January Happenings

Oh how winter just keeps dragging on...

Even though the days are short, snowy and miserably cold somehow this month has flown by. The girls are busy as usual... Lex with basketball, soccer and snowboarding .... and Liv with tennis, flute and girl scouts. Lex got voted cutest girl in class for the yearbook last week and also decided to try out for the school play... she will be playing the part of Prince Ali Baba's attendant in their production of "Aladdin" so we will be looking forward to that.

Bella is learning to "sit and wait" at the door before she is allowed out and she is making some really good progress... we still have more work to do but she is working really hard. And, Baby just got fat this winter. The pint sized animal managed to gain 2 pounds! Here is a picture of Liv's favorite thing to do with her back fat... put it in a pony tail!

Nate and I may also have gotten slightly more round (let's just say medical school and a new job have not been kind to our waistlines) BUT we have gotten ourselves under control and are shedding the weight even as we speak as we have been rocking the special K challenge. I am 3 lbs away from my goal weight and victory will be mine!

Nate is still working half the week here and half the week in Buffalo and it looks like they want him to learn as much as he can before we relocate so it will probably continue for another month, maybe two.

Here is one of my study buddies that found a comfy spot around my neck to help me cram for an exam the other night. School is coming along for me, I am becoming more and more anxious for my first board exam and the start of clinical rotations so I will continue to whine and bitch through it. Not much to say about it... hate it, it sucks, I am miserable but it is self inflicted misery so I will keep trying to suck it up!

I anxiously await the oversized rats prediction on Tuesday, and cross my fingers for an early spring for all of us!

Peek n' Peak

Nate took the girls up snowboarding last Sunday. Liv has been bugging us for the last year to learn to snowboard and Lex said she wouldn't mind taking her up so we figured we would let her try it.

We were originally going to have Liv take a introductory lesson but she just wanted Lex to show her how so that is what they did. Nate found a spot in the lodge to watch them as they came down the hills and off they went!

Alexis was so sweet and so patient with Liv, I get teary just thinking of what a cute relationship they have. The last couple of years they haven't spent as much time together because of the huge space in years between them so it is fun to see them get to relate with each other and find common ground again. I really think the two of them had a really great time together!

Liv says she LOVES snowboarding and can't wait to do it again but her booty was mighty sore from all the falling that she did!

January in the Northeast

Last weekend Nate and I decided to paint our upstairs den, hall and bathroom, these were the last rooms that needed it so I am glad to finally have it done. I chose a neutral cinnamon color, which I think turned out quite nice.

Of course the bathroom still has the ugly 1970's yellow tile but I think this wall color tones it down a bit and makes it more tolerable.... okay it is still quite hideous... but I only have to look at it for a few more months and then it is somebody else's to hate!

The den is pretty plane but there is nothing quite like a fresh coat of paint and I am the only one that really uses it so, for now, it works for my needs.

Me and the kids are back to school and none of us are too happy about that but it is what it is! My semester ends May 14th and then I am scheduled to take my first board exam June 4th... which I am thinking of switching to May 28th so I can have Memorial weekend off and a week break before I start my first rotation June 7th.

Nate was given the opportunity to do some training in the Erie office for the next couple of months, which is really nice and couldn't have happened at a better time with this WONDERFUL winter weather we have been having. The roads in PA are absolutely atrocious, you cross the state line into NY and they are unequivocally 10 times better... I guess in PA they haven't heard of salting the roads... or getting up before 8am to plow. Now Nate is working two days a week up in Buffalo and three days here in drerie. We are really anxious to see what this will mean for his career and can't wait to relocate to Buffalo this summer... hoping we can sell this house in this crap hole economy!

Now that winter is here to stay I've been shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling... and I am totally sick of it!

I think the only one that loves this weather is Bella. After our morning walk I usually shovel and she sits at the door and whines so the last couple of days I have let her come out with me while I shovel the driveway and she has been pretty good to stay close. This morning was a good test for her because I had her out while Liv and the neighbor kids walked to the bus stop and she was such a good girl to sit and watch her. She did whine a little while she looked at me, and then at Liv, and then back at me, but she knew she wasn't allowed to go with.

She is so pretty to watch when she is running around in the snow outside (of course I am her momma and a little biased). She was frantic this morning because the birds were up in the neighbors trees and she loves to chase them when they swoop into our feeder.

As a side note:

......I think I saw a Pileated Woodpecker today... I am 95% sure of it... and really excited! They are about the size of a crow and very shy so I am hoping it comes back so I can make a correct I.D. and enter it in my birding notebook!

Even Baby ventured out today for a second on one of Bella's well worn paths... she is such a ninny muggin... I do love her!

Prison Break

Nate and I came home from a movie tonight to find that Bella had busted Baby out of her kennel. Baby is not a trained animal and, therefore, cannot be trusted when left alone.

I find it extremely comical because Baby doesn't really like Bella... this is what they were doing moments after we arrived home. Bella chases Baby around and Baby snarls and bites Bella's nose. I do wonder if Baby was grateful to Bella, at least for a second!

Thank goodness there were no surprises for us to clean up!

Hope you all had a fabulous New Year's Eve and that you will all have a wonderful New Year!