After a huge dump of snow on the weekend, I finally feel like winter has set in here. Officially. None of this pussy-footing around with mere cold temperatures. Once there is enough snow to make me wonder if I can get out of the driveway with the van, and once the sky maintains "gray" as a normative state over even the thin pale blue that I expect to see again in January or February, that's when I hit "hibernation mode"--just let me stay home and knit and drink tea by a warm fire.

There are always obstacles to this kind of burrowing, not least of which are my commitments (which seem to be more numerous than usual this year.) Ah, well. As much as I may prefer it, God has decided that being a hermit is not in my best interests. That's for the best, probably. :-)

So, in the last week, my third child has turned 9, and got his first pair of glasses. Hard to believe this sweet boy is in his last year of single digits--he was so LITTLE not that long ago, wasn't he?

We had a family birthday supper on Friday, but his party with his friends will be this upcoming weekend, so there will be more on that later.

Jabin, you are still pretty sweet, even if you are not that little anymore. Keep growing and grinning, little man. We love you!