Happy Sunday

It is a glorious day: church meets at 9am again! Happy Sunday! Last year we met at 1pm and it was exhausting with a baby and wiggly kids. Trying to get dinner together after such a late church (and a 20 minute drive home) was hard. But today we said goodbye to all of that for another entire year! Yes! As a bonus, it has been snowing all day. When we left the church we drove into a white winter wonderland. Beautiful. And cold. It hasn't been above freezing for over a week now. The last snow never melted all the way. I have never had a winter quite like this! I always say if it's going to be cold, there may as well be snow. Now, if only this town used snow plows. They plow about two miles of the bike path (oddly enough) and then scatter little pebbles all over the streets to help cars grip the snow. That's it. Oh well! We still have almost a whole gallon of milk left. 

Other news: on Wednesday, my mom came and picked up all three of our kids and whisked them away to her house so Jeff and I could have a stay at home 3 day date to celebrate our anniversary. We considered GOING somewhere, but in the end decided that the idea of staying home in our comfy own house together having a Lord of the Rings marathon in the basement sounded just about the most perfect way to spend the last few days of December. So we did just that: watched all three extended versions of Lord of the Rings in 2.5 days. It felt quite decadent--no diapers or messes or responsibilities for 72 hours, and hours of beautiful costumes, music, and scenery to enjoy.

The kids loved their time with Grama Meri and Grampa Charley. Here are two pictures they sent us:

They went to the Lego Store because Jay loves to look and there was a crazy big line--some new Lego set was released that day.

Playing with Grama Meri.

I ended up coming down with a head cold on day 2 of our stay at home date, which was a pain, but thankfully we were at home and not abroad somewhere. Sudafed and Nyquil are helping me through. I have to say it was so weird to be home without our kids. It was QUIET and kind of sad because everywhere I looked, I saw evidence of the kids, but the kids themselves were absent. It was a luxurious break. Jeff made us dinner all of the nights, adding to the luxury. I finished two books and slept in. I felt completely recharged (in spite of my cold) when Mom brought the kids back on Saturday. Can you believe she picked up and dropped off the kids? That's a six hour round trip twice in four days. Awesome award! We were planning on driving them both ways but she volunteered to do all of the driving! MOM! Setting the bar high. :) 

Our new year's eve dinner: fancy cheese, crackers, lil smokies, carrots, chocolates, and white fudge. With Lord of the Rings.

We played SCRABBLE for the first time in months, and I actually won AND got my first score over 400 in five years. I also had a Bingo word (that's when you use all 7 tiles on your tray in one word). It was a great game. Scrabble is satisfying. We started playing it 9 years ago on our honeymoon cruise to avoid all of the drunken gamblers on the rest of the ship. Cruises are so not our scene! Ha. Before we had kids, we played Scrabble every Sunday night. Someday we'll get back to that, but for now we play a couple times per year.

A stealth shot (from my comfy perch on the couch with a book) of Chef Jeff making pizza.

 Rose requested "braids tied in the back" before church today, and Amber had her first crepe for lunch.

It's good to have a break and it's GOOD to have them back. And it's good to have happy 9am church Sundays again.