How Did Life Get So Busy?

Hello everyone!  (if anyone is out there still reading...)

I keep waiting for things to die down to record the things I wish to remember, but it just seems like they never will!

We had a fun yet busy Christmas break - preceded by the whole family taking their turn with the flu.  Luckily, Jay, the last to pay his dues, was well enough by Christmas to eat a full meal and even dessert! :)  However, the unexpected sickness did put me behind and I still have a basket with undelivered Christmas cards and a couple of presents sitting on my desk...

What do you think is it even worth trying to deliver them at this point?

A couple of days after Christmas, we got to spend some time with Jay's family - for an unexpectedly extended trip after their flight was cancelled due to snow in Boston.  It was so great to spend time with all of them and to have an excuse to make big meals (and to have extra help making them :D).  I'll expand more on that later.  (hopefully later this week...)

Then, all last week, Jay was out of town at back-to-back conferences in Florida and then Chicago, meanwhile, I was trying to arrange people to watch my kids while attending a ballet class at BYU this semester- I'm finally trying to take advantage of my "professor's wife" status.  It didn't occur to me to make sure the class was not barely too early for any students to be out of school to babysit, and also so late that willing moms couldn't help out because they have to pick up their kids from school and there is not enough room in their car for all my kids and theirs...  Luckily, I have the best neighbors **EVER** and they were willing to go to all ends to help me out- including watching for increments and then handing the kids off elsewhere...  I don't know how the rest of the world gets along without awesome neighbors like mine.

Provo rocks.

Anyway, I feel a few weeks behind in all aspects of life, but it seems to carry on just the same.  and so do I.

Unfortunately, I haven't found myself taking as many photos lately.  I guess it's because we do mostly routine things that don't seem like particular "kodak moments"  (has that phrase been updated?  instagram-worthy moments? :D) BUT, I still feel like I have a lot of ruminations lately, and hopefully I can remember what they all are long enough to write some of them down.

I do have a few photos, though, and I'll start with those first.  I'd also like to do a little bit of a "kid review", because I feel like they have all grown up so much these past few months and I just don't want to forget about the changes they've undergone.  I feel a particular urgency as The Frog has lately been asking me a lot of questions about himself as a baby in watching Hazel and her milestones, and it makes me want to be sure to record some of the fun things from their childhood so that I will be able to have answers for his curiosity.

It never ceases to amaze me how when The Frog was a baby, I lived for every little milestone and rejoiced in every minute advancement, yet when he asked me the other day, I couldn't even remember what his first word was!!

Oh mother, I'm beginning to understand you more each day...  How you did it with 6?  I doubt I ever will fully.  It takes an amazing person.

So, if you hate those cheesey, "hurray! my kid can now perform another act of minutiae" kind of posts, you may want to skip the rest of this week. :)