Happy Holidays!

Where have we been…hibernating!  This is unofficially the term we like to use for the week that follows Christmas and takes us into the new year.  We have been catching up on sleep (if that’s even possible) and eating all sorts of yummy foods that can be found this time of year.

(Check out the shoes, these are Sophie’s but Lucy loves to wear everyone else's shoes.  Notice how she wears one facing forward and one facing backward.  She does this 100% of the time, so silly that one! )

It’s been a while since I last wrote,  sorry to leave you all hanging.  When I last posted Lucy was sick with some sort nasty green gooey infection that was overtaking her head, she is doing so much better now.  In fact she was doing so much better several days before Christmas, thank God for antibiotics, which gave us that much more to celebrate this season.  My parents, grandparents, and aunt and uncle drove over the river (some over the Susquehanna river twice;) and through the woods to our house for Christmas.   We had a memorable and very quick visit with my family.  Why does time always have to fly by when you are having fun?  The kids were full of excitement and energy on Christmas morning in spite of waking at 5:00am.  It’s that energy that makes the holiday!

Sophie came running down the stairs Christmas morning and yelled out after looking at all the presents under the tree “I guess I’m NOT on the naughty list!”,  kids say the funniest things!  Confession, Drew and I may have abused the  “remember Santa is watching you” line just a little this season.   Santa was very kind to all of us, leaving so many fun gifts for all to enjoy and lots of wrapping paper for Lucy to rip.  Every year for Christmas I tell the kids to ask Santa to give Mommy a nap for Christmas, this year was no exception.  I was able to sneak away for an hour and laid my head down on my pillow for a much needed rest.  Isn’t that what Santa does when he returns home Christmas day?

(Megan and Sophie were giving a very special doll house for Christmas.  The house was made by my grandparents who gave it to my sister and me when we were seven and eight.)

The day after Christmas everyone left to go home and it was just the six of us.  We were sad to see everyone leave, but looked forward to spending time together as a family of six.  Our plans for our week together included playing with all of the new treasures that Santa delivered, napping, having some pajama days, baking cookies,  painting our family room, painting the girls room pink of course,  painting Jack’s room orange his favorite color, getting caught up on way too many little things, NO medical appointments, reading, watching movies, playing games,  having Wii fit competitions  (so much fun:), lots of funny discussions about New Years resolutions and why people make them,  and stopping to take the time to observe and enjoy Christmas through the eyes of our babes!

We all rang in the New Year at 10:00 pm on New Year’s eve. I believe that this would be the first time we were ever early for anything this year, or should I say last year?  We sipped sparkling cider, snacked on yummy hour devours, took a bubble bath, and giggled until our sides hurt so badly we had to stop.  Last year was a memorable year for our family in so many ways, so much has changed in our lives that I could write only about that topic and it would probably take me the next year to describe.  We are looking forward to what the new year has in store for us, yet we are hesitant to plan too far into the future.  Drew and I have resolved to take each and every day as they come making the most of the every day.  This is so much easier to say than do.

On January 4th our first born and only son turned nine!  Wow!  I remember every detail of  the day he was born like it was just yesterday.  Life’s most memorable moments are never forgotten!  Jack was the first to make us a Mom and Dad, he makes us so proud.  The past nine years have gone by faster than any other nine years in our lives.  This year he is into skateboards, Pokemon cards, video games, origami, books, soccer, science, and anything “techy” or “gadgety”.  It’s scary how much he knows and how much I need to learn.  We look forward to living life with a nine year old, and a six year old, and a four year old, and a almost two year old.