It's been requested that I post something new. You see, the longer this sits not updated, the harder it is for me to update it. But I will force myself today.

I'm going to mention as many of the things that I've been thinking about blogging about for the last 3 weeks as I can.

First of all, I meant to post a picture of our tiny, cheap Christmas tree that now has a broken stand. It snapped very easily when Jeremy and I were taking off the ornaments. You get what you pay for. I made the star out of cardboard because our angel dwarfed the tree.

Our 12-hour trip to Illinois started on Christmas Eve after Kaitlyn sang in the Children's Choir. We could hear her voice over everyone else, and of course, she was the best singer. ;-) We stopped in Nashville that night and woke up Christmas morning to filled stockings in our hotel room closet. That Santa's a clever guy. We arrived in Kankakee late Christmas afternoon and joined my parents for supper. We were blessed to be able to visit with our friends from Switzerland, some of our old friends from Woodstock and Manteno, and of course, my extended family at our Christmas party. It was so wonderful to see everyone, even if it was too brief. The peppermint red velvet cake I made for Mary's birthday deserves a mention because it was so delicious - I'm craving more already! All too soon, we were headed home.

Luckily James was able to get several days off for New Year's too, and we made the most of it by taking a field trip day on Jan 2 to the Atlanta Civic Center and to the High Museum. The older kids and I wandered through the King Tut exhibit while Felicity and James wandered around Atlanta. We ate lunch at the famous Varsity restaurant before heading over to the High for the Emperor's Terracotta Army exhibit from China. (See pic of the kids in the High lobby.) It was amazing! And my husband was amazing - Lissy took her entire nap in his arms as he walked around the exhibit. Try holding 30 pounds in your arms for an hour and a half!

Then it was back to school and back to work. Bummer.

Today we went to the orthodontist to check up on this popsicle stick therapy we've been doing. (Brief background: Kait has one tooth that's crooked and causing a mild cross-bite. He recommended using a popsicle stick to apply light pressure daily to try to move it.) He congratulated us and seemed surprised that it's actually working. The tooth is not clear quite yet, but it only needs to move another millimeter or so before it's clear. We'll go back to see him in the summer.

I'm sure there were more minor things I would have liked to add, but this will do for now.