the rest

our week: 

with random weekly pictures thrown in.

monday: we had playgroup at our house. i was so excited to visit with the friendies! alecia, sarah, leisa, and shelly came and it was so fun. :) it had seriously been way too long since we'd all visited. 

and i finally convinced matt to bring down the slide. as i was lamenting the cold winter days one day, whilst doing never ending dishes, i spied our outdoor slide and thought, hmmmm, why couldn't we bring that in and enjoy hours of fun?! so chris took it apart and then it sat on our porch for about 6 weeks (pet peeve!). chris even wiped it all down one day. but then matt was like "it has water in it and it's gonna leak on the carpet." 

and then i went to seattle. and then we had christmas. and then i was like "trust me, it won't leak. the picnic table (that he didn't want to bring in either) had water in it and didn't leak or stink." and then he reluctantly helped me set it up in the basement. and delaney was all, "heaven!" and here has been my view for hours and hours as they have jumped and slid and been happy.

tuesday: our super cold snow day. it was a 2-hour school delay, and then we also got a call that a pipe had burst at the high school, so no school for the big kids. we did our thang and then when the girls napped we had big kid/mom movie time. after matt got home i took the big kids to get haircuts and i got my nails done.

 i've had this tear in my index finger nail for years and it can be really painful when it catches on things and tears down further. i've tried several different things and nothing seems to work, it's like the nail just grows with the tear. so i've decided to try acrylic nails for a few months to see if i can just completely grow the tear out and be done with it. hope it works! cause i don't like getting my finger nails done! pedi's all day, but the drilling and buffing and $$$. me no likey. 

that night matt and i went to red robin for a double date with laura and david. we are farming the big kids over there when i leave for california, so we talked about our expectations and their requirements. i've said it a million times, but it's so nice to have good friends.

bedtime.

(yes, frankie is wearing a costume. that's how we roll.)

wednesday:  i watched these cuties while sarah went to the dr. when she got back we talked birth a lil' bit. i'm finally gonna get to be at her birth when she has baby aina girl #3, and i'm so excited. i get to go to 2 births this year, very exciting! i think, when my kiddies are all grown up, that it would be really cool to be a doula, so we shall see if i can hang.

i drove the ballet bus that afternoon, and then that evening on to church for a seabase meeting and pres meeting. we believe in meetings. ;)

thursday: preschool day! alecia is teaching the first quarter and frankie was so excited to go. laney and i did some commissary shopping. we picked lexi up on our way home, unloaded, put laney down, picked frankie up, dropped her off, i had an appointment, and then time to get ready for our RS meeting that night. 

january is such a bleak month, so we wanted to do something joyful for the ladies. we had everyone bring a "favorite thing," under $5, each of us stood up and explained our "thing," then drew a name and gave our fav to that lady. it was so fun! and we learned about some cool new things like spelt. totally worthwhile. ;) then we had a panel of ladies at all different seasons in their lives and we had people write anonymous questions down. tracie wasn't feeling well, so i acted as the moderator. they did a parenting panel like this a few years ago for RS and i loved it then and loved it this time too. i always learn so much from other women, it is such a wonderful friendship and bond that we share. it was really a fabulous night.

friday: i had signed up to be the mystery reader for addie's class. each friday they have a parent come in and surprise all the kids and read a couple books. i did it a few months ago and it was so fun! since then addie has said several times, "i hope daddy can come read to my class." so i had offered to have matt read and we were all good to go, but then things came up at work, so i happily took his spot back. :) i had covertly asked addie her fav book of the moment, and she had chosen the princess and the pig, so i read that one and also the personalized book i had made for addie for christmas called more bears! it was so cute, while i was reading more bears! (that has a picture of addie yelling "more bears!" on every page and uses her name all throughout the book) one of the boys raised his hand and asked wide eyed "where did you get that book?" the kids were pretty impressed. :)

after that i took addie for a quick date to good ol' mcdonalds. :)

i sometimes feel like this middle child'o'mine gets pushed to the side because we're worrying about older kids and doing things for youngers. also, she gets home from school just before 4 (which is usually a crazy busy time) and goes to bed at 7:30, so not a lot of time to spend with her. i loooooove spending one-on-one time with my children. these are precious, precious moments, even if it's just 20 minutes at mcdonalds.

it was such a quick trip because i wanted to see chris off for his snowboard trip with the young men. they left friday afternoon to head up to west virginia. 

(a good time was had by all. :)

 

that night darlaina had invited jodi and i to go with her to see jim gaffigan at the warner theater. jeff had bought tix, but then decided to go snowboarding so we were able to have a girls night. we ate at cheddars (it was as delicious as i remembered) and had a really good time. i had never heard of jim gaffigan, i didn't even know what i was agreeing to when i said i'd go, but i figured it would be a fun girls night, so it's all good. but he was really funny! i guess he's one of the last of the clean comedians and i really enjoyed the show. :)

saturday: i had the opportunity to go to meredith's baby shower and enjoy some delicious food and wonderful friends. she used to be a pastor at an assisted living facility, so there were about 15 older ladies there to help us celebrate her. there were dotty's and wilma's and ethel's and they were all so cute! they made it seem so fun to live all together in their home, almost like a big, older person dorm. i know it's not always like that, but maybe it's more in the way you look at things, you know? 

finding joy in your season.

it was so warm that day! but, bummer, it rained hard all day too. i had planned to take the girls out to play in the warm rain, but naps and other schedules didn't allow for it. when i got home lexi and i blitzed (it's amazing what they'll do when they want friends over) and by the time we were done frankie and addie were already petitioning to be done resting. so we had a girls movie afternoon and watched cheetah girls. my vote was for princess diaries, but i guess that will be next time. :)

sunday: it was a navy weekend, so we missed daddy, but the new 1 o'clock church schedule made getting everyone ready very easy. i love 1 o'clock church, but i had conveniently blocked out the falling asleep on the way home and crying through dinner. it's hard to miss naptime, but i still love 1 o'clock church.

tonight was taco night. 

and tomorrow is another week.

lastly, some positive self talk. it might sound hoaky, but i'm really working on this.

 

 and (lastly again) this new years resolution of mine goes right along with our rs lesson today, all about how very amazing we are because we have all been created in the image of God and just how can you go wrong with that?

 

and 

(lastly again, again)

you are amazing too!