Update.

Well, I tried to find a good Christmas picture to go with this post but couldn't find any. I guess we took them all with Todd's camera.

Christmas was really nice. Aside from Isaac having fever and barfing half of the day, that is. Bless his lil' heart, he didn't enjoy any of his gifts - even the electric 4 wheeler - until the next day.

We had a nice, leisurely Christmas holiday. We did go to several family events and all but they were well spaced and low stress. The days we didn't go to family, we stayed home. It was so wonderful to be lazy!

We really stuck to our resolution of "only 3 gifts per child" this year. We got the idea from a friend in Montgomery and have tried several times to stick to it but somehow gifts just multiply. This year they each got 3 gifts on Christmas (not counting little bits in stockings), all except Ike who actually only got 2....but he did get that 4 wheeler so he wasn't counting. It's not surprising but somehow gratifying that they were so much happier with their few gifts than they have ever been with a whole pile. They each played with their gifts non-stop the whole holiday. You know, the main idea was, "If 3 gifts were enough for Jesus, then it's certainly enough for our kids," but there appears to be more than one reason for limiting gifts. Who'd'a thunk?

New Year's was quiet and spent at home with our kids, who all stayed up this year. We all sort of looked at each other and said "Happy New Year" and then trundled off to bed. Perfect.

We're all back at school and work now. The boys are doing well and Todd likes his new job so far. We're out for MLK day on Monday and it's looking like we'll need it to recover from the oncoming ice storm. I bought canned meat today just in case. It seemed silly, winter storms seldom turn out as bad as they predict around here but I underestimated a storm once.....Ivan... and it was a mistake I do not intend to duplicate...even though ice storms and hurricanes are quite different. You know what I mean.

Hmmm. I feel like I'm rambling and that may be due to the late hour. Just felt like making up for lost blog-time.....did I mention our internet was down most of the Christmas break? Ah well, now ya' know.

And just because every blog should have a picture:
Here's the design Ike drew for his t-shirt.




Yes, it's Pikachu, Ash and Squirtle.



Life is good.