Part one: Catching up.
The holiday's were a blur.
Ryan was in his first Christmas play - He was Joseph. Can't help but beam with pride the first time you see your child on stage performing. He would search for eye contact from family and yell, "HI MOM! HI DAD! HI PAPA! HI KAFFRIN!" Papa and Grandma Soon drove nearly 2 hours just to see him perform. Korryn joined us and laughed along with us at all the preschoolers antics. Just plain awesome.
Woodland Park Zoo Lights were next.
That entire day, up until dusk it was a DOWNPOUR. Yes, it does rain a lot here. But this was serious rain. We went anyway and got a bit wet, but not terribly.
The lights were fun. Not exceptional, but fun. It was one of many nights the kids would be out past bedtime. That is walking on thin ice, mood wise. Wow oh wow, did we have some behavior I would prefer to never see again following the lack of sleep.
Then:
Annual sugar cookie baking at Korryn's. It gets better and better as the kids get older.
Now Christmas:
Christmas Eve at my parents. Giggling during grace before dinner occurred yet again. Totally a tradition and not intentional!
More fun and a sick kiddo. Ryan got a brief respiratory illness. Passed the viral love onto Kathryn. She got it much worse - croupy, barky, congested.
Christmas Eve night, upon returning home from my parents Kathryn was so barky/wheezy we stood out in the cool night air for 15 minutes to calm her breathing down. It worked. Santa arrived, more fun was had.
By 11 am, Christmas morning we were on the road to Paul's parents.
More family fun time and again a sick kiddo. Kathryn tells me in the midst of opening presents, "I need a nap, Mama." Hmmm, odd. Out of character. She had a 104 fever. :-(
A nap, some Ibuprofen and a few hours later, she rallied and that was pretty much it for the illness. We stayed the night with his parents, back home the next day.
This is where I start to crave a normal, routine, boring day!
This picture is one of my favorites.
Must admit -I bribed with Christmas candy to get them to hold still and hug each other.
Papa and his grand kids. Grandma in the back.
Ryan's most cherished gift this year - a scooter
Kathryn, sleeping off her 104 fever
On to the slowing down phase.
New Year's Eve spent at home, with the family doing all of nothing.
The next weekend was cabin weekend with my family. I truly hope we can make this a tradition. Time to relax and enjoy my sisters, niece and nephew is priceless. Because of the snow and other obligations, Mom and Dad only made it up for a few hours.
Speaking of snow, it was AMAZING! Best snow I have seen there in years. So soft and powdery, almost could not sled. But we did. Will never forget the epic Kelsey vs Krista take down in the snow. Ambushed really. : ) and awesome.
My Joey girl. Loving every minute of the snow.
Lastly: Expanding Horizons.
In little ways really. I have made a promise to myself that I will find new things for the kids and I to do on these long winter afternoons. My gut instinct is to stay home and hibernate. Ya... not conducive to having a 3 year old and 5 year old. First thing on the agenda: go to the library. We live 2 blocks from a branch and we had never gone. We are now the proud owner of a library card and have a stack of borrowed library books. For the first time in my life I a) read a Superman book and b) started the first chapter book I plan to read with Ryan one chapter a night (and Kathryn when older). He picked Superman.
Here's hoping winter flies by as fast as summer did.
