Christmas Countdown: the second week of Advent

As usual, our weekend was jam-packed. Friday afternoon, we finally made good on a promise to Andrew. The "new" YMCA in New Albany has a rock wall (the Jeffersonville Y does not). Every time we go, he asks to climb. The age limit is six, so he has been (not so patiently) waiting since his birthday for a time when the wall was open that we all could go together.
He did surprisingly well for his first try. He didn't get up very high, but he kept trying and there were no fits or tears when we had to stop and let someone else have a turn. I guess we'll have to go back again!

When we left the YMCA, we met Tony's mom to eat fish for dinner with a plan to go downtown and look at lights. We were extremely disappointed in the display, so we decided to do something else the boys have wanted to do for a long time - Lights Under Louisville at the Louisville Mega Cavern. Basically, it's a huge man-made cavern that was used for multiple purposes. They are now running tours, and the boys have been clamoring to go. When they began advertising the Christmas decorations, we thought it would be fun to go see.
In 2007, we attended a WorldWide Marriage Encounter Weekend and had a wonderful experience. We try to keep up with many of the wonderful couples we've met through this organization through family events and "circle" meetings. It's so nice to spend time with couples who value their Catholic faith and the understand the importance of a strong marriage, and we feel that we are modeling that for our own children by staying active in Marriage Encounter. On Saturday evening, we had our annual ME Christmas party at St. Brigid's. We attended 5 pm Mass and then gathered to eat and socialize. I forgot Sophie's booster, but she was just fine in the big chair as long as I keep the food coming! She didn't care for the pineapple upside down cake that I baked, but loved the parfait with whipped cream! You can see it all over her face!
One of our friends, Suzanne, directs a Christmas pageant with the children who are there. Andrew was one of the three wise men, and Aidan decided to be snow. It wasn't in the script, but he was very convincing that baby Jesus needed snow at the manger. The best part was that Santa came to watch the play before he listened to the laundry list of things the kiddos wanted.

Aidan was tickled to see Santa again, and Andrew had secret to share. He's going to be hard to shop for!

Sophie loved Santa - so much that so that she kept wiggling and clapping and we couldn't get a very clear shot!
It was a wonderful evening and we are grateful to those who planned it. When we finally left, we had to hurry home and sit our shoes out for St. Nicholas! The boys were up early this morning, collected their goods and headed downstairs to play. Sophie had no idea what all the stuff in the hallway was all about, but she loved her orange - and playing with her shoes.
A big *sigh* of relief over the weekend was completing my final paper for my independent study. The lit review needs a little tweaking, but it's pretty well ready to submit, and then I can focus on all the Christmas hubbub and excitement.