Back in the land of 10,000 icecubes.

I've got no pictures today, lets get that out upfront. But who does, this time of year? I am only just barely emerging from the denial phase of post-holiday shlump. It's over. Santa Clause is not coming to town again for a very, very long time. When our tree is finally down, you will know I'm in acceptance stage. Till then...

Well we have been busy afterall. Let's see. We packed about two tons of baby toys on the top of our car and made the overnight drive from MN from VA last week (we could hear Riley's Ariel buggy singing "lets go on an adventure" from the roof when we stopped at tollbooths and gas stations). We hit very little traffic and took a rather scenic road, with only one snowstorm and a few hours of pretty solid fog. At least that is what Dave tells me - I slept through most of it and Dave is my hero, obviously.

The babies watched a lot of Charlie Brown (on the kindle, rigged to a head rest with my scarf. winning.) and got to crash a Girl Scout meeting at McDonalds for like an hour and a half. The moms were strategizing how to flood the town with cookies and once their tweens pledged to sell, I kid you not, a thousand each, they got bored and started chasing Riley and Joe around. I think Riley got in at least twenty laps. Hey thanks Girl Scouts!

Yada yada yada, got home at eight am, slept, unpacked, shopped, slept, went to church, watched the Academy Awards, slept, oh hey you're still reading, went to the library, aaand that brings us to now.

Oh and here's this - I started babysitting a little guy from church full time this semester and I must say its going well. He is a happy, chill fella and Riley loves "Baby Merry" (not his name), and Joe has been more magnanimous than we could have hoped. Going anywhere is a little tricky, but ain't nobody but nobody wants to go out anyways - its arctic out there! There is this one newscaster who keeps saying to "get out and enjoy the winter because it will be over before we know it." Ha. Ha. Ha. At least we have the Olympics to look forward to! Feb. 7th people.

-Segue into unrelated but noteworthy story-

Last night I accidentally gashed my wrist while slicing cheese in a stupid way. When Riley saw Dave bandaging it she insisted that she too needed a bandage on her wrist and since then she has been bumping wrists with me and saying, "Cheers, wrist stickers, cheers." What a cutie - she has really been on her game lately. Except for the not napping thing. Apologies to the neighbors - we actually were not having an exorcism at dinner, that was just three days of nap-deprivation coming to a head.

At least she passed out by six thirty and Joe got some one on two time with us, which he loves. He sat on Dave's shoulders during scripture reading tonight, roaring and throwing his hat to the ground over and over. I read anyway. I think his spirit was totally nourished. :)