I'm Back!

No doubt many of you have been wondering why I've neglected my blog for the past few weeks. My only excuse (and not much of an excuse at that) is that it is the holidays and we've been busy. Here's some of what we've been doing the past couple of months: In October we took a trip to Arizona for my 10-year high school reunion. Apart from reconnecting with friends, we enjoyed some quality time with my family, including a fun-filled afternoon skipping rocks at the river with Grandpa Arnett (a favorite past time of Jared's). We also enjoyed hosting one of Aaron's brothers and his family. Among other things they helped us celebrate Halloween: And for November Aaron and I passed around the flu for 3 weeks (this after getting flu shots): As if the flu weren't fun enough, I ended up with pink eye. Aaron couldn't get off work, so I ended up having to take the kids with me to the doctor for an exam so I could get a prescription. When we walked into the exam room, Jared could hardly contain his excitement. Mounted to the wall beside the sink was a box of purple exam gloves! (his favorite color and incidentally, something he'd been wanting since we saw a similar style of plastic gloves at Walmart). The nurse was kind enough to give Jared a pair to take home, which was probably the highlight of his week. In fact, he loved them so much I'm not sure he took them off much those first few days. This is how we found him after he'd gone to bed the evening he brought them home: Gratefully, we were all back to normal in time to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with friends: Since then, we've been gearing up for Christmas and enjoying the season. Jared and Emily have been poring over toy catalogs, preparing lists for Santa and otherwise waiting for the big man in red: A few more random shots: I love that my kids enjoy watching cooking shows as much as I do: Jared's latest form of entertainment. He calls it "throwing a party."

Emily loves to be in time out. Yes, you read that right. Here she is enjoying a little thinking time in the corner after hitting her brother. The funniest thing is that she actually stays there until we call her.

Helping Daddy with the dishes: