Catching up.

This is going to be a big jumble, because I've got 3 weeks to update. Bear with me.

First things first, dear sister... It's been exactly 2 weeks since the last picture, not three. So there.

We have had a whirlwind few weeks. We left here on Dec. 20 and headed south. Spent the first night with Andrew's sister and her family. Left there the next morning, late because there are kids there to play with, but we made it to Grandma & Grandpa's (the Greats) house in N. Idaho that night. The border crossing was super easy. We think that we got the same guard as we had when we went down in September but he wasn't so friendly this time. I imagine that the holidays are stressful for them too. We did Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa, and also Gary, Joy & Rob on the 23rd, then headed south once again Christmas Eve to surprise my parents with an early arrival. Stayed there until the morning of the 5th when we headed back north to Idaho for 2 days, then back to Olds for a night and homeward. Katie did amazingly well travelling. We've decided that she doesn't mind long trips but she hates short ones. She doesn't like the in & out, I think. She wants to be in & stay there then out & stay there. There was really very little crying in over 20 hours of driving time, and the little crying there was could be solved by some food, a clean diaper or just turning on the light so she could see.

We arrived back in Northern Alberta just in time for "the biggest blizzard since 1968" which over the next 24 hours became the biggest since 1980 and the biggest since 1978. We're not sure what the deal is there. Didn't seem like much of a blizzard to me, but what do I know, I grew up in the Willamette Valley where it doesn't snow. There was a bunch of wind and about 7 inches of snow, but it didn't seem much like any blizzard in any book I've read. Needless to say, though, Andrew had to plow the driveway the next afternoon when we decided to venture out of the house again. Or rather, he ventured out because one of his mom's friends needed a tow out of a ditch.

We've been home for almost a week, and it is so nice to be home. Bailey was most excited to see us. Andrew's cousin stayed here for her, but that's not the same as having her family home. Although, she obviously got away with more when Aunty Kristy was here than she usually does. Charlie is happy to see us, especially since we decided to start feeding him 2 meals a day. Morgan is Morgan. She acts the same now as she did when we left. And Jose is a fish, what do you expect from him?

And, we have a tooth! You can't really see it yet, it's barely broken through, but it is out.

I think that's all for now, except maybe one parting note:
Some of you have seen our dining room chairs. For those of you who haven't, you can peek at them here. People tell me I'm crazy to have white dining room chairs. "But," I say, "they have slipcovers. All you have to do is take them off and wash them." And they say ok, but secretly still believe I'm crazy. I can see it in their eyes. Well, they were looking dingy, so yesterday I took the covers off and washed them. And they are bright, shiny white again. Not so crazy after all.

Pictures to come next.