Well, it’s January 2013. The first time I had to write the date this week on a school paper I actually got it right. Amazing. It usually takes me until half-March to do that. You could say I like living in the past. How was your holiday? Bit late to be asking I know, but with the blog back up and running! I’m getting down to the nitty-gritty of what’s been going on the last few weeks around here.

There was snow, lots of wrapping paper, squealing, 10 hours in the car, and paint. Not all at once of course.

The Snow:

We had snow on Christmas, just a touch, and we had snow, a lot, the week before that. Now when I say a lot, what I really mean is like two inches. But let’s be realistic, this is Seattle. A skiff of snow causes the grocery shelves to empty of bread, milk, and liquor in a hurry. Thankfully, I was well stocked on bread, milk, and liquor. So we survived. Even though we had delayed school both days, and it was icy, and I almost put my youngest child on the bus to the wrong school.

These things happen.

The Wrapping Paper: (I would insert pictures of everything here but I’m not feeling like connecting the camera at this exact moment. If it’s not on my phone, you probably won’t be seeing it.)

There were lots of presents around the ‘ole tree this year (and some that didn’t fit under the tree, but fit very well in the garage). Vanilla got lots of Hexbugs, chess lessons, and five 39 Clues books (which he finished days ago). He also got the CLue boardgame, and there have been rip-roaring fun games of Clue going on around here. Secretly, I always wanted Clue when I was a kid, and now we’ve got it. Vanilla reports that Christmas was ‘good’. I’m very happy he enjoyed it.

Sprinkles got the most wished for American Girl doll, Ivy (who is Chinese just like she is), the AG Chinese New Year Outfit, just like hers, a clothing set for Ivy (you see where this is going?) and coloring pencils and paper. Ivy went everywhere we went for a good solid two weeks. She even made her first trip to The Mothership, as I’ve come to call the AG store in Lynnwood. Another happy customer!

Papa was very excited when he opened this little gem I gave him 2 hour Rally Car Class at DirtFish Driving School. It’s pretty safe to say, I’m not letting him anywhere near our cars once he’s completed his class.

Especially mine.

You see, Papa always does good gifts, often very spoil worthy. This year I told him we were going low key. Even knowing I was breaking that rule and getting him the most kick-butt gift of a rally driving class. Best present evah, right? But he just had to go and top my gift the little…well, I’ve promised not to call him names after he tricked me (and so well too) and surprised me with this for Christmas:

This is Maximus. Or Max as we refer to him. This was taken during the hand-off of Darth. See Darth in the background? We loved Darth and his sliding doors, his double dvd screens, his heated seats. But Max…well, we love him too. A lot. And he’s very environmentally friendly. He got 30 mpg during our ten hour trek to the Kettles.

When you think of it that way, Papa did get me a very sensible present, now didn’t he?

Forget sensible, it’s just fun to drive!

So, that was the squealing part of my time away from the blog. The ten hour drive to and from the Kettles was fun….um, no, not really, especially when you add in the dog in the backseat. I shouldn’t be mean. She was a very good dog the whole time actually. It’s just if you know me, and by now you should, trips to visit my mother always involve a bit of anxiety. We do know how to get on each others nerves within about three minutes.

There was snow at the Kettles and Papa got to continue his tradition of going snowmobiling with my dad. He came back in the condition in which he left, which was all that I was asking for. We also continued tradition and had vomit over the holidays. Vanilla gets very nervous/anxious/excited whenever we go to my parents and he sees his cousins. About three minutes after they left he threw up (and then threw up a few more times.)

What’s a holiday without vomit, you know?

The Paint:

We painted (and by we I mean Papa, because my wrist was acting up and I couldn’t hold a paint can and a paintbrush), Papa painted Vanilla’s room. Just the window wall and the inside of the closet. That’s for the big turn the closet into a workspace/storage/bookshelf project which is under construction. We hope to have it done in a couple weeks. You’ll get pictures then, for now here’s the color Vanilla picked out, Coffee Whip:

It’s actually more mild than it appears, it’s a color we can live with and is much better than previous editions of Vanilla’s room which have involved a color we referred to as Road Cone/Home Depot Orange. I am excited to finish the custom desk, and bookshelves. (And by that I mean Papa. I’m just on paint and finishing touches. I come up with the ideas, I don’t build them.)

There you have it. The last three weeks all in a pretty little post. What have you been up to?