b.i.f. twenty-seven

How can you not love a Christmas celebration that includes the leg lamp from A Christmas Story?

Meredith and Eden

Meredith LOVED her password journal

Olivia refused to let me take a picture of her and her doll...I snuck one from behind.

cousins!!

b.i.f. twenty-six

The dinosaur has left the building.

Josh and I haven't ever been "techie" people.  Seriously, between the two of us, I think we had one old television when we got married (even older than the one in the picture!).  Nothing else.  At the time, someone gave us an old VCR, and we used some wedding money to purchase a surround sound system which served us well until a few months ago (it will be replaced in the near future).

Josh has been itching to get a flat screen for several years, but he just couldn't bring himself to spend the money. The dinosaur was beginning to act up to the point where we had to smack it on the side to make Tinker Bell show up correctly.  We're classy like that.  It was definitely time to make the transition to the flat screen, and it has been a good one.  We're never turning back...good riddance.

b.i.f. twenty-five

She's such a little snuggle bug.

I used a version of this picture on my computer screen as the wallpaper.  Olivia was so excited when she saw it.  I said, "Who is in that picture?"  She said, "Me!!!...and Daddy!!!...and Pippy!!!"  We can't forget Pip. :)

b.i.f. twenty-four

We loved visiting with our former neighbor, Kay, before she went to Florida for the winter. She's such a sweet lady and always brings goodies and craft supplies for the girls.

lego mania

There are a few children in this house that absolutely love Legos.  This is Amelia before Christmas.  I think we tripled our Lego collection during the Christmas holiday.  As we were picking them up the other day, I was making a prediction that I'll still be finding itty-bitty Lego pieces when Olivia is in college.

b.i.f. twenty-three

Moose antlers are pretty big around here right now.

a new year

We're a full twenty-two days into 2014...over an entire month since I was here last.  As I was looking through my photos to see what I could post, I realized that I haven't even touched my camera since 2013.  I put my camera on the kitchen counter, and I'm vowing to take some pictures of life tomorrow!  Until I get those loaded and blogged, I'm going to post some pictures of our Christmas happenings as well as some randomness.

As I've said before, I have a love/hate relationship with my computer.  It is obviously as practical as things come these days, and I use it daily...sometimes hourly.  But there are times that I just want to shut it off and play games with my kiddos...all day.

This is actually what I did over Christmas break.  The girls and I played games, games, and more games!  It was the Christmas of games (Ticket to Ride, Catan Junior, Sequence, Busytown, The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game).  It makes me almost giddy to finally play full-fledged thinking games with the girls.  I've logged many looong hours playing Candyland, Go Fish, Old Maid, and Chutes & Ladders to get to this point. Well worth the wait, but I never want to play Candyland again.  Actually, I never want to play Chutes & Ladders again...that's the one that I really don't like. So, do yourself a favor, parents, and request the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game in place of Candyland and/or Chutes & Ladders. You can thank me later.

After Christmas break, I stocked the shelves with groceries, and we hunkered down for the big snow storm. The girls and I didn't leave the house for 9 days straight.  I probably haven't been in one location for 9 days straight since I was in the womb. Seriously, I never even stayed home that long after having a baby! Typically, I get cabin fever after a few days, but I didn't. I actually loved it. I mean I really, really loved it. I said to Josh, "I think I've just been converted into a homebody." The house was clean (very clean), dinner was on time, and Josh and I enjoyed our annual viewing of the Borne movies. I could get used to it...well, at least until spring.