This was my very own bike when I was young. It's so amazing to see one of my own kids ride it. We had such a great time at the grandparents and can't wait to see them again! We have no opportunity to bike ride as of late....even my hubby is taking the bus or walking to campus. He says he really enjoys the walk through all the snow. I have some awesome pics of the snow and icicles to upload soon. I better go to bed as I am fighting off a cold....and THE cold. Would love to be in Florida now.

BLUE

J celebrated his nameday on the 17th because it was the feast of St. Anthony the Great. We have a tradition of letting the honored celebrant choose what will be made for dinner and J requested 'blue' food. It was a bit hard to find blue pizza, but as you can see here we did make blue jello and we had blue moon ice cream with blueberries on top after our cheese pizza and freshly steamed green beans. ( all his request) I can't believe how big our kids our getting. The two older ones can be so helpful at times, yet lately we have had quite a bit of sibling mayhem as well. I am learning even better when to ask them to work it out between themselves and when to intervene before anyone gets hurt. E is finally back into the routine of school, C got her first tooth, and it's been snowing everyday here! The snow only accumulates a small amount and mostly melts on the streets so driving is not bad. I should take a picture to show you all. I love the big fluffy flakes that fall here all the time. I am getting used to the cold I think....even though I would much rather live in Florida or California. We played in the snow one day, but really it's been too cold to be out that long. I think we would all be J's favorite color.....BLUE!

BOO!

J had his name day yesterday. More details to come.....

Don't you just love the box as a toy. Today we had about 3 inches of snow (I didn't look it up to see the official amount, but that's what it looked like) so we got out the new sled the kids got at Christmas from Mommom and Poppop. This was our first big snow and J was still less than thrilled to be out in the cold. I waited till C was napping and buddled myself and the kiddos up to romp in the snow a bit. E loved it and J was okay for 20 minutes or so, but the first one to come inside.

We also took the car into the shop today (Daddy actually took it in and rode his bike home...his hands were painfully cold when he got home). Our check engine light had come on Sunday after church. It turned out to be an oxygen sensor. Not cheap, but not thousands either. I have decided that I would really like to go to Vo-tech someday. I love to know how things work and it would be so practical to learn the mechanics of cars. Can you see me in a jumpsuit with oil and grease all over my hands? Well, time will tell.

Christmas was a wonderful time of worshipping at our home church and then traveling to see many of you. I hope we can get to see more of our friends and family in future trips back to KS. We enjoyed putting up a real tree this year and the kids had fun decorating it. Daddy made cookies with the kids a few days before Christmas and then put them on the tree as decoration. The kids got to pick one to eat on Christmas Eve. J was also admiring the candy canes every chance he got and broke many in the process of asking if he could eat them. Unfortunately he only wanted to eat the unbroken ones and therefore would keep getting more down. C was a bit hesitant to touch the tree, but really studied it with her eyes. E was really excited about putting presents under the tree, even if she already knew what was in the box. I enjoyed the holiday season, but am glad to have our living room back to normal....well, almost back to normal. There is a doll house now in the place where our tree stood.

Don't you wish we could all just lay down and rest like this sweet boy?

I actually did take a short nap today, but was awakened by the scritch-scratching of our resident squirrel. YES, that is true. The construction site manager of the house next door (the one who also oversaw the refinishing of our home) finally saw the tiny pipsqueak of a red squirrel on our roof and where he dashed into our house. I am not insane.....like some thought I was! There really is a squirrel in our walls! So now the trick is watching for a time when the little guy goes out for a walk and then the man who sided our house will come and close up the spot where he is getting in. This will be some trick! But for now, we have caught most of the mice and are just waiting for the squirrel to be outsmarted.