New Year, New Stuff

"Can you see the light?"

The Reverend Cleophus (James Brown) asks Jake and Elwood if they can see the light. Yes, Jake and Elwood saw the light and got the band back together.



After weeks of sick kids, sick parents, zero-degree temps, and having the blues we have seen the light. AMEN!

The kids healed, the sun came out, and lo and behold the snow melted!

The weeks between Christmas and until after New Year's tested our mettle. First, August was sick. Max followed two days later, and Livvy after that. Ear infections, sinus infections, our brains were infected by the second week the kids were sick. Then we caught it. We made it. We made through the low temps, the cabin fever, regular fever and get-me-the-heck-outta here fever.

And we saw the light. The sun came out, finally, and seemed to make everything all right.

What's happening? Max is walking by himself, Livvy is interested in moving and August is perfecting the hallway sprint.

It didn't take Max long to walk after he held our hands, but he had been crawling a long time and getting pointers from his big bro. Livvy takes our hands and practically makes us walk her all over the house. She needs to get a bit taller, though - our backs are killing us! August is pretty fast now and uses his speed to chase us around, until we threaten a tickle. Then he just falls down and laughs.

We have welcomed more teeth into the world and new attitudes (cue: Dr. Laura). Max has an even more welcoming attitude towards food than before (who knew he'd like curried rice AND kielbasa?), August likes to hang with Mom and Dad more and Livvy is getting more independent from Mom and Dad.

Sleep is still a favorite past time as everyone is still sleeping around 15 hours a day. It seems like their awake time is measured in dog-years, though. They just wear us out, but we love it.

Kelly has been super busy at work with testing and her regular Title I kids. Budget cuts are coming, so we are hopeful to escape unscathed.

I've been just as busy at work trying to get some projects off the ground and start new ones. Fortunately, the economy hasn't rattled regional planners yet - hopefully it will hold off.

We have been very busy in the basement the last few weeks. Each night we've chipped away at finishing the subfloor and finished floor. It's 95 percent done! All that's left is some tile around the sinks and shower. It feels great to see our progress and remember how far we've come on the project since it fell victim to the relentless groundwater attack.

The kids are just changing so much we can hardly keep up. And the fun never stops! Max has started impersonating us and our motions, and it's just priceless. Livvy has developed so many facial expressions and she knows just when to use them to make us laugh. And August has finally let his laugh out for everyone to hear.

Enjoy the pictures!