Snowday

We most certainly did not expect to see the white stuff here. We've had some flurries in the past month or so, but even those were shockers to the natives. We ended up yesterday with actual accumulation. Probably not even an inch, but we'll count it. The pictures are from towards the end of the day when much had melted.

Here's Adam, hitting the babies with snowballs.

Avery, accepting the assault like a trooper.

Gracen, getting back at him.

The babies, laid out in their pathetic glory, have been superstars considering we've had a week of fevers, ranging from 101.6-104.6. As fun as the snow is, I'm ready for spring to wipe out the flu, and stomach bugs, and colds, and grossness.

I will never be a photographer. See?

This post was supposed to have been blogged well over a week ago. I forgot to finish. Shocking. I've been distracted with a household of FLU. Pardon me while I lose my mind and dose the family on another round of Motrin.

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I took Gracen to her first Princess birthday party Saturday. While we were there, Adam and Avery went on a hike. We're going to try and make individual dates with our children a priority. It's good for everyone. Friday, I realized what a slack mother I was, as I had never bought my child actual dress up clothes other than second hand Halloween costumes. We dress up, but we use our playsilks. They work great for creativity, but for a princess party, one needs a genuine costume, so I'm told. We ended up going as Belle because the Cinderella dresses were sold out. She was gorgeous and glamorous and so very excited...

...Until she saw Cinderella, the beautiful lady who was there with games and gifts and party fun. No, my child, didn't like the princess. She clung to me, buried her face in my chest, refused to make eye contact with anyone or anything except the strawberries and donut holes, a treat I've never introduced but clearly should have. By the final 20 minutes, she came out of her shell and played with the boys in the back room who were also ignoring Cinderella.

She's been planning out her birthday party since. When I asked her what she'd like to have for a party, she said, "I fink maybe Cinderella can come over."

I bent down to touch my toes and while I was there...

January Disappeared.

Somehow, January seems to be over. I feel like I've been acutely engaged in my life these days, so I'm not sure how I missed it, but there it is/was. It was a pretty grand month.

I would like to formally report that I have kicked my New Year's Resolution's boo-tay. After a decade of insomnia and/or drug induced sleep, I am now sleeping a solid eight hours a night. I know. Weird. We really have Dr. Wu and his needles and Chinese herbs to thank for this. I started acupuncture New Year's Eve, and within a week and a half was sleeping like a normal person. It's odd. I get sleepy, I lie down, and I fall asleep within a couple of minutes. I know this doesn't sound like much, but it's blowing my mind!!

I've also been on a big Yoga kick, though Bikram this time, rather than my usual Ashtanga style. Basic gist: 105 degrees, 50% humidity, 90 minutes, lots of people in very little clothing. It doesn't smell pretty, but it makes me feel like a superstar. I'll expand on this later. I can't afford to go as much as I like, but I'm on a wait list for their work study program: 2 hours of studio cleaning=unlimited yoga. I probably have to wait for the UT students to go home for the summer in order to get a spot, though I'm hoping some get overly stressed out with their studies and leave sooner.

These little monkeys are awesome. Avery is FINALLY starting to repeat everything we say. She's been pretty slow with her speech until the past week or two and now doesn't shut up. Gracen doesn't either, so things are pretty loud around here. When we put them to bed, we hear Gracen going through Avery's linguistic repertoire and making her say all of her words, which Ave obliges. It's hilarious. Our favorite words at the moment are onion and Elmo.

I've missed you!!

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A Happy Salad

Spring mix

Dried cranberries

"Cutie" tangerines

Unsweetened coconut

Avocado

Roasted pumpkin Seeds

Parmesan

Poppy seed Dressing