Settling down

We're trying to settle back into a normal routine of sorts after over a month off. We took all of Dec off school to celebrate the holidays through many crafts, baking and outings. We had lots of play time and game playing. A "Christmas around the World" party with friends. Cookie baking and delivering (we're finally getting to meet some of our neighbors after only 3 1/2 years in this neighborhood. We had a new family move in two houses down, back in Aug and we had them over to play. THey have a boy 7 and girl 4. All the kids had a great time together and Tegan can't wait to be able to just pop over there to play or have Ryan over here.

We had lots of fun in Chewelah for Christmas. We made the 9 hour drive each way in just one day. It wasn't planned this way, but worked out great so we spent a little extra time up there. It was my first white Christmas since 6th grade and so much fun. Tons of sledding and skiing for everyone. We tubed behind a four-wheeler, had a great bonfire and roasted hot dogs while out sledding, built snowmen and forts, played with cousins and much more. I even discovered a great post-holiday diet - stomach flu - UGH! That put me in bed for two days, but at least no one else got it. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the vacation.







The boys are having a rough time transitioning back into school. The attitudes around here need some work. I'm giving them one more day of holiday recovery and then we'll implement some additional manual labor to work off the attitudes. We finally got our Christmas stuff down today so maybe that will help them get with it. We did it all in one day which was quite a bit after decorating to the hilt for the tour of homes, but it's all in the attic now, until next year.