Ahhhh.....

That's the sound of a mama that just came off of two weeks of vacation! A vacation at home that is. Matthew was off from school and Jim was off from work. I cannot tell you how much fun we had! Sara was a napping machine while I stayed in my pajamas 'till noon everyday. Soooooo relaxing.....

We were given the movie Kung Fu Panda (thanks Uncle Fraser) for Christmas and as a result the kids now play Kung Fu Kickball down in the basement. This is one of Jim's endeavors as only he can do. The kids get all warmed up with their moves and sounds and then have at it. It's a good high screaming time had by all.

Sara has been learning to point and loves to explore EVERYTHING with just her index finger. It's so cute. Caught a few pictures of her yesterday doing this so perhaps will get those posted soon. She's still a crawler on her tummy but is quite efficient at it now. She gets up on hands and knees and contemplates that for a second or two and then takes off on her tummy. Oh she is so sweet right now. Except for when she's up for 90min. at night between the hrs. of 2:00-3:30am. We're working on that....

Jim was able to be home, work on a few projects, sled with the kids, play with the kids, take care of the kids, oh! and paint our living room! He did that last one all in one day which was very impressive. Can't wait to post pics of that, it's so pretty...

Now we are back to regular programming. Thankful for a 2hr. delay this morning, giving us a chance to ease back into our morning routines.

Ahh...still thinking about those last two weeks. Just grand.

Happy New Year...

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas from Matthew! He is big enough now that he can get around in the snow, build snow forts, stay outside for 2hrs. sledding and shoveling and absolutely LOVE the snow...

Merry Christmas from Sara! She is big enough to sit in the snow and that's about it. Except for the occasional bout on her tummy which she seemed to enjoy the other day...

Merry Chirstmas from Ella Jane! She is big enough to sort of get around in the snow and does best if she's just playing in the front yard or shoveling the driveway with the boys.

This is when I don't like the snow...when it's time to pick Matthew up from school and I have to wake a sleeping baby, bundle her all up and head out, then come home to a sleeping toddler who I then have to UNbundle and transfer to bed only to have her wake up and start crying because she's cold and uncomfortable... (that's sara in the bjorn, and ella jane in the stroller)

...thankfully it's Christmas break and we can stay home, give Sara the two naps a day that she needs and let the kids go sledding to their hearts content!

...this is what your cards all looked like before they went out. Yes, spread all over the floor where Sara quickly decided to set up camp so if some of them are bent, you'll know why...

So Merry Christmas everyone. As I understand it most of you have snow as well which is especially fun if you're in Seattle. A white Christmas for you, what a treat!

Snow Day #2...

And it's a big one. We had 10 inches of snow fall during the night. Ten inches! Wow. Thank goodness for kind neighbors who let you borrow their snow blowers. It's still snowing and it is so magnificent at this extreme level that it really is quite pretty. The kind of pretty when everyone gives up on trying to get to wherever they should be and just goes outside to play because really they wouldn't be able to make up our unplowed hill anyway.

Pics to come for sure!

Snow Day #1...

We had our first snow day yesterday and much to Matthew's delight he shouted a big YAHOO! when I told him the news. I bought snow shovels for the kids and needless to say they love to help out with the shoveling! So after a nice cozy morning in the house, we spent some time outside playing and getting half the driveway cleared.

Our master snow shoveler has been in Memphis this week enjoying a much warmer climate and a great hotel! He comes home today and we're so excited to see him.

Today is the 2nd installment to my root canal and I so excited for it. My tooth has not felt this great in years. No pain. How fortunate I am to have great health care whenever I need it.

Almost bliss...

So I closed my eyes today for about 45min. so I could of course catch up on all that sleep I lost last night. Does it count as a rest if it was in the dentist chair? And not for a nice little cleaning....or a nice little filling for that matter but a ROOT CANAL? I know, right?

Apparently...

when you are up from 2-4:30am with the newly turned 7 month old, go to bed at 5:00 and then up again at 6:00 with the same baby, only to go back to bed again you're going to be really tired and sleep in and then wake up and realize that everyone else slept in too and proceed to RUSH the Kindergartner out the door so he's not late for school.

But I wouldn't know anything about that.

She's growing up...

Sara is 7 months old today. It hardly seems possible. She's past the halfway mark to one year. She was born last spring but was that really SEVEN MONTHS ago??? Here she is...