Friday

 We've spent the days since Christmas playing with our presents and nibbling chocolate!

Katie finished one of her American Girl bears

I've been busily reading presents, and Emma has been helping. She keeps my feet extra toasty.

Katie can't see my lying on the couch too long before she needs to remind me that I have an adorable daughter who requires a little attention. Fortunately, she's gotten to the age that I can remind her that there is another perfectly nice couch across the room and a stack of perfectly nice books that want reading. She makes a pretty good reading buddy too (though not one I want sitting on my feet).

This afternoon my dad rousted us from our couches and we went walking (actually, he failed to roust Katie, who stuck with her reading). It was a lovely day for a walk!

 My dad and Travis admiring the astonishingly large fish in the river.

My baby brother ran circles around us. Literally. I don't know how many miles he ran, but it was a whole lot more than we walked. Such energy.

My parents gave Travis a pasta maker for Christmas! Tonight he decided to make dinner. The machine is really nice, and making noodles turns out to be pretty easy (and they are Much more uniform than the ones we've done with rolling pin and knife). Unfortunately, he wanted to make ravioli stuffed with bacon, cheese, sauteed onions, and sun dried tomatoes. Definitely a yummy mix, but he didn't believe me when I told him that making ravioli is a Pain in the Neck. It is now almost 7 o'clock and he has agreed that in future we will stick to homemade noodles.