Happy Holidays! Please forgive us!

Hello everyone! Wow, we have a lot to update you on. First of all, please forgive me for not having any cute new pictures of the kids to post. I've been really busy and haven't taken any pictures. To compensate for lack of kid pictures, I have posted a picture that Eve took of my *beyond fab* holiday shoes because she's too short and stubby to take a picture of a standing grown-up's face. Laine took the other picture of us before we left for our one and only date that we've been on (to Chris's company party) since we moved to DC. A daughter of one of Bradley's Babes (one of Grandpa's missionaries on temple square) babysat for us.

Anyway, life's been hectic. As you know, earlier this past week we sold our house in Sandy which was a fiasco! Which reminds me, Wayne and Lisa, I'm putting you guys in charge of rounding up the neighbors to throw your next door neighbors a party. A great big egg and toilet paper party!!! Gee whiz, they made our lives miserable bending over backwards to fix a million stupid things, shelling out a ton of money to make their dumb financing situation work, and they're still complaining about the electrical work that we had repaired. Oh well. It sold. So then, we bought our townhouse and have been busy doing all the things we needed to do for that. For example today was spent getting rooms painted before furniture arrives, getting a king size bed up a very narrow stairway, and ordering blinds so that in 3 and a half weeks, we can finally walk around the house naked again. Well, the kids do that anyway privacy or no privacy. Then this afternoon, we get a call saying that our moving van is arriving tomorrow instead of the end of next week like planned, which is great, but it meant I had to scrounge up muscle power at the last minute and make treats for my neighbors so they don't hate us when we take up all their parking spaces with the moving van tomorrow.

What this means for you: You may not get a card or gift from us this year. I was going to spend today and tomorrow writing Christmas cards and getting/making gifts for all our friends and family that have been so good and wonderful for us this year, but instead it has to be spent unpacking and moving. So please forgive us for not doing Christmas this year! I know what you're thinking. "All year I've been so nice to those Bradleys. I spent so much time (insert kind deed here, e.g. babysitting, giving them free moving boxes, offering moral support, shoveling their snow, raking their leaves, etc.) for them and they haven't so much as sent us a card!" I promise I'll make it up to you on Valentine's. We love you dearly and are thinking about you this Christmas, but I've just been a terrible slacker and I apologize. If you want, you can blame Chris because I started doing this in November, knowing I'd be busy, but he ridiculed me for doing Christmasy stuff before December 1st.

The kids are doing great. Laine and Eve are busy playing lots of new pretend games and exploring nooks and crannies in their new home. James decided that moving week would be a great time to enter Erik Erikson's phase of weineriness vs. toothiness or whatever it's called where babies become insecure and cry loudly when their mothers set them down amongst a pile of toys in order to do something productive. We only have limited internet access for the next two weeks, so I apologize for the sporadic blogging and poor e-mail response. Please be patient with us! We love you. Merry Christmas!