Quick 5

Good news: the blogging hiatus is over.

1. It's been an interesting couple of weeks. On December 14, the day after the Christmas program, Lee's position at work was terminated, effective that day. Because everyone needs a curve ball like that right before Christmas. So we packed up a left a few days early for Kansas City. The time with family was good and restorative. Lee has done everything he can since then, applying for as many jobs that we can find that fit his skill set. And this week has been a very interesting one. We hope to have good news about that soon.

2. Our Kansas City Christmas was good and busy. Cookies were made, trains were seen, parks were visited, milkshakes were slurped. snowballs were thrown (inside. Missouri had no snow.) It was a full, fun visit.

 2. On a very cold, windy day, we got to go see the famous Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile. It was a sight to behold.

 3. Here is the best Christmas 2015 picture I have of my girls:

And the winner of the best Christmas present goes to Aunt Mindy and Uncle Josh for this fine ensemble:

4. We were home for a full week before school started. So we took the girls to Southwest Plaza to check out the renovations. That is the mall I grew up in, and it looks nothing like what it used to. It looks nice, but I found myself getting a little teary walking around an almost foreign mall. But they have a new play area, and my girls are happy about that.

5. Yesterday I turned in the choice enrollment form for Joya to go to kindergarten. We have to go through the formality of the charter school lottery, which is run at the end of this month, but since Alaina is enrolled Joya will get sibling priority. And so Joya's school career begins.

Stay warm, friends.