Lily got it into her head to get on the treadmill tonight, and the little girl just hopped on and ran an easy mile. No huffing or puffing, she just hopped on and ran. I wish *I* could run a mile as easily as she did!
Never to be left out of a lively scheme, Gregory gave the treadmill a try also. I'm thinking that this might be an excellent evening activity for a couple of house-bound wintertime kids! 
The excessively fluffy Rudy gets his first-ever doggie haircut ... incidentally, also on the same day, the incredibly inexperienced Beth performs her first-ever doggie haircut (with the help of almost everyone else in the house). EDITED TO ADD: Look for the RED captions by some photos. Gregory was our official dog haircut photographer!
It all started with a bath in the laundry room sink, then a trip upstairs for a big fluffy blow-dry session. He looks absurdly pathetic when he's wet, doesn't he? Photos by Gregory
Despite only being 4 pounds, it took Ray and me both to hold him still ... and "still" is only relative. He was NOT interested in having his hair cut. Nope. No thanks. Photos by Gregory
About halfway into this, it started to seem completely hopeless. He was insanely wiggly and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I had watched the video TWICE and thought I knew what to do. But practice proved far different from theory. On the left, he seems to be saying, "Do we HAVE to finish this?" Photos by Gregory
But we got it done, and he actually looks better than he did when we started. It's a VERY rough and choppy haircut, but it was mighty free! I'll keep practicing, he'll get more patient (I hope!), and as time goes by I hope he'll look OK.
It totally wore him out to squirm and fuss so much, and he was willing to sleep wherever I set him down. The crib next to a wiggly 2-year-old? Fine.
Or, the bunk bed next to another little boy? Whatever... snore.
A rare brilliant, sunny mid-winter day has everyone feeling spunky! Henry, Gregory, and even fluffy baby Rudy went out at noon today and just romped around. They ran this way, ran that way, slid down the icy driveway on their feet, on their behinds, on the sled... Everyone was filled with exuberant energy! Even the Mommy got all charged up and did a top-to-bottom house cleaning. It's all clean. On the same day! 
Who is getting ideas over there? Look at Mr. Fluffy licking his chops, trying to figure out if he can make a big lunge and nab a treat.
They say that "what goes around, comes around"... and I believe this picture is an excellent illustration of the saying. I was guilty of COMPLETELY spoiling my parents' dog Zack when I was in high school. I let him sit on my lap during meals and sometimes sneak a little something. If Rudy ends up as a terrible table-manners menace, it will only be just about what I deserve.
Henry said, "Hey, Mommy! Take a picture of me!" And so I did. Here he is, cute as ever.
I can't explain why these photos, not all taken on the same day, are all of kids sitting at the table. You can look at my bony children and know that they don't spend ALL their time at the table. But here, Gregory gives his official opinion of last night's dinner, ham and bean soup and homemade bread. He said it was the best soup he's ever had and better than I've ever made it before. He had THREE bowls of it.
He's not actually sad to be in his kennel; he seems to quite enjoy hanging out in here while people are zooming around the kitchen and homework area. He can keep an eye on everything without getting stomped on or tripped over. But he does look kind of forlorn, poking that wee nosey out from between the bars of his kennel.
Here are two photos that Lily wanted to take last night. She hasn't traditionally ventured into the artistic realm of photography, always before preferring to draw or paint her portraits. But here you have her first photography efforts.
Check out that static in Lily's hair!! Do you think maybe we'd do well to turn on a couple more humidifiers around here? In all fairness, she WAS deliberately static-ing up her hair by rolling around on the couch... but wow.
It's PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME! Many, maybe most of you, will not be aware that there's a completely absurd song called "Peanut Butter Jelly Time". But there is such a song, and the kids think it's so funny. Every time Ray turns it on, all activities in the house come to a screeching halt, all children come racing over to the computer to watch this (very badly) animated banana dancing to the weirdest song ever. The banana dances, the kids dance... there's a lot of laughing and silliness. Good times. Can you guess what we had for dinner tonight? And ... can you guess what music we had playing while we ate?
You DIDN'T think I was going to post pictures without some new evidence of the evolving cuteness of Rudy, did you??? Rudy has reached the massive weight of 3 full pounds as of today. He's nearly 10 weeks old, and getting doggier by the day. In this picture, you can see that he was snuffling around in the snow, trying to dig out an old leaf that was lurking in the snow. Never fear, he captured and subdued the leaf. It will never bother anyone again!!
He is learning lots about Harold the cat. Harold is a lovely kitty, who has only disciplined Mr. Teeth with his velveted paws. It's pretty funny to watch though! Harold will whack Rudy with all his might and Rudy goes tumbling across the floor like a rolling dust bunny.
Henry and Rudy like to play tug-of-war with Henry's stuffed animals. Rrr!
Here's the finished bird feeder! Lily and I used paint pens over the weekend to decorate the cheery yellow paint Gregory had selected.
This is the other side of the feeder.
I posted a similar picture almost 3 weeks ago, and that number was 1 lb. 7-7/8 oz. So while this is still a very tiny doggie, he is growing fast! If you can't read it, this weight is 2 lb. 10-1/4 oz.
And here we have a wonderful photo, which shows a fully recovered Lily. She's been back at school all week, and is feeling fine! Also, she has a cute little puppy.
Happy New Year from the Mears Family!!
We followed our every-year tradition of "sleeping in" the new year ... we're just no good at staying up all night. That's reserved for new babies, sick kids, and disasters, as far as we're concerned.
Here is the nearly finished bird feeder. Gregory chose that brilliant yellow color for the roof. He called me from Home Depot, asked me what color I wanted, and I said he could choose any color he liked. 
Here is it, finished except for the decorating Lily and I plan to do on the roof, and the chain Ray will install for hanging it. Henry demonstrates how the roof is hinged on one side to allow us to fill it easily. The spike on the side of it is for attaching a half-ear of field corn for the birds who like that kind of thing (or ... maybe to make it extra-irrestible for squirrels?)
And I'll leave you with this cute picture. Henry wanted some pretzels, and was given permission to have them. But the grown-ups were both elbow-deep in jobs and couldn't help him open the package right then. So Gregory helped him, and then the two little boys sat right on the floor and shared the whole bag of pretzels very sweetly and kindly. And I'm happy to say that I have mopped very recently.
