Don't you wish you were in South Carolina....

So I keep hearing about the bitter cold and record lows as well as inches of snow. Just thought I'd let ya'll know that it's beautiful down here (though a bit chilly at 50 today!).
We recently took a trip to the zoo where both the girls got to bask in the sun and laugh at the animals (it's humorous to me how funny the animals are to kids!).

Although I looooooooove the fact that we usually don't need coats and can hang around the house in t-shirts, the bugs are getting to us Yankees. The girls are ALWAYS sick, usually fighting multiple bugs at once! Bela is on her 3rd bout of stomach bug (with the flu on top of it!), and Emma is dealing with a cold and eye infection. I've heard that bugs are a lot worse down here, especially to those of us who come from the north, but this is ridiculous!
The girls are absolutely loving "school", and I am so impressed with the creative crafts they each come home with, in addition to the cute little colored drawings of various Bible passages. I love the South!

A little bathtime fun: Emma just loves to scrub her sister now! And here's a picture of Bela after jumping headfirst into the bathtub with jammies on! That child is going to give us gray hair!

The pictures:

• The girls licking some cake beaters!
  Emma doing some "heavy work" as her jacket indicates :)
• Nosy girls staring at the neighbor boys playing basketball!
• Bela "painting" with some concoction I made up to be both paint worthy and edible (since Emma paints all the time and little sister was getting a bit jealous)
• Emma changing Bela's diaper (only after I cleaned out the poop she wouldn't touch)
• Emma hugging her handpuppet George, the best friend of the day that she dressed up like a princess!
  Emma waltzing around in my heels saying "I'm going a work"

Bela indulging in her favorite activity: dressing up!