catching up on photos

My photo-taking has slowed down lately, perhaps because of the back problems I've been having. You would be surprised how many back muscles are essential for photography. But I'm starting to feel better, so I hope to pick up the pace again.

Oma B (Martha's mom) is leaving today. She has been a pleasure to have around, and she has been wonderful to us. We are very grateful for her visit, which required using up two weeks of her limited time away from her job. We have been constantly discovering her doing things around the house to help, such as cleaning, shoveling snow in the driveway (6 more inches of snow today!), cooking, finishing the table that we've been painting, installing a backsplash behind our oven, folding laundry, changing diapers, putting away Christmas ornaments, and much more. Thank you, Oma B, for everything!

We'll now have 11 days on our own, which should be a useful experiment as we figure out what type of child care we'll need in the coming months. And then Oma E (Daniel's mom) will arrive for another visit, to be joined by Opa E (Daniel's dad) for the second week of her visit. We look forward to their return!