Time to catch up

Happy New Year, all!  I will make no resolutions about posting more frequently in 2015 because I would fail, sorry.  I HOPE to post more though. :)

Thanksgiving 2014: was so much fun!!!  LOTS of driving to Spokane, Montana, back to Spokane, and home again.  The kids did wonderfully considering their ages and how they slept in three different homes over 8-9 nights of being away from home.  Thank you to moms and eldest sis for hosting us.  We even got to play in the snow in Montana.  I love snow and miss it so much. I hope to live again where it snows. 

Christmas 2014: also a great holiday time.  This year I've felt the most excited for the anticipatory feelings of Christmas for my children. Did that sentence make sense?  The oldest girls are old enough to really know what's going on, to remember some of our traditions, to learn and sing along with Christmas songs, etc., so it was a great holiday season. We went caroling one evening and Big Sis commented, "Not many people do this, do they?"  No, they don't, but we do!!!  On Christmas Day my sister and her family came over for dinner and had a nice afternoon/evening with them.  Unfortunately, I spent most of the day in the kitchen and not playing with my kids as I would have liked to do, so I'll have to remember that downside and alter my plans for next year.  But we loved having you, Marisa!  Thanks for coming over. 

New Years: had two couples come over to play games and there was lots of snacking, game playing, and laughing involved.  Next year, I think we'll let our bigger kids stay up and ring in the New Year as a family, hopefully with another family or two, and make a night of it.  It's just so nice to get together with adults and not have kids all over the place. 

Yesterday we took our kids sledding and it was so much fun!  I'm a bad mom and beaned Middle Sis in the nose with a hard snowball.  The snowball was really tossed quite lightly and I wasn't aiming for her face at all, but that's where it hit, and the snow was hard and crusty, poor girl.  But everyone had a good time besides that.  Daddy taught the kids how to sled on their tummies, so they went up the hill a little ways (I mean little, like 10 feet for Little Man and 15 feet for Middle Sis) and slid down.  Big Sis was champ and went from the top to the bottom over and over again. She had the worst pair of gloves and got cold after awhile so we had to call it quits, but we got a good 1 1/2 hours play time on the mountain.  I love driving and seeing the snow-covered trees.  It always reminds me of frosted mini wheats.  There is something so majestic and clean about white, sparkling snow covering a forested world that is magical. 

And so onto 2015!  We find out the gender of the baby on Wednesday, hooray!  I'm calling it Fifth and Final right now. I'll be 21 weeks on the day we find out, so half way through.  I'm so glad and grateful that my pregnancies are easy.  So is HH.  Now it's time for my to have a foot rub.  Good night!