Kinast Connection: Hibernating

Adelynn learned about hibernation in preschool and made a bear cave out of a paper plate with a paper bear sleeping inside. That is how we have felt at our house, well, since Christmas really! We all took our turns being sick – which lasted 3 weeks in total because 3 of us were really really sick (Ava is the lucky one) - and it’s been so stinking cold that going anywhere hasn’t been appealing. I had a friend post on Facebook today about how we need winter and we don’t even realize it. She was visiting her Mom in Sarasota, Florida where it is currently 77*, so listening to her talk about how we need winter was a little hard to take in :) Anyway, she made a good point that it’s good for us to slow down for a few months out of the year.

I apologize for missing our blog post last time! I was just thinking about doing it (a month late) when our turn came around again! Dave, Randy, and Dave’s friend Jordan just spent a week in Las Vegas for the annual CES trip. (Consumer Electronics Show) Dave had a good time and stayed healthy this time. I may or may not have slathered him in oils and Silver Shield before he left :)

Ava continues to keep me on my toes! No change there! It’s hard to believe she’s almost 2! She is such a happy little thing. She’s enthusiastic about everything. We call her the sober “Woo hoo” girl.

Here she is using the toilet paper holder basket as a hat. She also has learned she can put her ponies in it and replace the toilet paper. Her sister has no idea where her secret stash is. Pretty brilliant I say.

I don’t think I have shared this here yet. But this is Sharpie and this is Ava. I believe we will be painting our kitchen walls this Spring!

Poor Ava sometimes has to learn things the hard way. This is after she touched a burner on the stove. I had just turned it off from being on high. She is now very very aware of things being hot. In fact, she was just blowing on the dryer this morning :)

Like I said, never a dull moment.

I’ve been doing a lot of decluttering around the house still. Organizing was my goal for 2014, but I started seeing that organization was really just moving around junk we didn’t need. I’m kind of in the (forever long) piles and sorting stage, so it looks like nothing has happened, and it feels like nothing has happened most of the time, but I know that soon it will all be worth it!

Adelynn continues to LOVE preschool. When she was sick last week, she was absolutely devastated that she had to stay home. Her eyes were half open from feeling so bad and she was begging me to go. We just got a letter today that said the owner has decided to retire after 23 years. She was my teacher too, so that is a little bit sad. It sounds like the new owner is very competent though and I have no doubt the owner would turn it over to someone great.

Here she is at her Christmas program. She sang loud (nicely) and did all the actions.

She loves being on the stage! Here she is right before her winter dance recital.

I got to go shopping with Queen Elsa! Everyone in the store was so sweet to her about it – of course she just ate it up!

I was with a friend one night and I peeked in on Adelynn when I got home. She was asleep with her BFF. Dave said he didn’t have the heart to ask her to take off her wings.

I have found something that I am incredibly passionate about and incredibly busy with. It is called IF: Gathering. It’s a women’s conference that meets in Austin, TX every year. The 2,700 seat arena sold out in 15 minutes this year! We are doing it in simulcast form for our women’s ministry at church. It has taken a lot of hours of work and it’s still a few weeks away. We are pretty excited about it!

I’m also trying a Wildtree freezer cooking class at a friend’s house this weekend. That should be really fun and a good chance to expand our taste buds :)

Here’s a few more pictures. This one is from Pam and Vicki’s birthday.

My Grandma bought her piano with her own money before she married my Grandpa (would be over 65 years ago). We had it in our house for several years until this Christmas. My Grandma doesn’t play the keyboard she has at the Manor, but would love a real piano. She never would have dreamed of asking for her piano back from us. But we gave it back to her and will have it tuned for Christmas. She cried so many happy tears :) Around the same time, the church my mom works at (First Presbyterian) was getting rid of their piano that is over 100 years old. So we moved one piano in and one piano out all on the same day. This one is very tall and I think it’s beautiful (the picture does not do it justice). It turned out to be a win/win!