Snow, Sky, and Home

We got home late last night after a full day of driving. Eight days gone, seven nights in three different cities, a lot of packing and unpacking and a whole lot of fun. We only stopped twice on our drive home from Denver. We meant to stop for dinner, but the kids never asked and once you pass Wichita Falls there's basically nothing until Fort Worth so we just pushed for home. Within minutes of pulling in the driveway I was hip deep in unpacking and the kids were eating the finest organic spaghettio's our pantry could provide. Everyone was thrilled to be in their own beds last night, though we were sad to leave our baby (cousin/niece) Skyla behind.

She was SHOWERED in affection from her big cousins.

And was bemused and incredibly tolerant of all the fuss.

The guided tours of her own toys.

The fact that four people needed to feed her one bottle. (Seriously, we all took turns. I got to go first.)

That a strange lady had to snuggle her before bed and hold her at every opportunity.

I've mostly healed but my heart still aches sometimes when I think about the 4th baby we couldn't have. Before she was born, I wondered if seeing Sky would help or hurt. It does neither, it just feels good to be her aunt.

And it feels extra good to watch my kids get to be cousins.

They LOVE babies. This was the highlight of Cora's whole trip.

Also, and this is big news, Cora LOVES snow.

At least once it stops hitting her in the face.

We woke up on our first morning in Denver to fluffy snow that was on the ground instead of in the air, so we took our hyperactive children who'd been in a car or house all day the day before (it had been 0 degrees; even in ski clothes, the shopping and hiking we'd planned to do in our fave mountain towns just wasn't possible for long) to a nearby park.

It was a toasty 15 degrees, so I got to bring my real camera along and get some pictures.

Because everyone looks good in bright white snow.

James and I were done long before the kids (frozen feet; frozen hands; frozen everything), but I loved seeing them play the way I hoped they'd get to play when we'd decided on a winter Colorado trip.

And now that we have Cora on board, Colorado remains a favorite of the Lag Liv family, though it is awfully good to be home.

Even if I crafted an overly ambitious meal after reading 4 cookbooks during our car ride and thought it would be a good idea to make 3 totally new dishes from scratch: roasted chicken, roasted Brussels sprouts, and zucchini quinotto . I cooked for 2.5 hours, spending too many dollars on organic ingredients and it all turned out too mediocre for the effort, but my drive for new meals from good ingredients has not waned. I'm just glad I'm making things I already know and like for the next two days. A blog post on food is coming next!