We'll Try This Again

Well a few days ago I had written a post and thought that it was posted, only to find out that I think that I forgot to hit the publish post button so it didn't actually get posted! It basically went like this:
My parents came for a visit last week, arriving on the 12th of Februaury. We had talked a little with them before hand to see if they were willing to help lay new flooring in the downstairs portion of our house and they said they were. So on Saturday morning we ripped out the carpet, and got half the living room flooring installed before we quit for the day. The next morning my mom woke up with the flu and was out the entire day, and not quite herself on Monday. My dad layed all of the living room and most of the dining room, and we finished up the kitchen on Monday. Took Emma to swim team practice and then I felt icky the rest of the evening. The next day we tried to move some of the furniture back into place and clean up a little, but I did not have enough energy to do very much. On Tuesday we got all the finishing trim put in and then Mason got the flu :(. Wednesday we started to pull out the old lanolium and scrapping it off with small tools down to the concrete, did some stuff together as a family and stayed home from all the kids usual activities like swimming and awanas, just because we are gone every evening with something! On Thursday we finished scrapping the stuff off the floor so our new tile could be put down. That morning Chad came down with the flu and by evening Heidi started in, followed by Emma and an early morning appearance by Madison. Each kid had their own bowl and we all layed down stairs for less chance of a mess. It was a long night, and we had unhooked our washer and dryer so we could put our new tile in so we were without that for 5 days! Not good when your whole family has the flu let me tell you! On Friday all the kids and Chad slept most of the day, my mom and dad put in the tile, and camps womens retreat started. We had an amazing speaker "Sue Thomas" and it was a wonderful weekend. On Saturday mom and dad were supposed to leave for home, but my dad held out till the end to catch the flu and so they postponed their flying until Monday morning so he would not be so sick on the plane! I was so thankful for that extra day becuase I felt like we actually visited and played a little bit. I am so thankful for the work that they did....I will post pictures a little bit later. For now we are trying to get back into our routine and stay healthy. The kids still complain of sore stomachs every now and then. Emma made swim practice every night this week and is improving every day. Now for a little sleep! :)

Valentines Party!

We celebrated with our friends a little early becuase my parents are coming on the 12th and we are going to spend time with them. I thought it would be fun because the kids are getting to that age that they can appreciate what others have made and given them. It was a wonderful afternoon and the kids had so much fun. I wish I had gotten pictures of the beautiful cards that were made, but it was a whirlwind of an afternoon and I forgot! I did take these so you get a taste of what it was like.



These are the pouches that I made for all the cards that the kids would get! They had so much fun handing out cards and seeing what they were given!

The grilled cheese was eaten before I could get a picture, but we had a white bean tomato soup and molten lava chocolate cake with whipped cream and strawberries. We also had brownies and heart sugar cookies made by some of our friends. The kids had an excellent time and played outside or watched Kung Fu Panda, and the 4 moms sat around and had a wonderful afternoon of grown up conversation which is always a nice breath of fresh air every now and then!!! :)

Mischief

Mason and Heidi can do a lot of damage to one's house! Although I cannot always blame Heidi :). Mason is into playing in the toilet...eating ashes out of the fireplace (cold of course) or if he is sad or tired resorts to carrying his blue blanket around! He is a very happy little boy who likes to discover all there is to touch, pull out, dump out, and destroy, but has a soft spot for his mommy and likes to cuddle....sometimes!

Yes I had to get a picture....I figured he was already there why not get a picture first! (the toilet was clean at least! for a toilet.

Pictures

I had ment to put these up last fall, but never got around to it. Just some photos of the girls :)

The Moon :)

On January 30th I took the kids to see the fireworks in town to welcome the start of the Artic Winter Games here in Soldotna. As we were driving home the moon was huge and low to the ground. My poor kids had to wait another 15 minutes so their crazy mom could get some pictures!! But I think that they turned out well.

The next morning when we got up I saw the moon and it was glowing and orangish color. I love it when the moon looks different because it makes for some great pics!! Some of these are blurry because I had to take them through a window. They turned out ok :)

I took this picture of the moon and did a feature called inverting. It makes it look so amazing, and as you can see from the pictures below the moon two nights ago was beautiful! This is the only photo I altered....the rest are what I took!