I think it's here....

I think my whole house has been encapsulated by some mutant germ. The only one that appears to be unaffected is R and that could mean two things-either he is the carrier or he isn't home long enough to be infected.

I just want to open all the windows and air everything out but of course that is not practical when the temperature is below freezing. Lysol and I have struck up a partnership these past few days and I'm hoping it's going to be true to the label and "kill 99.9%" of the germs.

A happier and healthier moment........my dear friend K and her girls celebrating her "29th Birthday" :-)

Happy New Year!

I'm still catching up on my pics so this post will be about New Year's Eve. Happy New Year to all our friends that I haven't had the chance to catch up with! I hope that 2011 brings you happiness, prosperity and finds you in good health and surrounded by good friends!

G had a sleepover on New Year's Eve and so we turned it into a little New Year's Eve party. It was complete with party hats, noisemakers, and sparkling apple pomegranate cider. We held a countdown at 9:00pm--using the microwave timer--had a celebratory toast, and then I collected all the noisemakers so I could put K to bed :-)


The Revelers


The reaction to the cider!

My resolution for this year is not to make any resolutions! This is going to be my year to take everything in moderation, to spend more time with my girls (not just being with them but doing things with them that are more engaging), and to spend a little more time on me (pursue my picture taking hobby with a little more zeal).

Happy New Year Friends!

To Watch the News or Not To Watch the News

That is the question-and at what age should you let your children watch the news? In our house, we don't watch the news because we don't want our kids exposed to that constant stream of negativity. When was the last time you watched the news and they said something positive or showed a human interest story as the main feature? I would venture to say that just about "nada".

So I am a bit ruffled that G came home from school talking about the man who shot all the people in the grocery store. The translation to this is the Jared Loughner/Arizona shooting rampage. This was just tossed into her conversation regarding Martin Luther King and how the white people shot the black people and why did they do that?

Is there a correlation between the two? am I missing something here? We have an educated, articulate individual working towards equality for all races and then we have a deranged, college drop-out who takes a gun to a grocery story parking lot and opens fire on a crowd.

I'm sure there is more to this story and how it became a topic of discussion in my first grader's classroom but for now, I am feeling aggravated that someone else brought that kind of violence into my home. G can become very anxious about discussions like this and we had to spend a long time talking about personal safety and going to the grocery store and why people do bad things to good people, etc. A discussion with her teacher is in order.

Back in the routine..........reluctantly

It's amazing how two weeks can completely reset your internal clock. Before Christmas break I was waking up at 4:30am without the alarm clock and now I'm having to resist the urge to make repeated taps on the snooze button at 5:00am. I feel like such a slacker! Even though it was nice to have both girls home and to enjoy that time together, I obviously need a little structure in my day.

Despite the lack of structure :-)---we had a great holiday! We were able to spread out the gift craziness a little by opening gifts at Grammy's house the week before Christmas, and then going to Mimi's house a couple of day's later, followed by Christmas Eve at Aunt B's and then Christmas Day at Aunt M's. And between all of that we managed to spend enough time at home to do a little baking and to visit Christmastown with our best friends.

We had plenty of time to overeat at each place and to continue the holiday foodfest at home. I can now officially say it was a 4 pounder holiday for me-another reason I need to get back into a routine. I did not walk once during the two weeks of Christmas break and that coupled with the holiday treats was not good for my jeans. When your stretch jeans have quit stretching it's time to take action. So with new shoes on feet, I set off with K in the stroller and we've managed to make it to the mall twice so far this week, with any luck we'll make it at least one more day.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the holiday break.


Christmas at Grammy's house with cousin R


The artist


Christmas at Mimi's house


Christmastown with friends


and we're still talking about this encounter.....


Add a little, eat a little


Soooo serious.....


The finished project


One of Santa's elves on Christmas Eve


and the littlest elf!


Christmas morning


"and these are a few of my favorite things...."


Christmas Day at Aunt M's