Don't ask me why, but the guys in our house (with the obvious exception of Pete) have become quite focused on their hair. And 2 of the 3 of have been willing to spend a lot of their own money at the barbershop lately. The results are styles like this:
Jinna Rai is still delighting in these new Northern winter experiences. Today as we were driving she was gushing over how huge and lovely the icicles hanging off the roofs were. “They look like decorations!” she said, “Clever, God!”
... While driving to school on a day with sub-zero temperatures:
Me: At least it's sunny. And hey, the good news is that we will never have to go out when it's freezing cold like this AND rainy. It physically can't happen. That was a nice gift God gave us in this world!
Colsen: Yeah, well, it's too bad it can't be warm AND snowing. That would be cool.
Cole's passion for running continues even in the winter. He was SO excited to get his new uniform.
Miles promptly told him he looked like an idiot with shorts that short.
Gotta love little brothers.
Speaking of brothers, the 2 types of running that Cole is asked to do at his track practices are: striders and miles. He can never escape those 2!
But the drills are paying off. For the first part of the season, Cole held the fastest miles among all the 9th-graders in the state!
We had an enthusiastic epiphany celebration this year! After Jinna found the toothpick in the treasure chest cake, she mandated that we chalk the door, play a game (Sagrada), and then watch a movie. I love celebrating with these big kids!
After living through the last few years, Miles wasn't taking any chances while playing "Pandemic."
No chances at all.
This year was our best NYE celebrate in many years. Most of us even stayed up past midnight!
After playing a rousing game of Blitz Ball, we ended up going down to Pittsburgh to see some things... We did a tiny bit of shopping, ate at an amazing Thai restaurant, and then went up on Mt. Washington to check out the view.
(I still can't get used to those heights and chose not to go out on the overhang.)
Then we came home to watch a movie together -- Air Force One. Strider got off work and was able to join us for the end of the evening (he chose US over a party with his friends!). I loved that we were all together!
