Welcoming the year of the horse!

Abbey strikes a dance pose.

Elijah, when given the choice, chose to wear his tradition silk suit.

The Chinese New Year began January 31. 2014 is the year of the horse. Again this year we celebrated by joining many other families with children from China in addition to members of the Chinese community in our town. The Chinese Christian Church invited the FCC girls to share their native dances during their celebration. This year Abbey's age group performed the "Fan Dance".

Luke,Elijah,Caleb,Daniel,Kylie,Sopia,Darcy,Abbey, Lottie and in front, Natalie

Abbey loved going to practice and adored performing her dance. They used different fans during the dance.

Of course, this was Ab's favorite one.

She was happy to have good friend, Lily, next to her.

The celebration was a bit long and was spoken in Mandarin and English. When we left, Abbey wanted to know when she could do her dance in front of people again? That girl of mine surely does love to perform.

Happy New Year!!

First Pixie Stick reactions

Finally…a snow day!

(To my wonderful friends and family that live above the Mason-Dixon line, I recognize that you feel less than gleeful about this winter storm…One person's joy is another person's grief.)

It's been about 3 years since we've had a decent snow. I love snow, at least the southern version of it. I love for the world to stop for one day, or maybe two. But, then I'm ready for it to be gone. That's reason number one thousand two hundred and three why I love living in NC! We get a couple of inches of snow, the world stops for a day and half, then it's gone and life resumes!

When kids Elijah's age are asked how they like the snow, they reply, "I don't know it never snows here!" Well, that changed last week. We got snow, only about an inch, but enough to qualify as a "snow" here in the south.

The first snow Elijah ever saw did not impress him. He screamed every time I put him down. This picture doesn't do justice to the way he hated the white stuff.

But this year, he loved it…

Three years ago, this little one was a snow bunny…

one of my favorite pics of Abbey…

Nothings changed, she still loves the snow.

With her snow angel

We'd been out for a few minutes when our good friends and neighbors came running over to join in the fun…

of course, every good friend likes show their love by pelting each other with snow balls

Sledding is much more fun in groups of threes!

The snow was very powdery, so their snow man was a bit on the wee side.

this one on the very wee side, his name was Olaf, by the way…(all you Frozen fans know where that came from)

Yes, indeed it was a fun day!

They are so out of practice!

For many years our family has been known as a "swimming family". I remember one year when someone gave Daniel a small folding chair. His buddy Caleb said, "It's a soccer chair!" Daniel quickly corrected him and said, "No, it's a swimming chair!" It's just what they knew.  Our kids from Anna on grew up going to swim meets, watching big brothers and sisters swim. They learned to entertain themselves during the long year round meets, which could last as long as 5 hours. While I love swim meets, because it's the only place where I feel free to do absolutely nothing,  I recognize they can be tortuous affairs to some folks, especially children. It was something our older kids had to learn to cope with as a necessary evil.

Abbey and Elijah entered our family during the tail end of the year round meets. They only had a couple of years of Daniel swimming in year round meets before he went to college. College meets are much shorter…usually that is. This past weekend we went to see one of Daniel's college meets.

But, this one was a marathon meet. They honored the seniors and swam a long meet format. My two little ones were fit to be tied. We went to the bathroom so many times I was ready to take them to a urologist's office. We played games on Leap pads and I-phones 'til we had no more batteries. I answered the dreaded, "How much longer??" question, (asked in as super whiny voice), about a million times.


Big brother, John, gave Abbey pointers on a new I-phone game.

Elijah trying to take a nap.

Despite the unaccustomed boredom, Abbey and Elijah delighted in seeing Daniel each time he walked by.

They better get ready, though. We're heading to Maryland in March to attend the three day conference championship meet. Oh, boy! What fun that's going to be!

Evie Claire Firsts

Christmas was so rushed and busy, I felt that I really didn't get a chance to visit with Beth very much, or hold Evie Claire as much as I would have liked. So, when Beth mentioned that Greg was going out of town for a few days and she and EC might come to visit us, I was thrilled! (Sad for Greg, but happy for me)

This is how a Mommy of a wee one travels.

For four glorious days, I got to love on Evie-Claire, visit with Beth while giving her a little bit of a break to do things like take a shower and actually dry her hair afterward. Little things that aren't necessities, but sure do make you feel a little better about yourself.

We took everyone to the indoor pool.

Anna and Layne joined us there.

Evie tolerated the pool.

She survived a "dunking"

All that swimming can plumb tucker out a baby!

Layne is shaping up to become quite a "water bug"

Abbey and Elijah got to work on their swimming skills

On dry land, Abbey and Elijah figured out how to make Evie Claire smile.

and what a precious smile it is!

Beth and I got to catch up on Downton Abbey. Neither of our husbands appreciate this fantastic show.

After four short days, it was time to say a tearful goodbye, (as all of our goodbyes are).

One last cuddle..

Evie was sad to be leaving her Mimi(at least that's what I want to believe)

and kiss

and then they were off to the big city.

I loved being able to spend time with Beth, to help allay some of her fears about motherhood and cheer her on. To hug her and let her know she and Greg are doing a fine job. To let her know that her fears are normal, and answer her practical questions. While I rejoice in these times, it's very difficult not to dwell on how much I miss because of the distance. I'd love to be able to have these conversations more often. But, I need to put on my big girl panties and be grateful for the smallness of today's world. Grateful that we can talk over the phone, even see each other over the phone, and stay in almost constant touch, all the while anxiously awaiting the time that we are together again!