hibernating

Christmas break has been a time of low activity here. It isn't that the weather has been horrible, it actually has been quite mild. But with Ruby off of school, and David off of work, any sense of schedule was thrown out the window, and there were days where we stayed home and just enjoyed the cozy life of hibernation.

Christmas was great. Ruby is at the perfect age for all of the excitement, and her enthusiasm was easily taken up by esme. Christmas through the eyes of a 4 and 2 year old is very magical, and I really enjoyed it this year. Getting ready for Santa's arrival was possibly the best part, Ruby was so worried that we would forget to put out his cookies, or the reindeer dust, or that for some reason Santa would not come to our house. The girls went to sleep easily, but Ruby was up at 3 am wondering if Santa had come yet and if it was time to go downstairs yet. Luckily I got her to go back to sleep until 7:30!

Esme has now joined the ranks of the "big girls"! we took advantage of the holiday slowdown and finally potty trained her. It has been 6 days now and she is doing fantastic. We are very proud of her, and she is quite proud of herself. She is enjoying the freedom of wearing only underpants, and she keeps telling us "i have a bum!" We keep trying to reassure her that she always had one, but i guess it is easier to touch now that it isn't covered up in a diaper.

Although i don't deal very well with the winter, this year has been quite easy on me. There has been more blue sky than normal in late fall/early winter, and the tempertures have not been as

debilitating as the past few years. No snow so far, and only the occasional freeze! Strangely my spring bulbs are starting to break through the soil, and i guess they are probably about 1-2 months ahead of schedule. i usually get a little perk from this first sign of spring, but this year I am worried that the mild weather might change and my bulbs might all get killed off.

the quiet hibernation is coming to a close. david was back to work today, and ruby heads back to preschool next tuesday. time to kick the cobwebs off and get back into action....