December

Shortly after Miller was born, I commented to Roy that our time is no longer our own.

Boy ain't that the truth.

As evidence, I took almost no pictures through the month of December - despite there being an abundance of activity. Still, Grandma Bix requested an "update with photos", so I scourged my camera and phone and came up with some gems.

Miller spent some quality time with his great grandma and granddad. Bob is saying, "Is she taking my picture with that phone?"
Bob is hell bent on teaching Miller to crawl. I have an almost identical picture taken Christmas Eve at another celebration.
I've found time for knitting.
and baking.
and we couldn't have Christmas without a tree - a real one this year, since we spent the whole season in Kentucky.
We even made the world's awfullest gingerbread house, which met its untimely demise at the hands -er, jaws - of the Wendy Dog.

And here, the reason I am so often exhausted, fulfilled, exasperated, delighted and in bed by 10:00 (if I'm lucky).

It's a Wonderful Life

I suppose it's just our life these days - in the month since my last post, nothing has happened, and yet everything has.

Miller rolling over back to front and giggling at the slightest thing.
Sophie learning jokes and showing her silly side more and more and more.
My work is awesome. Roy's almost done with this semester of school, and we spent Thanksgiving in South Dakota, with Riley and Roy's mom joining us.

Then last night, in what I hope will become an annual event, we held our first ever Feast of Strength. Maybe it's the Mennonite in me, but I love a good potluck, especially one with lots of wine and amazing friends who also happen to be amazing cooks.

I don't know about anyone else, but it's getting harder and harder to get together with our friends. They have families, busy jobs, and it's just... hard. So about a month ago I sent out an invitation and lo and behold, we got together! There were 5 last minute cancellations, and yet there were still about 25 people in our little house. The first person arrived just before 1:00PM and the last person left around 8am, having spent the night on the couch. It was my kind of party.

Even the snow showed up to make it more festive and at Sophie's request (thanks our amazingly kind, wonderful and patient friends), a snowman joined the party.There were shockingly competitive games of Candyland and Sorry (Sophie was NOT the competitive one) and I already feel bad for any boy Sophie brings home for approval. They will meet a wall of men ready to throw him out of the house.

And as the night wore on and the instruments were pulled out, the rants got longer, the wine flowed more freely, and it surpassed my wildest dreams of what this event would be.

Today is about pajamas and movies; Leftovers and more snow being added to the already 2 inches on the ground.

This is a wonderful life.