I'm Still Playing Catch Up

Our cousin, Lillie, had a 5th birthday a few weeks ago and the party had a Candyland theme.

Fantabulous Day

Y'all.

I got up at 6:15 today. I did it!! I sat in a dazed state for a few minutes, read some of the Advocate and Messenger, a little in Exodus and Proverbs and then I went for a run. I'm in a bit of shock that it actually happened. We still didn't get school started until about ten because I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and then we had The Great Clean-up. For some reason, Sundays are rough on the house. But being late hasn't stopped It from happening. We have completed so much this morning and right now we are taking a little lunch break and I'm letting the girls play outside to soak up some sunshine.
What a beautiful day. I have all the windows open and the smell of fresh air is wafting through the house. It's one of my favorite smells.
I'm off to get Porky out of her crib and feed her some lunch and then hit the books again. Hope your day has just as lovely as mine.

Phone Photos

1. Baby sleeping at Nanny's house. 2. Uncle Josh and Claire getting the grass ready for Family Day.

3. Eily as the strangely dressed male of the game. 4.  Jason doing work on the computer.

5. Puffed pancakes for breakfast! 6. Cousin time at Target. 7. Nora's first ride in the big girl seat!

8. Nora playing and waiting on the sisters to arrive. 9. Sleepy baby. 10. Cousin time at Aunt Rachel's house. 11. Molly at Crystal Bridges. 12. Eily's masterpiece created at Crystal Bridges. 13. Elaina painting at Crystal Bridges. 14. Aunt Kat and Lillie at Crystal Bridges. 15 & 16. First time to wear such a big girl hair do. 17. Lazy Eily. 18. Swinging Eily. 19. Fancy hair for Claire.

20. Nora at Science Museum. 

Today, Elaina said to me, "I'm going to venture about the house while the timer is going."

Venture. Venture.

I love it.

Rain

I am letting the girls play in the rain.

I wrote that one sentence, saw lightening and brought them back inside. So I was letting the girls play in the rain. It was hard for me to do but I remember getting to play in the rain a time or two as a child and it was so fun and exciting. I am always telling the girls, "We'll do it later." I realized it was time to just say yes and deal with the mess. And really, it's not going to be much of a mess at all. Just a little load of laundry. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the housework, laundry, schooling, meal preperation, etc... that I don't ever want to mess with doing the fun things.

We had Family Day this past weekend. I'll post a couple of pictures right now and more later. It was so much fun and we had such beautiful weather. But to be honest, I'm plum exhausted.

We were missing 7 people. :(

Uncle Adam gave her a six-pack, a superman tattoo and a little chest hair.

Valentine's Day

I've decided to make Valentine's Day pretty special. It won't look special from the pictures but I promise it was well received. After the girls had gone to bed, I decorated the dining room and set the balloons and cards beside their plates. Then I woke up early and cooked pink pancakes. We also had pink milk, strawberries and the name of some chocolate wafer type things that I can't think of the name of right now. But trust me, they are so good. Pirouettes, maybe?
For some reason I thought I took a lot of pictures but when I went back to look there were only two, very red-casted pictures.