The reason I haven't been blogging or commenting lately

Ben and Sam!

My little brother (that's him in the background) and his family came down from Ottawa for a visit between Christmas and New Years. These are his boys, Ben (holding his ears) and Sam. It was a really nice visit. My mom and dad, my brother Jeff, his wife Rachel and the boys came over for dinner on Friday night. Everybody was tired of ham and turkey so we had a delicious steak and shrimp dinner instead. My husband barbequed the steaks while my dad prepared the shrimp scampi. Mom and I took care of the baked potatoes and vegetables. It was a joint effort, and every bit as good as if we had gone to a restaurant! It was a really nice, relaxing time. The boys had a ball playing with a big box that I brought home from work. We cut some windows into it and turned it into a "fort", outfitted with pillows and blankets and a flashlight.

Yesterday we had a New Years Eve "party". We had a few of the neighbours in as well. Played darts (I have a sore arm today!) and ate too much. We did some dancing, too! (My kids, typically, think we are embarrassing beyond belief.)

We had a last brief visit this morning before they left to drive back to Ottawa. The picture of the boys was taken this morning just before they left, but after I had loaded them up with cookies and chocolate milk. Oh, I am an evil sister!