Sledding, snowman, ice skating and more!

Olivia and John had the best time last week sledding on the hill behind Centerburg Elementary School (right behind our house). The hill goes from the playground down to the football field. They were able to get that sled to go half way across the field! Grace went down a couple times too. She actually travelled under the other two on the sled and loved ever second of it.

Our first snowman this winter! Notice the four arms and two stick feet. And thank you Papa Humphrey for the perfect hat.

John jammin' in his friend Christian's room last weekend. I know the picture doesn't really fit here, but I thought it was hillarious.

We took the kids ice skating last weekend. Look at her little tiny skates!

Ice Skating at The Chiller in Columbus last weekend.

I think the look on my face says it all.

Dave, John, Aimee and friend Victoria as we moved slowly along the wall together.

Grace surprised us by wanting to skate too. They actually had size 7 skates!

John made it around the rink twice and was satisfied to say that he had learned to ice skate.

I just had a conversation, or rather listened to John have a conversation with me as he lay in bed trying to avoid the final "good night."

"Mommy can we play a game tomorrow? Not a game for little kids. A game for grown-ups. Well, big people...you know grown-ups and 4-year-olds-NOT -1-year-olds. (An obvious stab at his sister.) I know, I know! We could get out all those little things and play with them in the ....oh, no, wait. That will never work. We don't have a big enough tube. Unless...I know! We could use that one, you know that tube I'm thinkin' of. The one we played it with last time. Yeah, that will work. But we don't want Gracie to play with us because she might swallow the little pieces and then she would puke. (Who taught him that word?) And we love her and we don't want her to puke. So mommy can you make sure she doesn't play. Maybe we just wait till she's in bed. I love you mommy! (Great big hug.) Good night mommy."

How does he ever fall asleep this wound up all the time? This entire talk he gave with me just sitting on his bed, smiling at him. I have no idea what game he's talking about, but it seems he wants some one-on-one time with mom.

"This is where we are right now."

My handsome family ready for church. I love this picture!

Here are some pics of the kids in their Christmas outfits (thank you Nana Streby). Our tree this year was very much designed by the kids. We decided not to put ornaments on until Christmas Eve to avoid the obvious issues an almost-2-year-old has with leaving a decorated tree alone. Even without the ormanents the tree was quite flashy. John asked for multi-color lights (Dave and I much prefer white). There were 700 small multi-colored lights plus one strand of much larger LED lights from a wreath we had outside last year. We also put up one large strand of red, green and yellow bubble lights I inherited from my dad because mom was tired of all the color and motion on her tree I'm sure. Actually I love these and the memories they bring back. Another favorite of mine (maybe I'm the cause of this wild tree after all) is the disco style star that graces the top of our tree. I remember this gold frame, rotating shimmer of light on every wall it can reach from my grandparent's trees. Any one of these elements would be beautiful by itself, but together we found they made the tree a bit over the top. The kids, of course, loved it. Dave and I just kept reminding ourselves that "this is where we are right now." Someday I will again have a beautiful white light tree with coordinating and complimentary ornaments. But for now I'm really enjoying hanging construction paper sunday school ornaments at kid level and sharing my memories with the kids as I hang ornaments we've had for years on the upper two feet of branches.