She's Learning So Fast...

I didn't learn PowerPoint until I was in the workplace --- She's only in First Grade!!!

All About Zebras by Sophie

At Least She Wasn't In It

Allison's hat blew off into the street and was immediately run over by an SUV. Fortunately, although she impulsively started to chase her hat, she stopped as we yelled at her. Then she stood watching agast as the SUV ran over her hat.

It was at least 5 minutes before she let go of the hat again.

Sophie's Busy Day...

Sophie woke up bright and early this morning to go plant a vegetable garden with her Girl Scout Daisy Troop. She proudly planted 2 squash seeds....then turned and asked if she would have to try them if they grow! After lunch she met up again with some of her Daisy friends. (Now, we don't usually plan 2 activities for one day, but the planting of the garden was re-scheduled from last weekend when the weather turned so cold.) The girls went to learn a bit about riding horses. This was the first time that Sophie was actually taught how to handle a horse instead of just being led around by someone else while sitting on the horse. I think she did quite well.
Lastly..... after a shower and a quick nap, here is my big girl all packed and ready for her first sleepover. Will she make it through the night? ............. Will Mom?
I have so much more to post, but I must first catch up on my sleep.

Driving home from church tonight...

S: "Are the kids going to wave Palms again this year (Palm Sunday)?"

Me: "I'm not sure yet...do you want to?"

S: "YES!"

J: "I don't cuz I don't like the crashing sounds."

Me: "Jason, I don't think there will be any crashing sounds this year since Aunt C. is not there."

J: "OK! I want to then!"


A few minutes later from the back of the van....

S: "I miss Aunt C. It makes me saaaad."

J: "I'm happy AND sad. I'm really sad about Aunt C., ... but I'm happy for no crashes!!"

Snowin' again!!

Here are pictures from this morning. Sophie was the most excited about the snow, but she had to go to school. So, we got ready quickly and headed out to play until she had to leave.

At that point, the younger kids were ready to come in. I am pretty sure that Sophie will persuade them to go back out after she gets home!!!

Happy Naping Day

Last week Sophie created this card for Paula. Sophie says that the blanket Paula uses to keep warm while on the couch is magic because "Mommy covers up with the blanket and then magically goes to sleep".

Hooray for kids that let us take power naps!

To Fix It or Not To Fix It....

Our house is not that old, but it is time for some of its original pieces to be fixed or upgraded. So, here is a list of our latest fixes or upgrades.....

1. Last summer, John's mom and brother gave us an early Christmas present -- a new garage door opener complete with installation. Then, for the next six weeks and three additional visits from the installers, it worked intermittently until the short in the wiring was finally found.

2. Just before Christmas, John had a handyman come out to fix our back door which has been sticking since we moved in. We hadn't fixed it before now because it was babyproofed without being babyproofed since none of my little ones could open it. But, now the kids are getting older and wanting to head outside more (without me!!), so we decided it was time to get the door fixed. Anyway the handyman did a great job and the door opens much easier.....except the handle is breaking now.

3. For Christmas, John got me a double oven!!! (For those of you who know me well and how much I cook ....please STOP laughing!) We have slowly been replacing our silver appliances in the kitchen with black ones as things need to be replaced. We ordered a new Kitchenaid in Black to replace the silver single oven and the microwave. Did you see that glare coming off the new Silver oven? Yes, that's right...Silver! The model number on the oven says that it should be black, but it clearly is NOT. However, the wonderful people at Rodenbaugh's went ahead and installed and said to use it like it's ours until they get a new one in ... so does anyone have any good recipes????

4. Lastly, we woke up New Year's Day (Happy Birthday, John) to our downstairs heating until no longer working. The AC/Heating guys came out later that day and, after checking it out, said it was dead. So, the next day, they installed the new unit. Downstairs it worked great....with the added benefit that upstairs turns into a sauna! It was 80 upstairs when we got Allison up from nap. We thought maybe this happened during the install, so we opened some windows up there and let it cool off. But, the next morning it was back up to 82. The heating guys were back out yesterday and think they have found and fixed the problem....we see how it goes.

Well, now I am just praying for my new van. We have been having trouble with the brakes on my current van, but the repair guys cannot find anything wrong with them. We had been talking about getting a new van in about a year, so we decided to just get it a bit early. We have found one and we should get it in a few weeks....so, now I just pray it doesn't follow the trend we've been seeing around here.