Getting Pulled Now . . .

Serious Fun. Serious Cold.

Taxi!

10 on 2sday

10. Who's addicted to spray painting things red? Me!!!!!

9. I got into the shower last night, and Grace had written "love you mommy" in shaving cream. How do they even think of this stuff? Awesome, though.

8. Missy took the girls on Sunday and spent the day making Christmas cookies. Grace has a picture of the cookies on her phone as the screen saver. I'd say that means she had a good time :)

7. Josie had a breakdown this morning. She wanted to wear her brown skirt and purple shirt. It was 11 out this morning. So after a big wrestling match, I got her clothes on. And then, I swear to you, she rolled up the legs of her pants, way up above her knees. She won in the end, I guess.

6. I've been using the griddle. Daily. I griddle things that were never meant to be griddled. I'm not sure that is a word. But I don't even care. That's how crazy bad I am when it come to the griddle.

5. Pony died. Faith asked me if I thought she died because she didn't play with her enough. Perhaps the twins played with her too much. It's hard to say. Pony is buried in the front yard. Faith asked what animals eat fish. "In the front yard?" "Yeah." "I don't know what a natural predator of a dead fish in the front yard would be."

4. I went to Half Price Books and bought them out of Mercer Meyer books. Jennie loves them. Last night she went upstairs and brought down as many as she could carry in her arms. I read them all to them. I love the books, too.

3. Josie uses a recipe book as her song book when she's listening to music. It's adorable.

2. I think the kids are scared of Santa in Atlantic because they believe it is Santa. That's a good, good thing.

1. So thankful to be here now, instead of where I was a year ago.

Breaking Bread

The best margaritas to ever come out of the Redwood were this glorious night.

Riding the Horsies

I can't remember a colder Christmas in Atlantic. I think we were all frozen solid by the end of the ride, but Christmas songs were still being sung :) Love this.

I Ain't Scared of Santa . . . More Like Terrified

As recently as last year, Faith was so scared of Santa. So it may be another four years before I'll the twins to actually sit on Santa's lap. I love the picture of Josie trowing her body away from him when I asked if she wanted to tell Santa what she wanted. My favorite part was Faith giving Santa her page-long letter. She may not totally believe, but just in case, she was going to cover her bases.

Christmas in Atlantic . . . Prepare Yourself!

Josie's Picture of Eddie

Josie handed this to me this morning.

"Oh, Honey it's beautiful! Who is this?"

"Eddie."

I was going to guess Frankenstein.

The Ones That Melt My Heart

When I looked at this set of pictures, I struck me how timeless they are. This was us doing the same thing 30 years ago. And I wondered who would be in the pictures 30 years from now. Mark and Missy's grandkids? Jessie's and Eddie's boy chasing after a grand baby of Joni's? It's fun to think about, although hard to imagine. But for now I will just cherish the images of my babies, being played with by their Aunt and Uncle. On the bales that resulted in Mark's first year of farming the land. What a sweet story. What a sweet day. What a sweet moment.