Thomas 2 years, Sophia 8 weeks old

Dominic, Michelle and John have come for a visit!

They were here for a few days before their Disney cruise left. They got in late on a Thursday night because of the weather in the Twin Cities, apparently the worst driving conditions in its history with over 750 accidents on that day alone! It took them two hours to get from Hudson to the airport which is normally a 30 minute ride! Anyway, they made it safely to the airport, albeit not in time to make their flight, and Alayne made it safely back home. Thank goodness I still have some friends at the Northwest (now Delta) ticket counter, or it may have taken them a couple of extra days to get here! Oh, and Matthew was working so he missed it all!

After a brief warming-up period, Dominic and Thomas started playing together really well! In fact they started chasing each other around and around the house, giggling all the while. I've never seen Thomas play so happily and unreservedly with another kid his age! I think it's because Dominic is so outgoing (just like his mommy)! Still, on the second day of their visit, Thomas got very possessive of his toys and his Auntie Rose. I kept hearing an angry "Dom-nic! DOM-NIIIIIC!" from the playroom. Weeks later, when we had Ben and Sarah and their little boy Ellis over, Thomas was getting possessive of his toys again and he yelled in frustration, "Dom-niiick!" Then he realized his mistake, he yelled, "E-ssss (Ellis)!"

While they were here, it was the coldest it's been in years. We had a few consecutive nights of hard freeze warnings! I didn't get to see any frost, but it definitely got below the freezing point at our house. What bad timing for three people on vacation from Wisconsin! You come to Florida, you expect nice weather! The funny thing is, the day after their flight home, it got up to 80 degrees again. Hmmm. I'm beginning to think that THEY were the cause of the cold weather! They must have brought it with them! The good news is, Sophia got very good usage out of Granny's hand-knit sweater and booties!

While Michelle, John and Dominic were here, Thomas slept at Mom and Dad's house. It was actually really great because it kept the chaos to a minimum, and it meant that it was nice and quiet right before bedtime, making the going-to-bed process smoother. Mom even found time to cook for all of us! They are awesome.