The winds (or snow) of change

Yes, I am now in the thick of winter. Kevin (Sherri's husband) laughed at me over the weekend when I told him that not only did I not have a driveway plowing service (*gasp* how impoverished of me!), but I didn't own a snow shovel either. Being the great guy he is (and spoiled grown-up with a plow service), he promptly loaded 2 snow shovels into my car. I had to use one today...it was equally as terrible of a chore as mowing the lawn. In fact, it is the winter equivalent of lawn mowing. I hated it. We got about 5 inches today while I was at work, and we're expecting more. I'm thankful my car has a roof rack on it, because it's the only way I can find it in the massive parking lot when it is covered in snow. I big thank you to mom too for helping me get the car with the heated seats, heated mirrors, and heated windshield wipers. Mom, not a day goes by that I don't thank you out loud! I'd have pictures of the snow here, but a) it's dark and b) snow is so ho-hum to me now that I never think of taking pictures of it. Another thank you to Bryan and Amy who both got me hats for Christmas. Now I have a rotating hat collection of three :)

Last weekend I got to babysit "the girls" (Lani and Cassie, and new addition baby Peter). I just adore them and felt silly getting paid for it. We had such a fun time. They were so excited to have me over and had planned an entire night with a movie (Aristocats), pizza ordered in, and fresh baked cookies. To that, we ad-hoc added a dance party to the disco channel on digital cable.

From January 2007

Lani and Cassie dancing. The pillows were part of a "hot lava" game where you could only step on the pillows because the carpet was hot lava.

From January 2007

Lani showing off her strength!

Once the girls knew I had a camera, that made them ham it up!

From January 2007

From January 2007

This odd position they both called "peanut butter sandwich," I think from them making layers like bread. Kids are so strange! Of course I got roped into this too, so then it was a "peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

From January 2007

Of course when girls get together there is always a hair and makeup party. They LOVED this!

From January 2007

Of course I wouldn't want to forget Peter. This picture cracks me up, as clearly this is a reaction to the flash (he had been sleeping, woke up to be fed, and was on his way back to bed).

From January 2007

A slightly better picture. He has the cutest smile with a dimple in his cheek, but it was so hard to time it right.

My sweet mom also sent me flowers, as she knew I was having a very hard time deciding about the new job offer. They have definitely brightened up the house, as flowers are a rare expensive luxury for me.

From January 2007

The rest of the pictures, uninteresting as they may be, can be seen here

On the job front, my last day at UR is Friday. Things have gotten even more crazy there since I turned in my notice, all reaffirming that I made the right choice. Monday I'll be starting at Harris Interactive as a Senior Research Associate in Healthcare Market Research. I'm hoping that it will be a challenging position and that I will learn a lot of new skills. I'll still be going to school 2 classes per term (more about the classes in future blogs, suffice to say this term is one terrible one that is minimal work, and one interesting one that is a lot of work). UR is determined to make my life difficult in terms of school since I'm leaving them, but where there is a will there's a way! Speaking of school, the time I'm spending on this blog is cutting into my homework time. Hugs and kisses to everyone at home!