The Sumner Family

We're settling in to the new house and our new routines. Claire has started at her new preschool, which is at a church around the corner (literally eight houses away). It's so great to not have to pile everyone in the car for the trip (again, unicorns and rainbows), but with over a foot of snow on the ground, our walks are long and meandering and involve lots of snowballs, snow eating, and romping through the neighbors' yards. I'm sure in the spring, we'll transition to grass necklaces, flower picking, and mud puddle jumping.

I finally have a new laptop ("Toppy 3" to those who know him well), so pictures are back. Here's a pic of the outside (immediately post-snowstorm) and a couple of Claire's room (which will be done as soon as her new (PINK!) rug arrives).

 
 
 
 

In a last bit of unicorns and rainbows, today I hired an amazing babysitter to watch the kids for six hours on Fridays. Among a long list of impressive criteria, she speaks fluent Russian and has spent a good bit of time working in orphanages in Russia and even started a non-profit to help the kids who are still in the orphanages. All this and she's like 26. It was all I could do not to jump up and down and clap my hands like a fool while I was talking to her. I can now take Claire to gymnastics and not get my own gymnastic workout in by having to chase Hayden around for an hour, do grocery shopping alone (glorious!), and heck, maybe even do a thing or two for myself. She starts next week and the kids are almost as excited as I am.