CHRISTMAS IS GONE!
This morning I took Jared to a "meet my new Primary teacher" shindig. I thought I was supposed to stay, as it was going to be less than an hour long, but the leaders said I could go. So I asked Jared, "Do you want me to stay here at the church, or do you want me to leave you here and come back to get you when it's over?" You should have seen the look of delight on his face when I told him I'd leave him there alone! We've never had problems with that. No tears at the door to Nursery, and very very few (if any) when leaving him at Grandma's house or with a babysitter. He feels so grown-up to be on his own.
And as I got back into my Jeep and drove away in perfect silence, I started feeling rather grown-up, too. I'm a Primary mom. The kind that drops their kids off and comes back later. It was a nice declaration of independence.

This afternoon we took down the Christmas lights. I volunteered to climb out the window. The boys were heartbroken that I wouldn't let them climb up on the roof with me to take the lights off the house. So when we were done, we had a family outing to the roof. I think I saw some shocked looks from neighbors (they usually look flabbergasted when I go up on the roof, as if only men are allowed to), but the boys were in heaven! We looked at the snow-capped Boise mountains and the rooftops (not snowcapped) of our neighborhood. We were all ready to get safely back in the window, though. Zach didn't like walking forward down the steep pitch (he much preferred walking backward up it), and kept asking, "Ya got me, Mom? Ya got me?" But in the end, he thought it a grand adventure. We all did!

I just wish I could have had an out-of-body-with-a-camera experience so I could have taken pictures!