A Cozy Bath

Peter was very sure that his blankie was an important part of this complete bath . . .

Can't get much better than this

1. Horizontal position

2. Two cuddly munchkins

3. A book about construction vehicles

Daddy's Home!

The announcement that "Daddy's home" is met with squeals and frantic feet competing to be first to the door to greet him. And here's a few pretty typical pictures of his first few minutes at home . . .

Our Daddy is the best!

Snow flurries!

We had snow flurries Sunday morning . . . the kids were definitely excited! We're supposed to get 1-3 inches tonight . . .

And I had fun with Hannah's hair, too! :o)

Flying High Again

Late Saturday afternoon we braved the cold so we could watch Daddy fly his plane again! :o)

Definitely a blast!

Random Pics

The last few days have been rather eclectic, so here's just a glimpse of the various activities with which we've occupied ourselves . . .

Hannah and Mommy made cookies and such on Saturday . . .

While Daddy and Peter worked on the new bookshelf for Hannah and Peter's bedroom.


And then our munchkins have simply been keeping busy . . .

Brrrrr!

It's COLD! Night temps are in the teens and daytime temps (especially early morning and late evening) are in the twenties! We "celebrated" by buying Peter his own set of hat and gloves. (He's been wearing a mismatched pair of hand-me-downs prior to this.)

And yes, I am very thankful to be living in a place where it's cold when the thermometer is under 30! My heart goes out to those of you who are living where that's a warm temperature for this time of year.

A Bit of Color

Three of my six violets are in full bloom right now! :o)

I love the touch of color they add to our living room! Just thought I'd share . . .

"Let's try it again"

We've been working with Hannah to help her learn to immediately say "thank you" (without prompting) when someone gives her a compliment. Our efforts to that end have turned into a rather fun game of exchanging compliments at random times throughout the day. The following conversation just took place this evening . . .

"I like your jammies, Mommy."

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome." (very brief pause) " . . . now say it to me."

"I like your jammies, too, Hannah."

"No, my flowers."

"Your flowers are very pretty."

"No, the flowers on my jammies."

"Yes, on your jammies."

(Very small sigh.) "Let's try it again." (Said with the best teacher voice that's ever come from behind the lecturn. Mommy bursts out into hysterical laughter. Hannah really doesn't understand why Mommy is laughing, but since laughter is infectious, she laughs, too.)

"I like the flowers on your jammies, Hannah."

BRIGHT smile. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome." (Phew! Glad I got it right!) :o)

The fun thing about our game in general is that her compliments are completely sincere--whether it's about our hair or face or outfit or dinner or whatever, she's learned to genuinely express appreciation for special things about other people. And in the process, she's learning to say thank you rather than duck her head or ignore others' compliments. Ah, the joys of parenting! :o)

Great Grandpa LeClair

We would all greatly appreciate your prayers for Jenny's Grandpa LeClair. He had a heart attack this morning. Praise the Lord, Grandma heard him call for help, and the ambulance was able to get him to the hospital very quickly. The Lord even arranged for the heart surgeon to be there on a day when he usually isn't, and Grandpa was able to have stints put in within 45 minutes of arriving at the hospital. We are very thankful he is doing much better this evening, but please do pray for him as he recovers. We are so glad we were able to visit with them over Christmas!

We love you, Grandpa, and we'll be praying for you!

A Gnarly Loaf

Not every breadmaker loaf comes out looking beautiful . . .



And no, it does not taste better than it looks. Thankfully our first attempt turned out well, so there is hope for the machine. Really not sure what happened this time. (Yes, I added all of the ingredients and in the right order.)

Flying High

While Mommy and Hannah ran a couple errands this evening, Daddy and Peter went over to the track to try out Daddy's Christmas gift from Grandpa and Uncle Bryan. Peter really wasn't impressed on the ride over:

He was very excited, however, when he saw the contents of the big grey box. :o)

His squeaks of surprise and delight were lots of fun for Chris as he flew his new airplane for the first time. No pics of it in the air since you can't fly and photograph at the same time. :o)