Winter Report

So we have been pretty busy for the last month. We went to North Carolina and back for a week at Christmas. We were able to travel for free with the kids for the last time. I anticipate that we won't get to do too much flying with them for a while. They were great in the plane which was nice. Lucy was with me (this is John writing) and Levi was with his mom. We bought a portable DVD player. Lucy watched her favorite movie (Enchanted) on one of the flights. Man, that girl is addicted to that movie. Becky is worried Lucy is going to end up a pretty pink princess, which irks her feminist tendencies. We will probably bring her over to the dark side during her teenage years and reorient any princess proclivities (at least we hope so!). I put a lot of pictures on this post, mostly going in reverse chronilogical order.

So, I have taken Lucy sledding twice this season. Her tolerance for the cold and snow is about 30 minutes. I learned the hard way; and my expectations for a toddler to put up with "fun" in the snow were a little high. My memories of sledding are from when I was around 10, so naturally I assumed she would like it as much as I did when I was that age. Dragging a cold screaming toddler the half mile from the park home was a valuable lesson. The second time I got wise and drove. She did enjoy the first 10 minutes as can be seen in the above photo.

Lucy is a full-blown 2 year-old now. Our girl has the misfortune of being born two days after Christmas. That doesn't seem to stop her grandparents from going all out! She was spoiled to death for Christmas and her Birtday. Becky made a Key Lime pie for us and for Lucy we made pound cake. She wanted to touch the candles instead of blow them out, so I had to help. We had our friends the Warnocks over with their daughter Emory. A good time was had by all.

Here's a recent picture of Levi at his Grandparent's house. We were able to go outside in North Carolina which was real nice. Pretty much in the 60s all week. Becky is claiming Levi looks like her, but I think the Edvalson side might win out. Luckily, this guys loves to sleep. Becky asked everyone to pray for a baby that sleeps well when she was pregnant. So far it seems her prayers have been answered. Levi is a good natured baby when he isn't gassy and Lucy isn't mawling him. He likes to eat all the time, which is hard on Mom. Overall though, we like this boy just fine.

A couple of days before Christmas Grammy Carroll took Lucy and the rest of us to see the mecahnical singing bears at a shopping center. Lucy of course was hamming it up with her dance routine. While normally animated mechanical singing freaks me out a bit, I was happy Lucy had so much fun. Bears aren't as bad as those animated Santas, so I was fine. Afterwards we went to a book store. I bought this young adult book called The House of the Scorpion. I read it in about a day. It blows Harry Potter out of the water. Clever idea about a boy who is a clone and comes of age and embraces his humanity. Anyway, I like to escape to fiction on the holidays.

This is a picture of Becky and her Mom at a Raptor recovery center that we went to. I would include Bird pictures but they didn't turn out super well. Lucy liked the Owls the best and kept whoooing at them. I like this picture of Becky and her mom, I chose it because of the hazy angelic glow. In all seriousness Becky's Mom is an angelic presence in our lives. She spent a month with us when the baby was born only to go back to find out Becky's dad had to have a quintuple by-pass! Grandpa Fred seems to be recovering well, and we were certainly happy and grateful to spend some time with him and the rest of the family this Christmas. Becky's Grandma is doing super well and loved seeing the babies.

Finally, I thought I would finish with our adorable Lucy. I really didn't think my genes could contribute to something this cute. She keeps us entertained which is good this time a year, especially as I finish my qualifying exams in preperation for my dissertation work. This year will mean a lot of changes for us. We might be in Guatemala this time next year or not all depending on funding and grants I might or might not win. We will keep you posted. I am still giving the anthropology thing a go. Our prayers will be with all of you who are far and close. In this tough economic season, we hope you all are able to keep employed and enjoying life despite any hardships. Also, I want to thank all of you who sent Christmas cards and didn't get any from us. We were major slackers this year. But if you sent one, you have been accounted for and will get something next year. Unless, we are in Guatemala at which case this blog will probably be the best source for Edvalsonian related news. Hasta La Proxima!