"Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery. " - Bill Watterson

What a nice day we had yesterday! Our friends, Mary Ann & Pat, were passing through on their way back to New York and we met them for lunch in town. They are expecting their first baby in April. It was a beautiful, sunny, albeit very cold and windy day. We bundled up and slid down to the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit). Tom met us at the station and we went over to Grafton Street. That is my 3rd time to Dublin in 2 weeks- my familiarity is increasing. And I will be back in on Friday night for a date.

As long as the holidays are over, it feels great to be getting back to a regular schedule. Undecorating is much less fun than decorating, but I was glad to put the Christmas stuff in the back of the storage! School is scheduled to resume tomorrow but I am not optimistic. It has snowed again and the roads are so icy that those who are choosing to drive are sliding all over the place. The mail has not been here in a few days, and my grocery delivery was cancelled. Apparently it is the worst Dublin winter in 30 years.

So the kids and I will likely be snowbound again. Today might be hard to beat. One of their school friends came over with his mom and cousin. They live across the street, up the hill. Mom and I had a nice time chatting while the boys all ran around like maniacs. They were laughing and red faced- waaaaay different from when we have girls over. When they left my next door neighbor and her 1 year old came over. I really like the next door neighbors. We are very fortunate.

I am going to try to do lots of things together- maybe an art project, oatmeal cookies, memory, puzzles. They are really loving jigsaw puzzles. As I wrote to my mom-to-be-sister-in-law Megan yesterday:

"It's the ultimate introduction to parental restraint. You watch them struggle, putting the pieces in the wrong place. You can help them a little but you can't do it for him. You are dying to, but you know that you want them to learn things and figure them out on their own. It's already hard and this is the easy part!"

You can't tell from this picture, but it is snowing. That is our tree. Tom brought out the living room door and threw it over the terrace until we can drive it over to be mulched.