Welcome 2011!

I love a New Year! It is always such a fresh start and a chance to try to be a little better. We welcomed the new year with bad bout of the stomach flu. Hopefully, that means we have gotten it over for the rest of the year! While Jordan was off playing with friends, Ashton was especially under the weather, so we took the opportunity to make a patchwork quilt together from my material scraps. Ever since Ashton sewed PJ pants for Activity Days, she has been begging me to let her sew more. And she has really picked it up. Her grandmas would be so proud. Regan and I made a little quilt for her baby doll, too. When I do things like this with my kids, it reminds me to slow down, quit trying to accomplish a million things, and just enjoy them!

The girls started back to school on Tuesday (after Christmas break) and they were so excited to wear their new clothes. Tod had encouraged me to be a little less practical and a little more fun in letting them have some more stylish clothes. They were loving it- scarves, ties, sparkles, etc. Incidentally, Tod has complained this week that there are sparkles and sequins ALL over the house...I'm not saying a word! They did look pretty cute though, all dolled up. We have also been experimenting with curling hair with my flat iron. Regan especially likes it because she looks like cousin Maya.

Cole is into absolutely everything. He drags chairs around the house and climbs up to get into drawers and cupboards. He loves his cars and his balls. Favorite words right now include "cuppy", "gink", "more", "yep" and "dammies" (pajamas), and "gils" (girls). We love the fact that he can finally distinguish among all of the girls and knows them by name. He keeps us laughing and actually slept all night a couple of times this week!

Basketball season is upon us! Tod is coaching Jordan's team and I am coaching Ashton's team. I have to say I had no expectations going in...and my team really blew things out of the water yesterday with a GREAT game. Ashton herself had 10 points. Jordan claims that she is still "confused" by the sport. Good thing she has 8 weeks to figure it out!

2011 is off to a great start! This coming week we are celebrating a very important birthday. Stay tuned!