Alpena trip

We traveled up to Alpena the first weekend of February, for Greyson's 5th birthday party, and to see Erica & Violet and to meet baby Stone CC!

We all had masks to go with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme.  See the cute balloons behind Jess?!

Girls with the birthday boy

Katie meeting Stone

Mom, Erica, Mary, & I went to a local church's "Chocolate Extravaganza" during the kids' naptime.  It was just as awesome as you can imagine - unlimited chocolate creations!!

My plate of yumminess

Then we left Katie in charge of the kids and went out for a beer at the new Austin Bros. Brewery

Meg playing with Violet

Sweet baby Stone napping on me

Normal

Cute cousins!

Hazel wanted to try on Meg's snow boots

Violet tried on some of the dress-up clothes that we're passing down to her

Jess and Stone

Grandparents and half of their grandkids!

On the way home, we stopped at Northwoods Outlet, which was just amazing!  Every weird thing you can imagine is inside!  Plus I got my cheapy black sunflower seed birdseed, so I was happy

It was a short, but very sweet, trip, and we're so glad we could make it and see everyone!

End of January

I'm home sick today, so I'll try to be a little productive between naps and do a little blogging!  Here are some random pics of our life in late January:

Meg & Jess in gymnastics class.  Meg is doing the backbend, and Jess is doing the handstand

At the end of each class, when their arms and abs are the most tired, they try to climb the rope and touch the bell at the ceiling.  Somehow, they almost always manage to reach the top!

Jess played basketball with a lot of her classmates

Katie (#7) played basketball, too, with girls from around our city

Jessica got to do a reading at the Sacrament of Reconciliation prep class

The girls LOVE Far Side books now!  I picked up a whole stack of them from the library's used book sale, for only 50c each!  They don't get all of the jokes, but do appreciate the humor in most of them.

Meg played indoor soccer, and even got to be goalie once!  She did fine, but she's a much better forward or midfield player!

I'll work on a few more posts, and will spread them out so they are posted one per day.  Check back often!