Mylie turned 5! We had a fun party with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, as usual. My parents came over from Cokeville for the party. They're so good to come over for my kids' birthdays as often as they can. Mylie loved her #5 cake, and I was excited about my new cake pan that can do number and letter shapes. That's about as fancy as it's going to get for me in the cake decorating department, I'm afraid.
She loves her new pillow pet from Grannie T.
Wednesday was our preschool Christmas party at our house. The kids and moms had a great time. The preschool kids all drew names and brought a gift for one other child. Mylie got make-up, and within five minutes, all the little girls looked SO BEAUTIFUL!!!
And finally, we had our 2nd annual Snowflake Fest here at the Micheli house. I say "annual" because the kids have loved this so much last year and this year that I'm sure this is going to become a Christmas tradition around here. They just love all the different designs they come up with! I love it because it's simple--computer paper and scissors--and fun. There really isn't much mess--just little scraps of paper that we scoop into the garbage to clean up, and I can leave them up for a few months here in Wyoming where winter lasts half of the year!Here they are in creative concentration mode:
And we all love the finished product! 
Mylie, on the other hand, has always been afraid of Santa, and had never sat on his lap . . . until last night! I didn't really think she'd do it, especially when we got to the church, and she instantly started crying, saying she couldn't do it, then cried off and on while waiting in line, but when the time came, she mustered her courage and climbed up on his lap so she could tell him that she wanted a barbie house. Afterward, she told me that it actually wasn't scary at all! 
I guess to reward her for her bravery, Santa send her a special video message to my email this morning. Click 
College Life--I moved away from Laramie about 6 years ago, and I have missed it ever since! This is where I found lasting friendship, got an education, met and married my husband, had my first baby, lived in awesome little dumps also known as cheap apartments, and watched TONS of Cowboy/Cowgirl sporting events! Those were good times.
T.--To respect his privacy, I'll simply refer to this kid as "T". "T" came into our lives 5 years ago, first as a student in Tony's middle school Special Ed. classroom. The very next summer, he did a life skills summer school program on our ranch, spending 60 hours with Tony (and our family) that summer. Soon after that, Tony and I became respite care providers, and his time spent with us increased greatly. He even lived with us for a couple weeks at a time on two different occasions as his family dealt with some trials. We had a bedroom for him, and he was here often. Our entire family grew to love this kid--his tickling, his singing and dancing, his "You're crazy!", and his smile. This summer he moved away unexpectedly and I didn't even get to say goodbye. We hope to see him again sometime, but every time I drive by his house, my eyes fill with tears. We had a lot of good times with "T". Some of my favorite memories with him are going to state basketball, the county fair (a few times), and Lagoon this past summer.
Pregnancy--Okay, okay, I know some of you would like to throw something at the computer screen right now (Holly?)--but as the time goes on, I do actually miss the miracle of having a little baby growing inside me. I'm sure it helps that I've had very smooth, sickness-free pregnancies. And as much as I enjoy a flat stomach as well, I'm kinda missing this little bump!
Digital Scrapbooking--I'm about a year and a half behind on this, and it's something I enjoy doing! I need to quit missing it and just get in gear and get on it again!
Sunny, Sandy Beaches--Luckily, I'll get to enjoy them again in a little over a month! I'm getting so excited!
She really is a pretty girl when you can see her eyes, Mom!
Their music teacher, Mr. Dobbins, has worked really hard to teach the kids concert etiquette, and part of that is looking at the director and not looking around the auditorium during the performance. Boy did Connor do a good job of that! Mr. Dobbins was directing from the side of the stage over by the piano so that he wouldn't block anybody's view of their child, so we saw a lot of the SIDE of Connor' super-concentrated singing face. It was a cute show!
