A MONTH!  It's been a whole month.  I am sorry...mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, which loosely translated means, it's my fault...it's big time my fault.  :)  Turns out integrating 2 children into the family and keeping up with the laundry of 7 people leaves little time for blogging.  Our good news??...Big E is back to work, and Alvin's eczema is so nearly gone it's almost a footnote.  Today we went to see a variety of doctors and I think by the end he had had enough of waiting rooms and exam rooms.  When we got home Theodore made his displeasure at our long absence known and I spent the next half hour with him sitting on my lap otherwise he would just howl!!

I've had the opportunity to talk to both Little Dude and Munchkin about how not all children grow up in places where they have a bed to sleep in and a Mommy who gets them breakfast in the morning and not everyone learns to play properly.  Both agreed that they could be patient while our two bonus guys learn how to behave and settle in.  I'm sure they don't realize how LONG that could take, but it's one step at a time around here!  A couple of Sunday's ago Munchkin drew a picture as part of a lesson at church.  He drew a picture of his family and there were seven little stick people there, so obviously it's starting to gel.

This past Saturday I was able to go with Little Dude and Munchkin to a winter frolic close by.  We sledded, ate hot dogs and popcorn, went on a sleigh twice, tried snowshoeing and built a little fort out of ice bricks.  And it was all FREE...definitely on budget.  :)  First we did some sledding...Little Dude is a fan of the Penguin Slide.

 Both had lots of fun on the hill, but were soon ready for something else.

 We got to ride a sleigh!

 Then we tried snowshoeing.

 Munchkin was a bit more unsure of himself than Little Dude was on the shoes.

 Little Dude walked for a couple of minutes and then started to RUN!

 There were moments where they tripped over their shoes...I however, stayed on my feet!

 Making our own tracks.