Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

PawPaw and Uncle David arrived yesterday, and there were two little girls at my house who were none too excited about having to go to school this morning.  They sucked it up, however, and climbed onto the bus bright and early this morning.  To ease the ache just a bit, I picked them up a little early this afternoon.  School didn't seem all that awful when I got there.  Sophia's class was in the middle of a Christmas party with a very strong sugar-theme, and all of the kids in Emma's class were seated in the floor, eating popcorn and watching Ice Age on a big screen at the front of the classroom.  Emma's teacher suggested that this animated feature somehow tied into their science unit on prehistoric creatures, but I didn't require an explanation.  I used to be a teacher myself and know that on the last day of school before Christmas vacation, we teachers are allowed to use any means necessary to keep the peace. Lili made herself right at home in Emma's cl...

With Mimi here at Christmastime, we took advantage of her crafty, artistic skills and made some gingerbread sleighs complete with jelly St. Nicks. Mimi even knows how to make clean up fun. This is Lili's idea of helping.  "Another Kit-kat over here, please!!"  Gingerbread crafting brings out the little elf in all of us.  The finished product... a sweet masterpiece!

If it can be believed, we had enough of card games and banana pudding yesterday.  So we headed out to the big hill for some old fashioned fun.  Mimi had an old fashioned diet Coke in the chalet and cheered us on from inside.   I was feeling genuinely hopeful that running up the hill with Lili literally en tow would help to burn off some of that banana pudding and apple pie as well as those mashed potatoes and Christmas cookies.  It was worth a shot.   Up and down the hill we went over and over again, and I only complained a little when my glove somehow got filled with snow and I lost all feeling below the right wrist.  Eventually I took Uncle David's advice and "quit being a baby." Now we all feel like we've embraced winter at least for now.  Ask me how I'm feeling at the end of March when it's still snowing up here.  For now these chilly sights are warming my heart.