We have the weirdest little winter visitors. Ladybugs. At the close of fall, there they are, all huddled up in the corners of the kitchen and the spare bedroom. They pretty much just stay in their little huddle all winter, but as spring begins to happen, they start moving around. Both rooms are on the east side of the house where the sun hits it first every morning. As soon as the house warms up they start moving around and spreading out. By evening, they are all cozied back in the huddle again until morning. At times there are so many of them that it seems like we have been invaded. I know that if it were any other kind of bug, I would be rounding them up and delivering them outside, but I just can't seem to do that to these little girls. They come in for a reason and I just don't want to disrupt their system. It is kinda creepy, but they are ladybugs! Cute ladybugs. You don't just kill off ladybugs.

They are FINALLY here!!! It seemed like it was never going to happen, but they have finally arrived! Remember all the excitement when Jessi and I tried to fly to the Dominican Republic? Snow in New York closed the airport and we had to be rerouted through LA and Florida. Well...you got it, their flight was cancelled due to snow once again on their return flight last Thursday! I could not believe my ears when I heard it. Jessi tried to call the local JetBlue number from the DR, but could not get through, so she had me try from here. After two long waits, (the first got disconnected and I had to redial), I drove to the airport and got them re booked for a flight on Friday, which meant a whole day extra of waiting, but at least the airlines was saying they felt they would be flying. Sure enough, they made it through and we welcomed them here! The flight was delayed and delayed due to de-icing in New York, but a small group of us were able to hang in there and greet them just after midnight, which was 4am their time. We gave them Saturday to rest up and Sunday night we had a welcome party for them. We have been slowly showing him around the area. The first trip was to Multnomah Falls. He and Jessi walked to the first bridge and took pictures of the iced up falls while I waited in the warm car with Josiah. We went to Great Grandma and Grandpa McCool and Dixons homes and a couple of shopping malls. It was a nice sunny but cold first week for them. They were even able to get out and take the baby for a walk. Today we spent the day in Salem at John and Rachel's. Emily and Joshua showed us all their skills on the Wii, we ate a whole cake that Rachel made for us and then we went and watched Joshua play in a basketball game. He made so many baskets, helping his team win the game!