What a great Christmas vacation we had--almost two full weeks for me, but I am definitely rearing to get back to a routine at school--and I know Callym needs to get back to school as well....he is kind of getting cabin fever as the last week or so (right after Christmas, actually) has been very,, very, very cold and windy and . not conducive to playing outside. And, furthermore, this is the first Christmas vacation I can remember in a long time with no snow! No snowmobiling, no sledding, no snowshoeing, and no fort building. We DID get a few inches last night...hopefully this will be a good base of things to come

Feeling very blessed that I got to spend the whole vacation at home playing with the kids and doing all types of crafts and activities. I think Legos were the highlight of the week for probably both kids, and, lately, it has all be 'freestyle' building from their imaginations! Yesterday, Callum and Maira each used some Christmas money to buy a 'lego' Julian Edelman man (Callum) and Rob Gronkowski (Maira). They have been building 'houses' for Edelman and Gronk to live in, and today, Maira built Gronk a 'huge snowmobile.'

For me, getting some great reading done over vacations is always my favorite thing to do. At night, (and I guess this is KIND OF reading) Amanda and I have been working our way through some of the Sherlock Holmes programs on DVD (the one starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock). So many people would be so surprised to learn from the actual stories (and the very well adapted programs) that Holmes, in addition to being a complete a-hole and social misfit, was also a coke addict. Betcha didnt know THAT!!

Books are always big in our house around the holidays; I have a special affinity for children's books--I would probably love them just as much even if we DIDNT have kids, The overwhelming two 'winners' of this holiday season (meaning that Maira has them virtually memorized from reading them so much) are "Biddy Baby Ballet Adventure" (Biddy Baby is like a 'baby' AmericanGirl) and Happy Birthday Hamster (written by Cynthia Lord of Maine). I am pretty excited about YODA, written by Beth Stern (the great Howard Stern's wife) and it is based on a true story about a cat named Yoda who was rescued from a shelter, had tons of problems, and became healthy after finding a purpose for his life caring for other little kittens!! I just love children's books!

Other highlights of vacation included getting to sleep in (we both helped each other out taking turns), coloring our brains out, working on making apple sauce with the remaining apples I had stored out in the cold garage, baking cookies (well, this was Amanda, cuz I dont bake), going bowling, going to the Children's museum in Bangor, playing Jenga, playing Headbandz, and playing Twister!

I cant remember if I put a picture of my ugly sweater from school this year...so there ya go....idk guy, idk

LL Bean trip...hanging out in the bubble with the brook and rainbow trout....

One of the solo pieces I sang at church during this Advent/Christmas season thus far...this was the program from Christmas Eve...