coming soon!

SPRING BREAK IS ALMOST HERE!!

We are so looking forward to the break. Michael's sister & her family are coming up for a visit. I have been working on cleaning the house for their visit.

The girls are getting excited about the visit. N & A asked me today who was sleeping where. All the sisters are together. The brothers & their parents will be staying at a hotel nearby.

There are so many things that we can do while they are here, it is difficult to figure out what to do. I think the one outing I am looking forward to most is the adults only dinner. We have a babysitter lined up and trying to reach another one to assist. It has been 7 months since Michael & I have gone out together without the girls. And I have no idea how long it has been for Laura & Scott.

Can hardly wait for Friday!

Pics from tonight

Once again, we had a blast with Daddy tonight!

Daddy's home!!!

Michael has been working some crazy hours this week which has resulted in him seeing the girls long enough to kiss them goodbye as he walks out the door to go to work.

Tonight, the garage door began to open at 7:50pm. Shouts could be heard from all corners of the house...

"DADDY'S HOME!!!!"

So, Daddy got cleaned up from the day and snuggled with his girls for a while. Then they all got up to play Wii. 100 pin bowling ROCKS! They had a great time laughing and playing together.

I, of course, served Daddy some dinner and took pictures of the family.

Now to get the pictures onto the computer. Look for an update to this post later on this evening.

We are thankful that we had the opportunity to spend time together tonight.

Dear Grammy,

Guess what? I have a new thing that I like to do. I pull my knees up like I'm going to sleep on my tummy, but I don't go to sleep. Instead I like to rock back and forth. It is really fun. I giggle a lot when I do it too.

I love you,
Miss E

Success hurts!

Now, don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful evening.

I got up at 7am to feed the littlest one. By 8, I was in the kitchen working on dinner. At 9:45, we drove out of the garage on our way to pick up a few last minute items and pay a couple of bills.

We were home by 12:30 at which time I fed Miss E again. By 3 we were at the church with pans of Orange Cake and a crockpot full of meat for the Pastichio.

A few missteps later, I had the cream sauce going and the pasta cooking. Unfortunately, I didn't get done as quickly as I had thought I would. Instead I spent almost 2 full hours stirring the cream sauce. First to heat it up, then to cool it down. I placed the pot with the sauce over a larger pot filled with ice and water. It took much less time to cool than it did to cook. Dinner was in the oven by 6 and we were eating by 6:45.

Since I was standing with the cream sauce, I missed A's soccer practice and got Michael in a bit of trouble. We are not supposed to leave children A's age at practice without a parent. Which totally does not work with our schedule. N has art lessons on Mondays at 5pm. A has soccer practice on Mondays at 4:45pm. Michael has not been home to help with the dropping off, but he was able to pick the girls up tonight. So, for about half of A's practice, I have to drive N to art and then drive back to the soccer fields.

We ended up with a total of 17 people at dinner tonight instead of the 35 or so that had been invited. It was a wonderful time.

But, now that I am home and sitting down.... I hurt! My legs, knees, feet, ankles... they hurt! But it is totally worth it!

Trying again

Dinner is back on!

We need to run get the final touches, but as of 8:04 am EST everyone in our home is well.

I am really looking forward to this.

Pray it goes well??

Gluten Free

Since my dear sister has a child who is allergic to wheat, I've sent her websites/blogs that I run across that deal with that subject. I was reading a blog tonight and I have copied several recipes that look amazing.

I'm going to try these over the next couple of months. If anything turns out good, I'll share.

Hopefully we will be able to find some things that my nephew can eat when he comes to visit. Which I hope will be often!

Photo Roundup

A had her 1st soccer game this past Saturday. She did much better than we expected, but she still had her moments. Like this one...drawing in the sand while the rest of her team was off chasing the ball.

The windup.

Her 1st goal kick in the game.

1st corner kick

Before the 1st game. (they played 2 games on Saturday)

My birthday celebration was small considering all of the sick kiddos in the house.

N sat down one afternoon and read a book to Miss E.

Snow day! N was packing snow for their "snow princess" as A called it.

We don't usually see this much snow. Two years in a row was somewhat amazing.

A was ready for her 1st practice. All dressed up and ready to play some soccer!

Miss E didn't think too much of her first bite of cereal. But she has eaten well and very quickly figured out how to protest when she thinks I am not feeding her quickly enough.

Admiring her Daddy.

Hope you have enjoyed the photo round up from the past few weeks!

Made it!

We all made it to church this morning!! I feel as though I have not been in a month.

It was so refreshing to be in the worship service and just listen to the people praising God.

And the fellowship in Sunday School was wonderful as well. We laugh and have a good time, especially when our leader (R) and one of the ladies (L) disagree. Our leader tells her that he is ready to debate and lets her talk. It makes for some very interesting discussions.

This morning we talked about how Jesus' message never changed and how our churches seem to be meeting society halfway and compromising the message. R asked if holding Christian concerts and the like were a compromise. Well, L stated that Jesus varied the delivery of His message, but not the message itself. We agreed that the delivery of the message does need to be tailored to our audience, but not at the expense of the gospel. If the gospel is changed, then the delivery of the message is worthless.

On another note, I'm getting photos sorted off of my camera and will have some pictures posted very soon!

Just when I think we are on the mend

Miss E starts coughing...

The runny nose has to be the worst part though.

I wore her today in the wrap.
Facing my chest.
With a runny nose.
And she kept giving me "kisses".
With a runny nose.

EEEWWWWW!!!!!

Please continue to pray for my family as we try to recover from everything that seems to be floating around our house. I am so glad that tomorrow will be sunny. Gray skies and illness do not make a happy mommy!

24 hours

No one has gotten sick in the last 24 hours. If they have, no one has notified me with the "Mommy, I threw up" line.

N went back to school today and A will return tomorrow.

I will get to fold the 3 dozen or so loads of laundry that have piled up in our living room. These were washed as vomit and drool and runny noses were cleaned up.

I think N's mattress was salvaged! I will have to double check in the morning, but I believe the stain & the smell are gone.

In other news, we took N back to the doctor today to follow up about her headaches. We ended up doing an allergy screening for her and should have the results in about a week. N did not like having her blood drawn. And since I don't remember if I updated after the eye doctor... N does NOT need glasses!!! She may have her daddy's eyes which would be a wonderful thing.

Thanks for all the prayers over the past few days.

6 Hours

We've made it 6 hours without incident.

If anyone else gets sick... I quit!

I let N jump on the bed today. Found instructions online on how to clean a mattress. It said spray it with a cleaner made for cleaning urine, etc and then to have the heaviest person in the house stand on it until the towel was no longer wet. I took the mattress to the garage & told N to jump to her heart's content.

Never thought I'd ever say "Go jump on your bed!"

Now we are praying that Miss E does not get sick too. And Michael because he left for work this morning telling me that he did not feel well.

I have washed 3 more loads of laundry in an attempt to wash everything that might possibly be contaminated.

I think I have a bit more to do since I don't want the girls reusing their blankets tonight without them being cleaned.