From Don's Phone

 We are so proud of Macie! She finally passed her survival swimming courses. Now she can move on to learning the strokes and hopefully be on the swim team this summer.  It feels great knowing 2 out of 3 kids are safe around water.  And she was so proud of herself.

 when Don told her that if she passed this level she could move on to earning medals instead of ribbons she said, "shiny medals?"  I wish I had been there to witness that conversation.

 The girls are also doing soccer right now.  Macie was instantly excited.  Chloe took a little longer to warm up to the idea, I think she was afraid of the ball, and losing, but I think she likes it now.

 That's a good look, Macie.

 To pass the last level of survivor swim courses, she had to go swimming in her clothes.  She HATED, I mean, HATED the idea.  But once she did it, she was okay with the idea.  I agree with her though. It looks very uncomfortable.

Thank goodness for Home Depot Craft day and all the lovely crafts that find their way into my house,

More Thanksgiving 2014

California

 Back in December we went to see Kylie off on her mission.  We drove up Saturday and back on Sunday.  We got see Grandma Mary and stay in a hotel, which is always a plus for the girls.

 And the girls got to take home baggies of sugar cookies for the ride home.  You can imagine their excitement.

more Ward Christmas party

(So I think Don went home early because he was not feeling well . Hence there are no pictures of him.  But this picture looks like...well...it looks like Oscar has 2 Moms.)

Nutcracker

Liz and I went to the Ballet AZ's Nutcracker during the holiday season.  The performance was very good as expected.  It was all fun and games until I became ill halfway through the performance and became a killjoy.  Bodies sure mess things up sometimes.  The best part of the night was walking like a penguin because I didn't cut open the back slit in my brand new black skirt.  I looked ridiculous.  And like a good sister, Liz didn't tell me I needed to cut the slit before we left the house because we were going to be late.  Which meant I went around asking the ushers if they knew where I could find some scissors.  I was basically a mess the entire night.

Polar Express

 we took a trip to the North Pole a couple days before Christmas.  We drove up to Williams, AZ in the afternoon, went on the train, decided we were freezing, so got back in the car and came back to the desert and had dinner together at Ruby Tuesday.  The girls loved it.  The best part was singing carols on the train.  I am glad we went on the Polar Express, don't know if it will become a yearly tradition.  Going in the afternoon without the benefit of twinkly Christmas lights and the forgiving night sky, the North Pole village looked a little...cheap.  You don't get out, you just look at it from inside the train, then the train turns around and goes back.  The girls were disappointed they couldn't get out, but then Santa gets on the train  and walks through all the cars and gives out bells on the trip back.

The best part was spilling relish all over Oscar and myself 20 seconds into the train ride.  Chelsey spent the entire hour and a half train ride eating nachos, cookies and hot chocolate.

Some Kid stories

Chloe News:

This just made me laugh- "Shirk"  - just a girl saying she needs to go potty.

 She has been checking the mail every day, waiting for her friend to write her back.  Last week she found a letter from our political party, asking for money.  She saw the letter and got very excited when she saw the word "party."  She thought it was a party invitation.  She also thinks it is very unfair that Don and I get so many letters every day,  I try to tell her I wish I didn't get so many letters every day.  Because that is one of my least favorite jobs.  Mail sorting.  I keep thinking, surely there couldn't be any more new medical bills, but I am continually proven wrong.

Chloe asked me to buy some "cream o' cream" like she has at Grandma Mary's house.  I also remember loving cream of wheat. ( I loved it lumpy)  She requests it every day.  And every day I leave it in the pot too long and have to let it soak an entire day to clean it out.

Oscar:

Is almost 7 months and I need him to really quit growing so fast.  I am really loving this age.  He is finally sleeping mostly through the night.  He started on food.  He loves it.  He loves plain rice cereal and peas just as much as he loves bananas and peaches.  Maybe we will have 1 less sugar addict in the house.  

He can sort of sit up on his own but mostly prefers to have someone hold him as often and constantly as possible.  

He loves bouncing in his bouncing thing and he loves his baths.  

So pretty much he is doing what babies are very good at doing.  Including being over the top cute and the apple of my eye.

(oh and on a side note, my nerve damage from having him is about 85-90% better.  It has taken 6 months and I am still hoping for more improvement, but to say I am grateful is to understate the gratitude and relief I feel that my body has healed)

 (Chloe learned about fires at school and gave us a nice lesson and illustration of how to escape in case of a fire. You can see she has drawn where all our doors and windows are)

 I've said it before.  And I will say it again.  Baby boys should wear overalls (and no one else).  And they should also all own a hat that makes them look like a paper boy.

 Macie:
I love 3 year olds, well she will be 4 next week.  (cue emotional sentiments about not wanting her to grow up)  She attended a party a couple weeks ago that she actually really, really enjoyed, even though the picture would tell you otherwise.

 Her BFF is Brookie, who affectionately calls her "Mace."

She loves eating granulated sugar.  She also loves eating dried cranberries, which was a complete shock to me because they are a real food source.  The other day I heard her spitting some of them out and when I inquired what she was doing she was told me she was eating "sloppies"  but they were giving her "weeds" in her mouth.  So I guess she was spitting out the "weeds."  Which is a whole lot more Macie-esque than eating dried cranberries.

She went running with me the other day and afterwards sat on my lap in a sad state of affairs.  She told me she had a "broken heart" from running and that it made her sad.  She thinks that your heart beating really fast means it is broken.  Running makes me sad too.

I made the girls boiled eggs for the first time recently and they actually really liked them.  In fact later that day Macie asked if I could make her a "spoiled" egg.

I mean, come on, look at that kid. Isn't he perfect?