Lately

We've been busy bees lately, no surprise.  Here's what we've been up to!

The girls had mid-winter break Feb. 20-21.  On the 20th we went to the Henry Ford Museum (see previous post).  On the 21st we went ice skating and swimming.  I like to wear out the girls, can you tell??  Then we had a snow day on the Friday of that week!!  There wasn't much snow at all, the storm totally missed us and we only got about 2" of slushy snow instead of 6-8".  But we enjoyed our day off school and had fun in the snow.  Short weeks are the best!

Girls working on their fort in the front yard.  Really, we got a snow day for THIS??

The girls have started gymnastics on Saturday mornings, and they all really love it.  Jessi is fearless, and K&M are chickens.  Katie & Megan are together in a small group (their choice), and they have a hilarious instructor.  They smile and laugh through the entire 90-minute gymnastics class!  So while they are being wimpy IMO, I don't mind one bit b/c they are having such a great time.

We have been battling colds these past few weeks.  Chris has had it the worst, he has had very bad bronchitis for about two weeks now.  I sent him to the doctor ten days ago, and he went through one round of antibiotics, steroids, and albuterol inhaler with no improvement at all.  So I sent him back on Thursday, and the doctor sent him to a specialist who put him on another round of antibiotics and steroids, plus a heavy-duty asthma inhaler and a nasal inhaler.  Let's hope he can kick this!  I got the cold starting last Sunday, and was out of commission Mon and some of Tues.  I was not nearly as sick as he was, but I was sooooo tired I could barely do anything.  Megan and Jess got my version of the cold, so I kept them home from school on Wed so they could have a day to catch up on sleep.  They were not that "sick", but were exhausted.  They didn't fight their naps at all!

The girls are all doing fabulous in school.  Katie has been getting a string of A+s on her spelling tests and social studies tests of states and capitals.  She declares fractions (+ - so far) to be easy.  She loves to read and likes to go to bed a little early so she can squeeze in an extra 15 min of reading time before lights out.  Megan is also rocking math and reading.  She finishes a Magic Tree House book every three days or so!  Jessica is doing great in preschool.  Yesterday we went on a preschool field trip to Meijers to learn about nutrition.  We got a nice tour of the store, and a review of the food groups.

They are also enjoying ballet.  They got their recital costumes this week, and we parents were invited into the classroom to see how their routine is coming along.  All three girls will be in the Rapunzel recital, and are each dancing in a scene from the musical.  If you want to see them on stage on June 3rd, let us know so I can get you tickets!

At home, the girls' imaginations and creativity run wild.  Last week they created a hair salon in the front room.  It had a name sign, a slogan, a menu of hairstyle choices, two Barbie heads with examples, and a tip jar.  I visited the salon several times that day!  Katie also holds "Katie school" for the girls nearly every day.  She has been teaching them their multiplication facts (0s, 1s, 2s, 10s, and 11s) and skip counting (2s, 5s, 10s).  She lovvves to boss them around, and for some reason they love it, too!  I love that they are all getting along and are learning so much!

Chris is doing fine, other than battling this neverending bronchitis.  He was supposed to be in the UP or Italy this past week for work, but wound up staying here, thank goodness.  He next goes to Italy for the middle two weeks of March.

I'm doing well, too.  Our big school fundraiser, the all-day crop, is coming up in one week.  I've been to lots of meetings lately, and have been doing tons of prep for it.  Hopefully it runs smoothly!  I had to skip the gym this past week due to our colds, but I look forward to getting back to walking, biking, and yoga next week.  I finished the Steve Jobs biography this week; what a book!  I loved it, it was crammed full of tech history and pop culture.  I highly recommend it for any Mac fan!

Tonight I took the girls to the school Mother-daughter event, which was a fitness night this year.  It was held at our gym, and we played: walleyball, basketball, zumba, tae kwon do, soccer, rock climbing, and a bouncy house.  So much fun!  We also enjoyed unlimited smoothies and fresh fruit...yum.  I was brave and tried rock climbing for the first time EVER...and I made it to the very top!!  It was not as hard as I thought it would be, but it was a lot more scary than I thought it would be!  Not sure if I'll try that again anytime soon...

  

Next week is a big one, with Chris' birthday on Tuesday, and Katie's birthday on Friday.  I can't believe our baby is almost ten!!  She is having her party on Tues (no school, PD day for teachers) at the ice skating rink.  She picked out cute party favors for her classmates: a mug with a hot cocoa packet, a mini-Kleenex pack, a pair of stretchy gloves, and a lip gloss tin.  Perfect for ice skating!  On Friday we'd like to take her out to dinner and to get her ears pierced, but it might have to be delayed a few days due to ballet and crop obligations that night.  We'll keep you posted!!