Emerging from the pile of boxes

A week ago, we moved into our new house! I am LOVING it! We have so much more room, it is amazing. Here are some of my favorite things about our new place:

1. The open floor plan (kitchen is open to the family room).
2. Built-in bookshelves in the family room.
3. Lots of counter space in the kitchen.
4. New front-loading washer and dryer that play a song when the laundry is finished.
5. Fenced back yard.
6. The bus passes in front of our house, so I can still take the bus to school.
7. Just around the corner from a bike/walking/running trail that leads into town.

We also bought a jogging stroller off Craigslist, so now all 3 of us can go for a run together (looks like I have no excuse not to go for a run now!). The past week has been spent unpacking boxes and moving the last of our things out of the condo. Once we give the condo a thorough cleaning, we will list it for sale.

They're everywhere!

I am taking a cancer pathobiology class this semester, and we've started the class talking about things that can cause cancer. I am now feeling like the carcinogens are everywhere! My first thought was, well I'll just go move up to a mountain top that's above all the pollutants in the atmosphere and I'll eat all natural and organic foods with no processing, pesticides, or preservatives, and I'll be all calm and stress-free and all. That would take care of it right? Wrong! I forgot about the sunlight! And with less atmosphere up on the mountain, those UV rays would be coming in pretty strong! Well, I guess the lesson to be learned is that you just avoid what you can and don't worry about the rest.

Pictures from Christmas

We spent Christmas in New Orleans this year with my family. We had a great time seeing everyone that we hadn't seen in 2 years. Additionally, it was Ally's first Christmas. Although she doesn't "get" Christmas yet, I think she still had fun seeing all the new sights and meeting all the new people. She was quite the ham, flashing her smile and giggling a lot. And one of her presents Christmas morning was the emergence of her first tooth!

Ally in front of the nativity scene at church.

Ben and Ally after Mass on Christmas morning.

The four great-grandchildren: Ally, Madeleine, Anthony, and Dominick.