Christmas

We had a really fun trip to New York to spend Christmas with Steve's whole family.  There were his parents, their seven "kids," six significant others, an extra mom (we're happy to include her!), three children, a cat, and two dogs including a Great Dane who would have been a good size for Olivia to have riding lessons.

I am always so impressed how laid-back my mother-in-law is while having so many people (especially kids and dogs) around.

Christmas Eve: that's all the snow we got

Making pecan pie with Grandma

Olivia is 3!

Steve's parents graciously offered to keep Olivia so we could get away, so we chose Longboat Key, Florida. We enjoyed our Bradenton Beach trip so much we thought we'd try that area again.  We tried some new things like St. Armand's Circle and Sanibel Island, and revisited Tijuana Flats, and Mr. Bones Barbeque, and this lovely cafe...

Paradise: All you can eat pancakes on the beach. Even in January.

Day trip to Sanibel Island

Happy new year!

The kids had good checkups last week; Bowen is 75th percentile for height and off the chart for weight so I guess he's getting enough to eat. (With nursing I never know.)  Steve was traveling for work the past two weeks so we're happy to have him home.  While he was home last weekend we had some beautiful weather so we took our first family walk together.

On the docket: de-Christmas-ing the house, decluttering, moving furniture around, organizing the kitchen cabinets, working on my 2011 photo book, pondering a smart phone.  Hope you're staying warm!