Our kids may not be in school, but we seem to have decided as a family to take the end of 2013 super easy. The plague went through the house, hitting me the worst, and between that and all of the cousins and aunts and uncles in town, we were excited and exhausted. On the 28th, we joined my parents and sisters in Colorado. Skiing, reviewing the year’s photos, dinners, lazy coffee, pj’s on until a scandalous hour of the day – and no blogging. Apologies for the pause!

While here, Tess has painted and colored with markers with her cousins. She’s sought Sassy out every two seconds and worked on sharing. Remy has learned to pull himself to standing and to do a basic cruise. He’s now obsessed with mom’s chairs that are just the right height to inspire him.

Our kids are also sharing a room for the first time. This started on Christmas, where we had so many babies at mom’s house (12 under 4 I believe!) that we gave up hope of separating them. They fell asleep within minutes. Intrigued, we set them up the same way in Colorado. While they on occasion wake each other up, their joint wake-up routine makes it all worthwhile. They talk, laugh, shout and sing for about half an hour. Seeing them get even closer than they were already makes us really happy.

This morning, our kids got up super early (for us). We should have expected it, as we stayed up super late the night before. Still, we changed diapers, then took them to sit in front of a fire in the kitchen. We each snuggled with a kid while Dave crooned everything from the Beatles to Christmas carols. We cocooned like that for almost an hour – quiet, happy kids; snoozy parents; mumbled tunes; snow drifting down in the half-light out the window. If that’s not an idyllic (and unrealistic!) start to 2014, I don’t know what is!

Moments like that leave a quiet happiness in my soul that makes my heart want to explode. During the magic, I hardly breathe for fear of disrupting the alignment of the stars that permitted such a ‘unicorn’ experience in the first place. Our kids are little. We expect them to be rowdy, to throw stuff and run around. Still, a rare glimpse into their more introspective sides makes us marvel at our little wonders all the more.

The next time we’re out here, Tess may ski and Remy may paint. They may share a room and they may not. But for the moment, it feels like the world stood still – and that’s a beautiful experience.

Happy 2014!