Reid and Emily

The other morning I heard grace hurry down her ladder (she sleeps in a bunk bed) and come running into my room faster than normal. I couldn't imagine what had her in such a hurry so early (7:45 is apparently early in our house) She came to my side of the bed and yelled "mom, mom, it's snowing!!" I was famous in high school for giving "snow hugs" (Tiffany and Carrie, please tell me you remember this!) I loved that first snow so much that I gave hugs to everyone i knew...and even some that i wanted to know (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) So, i think it's pretty cute that Grace shares my affinity for the first snow of the season.

The girls had fun playing in the snow, but I do not exaggerate when I say that the time it took to get them ready was greater than the time they spent outside. They're about as tough as their mom, so as soon as their little fingers were cold they wanted to come in for some hot peppermint tea.

Also, some of you have been asking to see pictures of my kitchen--some before and after shots. Here's the problem...we're not completely done yet, and it's KILLING me! We still need to do the crown molding on the top of the cupbaord, get new end panels, and get our new appliances. So, although we have our new countertops (we went with Tropic Brown) and our backplash done(which we LOVE) i'm not ready to do the full on Before and After post that i fully intend to do someday....Now, that said, because i think the little lady in this picture is adorable in her little bumbo chair (do not attempt this at home, i'm a trained professional in misusing children's equipment), i'm posting this picture, and giving you all a little preview of what we have accomplished so far. Everything in this picture is what i feel like i've spent my last three months working on, from tile to counters to sinks to faucets to Eliza--this is where almost all my non-abby and grace time has been spent. but we're pretty please with how it's turned out so far, esp the Eliza part :)

Click on the picture to get a better view of our window ledge. I was really iffy on doing it this way, but i'm glad that i got strong-armed into it, cause i like the way it turned out

And here are some more pictures of what my kids were doing while i was neglecting them so i could research the best style of sink to get, which style of backsplash we were going to go with, etc:

I swear i did not pose this picture. I guess they've just had lots of time practicing this while watching Elmo's world every morning--most productive 20 minutes of my day!!!

And on the occassion that I do give Eliza a bottle, this is how the poor girl has to drink it--propped up by blankets on her carseat.


And here's one of my two babysitters. Abby loves holding Eliza for about 25 seconds, and then she just drops her...which is exactly what you're seeing happen in this picture :)