We've had a fun week - at least we did once everyone got healthy again.  Eileen was home sick for a day and a half but thankfully got well just in time for "Immersion" a fun couple of days at school where they get to pick a fun subject and study it for a couple days with kids from all different grades.  Aaron was home sick on Monday and James was iffy for a couple days - but we seem to have finally beat the sickies....  Eileen spent most of her days at home reading and resting - she is happy for hours with a book - I had to twist her arm to do anything else.  

One of the other things i had to twist her arm into doing was her science project.... sigh... she and I are going to have to have a long talk before her next science project about how to to science projects....  Or maybe I'll just have grandpa come out here and help her.... :)

This pic is just in here because it's so darn cute!!!!  

Saturday evening, our ward Young Women hosted a grown-up prom.  They set up a fancy dinner and dancing and pictures and fun - lol - we haven't gotten our pictures yet - but i'll post them when I do - until they you'll have to be satisfied with a pic of the friends we doubled with - Dwayne and Nicole.  We had a blast goofing off and turning it into everything i remember church dances being when i was a teenage - except I got to have a guaranteed cute dance partner for every slow song!  Now we are recovering - lol - i'm a bit out of shape for dancing all night (or even just until 9:30....)

Today was a kinda momentous occasion for me - I have looked forward to getting to sing with my kids since the day Eileen was born.  Today for Mother's Day, Eileen and I sang a musical number at church.  Anna was supposed to sing too, but she grumped out at the last minute.  But it was still a wonderful occasion - It was wonderful to sing with my beautiful and talented daughter!  

Home Sweet Home

Well, we are finally home!  The kids had a blast with Aunt Tina (and were well behaved enough to not scare Tina off forever)  They went to a Skate City night and had a blast, they got to go to the library, jump on Aunt Tina's trampoline and hang out at her house.  

Evie got to roll the dice for a game at Skate City and even won a prize - she was so excited about it!

This weeks pictures are more interesting (meaning that they have people in them)   I don't do selfies :)  Weather was mostly overcast and a bit drizzly - but we grabbed our umbrella - snuggled up together under it and enjoyed Paris anyway!  Monday we moved out of the hotel and into a little flat just south of Sacre Coeur, then we set off to Notre Dame followed by the Pantheon, We saw the cutest little family of ducklings wandering around behind Notre Dame!  The Cathedral is just amazing!  Dan's favorite part of the Pantheon was the crypts.....

The next day we went back to the Notre Dame area to visit the Archaeological Crypts - it was really neat to see the beginnings of Paris - and humbling to think that that was over a 1000 years ago.  After we headed over to the Eiffel Tower - Dan and I waited in line to go to the top (took 3 hours and most of that was waiting)  the view is just incredible!  Then we took a little boat tour on the Seine.  That night we went to a production at the Hotel des Invalides.  It was an incredible light show about the history of France shown on the facade of the building.

Wednesday we went to Versailles.  We walked around the gardens then after another LONG wait, we went inside and were herded like sheep around the palace.  It was stunning - but the crowds were rather overwhelming.  After, Dan and I went back to the Hotel des Invalides to check out the museums there.

Thursday was a national holiday (May Day) which meant that a lot of things were closed - we took it easy in the morning, then headed over to Trocadero in the afternoon and wandered around - we hit a Chocolate Museum and then met up with the rest of the guys from Dan's work and did a Boat/Dinner trip on the Seine.

It was a fun close to an amazing trip!  The next morning, we started home.  A lot of hours later (lol - i lost count) we arrived home to some very excited kids who just about stampeded us as we walked in.

Dan and I spent yesterday working in the yard, and unpacking.  And dealing with some sick kiddos - James was sick in the morning, but seemed to mostly be feeling better in the evening.  Aaron woke up last night throwing up, but once again, seemed to be feeling better by this evening.

Now it's back to the normal - at least for a few more weeks until school gets out....

Paris and Camp Tina

Monday was a day of total insanity - trying to get everything ready to go.  Bright and early Tuesday morning, I headed to the air port for a VERY long trip.  A 4 hour trip to Toronto - a 6 hour layover followed by a very long trip to Paris.  I got in in time for lunch with Dan.  I took a nap, went out to dinner with Dan and then went to bed.  By the next morning - I was ready to explore Paris!  I spent the next couple days exploring - I went to the Jardin de l'Acclamation, walked along the Champs Elyse - just window shopping.  I spent a whole day at the Louvre.  I went the the Opera House and the Sacre Coeur and Montmartre.  Weather has been drizzly but nice.  Each day has been spent by me enjoying one of my favorite cities in the world and each day has closed with dinner with my amazing husband! 

Today, I took the metro and headed to church!  I really enjoyed the bits I could understand - some amazing lessons and some amazing people.  :). My French is very rusty, but it's slowly coming back bit by bit as I have made every attempt to use it.  I'm rather proud of myself and my mostly successful attempts at communicating in a language that I haven't really used in 9 years at least.  :).

Tomorrow, I get to show off the city that I love to others!  Pictures to follow later since I'm not easily able to transfer pictures from my camera right now! 

The kids are doing well with Aunt Tina - apparently only Eileen misses us though.... 

Happy Easter!!

This week has been fun and busy!  Dan and I have been getting ready for our trip - which still feels a bit surreal.  Dan left this morning - I head out on Tuesday morning.

On Thursday morning, Evie had a preschool field trip - we went to a place called the "Great Plains Conservatory" The kids got to check out Teepees and see lots of animals and had a great time.  It was so funny to watch James hunched over trying to sneak up on a bunny - he was surprisingly stealthy...  There was also a fun sand and water area that the kids had a blast digging in and making sand castles.

Friday, Dwayne and Nicole came over to watch the kids while Dan and I went to my concert. Doug and Newell and Becky also came!  It was a fun evening!  

Saturday we had some friends over for an Easter Egg Hunt - the kids had a blast!  Nothing better than finding eggs, eating candy and playing with friends!!  

 That evening, I had my final Easter concert - Grandpa came - it was so good to see him!  This concert series has been so amazing - it's been so awesome to sing with these directors and this group!

Sunday morning - Dan took off, then I packed the kids into the car and we went down to Grandpa's church for a presentation in Grandma's honor - it's always amazing to see how many lives she touched.   Then we headed back to church so I could direct the choir for the Easter Program.  They did so well!!  It was a wonderful program with wonderful talks and music.

Icky Sickies!

We started the week off with 2 sick kids.  Anna was throwing up in the morning and so she stayed home from school, and Evie spent most of Monday throwing up too.  By the end of Monday, Anna was going crazy being stuck inside resting and was ready to go back to school the next day - even building this impressive block castle couldn't entertain her all day - both did get a lot of much needed sleep though.  

Evie was still throwing up the next day, so she skipped preschool.  By the end of Tuesday, Evie was mostly better - which was good, because cleaning up all that throw-up was making me sick!  At one point on Monday, Evie comes up to me and says that her tummy isn't feeling good - so I tell her to quickly run to the bathroom.  Does she run to the downstairs bathroom - which is very close?  No - she decides that she has to run all the way upstairs to throw up.  Had she gone to the close bathroom, she would have made it - but instead, she threw up all over the stairs and all over the upstairs bathroom floor - before finally getting a bit into the toilet....  Sigh....

By Wednesday, we were feeling better - no throw up (YEY!)  and getting back to normal.  We babysat a friends daughter Wednesday and Friday afternoon.  The weather was beautiful this week (well until today) and the kids all spent as much time as they could outside!  The little girl really took to Anna - so much so that when she got bumped and started crying, she wouldn't let me comfort her - she only wanted Anna.  James was really funny with her too - she's about 6 months younger than James and James was insistent on showing her everything and helping her do everything - he was very gentle - but kept trying to gently nudge her or lead her to where he thought she should be.  

Friday was so beautiful that we went to the park after I picked up the kids from school.  We spent most of the afternoon there and just enjoyed the warm sun!

Saturday we were busy and that evening was the Chorale's first Easter Concert.  It went really well.   Nicole came with me to watch the concert - it was a lot of fun!  It's been really neat singing with the choir this season - the directors are amazing and have done so much to make this choir incredible!!!

Family Fun

Well, we sent Sandi off this week with lots of long sad faces.  We got to enjoy Monday with her, then took her to the airport in the evening.  Since the weather has been generally good (with a few exceptions) we have been enjoying the outdoor weather.  I took James out on his little tricycle - he went SO slow that we only got about 3 houses away before we had to turn back because it was getting too late!  He walked himself along and stopped every foot or so to count things (1-2-3 rocks!  1-2-3 flowers!)  or to point things out to me (car mommy!  rocks mommy!  trees mommy!)  

Heather came over on Tuesday to console us for the loss of Aunt Sandi and to hang out with us for awhile.  Wednesday we went to the library - we have banned the kids from checking out books - but we still like going to story time and seeing our friends.  Tayanna was actually excited to see me when I got to her house to pick them up!

Friday night, Newell and Becky came over - we left the kids with Jacob and went out to dinner, then played games at the house for awhile.  I always enjoy seeing Newell and Becky - but especially so when we get to chat about our upcoming trip to Paris!!!!

Saturday and Sunday were General Conference.  We all really enjoyed it!  Eileen actually sat and watched/listened to the whole thing - knitting the whole time!  It was so cute to watch her.  :)

Between sessions, we took advantage of the beautiful weather - Anna tried to help Aaron learn how to ride a bike.  It was so sweet to watch her trying to help her brother!

Sunday evening, we had friends over for dinner - we all had a great time eating and chatting - then the kids ran amok - going crazy and climbing all over Nate.  James and the kids discovered horsey rides - and they all want to give him horsey rides - he holds on to their hair (ouch!!)  and says "giiddy-uuup!"  His balance on their wiggly backs isn't so great - so he doesn't stay up long - but it's fun to watch anyway!

Spring Break!

The kids have been on spring break all week, so we have had a fun week!  Monday was the normal excitement, then Tuesday we did early piano lessons so that we could be free on Thursday.  Bright and early on Wednesday morning, my sister Sandi got into town.  She and her little girl Kai flew in to spend a few days with us!  Naturally, all the family in the area wanted to see them, so we spent the rest of the week finding fun things to do and hanging out with family!  

On Wednesday, we went to the Hammond's Candy Factory - the kids loved it - they LOVED getting the free sample at the end of the tour and they loved hanging out with Aunt Sandi and baby Kai.  We drove home for a sticky fingered lunch and then rested a bit since Sandi had been up since the crack of dawn (or earlier) and I was still recovering from a cold.  In the evening, Sandi came with me to choir practice.  

Thursday, we met up with Frank and Frankie - we ate lunch at the Museum of Nature and Science and then had fun exploring the Space Odessy exhibit (one of the kids favorites) and the Gems exhibit (which we hadn't seen before.)

Friday, we met up with Grandpa for lunch and had a fun lunch at a little Italian place near his house.  The poor restaurant staff who had to clean up after James and Kai!!  James was so funny - he spent the whole time trying to grab any food he could get his hands on and add it to his dish.

After, we went over to Aunt Joan's house for a while - we had a fun time chatting and hanging out with her and Grandpa and Jill and Logan.

Saturday was crazy - totally crazy!  We started out with an early trip to Stuart and Rebecca's for breakfast with the family.  Then I dropped Evie off at a birthday party for her friend Brinton from preshool.  Then Sandi and I (with our littles) went to the fabric store to get the fabric for Kai's quilt.  James spent the whole trip asking me to do things for him (up please!  down please!  hold it?  water please?  get it?)  Just a constant stream of demands which made it hard to talk and plan with Sandi!  It's so cute - James calls Sandi "Santa" so any time we were out of sight - it was "where's Santa?"  We finally got out of there and then went back to pick up Evie.  We got home finally and ate some lunch, then Dan took some of the kids to a baptism in the ward.  When they got home, we ate an early dinner, then took the kids out for the ice cream they earned (awhile back) with their good and kind behavior.

After, Sandi, Nicole, Eileen and I went to the Women's General Broadcast - I felt so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing women and to be there with my sweet oldest daughter and share that experience with her.  I couldn't help thinking of my mother-in-law and how blessed she must be feeling to be able to watch with her daughter and granddaughters!

The kids had some fun goofing off and doing Kai's hair - she's such a cute little girl (about 10 months old)  and the kids all thought this hair style suited her!

Church today was wonderful!  We had Fast and Testimony meeting this week and we were so blessed to listen to the testimonies of our daughters.  It was also amazing to listen to the testimonies of a couple amazing people in our ward who have been coming back to church - and to hear them bear such powerful testimony and to see them as they have changed and become more faithful - more loving and more dedicated!  Our ward had a Visiting Teaching meeting today.  Sandi and I did a special musical number for it (I was just glad to have my voice mostly back to normal in time)  and the stories that were shared were wonderful!

After church, Uncle Doug came over and had dinner with us and hung out for a while.  The kids love getting to see their Great Uncles - and uncle Doug is no exception - they had fun showing off for him and playing with him.

After a fun and wonderful week - the kids start school again tomorrow - and we get one last (mostly full) day with Sandi before she heads home tomorrow evening.  The kids are all going to miss having her around and I've really enjoyed having this fun sister time!

Sleep... I need sleep....

It's been a bit of a crazy week.... Sigh - is there ever a week that isn't??  This week was somewhat different because it felt like I spent SO MUCH of it in my car - and that drives me nuts!!  I went through a tank and a half of gas this week - which is a ridiculous amount for me!  Between the usual, choir, piano lessons, and school driving, I have taken a friend to a couple doctor appointments half way across town, and we had a family get together to celebrate my uncle's birthday.  I'm just tired of my car - lol - and this coming week probably won't be much better.  

Eileen and Anna are doing Volleyball in PE right now - so I went out and got a couple volleyballs for us all to play with.  James of course loves them - but Eileen and I have had some fun practicing volleyball skills in the backyard.  My dad would be proud (or horrified at how out of practice I am)  I told Eileen how much better Aunt Sandi is - so there's another thing to add to our list of things to do with Aunt Sandi when she visits!  

This weekend we changed James' crib into a 'toddler bed'  after we finished setting it up and making it, he went over and climbed right in and tucked himself into bed - so Anna red him a story.  It was so cute!

Friday night, I went to the Peoria Ward R.S. Dinner - it's always fun to hang out with Nicole and it's always fun to get together with friends from my old ward, so it was a really fun night!  Plus after an exhausting day, I really needed some down time.

Saturday, we started the day by going to our friend Brad's baptism, then the kids stayed at the church for the stake children's choir rehearsal, while I went to my friends daughter's wedding reception.  Saturday night, we had some friends over so their parents could go to the adult session of Stake Conference - we had fun watching silly shows on tv and eating cake and ice cream!

Today was a wonderful Stake Conference, followed by mommy-nap time and then we headed over to Stuart and Rebecca's to celebrate Uncle Doug's birthday.  It was a really nice evening - it's nice to be near family!!

These last two pictures are just ones I snapped of my cute kiddos earlier today.  Eileen came in with one of my hats on, and I just thought she was so cute so I took a picture, so of course, Evie wanted her picture taken also - she started acting goofy - and Eileen stuck the hat on her head last minute, giving me this cute, goofy set of pictures!

Buzzed

My boys have been needing hair cuts for awhile now.  I didn't expect Dan to cut James' hair quite this short - but he sure looks cute!  He looks so different that it's taking some getting use to - but I love rubbing his fuzzy head and he doesn't seem to notice anything is different.  This was him saying "Cheeeese" while I tried to get a picture of his new hair cut.... 

Aaron's hair is cut too, but I can't seem to get a picture of him....

The rest of our week has been mostly normal.  It's always great having Dan home.

Wednesday, Dan and I dropped off Evie and James with the Young's and went to his cousin Becca's wedding.  It was a lot of fun and she's married a really great guy - plus it's always fun to get together with family - and the new hubby fits right in.  She was so cute and happy!

Thursday we had the normal piano lessons and that was followed by a rush to get home so Dan could take the older 3 kids to Skate City and I could take the younger two to a Relief Society Activity.

Friday night, we had friends over for dinner.  We had 8 adults and 8 kids here - somehow we managed to feed everyone with a bit left over and we had a BLAST together.  We played Scattergories and had a ton of fun goofing off while the kids hung out downstairs.

On Saturday, Dwayne and Nicole came over - Nicole and I made taquitos and Dan and Dwayne hung a door.  The girls ran around the house singing the music from Frozen.  The boys ran around the kitchen trying to see what the men were doing outside.

Fun with Grandma

With Grandma out here for the week - we got to have lots of fun!  Monday was mostly settling in - and a follow-up appointment for Eileen and her orthodontist.  Tuesday, we had preschool here, which is always a lot of fun and crazyness.  They are all such fun and good kids that it is never a bad day. Then Aaron had a dentist appointment in the afternoon.  (I'm not sure how this happened, but all the doctor and dentist appointments got scheduled this week....)  

Wednesday morning, Eileen had her wellness check up.  She was great - healthy, happy, smart and growing well!  After that, the littles, grandma and I met with Grandpa, Stuart, Doug, Tina and Frankie for lunch.  We had lunch at a fun little place called Geatano's which had a history of mobsters meeting there - one of whom went to school with Great Grandpa!  In the afternoon, Grandma took Aaron out shopping for his birthday present (only 2 months late!)  He was very excited though and picked out some new skylanders.  

Thursday Aaron had a doctor's appointment - he is also heathy and happy and smart - doing well!  I am so grateful that my kids are healthy and happy!  Then we had preschool at our house again, and grandma took James out for his birthday shopping - no big surprise, he came home with more cars :)  Then after piano lessons that afternoon, we went to Stuart and Rebecca's to celebrate Grandpa, Aunt Rebecca, and Sara Jean's birthdays.  The kids all had a blast.  James LOVED their new dog - tinker - whom James called "Stinker" 

These two just love having their picture taken.  Evie thought she was so cool for putting sunglasses on Eileen's penguin!  And once I'd taken her picture, I had to take James' too.  This little boy has surprisingly good table manners for a 2 year old - he uses his spoon or fork (which is more than some of the older ones can say) - he says please and thanks (which is more than some of the older ones can say) - and he uses his napkin or a rag instead of his clothes to wipe off his hands (which is more than some of the older ones can say)  LOL - you get the picture!

James' vocabulary is expanding every day - each day he pops out a new word that I didn't realize he knew.  And he speaks in 4 - 5 word sentences.  I came in to get him up from naps one day to find this.  :) 

Late Saturday night, I got a call from a friend who needed a ride to the ER.  I ended up staying there with her all night until she was finally admitted this morning around 9 am.  After a night of no sleep, I took an afternoon nap today and now I am good and ready to head to bed again!  Heather is thankfully ok - just unable to handle this without some intravenous help.

Hot and Cold

This week started out with mommy trying to recover - I slept most of Monday (after sleeping most of Sunday) and by Tuesday was starting to feel back to normal.  We had a fun day of preschool at our house on Tuesday and the kids all had a blast.  It's so fun to watch them all play together - they all get along so well!  

Wednesday morning, we got Nicole and the kids and headed for the library for story time.  James actually paid attention for some of it - usually he just wants to walk around and get books for me to read to him.  This time, he actually participated in story time some.  

Wednesday night was choir - I'm excited to get to do a solo in our upcoming concert, and I'm really excited to get to sing with this choir - we have some new directors who are determined to take this choir to the next level - and it's amazing to watch the choir grow and get better!  

Thursday our preschool group went on a field trip to the Fire Station.  It was really pretty cool - we got to check out all the equipment and the kids got to sit in the truck and they all had a great time checking everything out.  

Thursday morning, we also said good-bye to Daddy as he headed off to Nashville for another trip.  Thursday afternoon was piano lessons and I hadn't managed to think ahead to needing dinner that night, so instead of another night of mac n' cheese, we stopped at Firehouse Subs on the way home.  

Friday morning, Evie and James had doctor's appointments.  I was amazed (and yet not really surprised) to hear that Evie weighed in at 32 lbs and James weighed in at 28 lbs.  making them 2 years and 4 lbs apart.   No wonder my back hurts.  Otherwise they are growing and developing well - James talks incessantly - and he actually want you to pay attention and respond - and his continuous commentary on what he sees, what he's doing and what he wants you to do are adorable, but rather exhausting sometimes!   

Saturday, Heather came over to hang out and we spent some time cleaning the house, then the kids had fun pulling out their summer fun passport books and adding some more pictures and lots more stamps and stickers.

Grandma got into town today - it was kinda nice to have someone else to take some of the kids attention - she spent most of the afternoon knitting with the older kids and playing and reading with them.  By 7 though, they had managed to exhaust both of us, so we figured they might be tired too and put them to bed.  :)

Mostly back to normal

We seem to mostly have shaken the sickies - except for mommy - but since mommy doesn't get to stop everything when she's sick, life has mostly been normal this week (plus I really felt fine until today) 

This week has been full of fun adventures - preschool, the library, piano lessons, and school.  Evie loves going to preschool!  She loves her preschool friends and getting to learn and play, and she loves her teachers!  James and I have been having fun hanging out at the mall play area while she's at preschool - and James loves the time with mommy's attention and getting to run around and play. 

James has gotten really clingy and we are trying to get him to be a bit more independent - he want's to be carried everywhere - in fact - Dan and I had to deal with at least 6-7 massive tantrums from him today during church because he wanted to be carried  - not sat with, not played with - carried.  The problem is that he's just getting to big to carry everywhere - especially when mommy isn't feeling so good.  :)  He's become quite a chatter box too - he is always chattering at me and telling me things and showing me things and trying to drag me to where he wants me.  It's always amazing to see how quickly he learns. 

Monday was President's day and we took the chance to enjoy a day off school and a sunny day to go to the zoo.  The kids all had a really fun time - and were really good about staying close to me - the zoo was packed because of the holiday and so I was nervous about them running off or getting too far away - but they all did really well - which made the day enjoyable for me too. 

James, I think, enjoyed it the most - he LOVED to see the animals and could only be dragged away from the current animal by the promise of the next one.  His favorite animal though was the "Water Tigers"  We saw the sea lions playing and stopped to watch them - James talked about the "water tigers" for the next 2 days straight. 

Still Sick.....

This week has been once again full of sick kiddos. Aaron was running a fever on Monday and Tuesday and stayed home from school.  On Wednesday, he was fine and going to school and I was hoping this was done... then Evie threw up.... Well she didn't throw up again - she napped most of that day and a good chunk of the next and was feeling better on Friday.  Friday morning, we had a fun Valentines' Day breakfast, and, then my visiting teacher came over for a bit.  After that, we went to a little Valentine's Day party for the kids.  In the afternoon, after the kids had finished their piano, we made Valentine's for our friend Heather and took them over to her.  Friday night, we had Eileen's friend Morgan over for the night and Dan went to watch Dwayne and Nicole's kids so that they could go out on a Valentines Day date.  Saturday morning, the kids went to a Primary Activity, then they spent most of the afternoon playing together.  In the evening, Dwayne and Nicole came over to watch our kids so Dan and I could go out.  We had a fun evening of dinner and mall walking. 

So here we were thinking that sickness was behind us.... then this morning, Anna came in and said she wasn't feeling well - then barely made it to the bathroom before she threw up.  So once again, Dan stayed home from church with sick kids while I took the others to church.  Anna slept most of the day and still wasn't feeling so hot tonight - but the kids all have tomorrow off school, so she has another day to get well...

I didn't do very well at taking pictures, so here's a fun one of James.  If you ask him what a cow says he says "mmmmmmmmm" and makes this face. 

The Sickness Goes On

Well this has been a not so fun week of sickies - Monday morning started off bright and early with James throwing up in his bed.  However after that one bad incident, he really seemed to be feeling better.  Evie picked up the baton with a chesty cough that we finally managed to get rid of around Friday, however, on Friday, Dan took the girls out and Eileen threw up in the car on the way home.  She seemed to feel ok the next day, but Aaron took it up and threw up a few times on Saturday and in the evening, started complaining about his ear hurting.  He was running a high fever this morning, so Dan stayed home from church with him.  He slept most of the day, so hopefully he will feel ok tomorrow, but we are going to have to call the Doc.

The kids had Thursday and Friday off of school and I had planned on taking them somewhere fun, but as usual, any trips were conditional upon a clean play room and clean bedrooms - and since they didn't get any cleaning done, we didn't go anywhere - turns out that wasn't' such a bad thing considering the bugs we seemed to be carrying around - and I didn't mind since I wasn't feeling up to par either and was fine with hanging out at the house - the only downside is that 2 days stuck inside due to freezing weather can make kids rather stir crazy....

Friday, Dan took Eileen and Anna to a Daddy Daughter Dance at Grandpa's church.  They really had a great time (until the ride home where Eileen threw up) They got to dress up and hang out with their cousin Lucy and Uncle Stuart and Grandpa (and of course Daddy)  Grandpa even made them some corsages to wear on their wrists! 

Hopefully, the sickies will soon be behind us and we can get back to our regularly scheduled fun! 

Snow, snow and more snow!

We have gotten a good deal of snow this week - which has made the roads a bit treacherous and has mostly kept the kids indoors.  I'm looking forward to a few days of sunshine and letting the kids run outside! 

Tuesday, I dropped Evie off at preschool and then decided to take James to the mall play area and was surprised and happy to run into almost every other kid in our nursery and their moms.  We both had a great time with friends - running around and chatting! 

Wednesday started off with a trip to the library - but unfortunately Nicole's kids were sick, so we had to go on our own - thankfully, we still got to run into friends there for chatting with and playing with.  Then of course the day ended with choir. 

Thursday was the beginning of the snow - weather turned cold and mushy Thursday evening - the girls had their school music night - so we got to listen to them sing - they even both had little solos - not too surprising, since they both have lovely voices and can sing the notes right, but it was wonderful to hear and see!  They did great!!

I tried to get some videos too - but had some trouble figuring out my camera :)  I did get Eileen's solo recorded, but it's on a rather long video that I'm having trouble uploading.  They both did an amazing job though!

Friday night, we had the Haight's over for dinner - we had a great time with them - and the kids all had a blast together too!  

Saturday was nice and crazy, I took Anna down to a birthday party and went and ran some errands down in that part of town while I was out - I took Evie with me because she insisted that she really did want to sit in the car and do nothing, instead of playing at home.... Evie had her second round of testing at Quest in the afternoon and then in the evening, Aaron's friend Ethan and his mom came over to play for a bit.  

Sundays are always crazy - but since it was Fast Sunday, we had no choir practice, so there was one less thing going on today!  Plus they got a primary chorister called, so soon I will be done subbing there - so one less thing to do on Sundays.  

James is at a fun age - he learns new things every day - today when he saw a picture of a cow he pointed at it - said "COW"  and proceeded to pucker up his lips and say "Mmmmmmmoooo"   One of these day's I'll get a picture of it - cuz it's so cute and funny, but it's hard to catch since he's usually in my lap when he's doing it.