Post Holiday Blues

"It's over?" This was the question Z posed to me the day after Christmas. His little 3 year old mind couldn't cope with the fact that after all that hype for a month, one day and it's over. I told him, yes and it will be a bummer like that every year. I just couldn't explain to him why if Christmas is such a big deal why it all but disappears the day after. A lesson for all of us I suppose.

3 years old has to be the best age for Christmas - he "got it" this year and not only does he believe in Santa, but every Santa he saw was the real one. It was priceless. We actually had to wake him up Christmas morning but when he woke up, I've never seen his face so intent. If you don't believe in magic or Santa, you must spend Christmas with a toddler. We had more fun this year than we've had in a long time.

The thing this year was firefighters. Ever since they came to preschool, he's been obsessed. We've lived next door to a fire station his whole life but that escapes him for some reason. The screams he uttered when opening his firefighter suit were amazing and I think that was Aunt Missy's real gift.

M was interested in the lights and actually opened gifts. But as usual, what brother had was more interesting than what she got.

Now we are on to what seems to be our annual bout with illness. M spiked a fever Christmas evening. Thought it was teething but apparently not. Z now has it and we're just waiting for the doc to open. At least we still have a week of vacation. I hope your holiday was restful and fun. If you don't have to work and aren't sick - go out and enjoy the snow!

Christmas Letter 2009

If memory serves, we hoped for a boring 2009 and we got it. Boring gets a bad rap sometimes. 2009 was a quiet year for the most part. Much to be thankful for and no major catastrophes. Obviously our most exciting part of the year is M. Born on March 4th, she's added lots of excitement to our house. Crawling at 5 months and trying to walk already at 9 months, she's a mover and a shaker. She's been a very easy baby, not much upsets her.

Z adjusted well to the role of big brother. He turned 3 in June and was potty trained very shortly after that and started preschool this fall. Looking at pictures, it's very obvious that he's not our "baby" anymore and too quickly becoming a big boy. He loves preschool as it challenges his very active mind.

With two little kids in the house, Teddy just wants sleep and quiet.

Mark and I are still at our same jobs and feel very lucky to be where we are in this economic climate. My year started off on a bad note with the shooting the first week of school but since then it's not been a bad year at all. Budget cuts of course are hurting our district and will most likely get worse but so far it's not been awful.

With the addition of a baby, we attempted to sell our house in hopes of upgrading in size but it's not a seller's market so it looks as though we're here for the long haul and will be doing major remodeling this spring and summer turning the upstairs into another much needed bedroom and bathroom.

As I said before, this year has been quiet. A couple of camping trips and a new Wii have been our major excitement and we've been good with that. Boy if our 20 year old selves could see us now! Hoping you all had a good year as well and best wishes to all for an even better 2010!

Love, The Elkins

9 Months

9 Month Pictures. (Thanks again to Charlie)

Notice how all three kids (the oldest 4-legged one is in the lower corner) take up most of the bed. This is why we need regular chiropractic care.

Santa was just an oddity. No tears, no reaction.

With Great Uncle David.


Yes, it's really been 9 months already. Hard to believe I was really that pregnant this time last year, funny how you block those things out. The Christmas tree is still standing and that is our Christmas miracle! M is standing up, cruising along furniture and getting into whatever she can, hence we were sure the tree would not make it long but she's not that interested in it. It's her brother that moves ornaments around and obsesses with it. Boxes and wrapping paper will be a hit though. She's got 4 teeth now and is well past baby foods, if she can't feed it to herself, she doesn't want it. Every bit as active and feisty as her brother, she keeps us tired and there's never a dull moment around here!