Christmas Sledding

As we did for so many snowy Christmases in Kalamazoo with the van Blaricom cousins (on Jana's side), we took Maren sledding briefly today. In fact, it's the same toboggan from about 30 years ago that we would take flying over logs in the side yard trying to go "for the record" in distance. Grandpa and Uncle Jay ventured out first. Mommy went second and ended up in some branches in the marsh (never have been good at steering) and Maren and Mommy and Daddy had one successful trip before Maren declared "all done."

S is for Snow

I just checked our weatherman's blog...Grand Rapids has had 32 inches of snow in the month of December! It is bitter cold today and John has had to work this weekend -he got stuck in the driveway yesterday trying to leave and I wasn't sure he would make it out this morning, but he did. We had 10 inches of snow on Friday and not sure how much Saturday night to this afternoon.

Thankfully, our neighbor is now retired and he has been snow blowing our shared driveway. Of course...we still need to be able to get in and out of our doors (see screen door pic - there is a step threre somewhere) and have clear side walks. Still, it's been helpful in lousy conditions.

Here are a few pics of our shovelers. Maren prefers to shovel in reverse, taking snow off of the "grass" area and putting it back on the sidewalk.

T is for Tea

Last Friday was Grandma Bunny's annual tea party. We were so busy refilling plates and washing cups and trying to keep Maren from eating her weight in cookies that we took no good pictures. The horror! 114 ladies in Talbots Christmas sweaters is a visual that needs to be captured. Here is one bad image from my cell phone - the only clear thing is Bunny's head just over Maren's, shown with one of her 8 or so cookies. At one point I said to her "No more cookies!" and she said "I'm not eating cookies, I'm eating mints!!," which she was.



We were tickled to have Cousin Luke visiting from Florida, who was traveling for his University of Central Florida admissions job. We put him to work frosting cookies, taking coats and washing dishes. At one point I said "Luke, you're sweating." He said "How could I not be? Nothing you have told me about this in 25 years has prepared me for it."

Maren's other quote of the weekend was "I want to have shiny hair like Cousin Luke." Made us laugh and she also asked all of us if we would like to have shiny hair, too.

Bouncing and Jumping

This fits for this year...these pictures are from a month ago. They were taken by our friend Brenda Hondorp, a talented photographer who is able to capture a quickly moving toddler. We attended an open gym night at a gymnastics/trampoline facility a little south of Grand Rapids. Maren was able to burn off a bit of energy on a cold November night. We all enjoyed it and plan to spend more time there burning off steam this winter.

A Brain Freeze

Our brains our starting to freeze. We already have ten inches of snow on the ground, then had freezing rain yesterday and more snow.

On Saturday we had a mini-blizzard. It made my brain freeze. So much so that, it made complete sense to drive to Walgreen's to grab a few essentials, instead of the grocery store across the street.

It seemed completely logical to buy Maren a toothbrush that plays Jingle Bells for two solid minutes...and has no off switch...and the singers only sing one verse of the song...for two minutes...to encourage children to brush for that long...and there is no off switch...and she wants to play with it ALL THE TIME.

On the plus side, her teeth glisten. Her mother's brain, however, is still frozen.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the day, from this morning… “This song is not for mamas to sing, only little girls,” said Maren Gregg in response to my singing along with one of her kid CDs in the car.

Many opinions

Maren has many opinions (shocking, I know). Last night I stopped at the library to pick up a few books for myself and grabbed a Santa Sing-a-Long DVD for her, thinking it would be a fun diversion from the sickness.

I showed it to her saying "Look, Punkin, Santa has a show!" She screamed and opened the case to see not one, but TWO DVDs. Oh joy! Then...she looked at the front again. "I don't want to watch it. I don't like Santa." "Why not?," I asked. "He wears gloves. I don't like gloves." And with that, the DVD was tossed aside.

Our Sweet Punkin' Pie

her three week cold (not croup) has turned into a sinus infection and version of pink eye...will this kid get a break? Will her parents? Thankfully, John had Monday off and she stayed home with him and got dosed witn antibiotics and eye drops. John taught her to say "get 'r done" about the eye drop application.

On the plus side, I think she slept through the night for the first time in three weeks last night.

Here they are, reading one of our Christmas books...which we are already tired of reading after two days. We will have to add some more books for the rotation.

Lights!

John worked FAST on Saturday, the lasty 40 degree day we will see for awhile, to transform our front yard. On Sunday it snowed three inches and more coming today.

We are thankful...

For so many things! Here are a few quick pics from our Thanksgiving in Farmington Hills, celebrated with cousin Annie and her son Danny, Bunny, Grandpa, Uncle Jay, and the three of us. I will have to raid John's cell for more pictures.