Gymnastics, Swimming, and Snow

We went swimming at a YMCA yesterday that had a mini waterpark in it. It has a zero depth to 1 foot kiddie pool with water spouts and a turtle slide and then it had a bigger pool for Alexis to swim in with a basketball hoop. It also had two slides, one covered and one uncovered. And to top it all off, nobody was there! It was so much fun and wore the girls out. They had also played outside in the snow while I shoveled our eternally long driveway earlier in the morning.

We have been getting lots of snow again. It had all but melted and we saw our green grass again. That lasted for about two days and then we woke up to 7 or 8 inches of snow. It was so beautiful. It makes me want to go outside and jump in it.

Audrey was all decked out in her snow clothes and she rolled down our storm gutter area at the bottom of our yard and she couldn't get up. It was just like Ralphie's little brother in "A Christmas Story." Too funny.

When I went out to shovel this morning, which only took 40 minutes today instead of an hour like yesterday, she found some candy I had hidden in the pantry. I came inside and she was parading around with a sucker and had empty candy wrappers on the floor of her room. She is such a sneak!

Alexis decided to make an office in her room a couple of days ago. I think she was trying to imitate her Daddy since he's been at his office 16 hours a day. I thought it was pretty clever of her.

You might be wondering why Audrey has fallen asleep on our purple chair! This is not something Audrey usually does. In fact, she's all but given up her naps and if I try to get her to nap becomes especially mischevious. But I have found a way to tire even Audrey out!

I took Audrey to open gym at LaFleur's Gymnastics on Friday. It is from 12-2pm. I pay $3.50 and for two hours she can play on all of their equipment. They have two trampolines, one a long one for running, balance beams, bars, a swinging rope that drops into a pit full of soft blocks, and lots other things to play with. She particularly loved the trampolines and balance beams. I couldn't get any satisfactory pictures on the trampoline though so here are other ones:

Rolling Along

It is so warm here! Today it got up to 42 degrees! I didn't even a coat! Plus, we have all been healthy for about a week now so life for us is rolling along. We had a lovely Valentine's Day. Audrey had a great party at her pre-school the day before and loved it. She talked all day about having a "birthday valentine party at school." Alexis had an all day celebration at school because not only did they celebrate Valentine's Day but they also celebrated the 100th Day of School (which is still a mystery to me why they even celebrate it). Ben surprised me with two dozen roses, chocolates, and 24 Season 5 to watch together. It was a most enjoyable evening.

Alexis came out of her room tonight and said, "Mommy I want to say something to you. I have told you lots and lots of lies and I've been keeping it a secret." Wow! How do I respond to that appropriately? It was funny and sweet. We had a nice little chat. Kids are so funny sometimes.

We went swimming tonight. Tuesday night is the girls favorite night of the week. Alexis loves going to her swim lessons and Audrey loves spending 45 minutes jumping into the pool to Mommy. Audrey gets positively giddy before, during, and after swimming. And the best part of it for me is that afterwards we shower at the Y and then both girls come home, eat dinner, and fall asleep without a word! A lovely evening for me!

Still cold and sick.

Well, it is still pretty cold here. Our highs are still around 12 degrees every day. When I drop Alexis off at school it is about 4 degrees. I actually don't mind the cold. As long as I can get into the store and back into the car or house I am fine. And really, as long as I have gloves, scarf, something to cover my ears, etc., I am fine. I was really shocked that school was cancelled was for two days but such is life. What is driving me nuts is being sick. I think it's been two months of sickness for me. I have a sinus infection right now. I got some antibiotics yesterday night. Today I finally got some relief. All the pressure and pounding in my face has subsided, thankfully. Yesterday I was in so much pain. I could barely function. My ears hurt today but at least I can function.

I took Alexis to an allergist on Friday. We're trying to find a better way to handle her allergies since they have been giving her a lot of problems. We found out two things. One, she is super allergic to grass. Within two minutes of the test she got great big welts on her arm from the grasses. She actually wasn't allergic to dogs, cats, mold, bacteria, grass, ragweed, and something else I can't remember. Very interesting. She was good about the testing. The doctor was great! He also discovered that she had an ear infection! I really shouldn't be surprised anymore. Really. It's been so long since we've all been healthy.

I had a rough day yesterday and my funny girl Audrey managed to put a smile on face in the afternoon. We were at the table making a valentine bag and Audrey just started singing the following song (sing to the tune of Hello, Hello, Good day and how are you? I'm fine, I'm fine, and I hope that you are too. It's a song from pre-school).

"I'm not, I'm not, I'm not gonna take a nap. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not gonna take a nap!"

It was just so funny. Then a little later I was talking on the phone with my friend. I hung up and she said, "Who's that?" I said, "It's Cynthia. She's going to come over later and babysit you while I go to the doctor." Audrey looks at me with that mischevious smile of hers and says in a very silly voice, "Do you have a baby in your tummy?" And then starts laughing hysterically. She spent a week asking me that question about a month ago because I was babysitting my friend's kids while she went to her pre-natal checkups. So then she started asking me all the time and thought my responses of NO! were amusing. Apparently she still thinks it's funny!

Anyway, tomorrow is a new day and I am hoping for some more improvement in my health and the girls health too. Plus, it's the start of a new week and I get to start it with a healthy and needed dose of church!

Kids Gone Crazy!

Okay, I realize it is cold outside. So it's only around 8 degrees outside. But I really think the schools are trying to kill the parents. This is the second day school has been cancelled because it is apparently too cold to go to school. Ben and I disagree but oh well. They will for sure have school tomorrow because the high is going to be a whopping 12 degrees! Yipee! To be completely honest though, it has been good for the girls to be at home since they are still recovering from our latest round of sickness. But obviously they are feeling better today, as you can see through the pictures posted. I think my kids have gone mad from staying home for almost an entire week! Anyone care to disagree? :)

Sickness continued.

Well, it has been a challenging two days for me. Once I got sick with whatever the girls have I just felt way in over my head. I had a fever that made me wear pants, long sleeved shirt, seater, two pairs of socks, and a robe. It was awful. I thought the girls were getting better but now Audrey has a high fever again and both girls are coughing all the time. Alexis threw up three times yesterday because she couldn't stop coughing. Blah. It's gotta pass soon, right?

Here is what Ben heard on the phone today. He called from work to check on us. This is what he hears:

Audrey: I want to put the cheese in!
Emily: Okay, but it's not time for the cheese yet.
Audrey (gleefully): Look! I can open it myself!
Emily: Wait! Don't open it yet.
Audrey: But I can do it myself!
Emily: I know but you need to wait until it's time to put the cheese in the pot.
Audrey (giggling): I got the cheese!

This continues for at least a minute or two until I somehow manage to get the packet of cheese from her. At least there was one crisis diverted! I really don't want to clean up a cheese mess today! :)

I included a picture that Alexis drew during church last week. Ben and I thought it was really good. So much detail. She drew the bowl first, then the fruit, and then everything else around it. Pretty cool.

Well, I've got to get Alexis out of the shower and into bed. Hooray! Bedtime!

Breaking in the new rug.

Ah, nothing like breaking in your new rug with throw up! Such was the case yesterday, twice. We all have a second round of sickness, except for Ben luckily. Alexis started it with a high fever for two days followed with a croupy cough, inability to sleep, and general tiredness. Audrey then followed with the same symptoms two days later, adding the throwing up into the mix. Then I got it one day after Audrey and got a sore throat with lots of muscle aches and stuffy nose. Alexis stayed out of school for three days. She went back today and four of her classmates ran out of the the classroom to hug her. They were so excited to have her back and they kept saying, "I'll show Alexis what we're doing!" It was so cute. I really must say that this class she is in is one of the most sympathetic and considerate of each other that I have every seen. It's really sweet and Alexis felt so loved! She's still not eating much but I'm sure she'll get over that soon enough. Audrey just wants to sit on my lap all day. She won't nap and was up last night from about 12-6:30am. So the plus side is I've gotten to read a book the last two days. That at least has been fun. Well, I don't have any pictures to add yet because all we've done is sit around watching movies the last three days. Plus it's like 9 degrees outside and with the wind chill it's like -5 or something awful like that. Anyway, I guess that's enough rambling and complaining for today! :)

Oh, I forgot to mention our great morning. From 8-9am this morning Audrey cried continually because "Alexis is looking at me!" I tried explaining to her that I can't stop people from looking at her but it was of no use. It was a really good thing Alexis went to school today. Audrey would have bugged the heck out of poor Alexis.