Wow! These pics below make me think this blogger must live in Hawaii. . .where the weather is warm and balmy. . .where an afternoon is welcomed with a cooling spray of water. . .ahhhhh. Hmmmm. . .or that this blogger is a big ol' loser who has neglected her blog far too long. . .so long, in fact, that it is almost Christmas!!! A far cry from the fun summertime antics in these last posted pictures.

Okay, so I have a new look to my blog - and a new outlook on blogging. I am ready to begin this year recording those sweet little moments that make me stop and smile.

Like just today. . .
my little Katie bug stayed home from school sick today. . .the doctor told us she has a sinus infection and mild pneumonia in her right lower lung - blech!. . .but, ya know, this tough, little girl didn't feel too bad at all. . .more bored than anything else.

So we decorated the Christmas tree! It has been standing tall in the middle of our living room and blinking with its twinkly lights for a few days now, but we just haven't had time to actually add anything else. So today seemed like the perfect day. I put Nate to bed for a nap and lugged all the huge, plastic totes up from the basement. We put on Christmas music, and Katie carefully unwrapped each ornament. She liked to proclaim who the ornament belonged to (she or Nathan), reminisce about when she got it, and who gave it to her.

She finally looked up at me after we were surrounded by all these precious ornaments. . .glitter- covered, styrofoam egg carton cup with a pipe cleaner hook. . .laminated construction paper star with Katie's tiny little face in the middle. . .popsicle stick crazy star with "snow" glued on. . .kate and Nate's baby "first Christmas" ornaments. . .heirloom Radko ornaments given by grandma every year. . .Greg and D'Lynn ornaments given to the children each year since they were born. . .even "our first Christmas together" and "first home" ornaments that were gotten before long before these sweet little children's hands were here to hold them. Katie sat amongst these ornaments around her and suddenly said, "such good memories. . ." She just sounds so adult sometimes that I have to laugh! What a blessing she is to me.

And so nostalgic already!! At only 7 years old!! She is so much like me. . .it's amazing. This means I need to go ahead and start praying for a sweet, understanding husband (like mine) who will tolerate his wife's longing to keep a gum wrapper because it was the the one that held the gum she chewed on their first date together. . .or a rickety old table that falls on one end if you lean on it too hard because it belonged to her dear grandmother. . .my Katie is already going down that road.

Hopefully today will be a added as another one of Katie's "good memories" - I know our sweet time together today decorating our tree will be added to mine.