Phew!

There is truly something restoring in resuming the daily routine. Without a schedule to keep over our holiday break, we've languished in bed until 8:30 in the morning (except of course for E who sends a scornful glance my way as he passes me cozily snoozing under the down comforter before 6 a.m. each weekday), perhaps rummaged up breakfast around 9:30 and puttered around feeling a bit aimless (but not necessarily in a bad way...) until the day is absolutely frittered away. My day's accomplishments might be limited to changing a long since burnt out light bulb or actually feeding the dog. As nice as it is to feel that there is really no argument at all to waste energy changing out of one's pajamas, there comes a point when you want things to return to their regular hectic pace. So, it is with all this in mind that we woke up at 8:30 this morning one last time.

School resumed today (FINALLY! YES! Insert Hallelujah chorus here!) so no more excuses for us. Time to look alive! Just making it through the holidays and putting away the Christmas decorations leaves me desperate to do some deep down cleaning. I want to muck out the stalls and organize every nook and cranny. But with big kid in school and little kids napping I spent my first quiet afternoon in three weeks doing...I have no idea what. I'm pretty sure I might have spent my few hours of quiet, kid-free time staring blankly at the wall, mouth agape. How sad.

Anyhow, I did accomplish something, one thing - if by some generously imaginative thinking we might even consider it an accomplishment - over the break. Given the lack of decent TV viewing options (what makes writers think they should earn a paycheck?!? Sheesh!) and because I need to keep my book addiction in check, I discovered a new fixation: Carcassonne, a German tile building board game. E and I are obsessed. Just pack the little ones off to bed and we are ready to start strategizing like nobody's business. Of course I wipe the floor clean with E. Carcassonne: The Castle is also very diverting. So if you're avoiding the mountains of laundry and dust bunnies the size of tumbleweeds blowing past,feeling the overwhelming urge to scour every corner of your roost, like I am, - but maybe you'll start tomorrow - perhaps seek out one of these enjoyable games. I would advise letting your spouse win occasionally or they might skulk off in a pout thereby bringing the gaming to an abrupt end.

And now to appease the grandparents, kid photos:

The kids first sledding experience

Ready for church. Three hours of church later, and these two perky angels will be magically transformed into the orneriest scowling grumps you've ever seen.

And the cutest milkmaid ever enjoying a 65 degree day in January.