Happy New Year!

We had a lazy day of playing Pixar Monopoly (Will cleaned up), Clue Junior (I won), Wii (I don't stand a chance), and kite flying.

A safe, healthy, and happy new year to all!

Love,

Will, Ani, Evan & Alex

(more pics here)

Joy, Joy...

Happy Happy!

Who knew that a fancy new vacuum cleaner could bring such happiness? I've really been missing out! This new Cadillac has an extra long cord, super attachments, it is quiet, and it can transition to cleaning hard wood floors, too! I'm in heaven.

Alex milestones

Alex's big news of the day: he pooped on the potty! Yay, Alex! This was such a "big-boy" activity, we decided to move him out of his toddler firetruck bed and into a "big boy bed" today, too! Evan's top bunk is now in Alex's room. So far, so good....

picture catch-up

I am terribly behind in organizing and posting pictures. With 5+ cameras shooting every second of Christmas, there is a lot to edit! :) Here are short slide shows organized by our main events pre-Christmas. Many MANY more Christmas pictures will be posted soon-ish.

Christmas eve photos (Dec 24)

Christmas eve snow fort building (Dec 24)

Sledding & Lincoln Park Zoolights - and a few shots from our 14.5 hour car ride to Chicago (Dec 19-20)

Museum of Science & Industry - World Christmas Trees & other favorite exhibits (Dec 22)

Dec 25th.

Merry Christmas to all...

and to all, a good night.

SNOW!

Early Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas with gifts from Will's side of the family. Merry Early Christmas! Thanks for all the goodies, Nana, Gramps, Aunt Cucka, Greg and Tanner!!

Thanks, Reisha!

I recently reconnected with one of my best friends from elementary school, Reisha. She and her husband live in NC with two adorable little girls, and she works for PBS. Well... Christmas came early this year when Reisha's care package arrived. The kids went bonkers for Sid The Science Kid stickers, posters, Elmo coloring pages, Word Girl Stickers, Word World videos, Super Why bookmarks.... WOW! (For those of you who don't have preschoolers, these are favorite shows Chez Jordan!) Thank you so much, Reisha!

Delinquent

I've been delinquent in updating the blog. Sorry, all. I'll try to get in a few new pictures in the next several days. In the meantime, I'll leave you this little story:

Evan was referring to some eczema on his wrist, but was struggling to find the word, "wrist." Instead, he called it his "hand ankle!"

I laughed and laughed. He is clever.

Home again

I'm home from New York. Emmy is on the mend and it was good to see her. We don't get much uninterrupted-sister-time these days! I miss her already.

The flight back was terrible. I've never been so scared in the air, and that is saying something! Thankfully, I didn't puke from the turbulence. I'm sure the guy next to me will have bruises on his shoulder from my head slamming into him. Perhaps the most alarming was hearing the flight attendants sound concerned. At one point, one had to CRAWL to her seat in the front of the plane. CRAWL!

I was glad to plant my feet on the ground in Atlanta last night!

Alex sings in a trio

Macon Rescue Mission Shopping

With $600 of profits from our fall MOPS Consignment Sale, we hit Sam's Club to shop for Macon Rescue Mission & Battered Women's Shelter. They gave us a list of their greatest needs and we bought everything on the list that was non-perishable, plus more. Here are a few pictures from the adventure. It was a wonderfully rewarding morning of shopping and delivering.

In all, we will contribute over $3,000 to non-profit organiztaions in the Middle-Georgia area. We also gave $6,000 to MOPS and $3,000 to the preschool ministries at our host church. A successful sale, indeed.

Thanksgiving Pictures

Here is a link to some of our favorite pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time with everyone here: Nana, Gramps, Aunt Megan (aka Aunt Cucka!), Greg, and Tanner. For several days following the visit, Evan and especially Alex wandered aimlessly around the house asking "Where's ___(fill in the blank) ____?" At one point, Alex said, "I'm sad. Cucka missing."

Thanks for making to trek to Macon, GA, everyone! We had a wonderful week!