This is my new favorite shot of Palie...I don't think that there has ever been such a look of sheer joy on her face. and everytime I see it I can't help but grin myself.

Even such a snowstorm couldn't keep us from having a picnic on the porch!

While I was basically snoozing and reading in the hammock by the fireplace, Manuel was in the basement assembling our incredible kitchen table. I am still in awe over how amazing it turned out. We spent weeks trying to decide which varieties of wood we wanted and then finally decided on these three. From left to right is bubinga, bird's eye maple, cocobolo, bird's eye, and bubinga.

Our previous table only seated four comfortably so now we can have 6-8 easily around the table and even more if people don't mind being friendly. Manuel did all of this work by himself - it definitely became an obsession! He would wake up at 4am and work on it for hours sometimes.