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We haven't been up to much lately. The girls are demonstrating their lounging around ability. For some reason they thought it was fun to sit there with cards in their mouths. Don't worry this is not a deck of cards that we plan on ever playing with, just them. We have been up to so much of nothing that I can't even remember anything we did do this past weekend.

James' birthday is on Thursday. He is getting old! (28) I like to make fun since for the next month and a half I'm 2 years younger! We don't have any big plans we were going to go to the South Carolina upstate -- mountains - but some forecasters are calling for snow in the mountains and thats a bit cold for my Florida blood so I backed out. Maybe we'll make a last minute trip to Statesboro who knows. We aren't big on planning around here. Maybe we'll come visit you. Let us know if you want us... based on last weekend we obviously need some adventure in our lives.

We just learned that our beaver is not a beaver after all. He/ She is really a muskrat which is just like a beaver but without the flat tail. It finally came out of the water enough for us to see the tail and it was official, not a beaver. James was a little disappointed, but according to different websites he will be a good addition to our little pond helping to keep algae levels and plant over growth down. The ducks still don't like him much, but I guess they are going to have to get used to him because he definitely appears to be moving into the neighborhood!

So, Jenny and I put the girls down for their nap yesterday and I looked out the window. Something was in our pond under the willow tree behind our house. I originally thought it was a rabbit. I pulled out my nifty binoculars that Jenny got me for Christmas and it looked like a rodent. We deduced that it must be a beaver. The tail confirmed it. I consider myself a country boy but I was shocked at how small this guy was. When I think of beavers, I generally think of what we saw in Alaska. This guy really was the size of a rabbit. The ducks dwarfed him. They must grow everything bigger up there in AK. It is a little strange to see a beaver in our duck pond. The ducks didn't care for him. I don't think they knew quite what it was. Got to think up a name for him now....

This weekend we finally took our bicycle trailer for a spin through Saluda Shoals (the neat park that I teach classes in now). For this special occasion the girls had to get new "hats". They only stay on if James is also wearing his "hat" and we make a big deal about how neat and cool they are. This Kate sporting her hat the night we got them and started to get the girls used to them. James and the girls wore their hats for most of the evening that night. I now feel left out not having a cool hat. I guess if we plan on making this a routine Saturday excursion I'll have to get my own. The girls did not enjoy the trip as much as we did. The hats don't fit so well so they have to lift them up to see if we point something out and Kate seems to love to lean on Emma the whole time so poor Emma looks like she is squished. Everyone that we passed thought they were sleeping. Boy were they fooled. Whenever other people were out of sight the wailing would begin.

The remainder of our Saturday was spent do'in things that have needed do'in since fall started. We finally blew/raked up all the leaves in the yard (now we are waiting on a 50 gallon drum so that we can burn them... way to many to bag) and blew out the gutters. James handled the gutters I did the yard. It is a fun new toy that we got for Christmas and definitely made short work of it. You would think after owning a house for 2 years before this one that we would have acquired all the homeowner necessary tools by now... I guess thats what happens when your first home comes with two trees that were shorter than James. Raking was not something we ever did there, here we love the trees but had forgotten how much work they made.

We finally got some Christmas pictures off the camera so here they are. Sorry there are so many but it gives up a glimpse of the craziness that Christmas with kids can be.


This is our new pea pod see saw. We love it, though Kate does most of the riding in the middle like a rocking horse.






















This is Emma opening something.







Emma again. The real story here was the first thing Kate opened was a toy pooh book that made lots of nosise and had flashing lights needless to say Kate was quite contented to play with the first thing she opened and it wasn't until that was taken and hiden that she took interest in opening anything else.















Emma showing off her hat that Grammy and Pappy got for them in Austria. We have one for each though Emma wears hers everywhere and if it's not her her head she is signing hat until we find it.









Even Sophie got in on the action. Can't remember that last time Sophie got her picture taken around here, probably a little over 21 months ago.



We finally took down Christmas two nights ago. The next morning the girls came down and pointed as usual to the where the tree had been then looked confused as to where it went. It had been up since the first weekend in December so it was beginning to feel like part of the normal furniture. Waiting this long to take it down only means now there is less time till we get to put it back up again.

Sorry it has been so silent lately for us. We have had a wave of company that started on New Years Eve and ends tonight. We love having a full house though so no complaints. For Christmas this year we don't have many pictures of our own. We'll have to bum them off the grandparents so that you can see. We were busy playing with our new toy, a camcorder, so no still life photos were taken. This is the only one in terms of christmas presents that James got. It is the girls playing with their new kitchen that James put together. The love it and the "food" (wooden blocks). They also got a set of dishes for it and for the first few days wanted all of their meals put on those then they would carry around the bowl or plate and eat. Got to be a little messy so we ended that one!! The other picture is our Christmas card picture. We were so busy with studying for exams that only close family got them so for those of you that missed our card this year you at least can know what it looked like. 

I thought I'd break the silence of the new year.  Hope to let you all know a little about the Christmas vacation.  Its been a bit crazy.  Holidays are that way and holidays mixed with tests, work, trouble calls, and twins are a little bit crazier.  Not that I'm complaining.  Thursday before Christmas, I took my first CCNP test.  I passed.  Yay, four to go.  After the Statesboro trip, Jenny took her ACSM test to be a fitness instructor, and also passed.  But those tests stole some of our holiday.  I'd say they stole a little holiday joy from me.  I was all into Christmas when we got our tree but then I started studying and missed The Grinch and Frosty the Snowman.  It was all downhill from there.

Anyway, Jenny's mom was in town this week.  She brought presents for the girls.  Her big present for them was a kitchen.  Almost like the ones we grew up with.  It's even made out of wood.  Took me a few hours to put it together.  Every time I'd add a new piece to the base, I'd realize that some part was reversed.  So I assembled and disassembled several times. 

Anyway, that's what's going on.  Trying to get back into the swing of things.  It was good to have a holiday, time off, seeing family, cooking pralines...