Yay!

Here is Blake, surveying our "breach" in the ice dam that was across our driveway!

The ice has thawed considerably, but still, almost 2 months since the ice storm of Dec

13, you can see how thick the ice is.

This wide shot shows the ice moat that once surrounded where I park the van. Now we can drive straight into the spot, and not up and over the moat "entry"! Oh YAY! A breach at each

end...can Spring be far behind? I should mention that yesterday and today were the first "melting" days we've had since Dec 13....hasn't been above freezing since then.

And last, but by no means least, our back step! It's been missing so long, under (at times) 4 to 5 inches of ice. There's a drip off the porch roof that lands here, so this area is subject to massive

ice build up every winter.

Lovely Lissa!

Okay, so she looks a wee bit pissed off in the above pic, and so she was. She wanted to be holding the camera, not stuck in her play room area! In between pics, the ME ME MEEEEE's rang out at a deafening volume. When she could see that I was trying to get a good picture of her new ear piercings, she finally calmed down enough so I could take this shot:

And Voila! Here is a calmer Lissa with her brand new pierced ears! Although she is just 2, well technically nearly 26 months now, she has wanted pierced ears for 4 or 5 months. Every time I changed her diaper, put her to bed, or held her, she would reach up, toy with my earrings (which I finally started wearing in the Autumn after a 4 year absence) and say "Me, ear?"

I know Lee didn't necessarily think that Lissa *really* wanted her ears pierced, but me, who has heard her ask this somewhere in the vicinity of 100 times, *knew* she really, really wanted pierced ears.

Last Friday, Lee took all the kids to the mall after she got home from work. They were shopping for my birthday. Since the economy sucks, the mall was pretty deserted, and there was no one at the Earring Pagoda...and two clerks on duty meant that both her ears could be done simultaneously. They picked out her December birthstone (blue topaz) and let 'er rip! I guess it went so well the clerks were amazed. She screwed up her face in her "pre-cry" mode, but then the VERY smart woman says, 'hey Lissa, want to see your new earrings?" and holds up a mirror. Lissa grabs said mirror, turns her head this way and that and croons "ooooh pwetty ears"!!! Never a tear shed, and thus far (knock wood) no redness, swelling, pain or upset about her new ears! She loves them.

And of course, she is so pwetty!