We Survived the Holidays!

The holidays arrived early this year with our first celebration of Christmas starting with Jack and Bonnie. Even though they've moved up to Traverse City, it worked out that we were able to keep the tradition of having our first Christmas with them once again this year. 2008 turned into a pretty crazy year for them, but things are looking pretty positive for 2009!

One full month of office parties, family gatherings, Christmas programs at school and church, meeting up with friends...everything was spread out this year and even though we had a blast, we also breathed a big sigh of relief Sunday night after our last one.

My grandma came home from Florida to spend Christmas with all of us. She's not very thrilled about the cold weather we've been having although today it was almost 50 and last week it was only 1. That's Ohio weather for you!

*Just realized that I started this blog and never finished it. Will publish as is!

"Life's Too Short to Have a Bad Cup of Coffee"

A quote from Mr. Heather

Christmas Shopping/Date Night?

Last night, Mr. Heather and I dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa's and headed out in the cold to fight the last-minute crowds to shop for the girls. It is unusual for us to go out shopping together as a couple since we typically take turns watching the girls or stop after work while they are at school. Anyhow, we gave ourselves a budget and then let ourselves loose in Toys 'R Us! It was a blast! Without the girls, I was able to actually watch some of the patrons...like a grandfather looking for the puffiest pom-poms and the store employee hopping on a kid's bike and I never once even had the urge to tell them "no". Guess their ad is true...Toys 'R Us is the place "where a kid can be a kid!" Mr. Heather and I spent some time going down every aisle and checking out all the possibilities. We eliminated some of the toys for the following reasons: too loud, only played two songs, wouldn't hold their interest for longer than 10 minutes, couldn't hold two children at the same time. I couldn't convince Mr. Heather into letting me get them each a Cabbage Patch Doll, but I didn't find one that spoke to me either and it wasn't on their lists. Hopefully, we chose wisely. However, Zoe has come up with some doozies lately...such as asking Santa for a big googly-eyed turkey that says "You're a princess, Zoe." When Mr. Heather pointed out that Santa might have a hard time finding that, she reassured him with, "Don't worry, Dad. His elves can make it!" Mr. Heather and I had a hard time arguing with that logic so we decided to drop it and stop asking her what she wanted for Christmas! We still have a little bit of last-minute shopping to do, but I'm looking forward to gift-wrapping today. Merry Christmas!

MY FIRST SNOW DAY!

All 6 districts have officially closed today...finally! Yippee skippy! My first snow day in my new job! The rule is that ALL six must close before we close. I've been checking since 5:30 a.m. and the last school now just closed at 7:55! (Don't worry, I made "good use" of my time checking my email and catching up on reading other people's blogs!)



The other great news is that Mr. Heather found my new favorite tea (caffeine-free) TAZO in my two favorite flavors: Passion and Wild Orange. (I had brought home my empty packets from a conference to show him.) I'm not sure how long it's been in the cupboard because he forget to tell me he picked it up and they didn't get put away with the rest of the tea . However, the good news it that is was a pleasant surprise!

Now I have to decide what to do with all my extra time...go shopping? Wrap presents? Bake Christmas cookies? Watch a sappy Christmas movie on Lifetime?

Where's the Snow?

It was here, but now it's gone!
I actually took these pictures in November.

Winter Wonderland