Max

It's been a while since FLEA has reported any news, but that's really because we haven't had much news to report!

Both girls are doing great at school, and we're looking forward to seeing Elisabeth's first report card next week.

Elisabeth has a special classmate named Max. Max actually lives right here in our neighborhood, but we've never met him (or even seen him) at any neighorhood events. He was born with multiple disabilities as well as a compromised immune system. A simple childhood illness can quickly become life-threatening for him, so he is basically homebound.

Thanks to the power of technology, Max is included in daily classroom lessons via Skype! It truly is amazing that he is able to be included in classroom activities considering that he is not able to be physically present.

Elisabeth was thrilled when she was selected to read a story to the class (and Max) over Skype; his mom e-mailed me to tell me that Elisabeth did such a great job holding up the book long enough for Max to enjoy the pictures, and she also said that Max kept signing "more, more!" when Elisabeth was reading. The experience of Skyping with family back in Michigan must've paid off!

Max came to the school the other day for school pictures, and stopped by his classroom to meet all of his friends that he's only seen on Skype. Elisabeth was very excited to meet him in person. The kids also thought it was very cool to wear a face mask just like Max.
Max's mom has invited us to Skype with him outside of school hours, and Elisabeth is very excited to do that.

Other than that, there hasn't been much to report. We have lots of fun stuff coming up that we're excited about including:

• A visit from Grandma M. (she'll be here for Thanksgiving!)
• Ski school for both girls over Thanksgiving break
• Elisabeth's 1st grade music program (Grandma M. will be here for that!)
• Tickets to Disney on Ice
• Our neighborhood Christmas party, with horse-drawn carriage rides through our charming neighborhood
• A visit from Grandma and Grandpa H. (they'll be here for Elisabeth's birthday!)
• Tickets to The Nutcracker with Grandma H.
  

We'll post pictures and updates as we get into the season!

The City of Westminster has a great program that allows residents to apply for a Santa visit. Selected residents receive a visit from Santa Claus at their home. The program is sponsored by the Westminster Fire Department, and Santa arrives your home on an old fashioned fire truck with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Winners are allowed to invite up to 10 children over, and each child gets a chance to sit on Santa's lap. I applied for a Santa visit....and found out a few days ago that I was selected! Yippee! HOWEVER, the excitement didn't last long. Santa was scheduled to come over the same night as Elisabeth's music program. Santa's a very busy guy so the date/time for his visit cannot be scheduled. Bummer! Sadly, we had to tell Santa that we won't be home so he'll need to go visit some other lucky family instead. We're disappointed that we'll miss out on the Santa visit this year, but we're looking forward to seeing him out and about so we can tell him what we want for Christmas. As long as he remembers to come over on December 24, it's all good!