What are we doing?

Heidi in her Pjs. They are little big, but she loves them.

Many of you are probably wondering what we have been up to this last month. Well, lots really. We had a great Christmas. We are still trying to find a place for all the toys. Thanks so much for sending such fun gifts. Heidi hangs out in her pretty PJs and plays go fish or with Mason's cars. She jumped up and down when she saw the CARS coloring book. Mason chases her around and plays with anything he can reach. After a great Christmas, we all got a cold that knocked Jared flat, laid Heidi up for a few days and just brushed Mason and I. The cold lingers on in Heidi and Mason. They both wake up and night and cough their little lungs up, so they sleep in a bit more, but when they are awake, they can really move.

Jared getting rid of all our shipping boxes from Christmas.

Heidi spends her day playing games, coloring, and just being two. Although, typically a very sweet, obedient child she can get grumpy and very loud as she bosses Mason. She loves to learn about things and will ask me "What's this?" when reading an unfamiliar book. She "reads" to her stuffed animals and even to Mason. She loves running around.

Mason also loves running around. Okay, not running, but he would if he could. He scoots pretty fast and is always underfoot. If he sees a light on in another room he will go push the door open and explore. He is completely fearless. His favorite past time is Heidi. He loves watching her do things. I have found him in the shower with her, completely dressed. I assume she helped him get in before she decided she was done and got out. The other day we turned around and he had pulled himself up on the toy box. Remember this is a kid who gets places by dragging himself along.

Mason in the shower. The red water in the bucket is food coloring. Heidi loves to play with colored water.

For those of you who are wondering, we still don't know if we will move south. We keep reading about the failing economy and bad job situation down there. We don't want to move our family and then end up laid off. We also don't want to move to a different state and then move again to go to school in 18 months. We are looking for rentals up here for now. We looked at one yesterday. It was a house with a large yard, 3 bedrooms and a carport. It was pretty expensive, but we were willing to live a little more frugally if it worked out. Sounds great, huh? The inside of the house wasn't so great. The floor was peeling up in places and the carpet was bare where dogs had run over it. There were places I would not want my kids playing, inside the house. Then they have to disclose a bug problem (that is under "control") and a mold problem. Umm, not for us, I would much rather live in a small, clean apartment than watch pennies to live there. So we are still in the market. We just keep praying and trying to learn where the Lord wants us right now.

Mason loves to get up like this. The kid has some stong arms.