Our poor little Asa man had to have stitches last week. Not just any stitches, either, ten of 'em. Right in his upper lip! He crashed on the electric scooter (thankfully he was wearing a helmet) and slammed his face into the handlebars. The lip just split wide open, all the way up to the normal skin. It was awful. Luckily, Nate was home and our kids are awesome (and Emmie was asleep), so Nate and I were both able to take Asa over to the doctor. Asa was so, so brave. The doctor was pretty nervous to stitch him up. Our pediatrician was off that day, so it was a family practitioner, and I think he'd had some bad experiences stitching up little guys before. The numbing portion was horrible. Asa screamed at the top of his lungs. But he held perfectly still. Then after he was numbed up, they put a drape over his head, so he wouldn't have to watch the doctor coming at him with a needle repeatedly, and we all relaxed and the doctor got to work. Nate got a little woozy at one point ...

Addison and Bryn are in official (as in, not taught by one of their parents) piano lessons now. Sister Smith is a great teacher and loves them so much. They did a great job at their Christmas recital and were glad that Grandpa got to come to it! We started our New Year's Eve celebration a day early with a trip to the ice cream store from Grandma and Grandpa. What a treat! New Year's Eve with the Aarons! In the words of his father, "When you've got big sisters, you want to be like big sisters." The most wildly popular and successful preschool ever known in the land! We turned Leah's room into a blizzard! A series of encouraging texts we sent to Daddy in the middle of the day. That's right - mouth wide open = encouragement. Addison and Asa blasting off to the moon in their secret hideout. We'll miss this house! (P.S. our house is under contract!!!!) Our silly cat. She loves to curl up...