gifts

2008_12_25 Christmas CnJ w stocking gifts.jpg

The Curtis Clan came over in the afternoon for dinner. Good for Lilly that Rhonda’s finance Doug has taken such a strong liking to her, while she tried to open his pickled eggs and “showering” him with affection prior to be picked up for the group picture. Most others wouldn’t have such a good humor about it.

Curtis Clan portrait

The days after Christmas were spent with the Sage tribe with Bethany’s brother Micah and his wife Tiffany staying with us. On Friday, late afternoon/evening we opened presents which went very well since drawing from the hat for both adults and kids now. On Saturday, the Cousins went to Tropicana Lanes to all go bowling for the first time.

Bethany and brother Justin with their respective offspring

That evening we made the visit to the St. Peter’s Sages with the $30 mystery present exchange game which is always lots of fun. Unfortunately we forgot to do a group picture while the entire tribe was gathered.

The following week was fairly laid back. Randy was officially off and was at home though he still seemed to be busy on the office laptop. We celebrated New Year’s with a quick visit to our friends Anthony and Leasha’s in Columbia, where seven girls and 1 boy between the ages 4 ½ and 9 stayed up to midnight along with their parents. It wasn’t too amazing how quickly the party dissipated after midnight though.

Walt Disney World - 23-29 January 2009

The Happiest Place On Earth

The big-ticket item for the family Christmas was booking 7 days at Walt Disney World (WDW) at the end of January when Randy has to be there for work a few days. AAA was running a special in addition to the off season rates that seemed too good to pass up (buy a 4 nights and tickets, get 3 free), especially since Randy had to be in Orlando anyway. Given the age of our little “princesses” (a word that is applied to all girls under the age of 10 at WDW) we figured yanking them out of preschool and kindergarten for a week and half wouldn’t negatively affect their long term learning prospects too bad. Besides visiting EPCOT is like a going to a science center/foreign land right? Follow the links to the WAY too many pictures.

Magic Kingdom Pictures
EPCOT, Hollywood Sudios and Animal Kingdom Pictures
Walt Disney World Characters Picturess
Walt Disney World Characters Pictures - Princesses and then some

February

For Valentine’s Day, Randy took both girls to the Webster Groves Daddy Daughter Dance at the recreation center for the second year in a row. It was a little bit chessy but fun.

Cate Randy and Jane are ready for

the Valentines Day Daddy Daughter Dance

2009_02_13 RJC Valentines Day Daddy Daughter Dance.jpg

Continuing with doing our bit to keep the economy going (and cash in on the deals), we bought our first set of living room furniture (2 sofas and over sized chair). It feels so grown up to have it all match and not be hand-me downs from our families. It arrived on Saturday the 21st, just in time for a small Oscar Night soiree on Sunday, which was a return to Bethany’s annual custom of having a party for the Academy Awards that got lost the last few years with having kids.

The Hein and Curtis kids at our Oscar Party

2009_02_22 Oscar Party Hein and Curti kids.jpg

Reading to the girls	on our new couches

Actually, February and March Randy was in Florida about half the time and working from home for at least a few hours every Sunday. On one occasion, he was interviewed by the full slate of Orlando TV following a meeting with the Orange County Board of Commissioners. He must not of said anything to sensational or stupid as none of the web posting included video clips (which he took to be a sign of success).

Randy being interviewed by Orlando TV

2009_02_24 Randy being interviewed on ORCY at Orange County BCC Meeting.jpg

March

It’s been hard on the entire family but we feel the most guilt about the girls who miss their dad and will happily stay up late on Fridays waiting for his return. We’ve generally shunned making plans for the weekend, preferring to have days filled with no obligations but hanging out and minor errands. Still we have had our share of responsibilities.

As the Daisy Scout Troup, leader Bethany has been far more active in Girl Scouts than she ever expected (or intended). In March we made deliveries of all the cookies we sold (and we is properly used as even when Jane did the selling over the phone, her folks were feeding her the script lines).

Mom and the girls dividing up the Girl Scout cookie orders

2009_02_28 Mom and girls dividing up the GS cookies.jpg

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