Catch Up

So, I've learned a few things during our few months up here. Most recently I have learned that the winter holiday ("winter holiday?" clearly there is too much Thomas the Tank Engine in my life) is a great time to go on vacation. I literally can NOT believe that was only two weeks long. There was a week where I did not leave the house. What?! I think that I can say that is the only time that has happened in my 34 years. So, thankfully, things are on the move again.

Juan is thrilled to be back in school. He started ice skating today and was not thrilled about that. At one point he literally crawled off the ice, sobbing, to get to me. He did calm down and return today though, after much prompting by the many pre-teen class helpers who were very sweet. We'll try some skating together before next week's lesson, and I'm thinking maybe going to a hockey game may get him in the mood, too. We'll see. He told me he prefers the ground because it's softer to fall on and it's hard to argue with that logic.

Mary Lu is spending a lot of time carrying dolls around on her shoulder, patting them and rocking back and forth with them. It's awfully cute, I have to say. She loves Gloworm, I don't think I've mentioned that. It was her first favorite toy, I don't know, at just a few months old, and she loves it still. So, she carries Gloworm around a lot. That and loving on the dogs takes up a lot of her time these days.

I'll put some holiday photos on here. A couple holiday notes--as I mentioned before, Mary Lu does not like Santa. The Santa in this photo was her second this year, and he, for whatever reason, was convinced that he could fool her into liking him. I was not a believer, but was amused to let him try. He had one of his helpers, try dazzling Mary Lu with a sparkly ornament before setting her in his lap. What child this would ever work on I don't know, so it didn't work for her, either. At any rate, it was sweet of him to try. Juan got face painting pencils in his stocking and so he has spent a good deal of time as different animals (mostly drawn on by himself, except the first few). In these photos I think he was supposed to be a tiger, but it looks like I was off my game. Also in here are: Mary Lu reads The New Yorker, Juan's preschool (the local one) holiday celebration--here with his good friend, Mckenzie, and Juan, Mary Lu, and Leafy asleep on our bed Christmas night.

That's all for tonight, mostly I wanted to get a few new photos up. These are from Christmas or more recent than that.