What a coincidence!

I've been wanting to update my blog for a long time now, but things have just been so busy! Well today is a snow day which means no school, no errands, no play dates and no extra-curricular activities and while I want to spend a good portion of the day enjoying my girls, I thought I would take a moment or two to try and get back into this blogging business. When I logged onto Peaceful Chaos, I realized that it has been exactly 7 months to the day since I last blogged and and also exactly 1 year to the day since I first started my blog. What a coincidence and my how time flies!
A lot has happened since my last post.

Our sweet Abigail turned 8 years old and has already completed her first semester of 3rd grade. She enjoys school and loves her teacher. She has sweet friends that we enjoy having over to play. She stays busy with piano lessons, sports (soccer, basketball and volleyball) and serving on the motion team at church. And she finally got those two front teeth that she lost over a year ago.

Yours truly turned, well let's not go there. Let's just say it was a significant birthday worthy of a significant celebration so the Zfam went on a Disney cruise. Chris never thought he would enjoy a cruise, much less a Disney cruise. But we had an absolute blast! It was the perfect combination of fun and relaxation. The cruise people were so wonderful about accomodating Rebecca's nut allergies. We are already talking about taking another Disney cruise in 2011 to celebrate our 20 year anniversary. Most people don't take their kids when they take trips to celebrate anniversaries, but Chris and I had 10 years of alone trips before Abigail was born and we have every reason to believe we will have more opportunities for fun trips with just the two of us when our girls have their own lives. Before that window closes, we agree that we want to spend our limited vacation time and resources doing fun things as a family. So fingers crossed, the Zfam will get to set sail again next summer.

The past 7 months have not just been all fun and games. In August, we said a tearful goodbye to Chris' brother Andreas who finally lost his long battle with melanoma. Andreas was Chris' only sibling and Rebecca's godfather. We are still very sad, but we will always cherish our memories of the two trips he made from Switzerland to visit us.

In September Rebecca started school or at least that's what we call it. She goes to Mother's Day Out once a week. She is not always eager to go and she usually cries for a few minutes when I drop her off, but when I pick her up she always tells me she had fun and her teachers usually report that she had a good day. I wish I could report that we are done and finished with the potty training, but Miss Rebecca has proved to be one tough customer in that department. I think she just loves her MDO teacher, Ms Manda, so much and somehow realizes that being potty trained means promotion out of her class.

In addition to all of that busyness, in October Chris and I decided that we would renovate and move into the house my grandparents built for their young family over 60 years ago. It is a long story and I will have to dedicate another post on another day to tell it.

Right now I have popcorn to pop and games to play.

Happy Snow Day, Y'all!