Seven Falls at Christmas

What if they lit up about .8 miles of canyon leading to Seven Falls?... This is what you get! While Tracy and Jonny were at Stanford for a chiari surgery follow-up, the rest of the Compound dwellers took advantage of a reasonably warm day to hike up to Seven Falls and have dinner at the 1858 Restaurant. Matteo found a skillet trout dish he really liked, which led to talk of trout fishing, of course. A little colder than we'd hoped, but that didn't really slow us down much. More photos are here.

Nana, Fina, Lexi and Matt, Matteo, David, and AJ.

The water was flowing/falling beneath the ice.
This shot only shows a small portion
of the Seven Falls at the bottom.

The 1858 Restaurant is right at the base of the falls.

Chapel Hills Mall Hangout

The Chapel Hills Mall is a favorite hangout of the middle school set. It's the only fully enclosed mall in the area (that we know of). Nana and Papa went Secret Service for Fina and friends - just like last year at this time. Not sure what the younger set may have gotten, but we seniors enjoyed a Peanut Buster Parfait (goes way back) and a Banana Split at the DQ in the food court! Oh, and we (finally) found a replacement for Lynn's "I Am Loved" necklace that Jamie gave her decades ago (early dating period) and was lost when loaned to a friend within that year. About time. And the bear was a Helzberg purchase as well - donation to Make-A-Wish. Note the "I Am Loved" logo on his scarf.

DWAP Cookie Decorating

While Nana and Papa took Matteo to see A Christmas Carol at the ENT Center, Tracy held a cookie decorating class/party at the house for their DWAP (pronounced dee-wap) group, Dessert With A Purpose, an adoption/foster group. And Fina was out caroling in the neighborhood with her school choir. Love that new table with its humongous lazy susan.

Nice lighting...

Caught Tracy's picture wall with good lighting...

Advanced Choir Concert Fall 2018

Wonderful concert by the DCC Middle School music department this evening, sung to a full house.

Fina's "Thunder Tones" (8th grade girls). Fina is front row far right.

All the Middle School choir members

Sunset

Interesting sunsets seen while taking Matteo to his "Take Flight" lesson.

Some more Christmas...

Lisa Leonard Designs (pewter and wood)

Elf Breakfast 2018

And I bet you can guess what movie was playing on the TV all the while! All the photos are here.

Through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest...

Jamie's new favorite shirt.

Fina's Recital

Fina's voice teacher and students held a recital tonight, songs from their village, or something like that. Fina sang "My New Philosophy" from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. I hear ice cream at BR's followed... And who was along the entire time - IB Man, Lexi's traveling companion from school for the next week or so. A few more pics are here.

The show closed with a sing-along.

Matteo's Neck Pain

Tracy: We found ourselves in the ER this afternoon after picking up Matteo in tears unable to move his neck. My mom-gut told me muscle pain but his hysterical cries and unwillingness to move his neck warranted a call to the pediatrician, who sent us to the ER. Fast forward... the doctor came in, examined him, and said all the blood work looked good, so muscle spasm is the diagnosis. At this, Matteo’s entire body relaxed and he murmured, “So I don’t have to have brain surgery, I don’t have Chiari?” The ER doc looked at me like what the heck and I had to explain his little brother has Chiari Malformation and just had decompression surgery. Never once did it cross my mind that Matteo thought his neck pain meant brain surgery, chronic pain for an unknown time, headaches, wheelchairs, etc. The anxiety those thoughts caused him must have escalated his pain beyond what he could handle. This is what the books don’t tell you when raising special need kids with siblings. How the siblings suffer, how the pain of their siblings becomes their own pain. And they worry about things other kids wouldn’t even have knowledge of. That a simple neck pain or head ache is no more than that, but a child who has watched his brother live in pain and under go so much, these simple symptoms become very scary. One co-pay and an afternoon later I now know I need to check my kids anxiety and see what is contributing to the pain before rushing off to the ER. #chiarimalformation #thingsthebabybooksdonttellyou #inthisfamilynoonefightsalone

Lexi's First Ballet Recital

She's been taking lessons at Colorado Ballet Society for a little while now...