Ice Day

Our snow day yesterday turned into an ice day. The ice day turned into
a power outage night. And power outage day today. Still no power. We
brought the girls to a hotel. Figured a freezing cold house was no
place for a kid with mono. The girls and I went exploring. They wanted
to climb all the stairs. I said sure. Gotta burn off that cooped-up-in-
a-hotel-room-since-breakfast energy somehow, right?

Aunt Erin

I do not remember how it even started, but Sophie has always wanted to send hugs and kisses to my sister in heaven via helium balloon. Erin died just before Sophie turned 2, but they were very close before she died. In her little mind, it was a way to send love to a place she really didn't completely grasp. While I totally understand that the concept is nowhere near theologically sound, it was something that comforted her, so we let her do it. Now almost five years later, she still does it. And now so does my sweet Ella, who never got the chance to meet her Aunt Erin.

It does not matter where the balloon comes from. The process is always the same. Everyone has to kiss the balloon. Everyone has to hug the balloon. Then the balloon heads up to "take our love to Aunt Erin".

Aunt Erin has "gotten" love balloons from birthday parties, school parties, restaurants, ballgames, even three from Disney World. This morning, Ellie decided that she was ready to send her birthday balloon from Sophie to Aunt Erin. So, we hugged it. We kissed it. And we headed outside and watched it float away. I couldn't help but get a bit teary -eyed hearing my sweet youngest daughter holler "I love yous" to the aunt she never knew but that I have always prayed she would know all about.

My sassy little kitchen helper

Time is flying.

This is a picture of Ella on the wall at our church. It was taken
before she was a year old. So funny to me - on one hand, it seems it
was just yesterday I saw it for the first time. On the other, her baby
days seem so long ago! How does that happen?

How many kids are in this picture??? :-)

Lite Brite

Woo hoo!!!!

Our Little Hippie Child

Fun New Toys

Lazy day for all of us except Ryan. She had rehearsal and work on the
set day at school. We took the girls to Target for a quick trip to
pick up some "treats" that they had earned through various chores,
good attitudes, etc. We try not to do this very often!

Both girls got to spend $10. Sophie got a little Lite Brite. I was
more excited than she was, I think!!!! It was a great way to keep her
occupied and resting but not just watching tv.

They are playing Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots with John now. It was one of
his silly Christmas presents. :-)

Pics will follow!

Sent from my iPhone

Tee hee hee

Picture

Let's try this part again....

Princess Mono

Even with mono, our sweet girl smiles. Sophie is doing just fine. Very sleepy at times, but just fine overall. We are going to try a half day of school on Monday if this weekend goes well. Please continue to pray that her tonsils will shrink soon. Otherwise, we will need to look at having them removed soon.

Computer is in the shop right now, so I am having to blog from my phone. Interesting, to say the least. Amazing what these things can do!!!!

Sent from my iPhone

Sweet BABY girl!

Our (almost, not quite, breaks my heart to even THINK of her being
this old!) 4-year-old!

Snow (?)

We had almost enough to fill our little bucket. Woo hoo!

The hot chocolate was a hit. Sophie thought it was a great "snow snack". Now a day off of school, no snow to play in, and two antsy little girls. What's a mom to do???? Pull out all the messy craft supplies in the house and let them go to town, of course!!!

A "Dusting"

We did a snow dance. We wore our jammies inside out. We slept with spoons under our pillows. We had pennies in our socks. We flushed ice down all of our toilets. Apparently, these were all little tricks Sophie and Ella had heard about at school to help bring the snow. We got literally a dusting. Not enough for a snowball or a snowman. But enough to close schools. So the girls were excited. Well, except for Ryan. Her school did NOT close. Little girls and I just got in from making snow angels. About to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate with LOTS and LOTS of marshmallows.

First we did a snow dance......