My valentines in Old Mesilla

Here are my beautiful children at the plaza in Old Mesilla in the Valentine's shirts I made for them. Oh, and Kate's wearing her tutu, which turned out to be too-too big... but still looked kind of cool in the afternoon sunlight.

20 months, divided

Yesterday evening, I realized that Kate is now 20 months old. Since we left California when she was 10 months old, and have spent the rest of our time since living with parents--first mine, and now Brian's--that means for HALF of Kate's life, we have not lived in our own place. How lame is that? We never meant to be living with parents for this long; it's just happened through a series of unfortunate events: a canceled short-sale transaction, not having enough time for a true fixer-upper, the unimpressive state of the Las Cruces rental market, and a general lack of saved-up money. I doubt my little missy minds at all. It just makes me feel a little pathetic. Oh well... there is light at the end of this long tunnel. Hopefully, very soon, we will be in a place of our own.

Chez Grandma

Jack and his Grandma Lynn have recently enjoyed much time in the kitchen together. For his birthday and Christmas, he received a chef's coat, apron, and hat, as well as a cookie decorating kit and utensils. He's now a expert at baking... or at least taste-testing.

Snow day

So, I guess I totally needed a day to get all my craft stuff organized... and my kids needed an excuse to trash the rest of the house. It snowed today in Las Cruces! The most snow in 23 years, we heard: four inches total! Of course, all our snow gear is buried deep in storage. So I was hesitant to take them out. But, after Jack bugged me all morning about going outside, I decided we should try it. We just bundled up and didn't stay out long. And not enough snow to attempt a snowman, of course. This was Kate's first time in the snow. She was 10 months when we left the Sierra--too young to play in it. But Jack? He was an old pro.