Sister Winter

Yikes time has flown since Christmas! We have been home a week already and hosted Paul's parents for a lot of that time. The new toys are starting to feel at home already, even if a couple of suitcases have yet to be unpacked. It finally feels like winter now too after a LOVELY fall, but for the first time in a years, I am into it a little bit. I'm enjoying the coziness and playing inside. (Talk to me again after we've had more than two days of freezing weather in a row.) And I am heartened by the fact that it is only a couple of months til the cold weather will also be fading away again. And then, holy moly!, Ella will be 2! Maybe that's another reason I am enjoying these couple of cold cozy days. My little girls are getting big so fast! Nora is sitting up like a champ. And she has to be a champ, because Ella tries knock her over sometimes. Ella is chattering away, telling me stories like, "Monkey. Rainies. Eat. Big BIG." Translation: "Remember when we went to Monkey Jungle and fed the monkeys who were way up high some raisins?" I get it.

Here are some snapshots of the last week or so since we've been home.

 One of our other Christmas monkeys getting some love. (Nicola these have been a huge hit! Also, Meg and Joe, the elephant--also referred to as "big BIG," and the doggie are no longer scary and are now much  loved members of our toy community.)

Clue: the Office Version, a new Christmas addition to our game collection, making for a night of entertainment and intrigue for the McCalls, junior and senior. 

Snuggling under a fuzzy blankie with your baby sister? Pure delight! Don't ask me where the Japanese tourist pose came from on the last photo, but I thought it was pretty cute.

P.S. You may be wondering where my Christmas update is. The sad truth, my friends, is that my camera spent Christmas lonely in North Carolina on the kitchen table, while all the fun and sun was had down south. I will be getting a hold of some great shots from my family members for my own memories, but they will likely be up on other blogs and I just don't need to pirate their photos like that. Check out ohsugarhoneyhoney.wordpress.com for a great recap. Maybe I will put up some other ones too with my own specific commentary, but Meg's are super! Sighhhhh, we had so much fun. 

P.P.S. If you don't get my title, please go listen to the song so named by Sufjan Stevens. It is so lovely. And since we have sisters in our house and it is winter, it makes a great wordplay for what is going on now around here, which I enjoy and hopefully doesn't confound anyone else excessively.