The holidays are officially over! We're starting school again this week after a long break and two weeks visiting my family in Illinois. I've got mountains of pictures to go through and we've started to tackle the "storage" in our office in the hopes of moving the girls in there soon, so things are busy around here.
1. We had a lovely Christmas and New Year's celebration this year. No one went to the hospital!
2. Second Son has started talking a little. He says "night night" quite clearly and will slyly repeat both "mama" and "dada" but refuses to actually call us by them. (I think he knows exactly what they mean.)
3. I received what I wanted most for Christmas, a lovely icon of St. Athanasius. I think he now must be the patron saint of our family.
4. Kansas Dad received Agricola from my parents and we've been enjoying it. We can only play when the little ones are sleeping, but it promises to be a worthy game for two people (which sadly, The Settlers of Catan is not).
5. I had a lovely dinner with one of my dearest friends. She even built a fire in her new fireplace for us!
6. We found a faster route to my parents house, making the drive in only 10 hours (including stops!) on the way there.
7. Kansas Dad and I feasted at June with my brother and his wife (whose brother is the owner and chef). We can only afford to go once every two years, but it's worth every penny. Highly recommended. (The company was good, too.)
8. Did I mention we had a lovely Christmas? We celebrated with Kansas Dad's parents a little early and then drove to Illinois to spend Christmas Day with my parents, my brother and his family, my sister and her family and my youngest sister. Everyone stayed for days and we still had a bit of time with just us and my parents. First Daughter and I also went along to watch my youngest sister's basketball game. My kids adore their cousins! I could write more and more about our trip, but I really need to start thinking about our school this week.
