our week

we had about 1" of snow earlier this week. here they are testing their new slope sliders they got for christmas.




love when she dances!

funny boy

a few days ago i walked into kai's bedroom and found this picture on his desk. at first it was just the figure in the middle. i asked him to tell me about it. he said it was an old man. i totally see that. i immediately fell in love with this drawing. do you see it? the figure in the middle, bending over. i think it's fantastic. the next day still thinking about it, i went back to the notebook and he had added more stuff. so i asked him to tell me more about it. he said the old man is now an old man without skin with a hat floating above him. the figure on the right is a man with skin jump roping and his stomach with a bunch of stuff in it. (he's had a recent facination with the human body, so that's where the skin/no skin comes from.)

and the lines on the left behind the old man without skin is africa. hmmmm.... interesting. anyhow, i love this. don't know why, but i think it's a masterpiece!

a familiar scene

how many times have i seen this before? holiday baking. checking the turkey. bustling in my grammy's kitchen. tirelessly working to feed the family. i like to help her, but mostly i like to watch her. she makes me tired though. she never stops. even each year, she seems to get busier. her hands always working, and loving her family. up and working before the whole house is up, and still working at night after little one's have fallen asleep.



and i loved the apron she wore this christmas day. i wanted to snatch it from her, but she looked too adorable in it.

breakfast

our first stop on our christmas roadtrip was north carolina to see andy's uncle. they have a dog, jazzy. zaiah become very infatuated with her. she has a love/hate relationship with dogs. she chases them, but when they come toward her she immediately squeals and runs away. but goes back for more. it's pretty funny.

by the morning she had become friends with jazzy. so much so, she even shared her cherios.
one for you .... one for me.

before we left

the kids were driving! me! crazy! i was packing while andy was at work (dec 23). we were leaving for NC when andy came home for lunch.

really, the kids were breathing on me non-stop. i get it, they were excited for the trip and christmas, etc etc etc. but .... please, please go play by yourselves for 15 minutes! i begged. we were very grumpy at each other. then i walked into my room to find this and it made me smile.


apparently she found my underwear drawer. and decided to make a necklace out of about a dozen of them and dance around my room. sometimes little moments like these happen at just the right time. know what i mean?

holiday re-cap

we're back. we have a dying decorated tree in our living room. we're all recovering from being sick. and this is where i spent most of our vacation in florida:


the kids and andy had their turn too, don't worry. they, with a stomach bug. me, with pneumonia. but we did have some moments of these:



the weather was gorgeous: 70-80 and sunny all week. we're piled high in mess here, trying to get back into health and some sort of routine. and to detox the kiddos of all the sugar they've had. i'll post holiday happenings over the next few days.

hope your new year is starting off healthy and happy!