Lately...

Life is busy and full and fun and blessed.  Daniel and I have never felt so tired, but neither have we felt so joyful.  God has been so good!  Here's a little peek into what's going on around here:

• We're so excited to see our family soon!  Elli's countdown chain is getting shorter and shorter, and she is asking me all of the time to go see Gwampa and Mia or Mitah or Papa and Nona.  Her most recent request was "my fwend," and I had no idea who she was referring to until she showed me the Christmas card we got in the mail from her friend Averie. I love that one of my childhood best friend's little girl is one of her first friends!
• Christmas music is on pretty much 24/7 around here. Loving it! Except, can anyone tell me why Taylor Swift chose to cover "Last Christmas"???  Most. Annoying. Song. Ever.  Okay, moving on. This year has been so much fun because it is our first year in a house, so we can dream about not only this year's traditions, but for the next several years.
• Baby-proofing is in full swing.  Caroline is not only scooting around, but she has started rocking back and forth on her hands and knees.  Any day now, she's going to figure out that crawling thing!  The baby gate is handy, outlet covers in place, etc, but the most challenging part is "baby-proofing" Elli's toys.  In some ways, I'd rather she not be sharing her toys just yet!  :)
• Daniel and I are gearing up for training for the Country Music Half-Marathon in April.  The geek in me just loves to come up with a training schedule in excel.  (Now... how to translate that enthusiasm to actually logging the miles?)  Most of my runs recently have been pushing two kiddos in the Bob (of which I am still singing the praises!), and I think the furthest I've been able to go is 2.5 pushing those sweet 50+ pounds.  I think all those short runs are paying off, however, because this week I've been able to grab a couple of solo runs this week and went over 4 miles both times!  I'm so thankful to be feeling more like myself these days, and looking forward to getting back into pre-prego shape (and jeans).  :)
• Elli's vegetable intake has skyrocketed since Caroline has started eating solids.  She's always been a good eater, but now she wants peas whenever Caroline gets peas, carrots when she gets carrots.  No problem-o!  Caroline has tried green beans, carrots, butternut squash, peas, avocado, peaches, bananas, apples, and pears.  The only one that caused any trouble was the apples, believe it or not, so we'll be waiting a little longer for those. 
• I joined the wonderful world of Pinterest.  I've held off so long because the last thing I need in my life right now is a time vacuum, but my web browser bookmarks were getting a little ridiculous.  So, come find me on there so we can share brilliant ideas!
• Daniel is spending every spare daylight hour (and some flashlight hours) building our fence.  Fortunately our neighbors on either side have privacy fences already, so we're just connecting them to the side of our house, but what we thought would take one Saturday has been rain-delayed for almost a week now.  For all the months we've been in a terrible drought, this week has been rainy almost every day!
• We are so enjoying how much the girls are enjoying each other.  Cara's sweet and funny personality is shining through more and more, and Elli's imagination and playfulness bring us constant entertainment!