January; so far has been pretty great.

 We celebrated G's birthday with some friends from school on a moderately cold day in January.  It was the first time his Winter Birthday party has fallen on a day that wasn't unseasonably nice.  We used straws to suction marshmallows, drop them in a cup, and then make hot cocoa.  That was the highlight.  Everything else sort of was a drag because of the wind and cold.  But we did have a lot of fun playing the "Bugs in the Kitchen" game my sister Mary gave us.  All the kids were very entertained by that.  Win!

One of Geoff's friends have him a set of mustaches, so now we have this timeless family portrait.

 I love pecan pie!  Grandma L gave me some mini pie pans and I was able to make 4 little pecan pies last week.  I put extra nuts, relative to the filling.  P said his favorite part was that he could just hold it in his hand and eat the whole thing.  Ditto.

 A friend gave us this sweater when it was still too hot to imagine using it.  During the little cold snap last week, it was so perfect.  It's so soft, and matches bB's personality rather well.

 He's such a smiling, peaceful baby.  He reminds me so much of G, but G was going through chemo.  So his level of serenity was amazing.  I thought G's way of just laying still and looking around was his personality +/- chemo.  But bB is similarly peaceful.  M was peaceful too.  I guess it's just that lP was the most recent baby and she was born with an opinion.

I'm practicing the piano almost daily.  I love being able to tackle this previously unattainable skill, and seeing myself progress.  I also love feeling so self-righteous as I take time to practice.  Piano is a way better excuse for ignoring your children than facebook. 

Yesterday lP wanted me to do a puzzle with her and I said I needed to finish playing London Bridge.  I just wanted one more time.  But she told me I should play it 3 more times.  She's 3 and everything is better in sets of 3.  So she patiently waited for me to play it 3 times.  That filled my cup up to go and do puzzles.  It's really so good for me on many levels.