The Weather Outside is Frightful...

This week has been bitterly cold in central Illinois. We had to deal with ice and snow for most of the week, which made our long commutes a bit longer. Derek's mom was scheduled to head back on Tuesday, but decided stay until Wednesday because of the threat of bad weather. Towards the end of the week, our baby sitter in Rochester and her family were bitten by that awful flu bug that seems to be EVERYWHERE. Luckily our Atlanta sitter was available to watch Addy for part of the day Thursday and Derek took off on Thursday and Friday to stay home with Addy. So, Addy got some extra Daddy time this week.

I survived my last week of school before winter break. Although it seemed like a very long week, the students behaved considerably well considering the circumstances of a whole week of inside recess and holiday hype. I am so excited to be on winter break for 2 weeks!

This weekend was a very busy one for us. On Friday we visited our friends Kelley and Ray and their 18 month old daughter Evelyn. Kelley is due to have their second child any day now and we wanted to see them before we headed home to Indiana. We had a great time visiting with them and we enjoyed watching Adalyn and Evelyn interact with each other.

On Saturday Addy and I ran errands at the mall, which was an absolute NUT HOUSE, while Derek went to the office to catch up on some work. Later that evening our friend Kim watched Adalyn while Derek and I went to dinner and ran a few more errands. Kim gave Addy an interactive easel for Christmas that she loves to play with. Addy had a great time with Kim and Olive and we are so thankful that Kim is so willing to watch her when we are in need of a sitter.

On Sunday the temperature dropped significantly. So, we decided to stay inside all day. We had an early Christmas morning and exchanged presents with each other. We decided to open gifts early so that Adalyn (and her mommy and daddy) had time to play with her gifts and so we wouldn't have to tote all of the gifts to Indiana. Adalyn had a good time opening her gifts and loved the wrapping paper. Her favorite parts of the gifts were the wrapping paper and boxes. We also straightened the house and I made a batch of sugar cookies to take to Derek's office for a lunch on Tuesday. It was a wonderful early Christmas celebration. I am glad that we stayed home and didn't brave the -1 degree weather!

This week we are headed to the Hoosier state. Due to turtle-like internet access at our parents' houses, the blog will not be updated until sometime after we return on the 30th. We would like to wish our friends and family a safe and wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!