Happy New Year!

Ok, so I can't even keep up with life, let alone a blog. But for those of you who still come periodically to see if we have anything new up, here is our latest update...

Christmas has come and gone, and was a fairly adventurous week. 3 days before Christmas, Anika slid off the road in a snow storm. Luckily, Anika was the only one in the car, and it was the Honda and not the Van. Both front tires were blown out from jumping the curb. There was a big dent in the back driver side door, and the window was broken from sliding over the speed limit sign, and there was a big hole in the back bumper and tail lights from hitting the fire hydrant. The good news is that Ani wasn't hurt, no cops ever showed up, and there were several kind passers-by who stopped to help. (One gave Ani a ride home, and one had a huge truck and tow-rope that pulled us out of the snow bank and back onto the road...) The car is in the shop, and hopefully being fixed today!

Our next adventure came Tues, just 2 days before Christmas when Chloe was climbing on the chairs and fell. She hit the back of her head on one of them and split it open; there was blood everywhere! We got her to the doctor where they had to clean her and pick through the matted clump of blood and hair to find the cut (about 3/4 inch long) and give her 2 staples. Needless to say, she was not happy. The doctor and nurse commented on 2 things....how much hair she had, and how strong she was...

In spite of our mini-dramas leading up to Christmas, Christmas Eve and Christmas day were very nice. We enjoyed Christmas eve at Anika's Family's house. We made a nice turkey dinner and enjoyed each other's company singing Christmas songs, and watching a nativity dvd, and gorging ourselves on treats and conversation... Christmas day we started out at Jeff's Family's house. We opened some presents with the kids in the garage before we opened presents with the rest of the family and had the traditional Christmas breakfast. The rest of the Day we enjoyed playing with new toys and games and visiting more with both the Davis's and the Darley's. Eventually we made it home where we have been busy recovering from the holidays.

Recovering has taken the form of trying to get organized, get the house clean, and laundry done (so we have something to wear since we are out of new clothes and old!) We have also been setting goals for the new year, most of which have to do with being more healthy than we are at the moment, and training our children to be better behaved.

That being said, here are our individual updates:

Grant: is now 2 months old, and growing fast! He has a check up in 2 days, and I will try to remember to post his new stats... He is much more alert and interactive these days. He can even get some of the little toys on the little wiggle worm gym he got for christmas. He loves to see people and hear them talk to him. He even smiles, laughs, and coos back!

Chloe : is 2 1/2 and full of energy. She is as busy as ever, and just loves Grant (which is probably why he has a nasty cold!) She Has a horrible cold at the moment, which we hope goes away soon because until it does, no uncovered food or binki is safe. Chloe is a tease and a great pretender. She loves to do what her sisters do (which is mostly pretend play...) and make messes. Sometimes I forget she is only 2 because she talks and acts older. It is funny to hear her say "Actually, mom, I'm not done..." What 2 year old says words like "actually"?

Ellie: is our poor middle child. She is 4 and sandwiched in between 2 very intense sisters. We are trying to convince her that she doesn't have to be a brat and throw tantrums to get attention. It hasn't worked yet, but we are still hoping... She is very social and always wants to be with people ... playing pretend, dress up, tea party, computer games, it doesn't matter as long as someone will play with her... She can be very sweet and tender hearted when she wants to be.

Shaylee: has been loving kindergarten, and it has been amazing to watch her grow into a school aged child. She likes doing things like bead bracelets, coloring and drawing (she is very good!), and reading. She also likes to be the boss and we sometimes have to remind her that she is not the mom.

Anika: is the mom, though sometimes she wishes mom's got days off... mostly she has been trying to keep up with Primary at church, kids, laundry and dishes at home, and all the holiday stuff in between. She has enjoyed visiting with her sister Celia who is visiting from Kansas, and Alicia when she gets to come up from Loa. Hobbies that she would enjoy if she had time are sewing, making bows, and reading.

Jeff: has enjoyed having a lot of time off for the holidays. He has gotten to play games with his family, and have fun with the kids. He actually did all the christmas shopping and wrapping for our family, including presents for himself! He did a great job, too! We may just let him do this every year! Jeff has also enjoyed watching his brothers play the AC DC track pack for the Rock band game, they are actually very good and fun to watch!

That is all I have time to post at the moment since it is time to make dinner, feed the baby, rotate the laundry, and tidy the house... I'll try not to be so delinquent in the future!