Happy Days!

First, some very good news! Aunt Kim is HOME! She's home with Uncle Donald and is doing great. She and Uncle Donald say thanks for your thoughts, prayers and support. She's amazing-- And she's ours!
Back on the home front, we've shared a couple of itty bitty kid accomplishments. First, on Thursday, we wrapped up hockey. I should say, Jack and I wrapped up hockey. Mina sort of checked out three weeks ago. She still got a handy-dandy certificate though, so she was happy!

On Saturday we went to a Dr. Seuss reading event at Target! They were reading around America! I said Daddy, I can read around America too-- let's GO!
And so we went- and boy, was it fun!

I read my own bedtime stories now, and sometimes Mina asks me to read hers. When I'm not reading the Seuss, I read signs and labels and just about everything I can see, I try and read. I realize this is very cute and that adults dig it, so I do it often.
When I'm not reading, I'm taking pictures. Here's some of the latest.

On Saturday afternoon, we got together with our old neighbor Hartley, and had loads of fun and lots of free ice cream at Jason's Deli!

And we also had Mexican one night this week by Daddy's work when he was too busy to come home for dinner. Jessa loves the lemons!

In the coming weeks, we'll be packing and moving, which we are all very excited about. We can't wait to have everyone at the new house!

Cincinnati!

Ooooh! This weekend we traveled up to Cincinnati to see our Aunt Kim-- who is getting ready to discharge from the rehabilitation hospital! It seems hard to believe that Aunt Kim is already well enough to go home, but it's true! She's beaten all the odds and is getting stronger every day. Aunt Kim has worked incredibly hard and persevered through unbelievable obstacles. Through it all, she has carried a rare strength and will, radiating joy out at all of us who love her. We are so lucky that she picked us (or Uncle Donald, specifically) to be her family!

And we're also lucky that she and Uncle D have i-phones and that they let us play them!

Look at Alfalpha sprout!

Uncle Donald told us that Cincinnati is having the snowiest February ever. Or ever since they started keeping track of snowy Februaries.

Bad for them maybe, but good for me!

When we weren't with Aunt Kim or playing around the rehabilitation hospital's snow, we were at our hotel.

That's right- I said HOTEL!

Indoor pool!

We picked up some suits before our trip. Turns out there's a great selection in February, which was an important lesson for Mommy, who often waits until the end of the season to buy things, and then finds there's nothing left to buy!

We had a really incredible time this weekend, and we even held it together for (most of) the ride home.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

It continues to be cold, cold, cold here so that hasn't been a whole lot to share with everyone. However, we did have a few milestones in the house this past week. One is for me...the BIG girl...




And the other is for our wee little one. Sweet, cute little Jessa Rose!

Hockey Season!

When you have three daughters, like my dad has, you might think a sport like hockey won't matter much. But, as it turns out, hockey is exactly the kind of sport I like to play.
At the end of our dance classes, I announced that dance was entirely too much work and not enough fun.
SO, it's a good thing that it's over. Just in time for hockey with my buddy Jack! Mina's taking the class too, since we can fit together into the 3-5 age division now.

But even a girl like me knows that nothing is more fun than baking cookies. So we do that too. We like to bake and eat and celebrate all the time! We are especially happy to be celebrating my Aunt Kim, who is doing so incredibly well and who we can't wait to go see in a couple of weeks!
We know Aunt Kim can't wait to see us too. And so we're spending a little time every day planning the visit, thinking about the visit, talking about and praying for our amazing Aunt.
We'll bring the cookies Aunt Kim!

Jessa went to visit last time, but the rehabilitation staff kept her at arms length on account of her age. Not now, though! She's excited about a real face to face visit with Aunt Kim!

And since we're in the mood for celebrating, on Saturday, we went to celebrate Ava's 4th birthday at our favorite party destination: Pump-It-Up!

Jessa had a grumpy cold, so Mom let her stay in her jammies.

She cheered up in time for the birthday cake!

Aside from the parties and the hokey, we're spending time getting ready for Valentine's Day!

We do this by eating cookies and buying valentines cards at Target. We are encouraging Mom to be a little more original. She says maybe next year.

And finally, some big Little Hokie news:

We're under contract! We're buying this house!

It's in a great neighborhood where most of our freinds already live. We've got a nice flat driveway and a half acre- flat! YIPEEEE! Closing is March 12! Yay for us!

who dat?

That's not Jessa-- it's her big sister Maddie!
Just marveling at the similarities!