Myerscough Family Christmas 2018

Okay, so per the usual, this is a total picture overload. I just love the time that I get to spend with these people. They are my people, my home, my happiness. And of course our time together always goes much too quickly. Aunt Laura, Nat and Jo arrived in Illinois on Wednesday evening so they came to visit us in Mt. Zion on Thursday. We had pizza and the kids played and I got to catch up with my sister. The cousins always have so much fun together.

Friday we had a half day of school. But we were able to get to Charleston by 4. Gigi, Aunt Laura and Uncle Jeff took all the kids to go see Mary Poppins Returns. I went to the nursing home to see Grandpa Merle. We had a short but nice visit. It made me smile to see him enjoying his dessert. He always has had a sweet tooth, and that remains. He ate a cookies and of course his ice cream. After the movie we all gathered at Gigi and Papa's house for dinner. There was some mean games of pool taking place downstairs and electric battleship in the kitchen. The little girls had a blast playing dress up. Leah and Kiersten went to have a sleepover at Uncle Matt and Aunt Cynthia's.

Saturday morning we were up and moving, but mostly having fun socializing. Mitch helped Gigi in the kitchen, of course. We had a family dinner early afternoon. Uncle Matt fried up some Walleye, it was amazing. Uncle Kevin stopped by to say hello and we had a wonderful visit. Then it was time for the gifts. Lots of cute clothes, all things Harry Potter, and lots of STEM toys. My favorite gift of the night was the Ugly Christmas Sweater featuring President Trump that we got for Papa.

The night quickly came to a close with stockings and our matching Christmas Pajamas. I just love the "Christmas Cousins Crew" shirts that we got for the kids. After we gave our hugs good bye and loaded up in to the car. There were tears, from both the girls and myself. Hattie said "I don't want them to go." I know the feeling well...Arizona seems so far at times. We absolutely treasure the time we have together.

My Little Violinist

Last night Leah had her second Intermediate Orchestra concert. She has been practicing so hard. I actually ran into Mr. Wunderlich last month at Teacher's Institute and he was telling me how impressed he is with Leah. He lets her mentor 4th graders and said she's very talented. She's a first violin and comes to the band room at the end of every day for extra practice.

She was so excited for the concert she called Papa and asked him to come to the concert too. They really did a fantastic job. They played three different pieces but my favorite was Holly Jolly Christmas. When the show was done and we were leaving Leah ran into her close friend Luke. He apologized because he didn't get there in time to hear her play, and he had basketball in the field house. But we snapped a picture anyway. It was a great night and we were so proud of our girl.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Hard to believe but it's been 7 years now that we've been doing Christmas pictures with Laura Kruger up in Bloomington. As Leah gets older I wanted to be sure to capture this stage...where she is at, and I think these pictures nailed it. I know that I'm going to cherish these pictures for years to come and I hope that the girls will too.

Suzy Snowflake

Kiersten and Emma Ulis

Kiersten and Cayde White

Kiersten and Ella Spaide

Kiersten and Gabe Smith

front and center with her buddy Gabe Smith

Kiersten...I just don't even know where to begin with this girl. She was just born to shine. She always lights up the stage. She told me a few weeks ago that she was going to be playing a Suzy Snowflake during the show. What she didn't tell me was that she had a hand in choreographing her part. She did such a wonderful job. The whole third grade class did. I'm going to be so sad when this stage is done and past. I enjoy these shows so much. And in true Kiersten fashion, we had to find our friends for pictures after. I hope she is always as confident and sure of herself as she is at 8. She's going places for sure.

Reindeer Classic

We had the Reindeer Classic up in Clinton this weekend. It was such a fun day! A long day but certainly a fun one. We were there early for 7:20 warm ups. With only 4 lanes the meet went quite slow. Leah didn't swim her fist event until at least 10:30, Hattie didn't swim until well after 11. But that's beside the point. These girls swam so good. Leah's IM relay qualified for state, and won by over 20 seconds. She swam the fly leg and looked amazing. She went on to drop time in her 50 fly and her 50 back and is less than a half second away from qualifying for state in both events. She took second place for the high points leader in the meet and got her first trophy. Kiersten crushed it in her 25 breast. She swam it in 25.17 and qualified for state in her first event. Coach Erin was so excited...it was awesome. Hattie made progress too! She got the district time in the 25 back, but dropped time in both her races. Can't wait to see what the next few months bring for these little Gators.

Hattie the Elf

Oh My Hattie! She's been so excited about her Christmas concert. Tonight she took the stage with 175 other 1st graders. They are just so cute and Mrs. Sill always puts together such a fantastic show. She was super excited to have a part this year. She got to play the part of an Elf! She had a little hat and collar. When her song started she got to go hang a candy cane on the tree. And then she got to dance. She nailed it. I was so proud of her. She did fantastic!

Getting outdoors with Dad

I hope these girls know how good they've got it. Some guys say they wouldn't know what to do with a daughter. But from the start Mitch has made it pretty clear that he will do anything with these girls that he would do with a boy...and more. They fish, they play ball, they swim, and they love to go for a run. It's been quite a while since Leah was able to run with Mitch. Thanks to a new inhaler due to a diagnosis of asthma she's back in business. She doesn't hesitate to go for a run with dad. Last week she got to go hunting too. It wasn't the first time, but it was the first time in a while. They never got to take a shot, but she's already ready for the next time.