My week - day six

Day six - Saturday. I love a quiet, lazy Saturday morning! Saturday is the one day when I allow the girls to watch cartoons when they get up in the morning. This gives me plenty of un-interupted quiet time ... alone. (well of course I have my Bible, journal, books, and COFFEE!)
After that I check my email and favorite blogs ...
And start some loads of laundry ...
H had a noon soccer game so we head out to the field. Bob works some Saturdays so unfortunately he couldn't watch the game. His parents usually come though. This is before the game -
H did great and even scored a goal at this game! We were hootin' and hollerin' - we were so proud!
After the game the girls and I had some errands to run. We ran home to change and grab a PB sandwich for the road and then headed out. One errand stop was the consignment shop to look for winter stuff for the girls - we had some success and were happy about the prices ...
Later that afternoon the girls played outside while I cleaned house ...
Then they came in to help me bake some cookies!
My little helper wearing an apron that I used to wear as a child!
This is what happens when you run out of flour while making cookies - they go FLAT! Oh well, they still tasted good!
Then I browned up a big double batch of ground beef. Might as well cook the extra now and save time later.
We usually wait until Bob gets home to have dinner. Sometimes the girls eat earlier but this night we all wanted to eat together so we could have TACOS, one of our family's favorites!
After the kids were in bed I really wanted to scrapbook ... but first I had to fold some more clothes ...
Then I could get busy scrappin' ...
And I know this is the first time I've mentioned it - but I always end my night by reading. Even if I stay up way too late and am totally zonked, I always read a little. It helps me wind down and get sleepy.

My week - day three

Day three - Wednesday. A 'normal' school day. Whatever that means! Anyway, on Wednesdays we really do buckle down and get some work done. We spend all morning doing school work. This is morning snack time - they are counting and playing with bears while eating their snack ...
Here they are doing some school work ...
And in the afternoon we did arts and crafts. They made these funny scarecrows! (They hadn't finished adding hair or hats yet!) They even cut and glued on fabric clothes and stuck on buttons. J (of course!) had to make hers all fancy wearing a dress and jacket ...

H's has more of the casual/hip fashion - jeans and a top ...
Then we head out to watch H practice soccer. Her practice lasts for one hour so we usually just hang out and talk. My friend Caroline is always there with her daughter so I have someone to talk to!
Here is H and her friend (Caroline's daughter, one of H's best friends)

Friends ...
This night I was smart and put dinner in the crock pot before we left. It's great to come home and have it ready!
YUM, swedish meatballs and pasta!

Olympics Inspired

The girls have turned into regular little fish this summer. They have always loved swimming, and done well in swimming lessons every spring ... but this summer with the addition of our own pool they have gotten really good! They have also loved watching the Olympic events and have talked and dreamed about being Olympians someday. (Hey, you never know, right?)

The other day we were at my Mom's condo pool and Bob was giving them diving lessons. H is doing great and can do an almost perfect dive into the water ... J is getting there, I think she's afraid to go head (hands) first into the water and ends up jumping feet first. She'll get it eventually. Here are some fun pictures ...

Daddy and his girls ...
Ready, set, GO! (J is on the left, H on the right - check out H's dive!!)
Here's H again ...
And J ... she's even laughing on the way in!

Basketball game

We took the girls to a WNBA game on Sunday afternoon. It was so much fun! Actually, it was a pre-season game but still fun.

This was the first time we took the girls but I know it won't be the last!
We went there planning to buy tickets but when we walked up to the ticket counter this very nice man and his son offered us 4 free tickets! They had 6 and only needed to use 2, so they gave us the other 4 for free!! It was awesome! Gotta love the kindness of strangers!

Here are some pictures:



Maybe they will be that tall some day!!

First baseball game

We took the girls to a minor league game on Sunday ... it was SO cold, er, I mean so much fun! They loved being right there near the action and even though it was cold we still had a great time!

Because it was so cold, the stands were EMPTY! There were probably only about 50 people in the whole place ... but that was OK. In case you are wondering what I consider cold, it was 41 degrees with no sun and it was windy. We were super bundled up, and had a big blanket, but I was still freezing! We only stayed for about 6 innings.


Bob and the girls...
Toothless girl ...
I love this picture of J...
Group shot ...
Did I mention that it was COLD???
The kids got free t-shirts - the shirts are way too big, but the girls were super excited! We will definitely do this again when the weather warms up!

What's so SUPER about it Bowl?

We happened to be away on our trip during the 'super' bowl. We planned it that way... thinking it would be fun to celebrate at the condo at the ski mountain. This is the 2nd year we have gone to this ski resort ... and the 2nd year the Pat's have LOST while we were there (last year losing their chance to be in the super bowl, this year losing the super bowl.) So we are starting to think the hotel is jinxed and plan to choose a new place for next year. :)

Bob's brother Aaron and his wife Glenna came, and so did Bob's parents. So we had a nice little gathering for the big game. I brought decorations, Pat's cups and plates, football necklaces for the girls ... Bob had ALL his jerseys ... it was mostly a good time. Except of course the fact that they LOST.

SO, I took a few fun pictures early on in the game, while everyone was still having fun. Trust me, you would not have wanted to see the faces AFTER the game! The girls had fun wearing Bob's huge jerseys. Oh and one cute memory ... H was so sweet, she knows how much this meant to Bob and when I tucked her in that night she said "I'm sad." When I asked why she said "because everyone else is so sad about the game." Then the next day she made Bob this really sweet card saying that she was so sorry that his team lost.

Daddy's Girls

Ski Trip

We took a short trip up north this past weekend and had a great time going skiing. Skiing is one of Bob's passions in life and he is thrilled any time he gets to go. I kind of like it ... I could probably take it or leave it but since he loves it so much I try my best to love it too. I do have fun when we go, but I'm only able to get a few runs in before I get too tired and sore ... must be getting old!

Anyway, we enrolled the girls in ski school ... H has been twice already and we knew she would love it. She was so excited to go. J had never been, and doesn't do so well with new situations (especially when we aren't there!) so we had no idea how she we do.

We dropped them off and signed all the forms and they both went in with no trouble. I checked back on them about a 1/2 later and they both we still all smiles and enjoying watching a movie while they waited for all the kids to show up and get ready to head out to the slopes.

Bob and I were out skiing and decided to take a quick coffee break at the lodge. It was a nice day so we stepped out on the deck to see if we could see the girls ... you could see the hill they were on about a 1/2 mile away and we could see their little pink jackets. Bob suggested we ski down there to get a closer look at how they were doing ... then we heard it. Screaming. Screaming and crying. At the top of her lungs. We knew right away it was J. We could see her sitting on the ground with her instructor and we could distinctively hear her crying "MAMA!!!!"

So we skied down there as quick as we could and actually had to walk back uphill to get to her. She was so upset she wouldn't even tell us what was wrong for about 10 minutes! The instructor said everything was fine and that she just started crying out of the blue. So I spent the rest of the day with her, and she finally told me that she missed us and that going down the hill was scary. I felt so bad. I told Bob that there's no reason to push her to like skiing and that we'd better wait till she's older to try again (old enough to want to do it).

Anyway, overall we had a fun trip and H had a blast. After her class she did a few runs with Daddy which she loved! Here are some pictures ... I have no pictures of J on skis because taking her picture when she was that upset just seemed cruel!


On the lift with Daddy.